The Next Big Thing

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Charlie Donates Hair to Locks of Love, Enters Howie Mandel Look-alike Contest

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:12:00 +0000

I'm sure many of you are wondering what I've been up to for the past few months. There has been a lot going on, so I guess it's about time I filled everyone in. Besides, some disturbing pictures are about to appear on the internet and I'd rather have you see them here first.

To begin with, I've spent the past few months growing my hair out so that I could give it to Locks of Love. I figured I should do it now while I still have enough to hair to give away. Also, I really won't have to go out in public until it grows back. I guess I'll have to go to work and church, but I don't think anyone will say much. I heard the bald look is in now anyway.

After deciding to shave my head for charity, I started thinking about all the great things you can do when you don't have any hair. Entering Howie Mandel look-alike contests, for instance. I happened to find one such competition on the internet (what can't you find out there?), so of course I had to enter. Below is the picture I submitted. Do you think I have a chance?

In addition to turning myself into Howie for a good cause, I'm still doing some free-lance editing work while also looking for a full time gig. Hopefully my new look won't hurt me in that respect. Hey, maybe it will even help. You never know...

-chc

Margarita-Karaoke Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:32:00 +0000

I figured I might as well post an update with some Christmas pictures since I'm a little behind the times anyway...

Let me illustrate yet another reason why my family is awesome. We didn't just celebrate Christmas, we he had Margarita Karaoke Christmas. What better way to spend the holidays and celebrate family birthdays at the same time? If you see Nora, be sure to ask her how it felt to turn 21 for the third year in a row!
Does this sign look familiar?

Unbreak my heart. Classic. If Nora and steve let me I'll post the video...

Nora and Walter take being Irish very seriously.

Nora and Dad after singing as song or two.

Nora and Mom having a Singapore Sling.

There's nothing like a family sing-along...

And of course it was Leah's birthday too. It wouldn't be complete without spice cake and crazy candles.

I think one of my favorite moments of the whole break was walking downstairs to find Dad singing "I'm too sexy." It was one of the best things I've ever seen--made me smile for days. Dad, if you hadn't taken that videotape from me you'd be a youtube star by now. Just kidding. Kind of....

-chc

No, Nay, Never.... No Nay Never No More...

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:38:00 +0000

..... Shall I put off, my blog posting. No Never, No More.

Sing it with me now everyone.

I've been reminded that I never post anymore. There's really no excuse since I have plenty of time on my hands.

In any case, I am back from Ireland and have been meaning to write an update for quite some time. The problem is that I'm too lazy to make another photo gallery on the HC website because it involves changing the site design. I decided instead to use the nifty gallery feature on facebook. For those of you who don't know what that is or are not cool enough to be my facebook friends, you can view my photos by clicking on the title of this post.

What? You don't feel like clicking the link? Well here are some pictures to get you started. How can you not view the whole gallery after seeing these teasers?

At the top of Croagh Patrick

Look out! Didn't you read the sign?!

We managed to find the old family farm!

Walter stares dreamily at his pint of Guinness while Leah reminds us to look each other in the eye when we say "Sláinte."

That's about all the pictures I have time for at the moment. The web gallery linked above gives a narrative of our whole trip, so check it out when you get a chance.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

-chc

I Come in Peace

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:36:00 +0000

It is now officially my second (or third) day without a job, and I just don't know what to do with all the extra time. I guess it's not that bad because I'm keeping busy with chores and sending out resumes. But the days still seem to fly by and nothing really gets done. So far I've managed to catch up on watching Heroes and Meerkat Manor, so I've got that going for me. Best two shows on TV. Period. Okay, Heroes definitely is, but MeerKat has to be up there. I keep hoping Sean Aston will make some kind of Rudy reference during the narration (so far no luck).

Oh, and I did get the chance to have a video ichat with dad this week. All I can say is that the rest of you better catch up and get an isight or something. It's just like Star Trek. Both the video and audio were really clear, and there was no lag time at all. The only disappointing thing was that the video automatically paused when we sent pictures back and forth. My dad asks, "Are you sure this doesn't cost anything?" Nope, I love Apple.

That's about all for now. If you want to ichat, get in touch with me. If you have a job opening, get in touch with me. If you have a brilliant script that I can option and start producing, call me. We'll do lunch. If you have no script and we haven't talked in years, call me anyway and we'll still do lunch.

cheers,

Charlie

Now I remember why I haven't posted in months...

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:35:00 +0000

First of all, it's been kind of crazy around here. Also, I forgot my password. And Blogger sold out to Google (old news?) so there's a whole new login setup. In any case, I'm back, and hoping to post more frequently. I know I said that last time, but now I mean it...

Over the past few months I've been keeping really busy between work and the Executive/Producer training program I've been taking. The course was well worth it--it had the perfect combination of great teachers and practical real-world exercises. By the time it was over though I was definitely ready to get my Saturdays back. Here is a picture from the final class gathering:

This is an outstanding group of people, and I know we'll be seeing some great things from them in the future. Is it time for a reunion yet?

-chc

I'm 60% more popular than last week!

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:07:00 +0000

So I guess I've been absent a little too long. Again. But I'm back now, and I'm here to stay. I promise I'll try to post once a week or so. What's my excuse for not posting in the past? I'm just lazy. And busy. But someone named "da big chalupa" (who are you?) has asked me to return to blogging, so here I am. Ask and you shall recieve.

This has been a really busy month so far. I owe just about everyone I know a phone call, especially the fam (you guys better start blogging again too...). I've been on retreats with various confirmation programs every weekend so far this month. These have been awesome, but I haven't been getting back at reasonable times for calling people (or sitting at my computer to type blog entrees). Other than that I've been working crazy hours for the Mouse. Things should be slowing down a little bit now, thank goodness.

Today's exciting news is that I'm apparently up 60% on the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) "Starmeter." I guess it means I've finally made it big. Look for me on the cover of Variety next week...

In other news, if I promised you a DVD it is now finally in the mail. It should be delivered by Saturday!

cheers,

Charlie

Believe it or not...

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 03:11:00 +0000

My name is now in lights...

(Thanks Bekah and Danielle for the pictures!)

If you happen to live in a major city and want to see C3 a theatre before it goes straight to DVD (and then back into the Disney Vault), let me know and I'll try to get you on the list!

-chc

80's Rockin' Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 08:10:00 +0000

Here is the Holden-Corbett photo of the year. Please don't ask to borrow the time machine. We had to destroy it after returning from Christmas break...

P.S. Many thanks to Greg (an honorary family member) for helping with this picture.
-chc

Thanksgiving '06

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 20:06:00 +0000

Now that it's almost the new year, I decided that it was about time to update this site with a few photos from Thanksgiving. Christmas photos will follow as well, probably after we celebrate Cinco de Mayo...

The Holden Family fixing a sink

At Grandmother and Grandfather's place

Steve and Julia

Everybody loves sitting on Steve...

So there you have it--more pictures are on the way, so check back soon. (That comment about Cinco de Mayo was just a joke...at least I hope.)

-chc

Enough is Enough

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:05:00 +0000

One of my coworkers asked my yesterday, "How can you live like that? It's like you're in the Stone Age or something?"

Why am I in the Stone Age? Because I have no internet. No internet! It's just not right...

Okay, well I still have the internet at work. And on my phone. That's not the point though. I don't have it at home, so I'm clearly living in the Stone Age. Yesterday I decided that I just couldn't take it anymore, so I broke down and called Charter. Starting Saturday I'll be back in the land of the living, technologically speaking.

It's funny how dependent we become on technology. Or in my case, how we become so used to certain luxuries. With no internet and no cable I just didn't know what to do with myself. The up side is that I've been doing a lot more reading. Thanks to Nora and Mom I won't be running out of material for the next few months. I think the Brothers Karamazov alone will me busy for a while. Now the tough part will be keeping up with the books once the DVR arrives and I have endless youtube videos to waste my time.

So if I haven't posted on this site or communicated with anyone for a few months I'm blaming it on the technology, or lack thereof. "That's my story and I'm stuck with it." Starting Saturday I'll have no such excuse.

-CHC

Good News

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:05:00 +0000

Hey. I'm back! And I'm back because now I finally have time to write--All the time in the world, actually, for the next week. Let me tell you a little story about yesterday.

It all started as a rather good day, for a Monday. I found my stash of Tetley tea from back in the day, so took some into work and was enjoying a cup of it when my producer called a crew meeting. "You can all go home," she said. "For the rest of the week." There was a bit of a pregnant silence when everyone looked around at each other. "Are we all fired?" "Are we in the twilight zone?" Nope. It turns out that we all just get the week off. And to top it off my job was extended for another two months so that I don't have to find another one until after the New Year!

What am I going to do with all of this time off? First I'm going to sleep. I already did that quite a lot today, as it turns out. Then I'm going to finish unpacking all the stuff I never took out of boxes from the move. Then I'm going to Disneyland. Anyone want to come?

-chc

The suspense is over...

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 05:17:00 +0000

I finally have time to finish (or start) my explanation of why Matt is wearing a hotdog costume. It really isn't such a long story now that I think about it. I was just feeling lazy last time when I posted the picture.

This picture was taken on the night before his wedding, aka, his batchelor party. Since he's one of the proud entrepreneurs behind Hotdogma (TM), we thought it was only fitting for him to wander around Pittsburg dressed in the company's hotdog costume. Oh, and he had to make people sign a crazy petition we devised that night.

It was funny to see how people reacted to being chased down by a guy in a hotdog costume. Quite a few of them actually ran away. Believe it or not, these girls were getting picked up by their parents when Matt talked the whole family into signing his petition. If I remember correctly this was the warmest reception he received that night.

Good times were had by all, except when that one guy wanted to beat up the hotdog for scaring away his customers. Luckily Matt can still run at a decent pace.

Stay tuned next time to hear about the surprisingly warm welcome our old friend Tyson received while wearing this very same costume in downtown Traverse City.

-chc

Top Dog

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:17:00 +0000

Here's to Matt Niblack, the recipient of today's "Top Dog" award. What did he do to earn this? I'll have to explain that in my next post, as it's a bit of a long story...

What's the title of this blog again?

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:58:00 +0000

So I guess I haven't written in quite some time. I always feel like I have either too much or too little to write, and I end up skipping a few months at a time.

Back when I started this I was going to write all about the excitement of California and the goings on in my life. (Did I tell you that Brittany Murphy said "You're not the goof up, I'm the goof up." to me? Really.) But it turns out that I don't have many fun stories, or at least not enough to sustain frequent posts.

I tend to update this thing most often when I've been traveling, which means that I might have a little stint of posting over the next few weeks. I'll be heading out this Friday for Matt's wedding in Pittsburgh, then a week at home, then Tyson's reception the following weekend (Tyson, are you sure you still want to have your wedding in Israel? I'll even offer my apartment in LA for the reception if you have it out here.)

I think that's about all the updating I can handle for this sitting. Look for pictures from the wedding and my visit home during the next couple of weeks.

-chc

The Beach

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 07:03:00 +0000

Since it's late and I have no energy to type....

Another picture from the lake:

-chc

Picture of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:24:00 +0000

I'm a little too tired to write at the moment, so I'm going to post a "Picture of the Day."

Sunset at Cathead

-chc

Wedding Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Wed, 31 May 2006 06:37:00 +0000

Okay, so the title of this blog is a little misleading. I don't actually have any pictures from Leah and Walter's wedding. I left my camera at home during the service and decided to leave photography to the professionals. I did, however, make up for that 1.5 hour lapse by taking a million and one snapshots after the fact.

For those of you who were there (or weren't there for that matter), the weekend was awesome. "We'll be talking about it for a long time," as my mom says. Here are some highlights. Special thanks to Stu for taking all of the dancing shots.

"She said yes!"

"These are the hands..."

Bride and Bridesmaids

The first dance

Steve and Mom, breaking it down

Nora and Stu

I love this picture. "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

The Newlyweds

Steve, Mom and Nora at the Cottage

Leah, Walter and Friends

What a great weekend. I'll post more pictures as they come in.

-chc

"Come aside and rest awhile."

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Wed, 17 May 2006 04:40:00 +0000

I'm back to the ol' grind now after a great weekend retreat with the ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education) Fellowship. Let me give a little background before showing a few pictures to illustrate just how great this retreat was.

The ACE Fellowship is a recently created network of current and former ACE teachers and friends. Basically the idea is to keep people connected so as to greater serve the needs of Catholic schools. This weekend, though, was very much about stepping aside to rest and reflect, which was something I really needed about now.

Let me also say that I didn't think there was any way we could top last year's weekend at Newport Beach. Leave it to ACE to prove me wrong on that...

Here's the Ocean view we enjoyed for most of the weekend:

And at sunset -- The view kind of reminds me of Cathead:

Good company, some quiet reflection time, Mass with the Pacific Ocean in the background...what's missing here? Why a boat tour of the area, of course. By the way, this "boat" has more square footage than my apartment!

Haha. Get it? This is Andrew. It turns out we both were at Willow Hill Elementary at the same time. He graduated from ACE last year and is still teaching in LA. Small world.

Don't worry, Fr. Scully didn't fall in . . .

Group picture from the top deck: Cort, Dave, Mark, Mike, Me

"Good Golly Miss Molly" -- A little impromptu evening sing-along.

Aaah, the beach...

And finally, a group picture with our more than gracious hosts.

I came back from the weekend really refreshed. It was just a great time, and I think we all enjoyed some well needed rest and reflection. ACE always has a way of organizing the best retreat experiences, and this was no exception.

Love thee, Notre Dame.

-chc

What's not for dinner?

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 01 May 2006 07:20:00 +0000

So I went to Disneyland this weekend, as I often do. Hey, I had to start making use of my pass again. Besides, it's the "Happiest Place on Earth (TM)," right?

Or so I thought. Look what I encountered, much to my chagrin!

That's right I can handle the California Screamer (TM) and Space Mountain (TM), but the meatier shower sent me running in the other direction. It was a fun day overall though. We managed to hit most of the big rides and a few of the classics, which was great.

In other news, I've posted a slideshow from week when Mom, Dad, and Steve came out to visit me. You can view under the "San Francisco Trip" menu bar on the left. Enjoy!

-chc

Happy Football Lottery Day!

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 05:17:00 +0000

It was a good day. A happy day. To begin with, I got a voicemail from Ryan saying that his ticket application had just come in the mail. You have to understand how unexpected that was, because both Ryan and I turned in our donations a little late this year and I honestly wasn't too hopeful about getting any order forms in the mail. But I opened my mailbox today and hallelujah, there it was.

Now the real challenge begins. Which games should I attend? If I lived a little closer to The Bend I would gladly echo Ryan's response and say, "Well all of them, of course." But alas, I am here in Sunny SoCal, and this distance means that at best I can only hope to make one game a reality. What's worse, I'll be missing the game that's in my own backyard at SC since it's on Thanksgiving weekend. Could this be the year when good ol' Charlie Weiss breaks my 5-year losing streak? I really hope so. I'm beginning to think I'm the one with bad luck since I haven't been to a winning game since graduation. That's five years of flying back to games without a single win to my attendance record. It hurts.

So to all of my family members in the Midwest, please let me know if I should try to order tickets for you. Dad, it's almost that time of year where you need to trade in your U of M alumni card...

-chc

Where Did That Ice Cream Cake Come From?

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 05:23:00 +0000

I just realized the main reason I rarely update this page is that I just have too much to write, and I'm somewhat daunted by the prospect of trying to type everything. So I decided I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to highlight a few events from the last couple of weeks and call it good. I guess this is better than nothing.

To begin with, the impetus for this whole post is that I just discovered I still have half of an ice cream cake in my freezer. It has been a big mystery for the last day or so. Okay, just for the last few minutes actually. For the life of me I couldn't remember why it was there. I remembered buying it, but the occasion was just escaping me. It wasn't anyone's birthday, so why do I have a cake in my freezer?

Then I remembered...STEVE! Steve was out here to visit a couple of weeks ago, and one day we decided we felt like eating ice cream cake. Now he's back in Chicago, leaving me to eat the rest of it by myself. Boo Steve, yay cake.

Mom and Dad came out to visit shortly after Steve, so we all drove up to San Francisco for the week. For some strange reason they let me out of work, so it was great to get out of LA for a while and spend some time with everyone.

We even had some time to hang around LA before steve flew out, so we wandered around and eventually ended up at "the best" seafood place ever. Look, they shape your leftovers into little tin foil animals!

There are many more great pictures and stories to go along with these, but I've recently decided (along with Andy and a few others) that April will be "National Novel Writing Month" part II (time to finish that project I gave up on during part 1). I better get writing--I'm already one day behind.

-chc

Because My Readers Demanded It.

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 03:45:00 +0000

"The People" have demanded a new post, and here it is. Steve is out in So Cal for spring break, so we've been keeping busy for the last few days. Disneyland Saturday. Mountain Climbing Sunday. Today we played tennis and spent some time at on the lot. We even got to preview some scenes from my last project. Here are some pictures:

Still climbing...

Taking in the view.

At the top.

Now we're off to meet Mom and Dad at their hotel. More to come!

-CHC

I was "this close" to Narnia

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 21:02:00 +0000

This past week my friend Andy has been back in town visiting, and he stopped by for lunch on Thursday. After eating we wandered around for a while just so he could get a feel for our lot, though there isn't actually that much going on right now. As we were walking past an open storage room Andy noticed something familiar.

"Hey, is that the wardrobe?"

I took a closer look and found that it was indeed the wardrobe that we all know and love. It was just sitting there, shoved back into storage. Hey, I could use a wardrobe. Do you think they'd let me borrow it for a few years since it isn't in use? Probably not...

It was all I could do to keep myself from opening it up and walking in. There were people walking around though, and I felt like a trip through the wardrobe probably wasn't worth getting fired over.

Or maybe it was, and I just missed my ticket to a dream world of magic. I guess we'll never know...

-chc

"The Chip is a Merely Vehicle for the Salsa."

noreply@blogger.com (charlie) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 23:53:00 +0000

Our good friend Tyson spoke these words back in 1996, and they still prove true today. If you don't believe me, just look at this picture.

No, really. It was his 4th bowl of salsa. He'd argue it was only 3, but there were at least 3 1/2 or 4 bowls that he consumed before dinner. Just like old times...

Other Tyson quotes from the weekend included (paraphrased for emphasis):

"A lot of my friends work at the Dali Lama Peace Camp."
"...That was probably my 3rd time becoming a Muslim."
"My goal is to beat that 7 year old (at bowling)."

It turned out to be a really nice weekend overall, and the rain even held off during most of the daytime hours. Here's a picture from the pier in San Luis Obispo.

It's always nice to get together with old friends, even if it only happens once in a while. Tyson, you're welcome back in the country any time...

When is the next TC reunion?

-chc