Is GenXDaddy ready for Daytime Television???

Posted on Dec 20, 2012 by Jason

Last week, I posted a blog about my personal frustration over the complexities of “transforming” a new Optimus Prime toy for my son. I did finally get him into truck form and then informed my son that Optimus no longer wanted to be a robot – he only wanted to be a truck and he hoped that Justin understood his decision. Apparently, A LOT of people felt my pain with that posting! Thank you for the notes, emails, calls, and “Sharing” this on Facebook 257 times, to date!!

Last Friday, I was at home with GWE when I got a note on Twitter from @TeamRickiJackie. In 140 characters (or less,) she let me know that she was a friend of a client of mine and she asked for permission to use my blog and a picture of Justin. I sent back a note saying that it was nice to meet her – but, I wanted to know what she was going to use the blog for. While waiting for a response, I decided to look her up. Her name was Jackie MacDougall and she worked for “The Ricki Lake Show.”

I turned towards GWE and asked, “Is there something you want to tell me?” With a puzzled look on her face, she replied “No. Why?”

I decided to rephrase the question. “Honey – Did you contact The Ricki Lake Show because you have something you would like to tell me on national television? Um…will I be taking a paternity test? It would really suck to hear “You are….NOT the father” after spending three years working on a dad blog.” (Although, I do have my dance moves prepared in case I’m ever called to appear on “Maury.”)

As it turns out, The Ricki Lake Show has an upcoming segment today on “Toys That Send Parents Over The Edge.” She loved the blog and has chosen to include Justin on their site. This morning was the first time I saw my son’s face on the home page of The Ricki Lake Show! Too funny!!

Jackie – thank you (again) for following GenXDaddy.com and giving it a national audience!

Dad Blogs Are Getting some “Leverage”

Posted on Dec 19, 2012 by Jason

If you’re a follower of this blog, then you know that I represent actors in my non-dad blogging life. One of the many benefits of doing my job is being able to sit on my sofa, turning on the television, and watching my clients work! One such client is Aldis Hodge, who plays “Hardison” on TNT’s “Leverage.” Week after week, I take great pleasure in tuning in to “Leverage” to watch Aldis and to see (what I consider) one of the best written shows on television today!

A con involving Dad Blogging on “Leverage”

So, imagine my surprise when I watched last night’s episode and discovered the crew manipulating “Dad Blogs” and “Mom Blogs” in order raise media awareness of a certain toy in an attempt to con the ruthless CEO of a toy company! I would consider that fairly progressive since many people don’t even know Dad Blogs exist!

If you get a moment this week, try and catch a re-airing of the show to see Aldis Hodge (Hardison) and Christian Kane (Eliot) debating the pros and cons of “Dad Blogging” while in the middle of running a scam!

Blog sites (like this one) have been on the fringe, but they are starting to become more mainstream. As a former colleague (who also has a dad blog) once said, “It looks like Dad Blogging is the new black!”

‘Sup Shawty!

Posted on Nov 7, 2012 by Jason

Right now, there are six CDs in my car changer: 1) Mumford & Sons – Babel, 2) Project X – Soundtrack, 3) Maroon 5 – Overexposed, 4) Zack Brown Band – Caged, 5) Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and 6) Little Big Town – Tornado. As you can see, I like musical variety. I want Justin and Garrett to be exposed to as much great music as possible, but GWE and I were in complete agreement that (for the time being) I would not play Hip Hop or Rap while they are in the car. While I like it, I don’t want to have to explain some of the lyrics to Justin. The only Hip Hop album in my car right now is the soundtrack to “Project X.” Needless to say, I skip over Disc 2 whenever it comes up.

A few days ago, I was taking both kids to school and I needed to stop by the bank. I pulled in, left the car (and stereo AND AIR) on, and told Justin to watch his brother while I walked three feet away to use the ATM machine. Normally, this transaction only takes 30 seconds…but that morning, the ATM had a hard time reading my card. As I waited for the machine to read my card, I looked back to the car and saw Justin bobbing his head up and down like a metronome. A voice in the back of my head said, “I don’t remember him doing that before.” I assumed he found a song that he really liked. Sadly, I was right.

After almost two minutes of dealing with the ATM, I walked back to the car and heard a loud “thump, thump, thump, thump.” When I opened the door, I realized that Disc 1 had ended and Disc 2 (a disc he had not heard before) had begun. Justin was rhythmically moving his head to Pusha T’s “Trouble on my Mind.” I thought we were ok, until I heard:

Pardon my french, I’m going hard as my dick
When I envision my tip on the crust of bitch’s lips
Mr. Lipschutz has been trippin’ since I mentioned Reptar’s
Triceratops dinosaur dick

Once I heard “Triceratops dinosaur dick,” I thought it was time to go back to Maroon 5. As soon as I hit disc change, Justin yelled at me – “NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! DADDY, I LIKED THAT!!!! GO BACK!!!!” I told him that he was not ready for that music yet and that he was too young. He begged….he pleaded….and I am weak. I went back to Project X in hopes of finding something more appropriate.

“Ok, Justin. Let’s try song number 2.” I said. All of a sudden we heard AMG yell out “BITCH BETTA HAVE MY MONEY!” In an effort to make it stop, I hit the wrong button and fast forwarded the song to:

This dick of mine ain’t friendly baby.

Will it hurt you…yeah maybe.

Once again, I quickly pressed the change disc button. I couldn’t take it. “NNNNOOO!!!!!! DADDY, I LIKED THAT SONG TOOOOOOOOO!!!!” I let this go on for almost 4 minutes. (Once again, because I am weak.) Thankfully, I pulled up to his school and let Justin out before he could “pop a cap in my ass.”

Holy Post-Impressionism, Batman!!

Posted on Oct 25, 2012 by Jason

Last night, while doing his homework, Justin asked me to help him. One of the tasks was to draw six bats for Halloween and then color each of them brown. Justin was unsure of how to draw a bat and he asked for me to draw one first so he could see how it was done. Luckily, I had my laptop open and I Google Imaged Batman’s crest. I grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and I began to draw (what I thought was) a “bat.”

Justin looked at my bat for a few moments and he said, “No daddy! Draw me a real bat!” I proceeded to explain to him that I had no artistic ability whatsoever. If it wasn’t for my opposable thumbs and quick wit, I would be swinging from tree to tree and flinging my own poo at this moment. (Speaking of poo, after Justin decided that my bat sucked, I added a few pellets of poo dropping out of my bat’s butt. So mature!)

Justin took the pencil from my hand and drew his own bat. I must admit….it was much better than mine. Because Justin is ambidextrous, I enjoyed watching him color in the bats on his homework sheet with crayons in each hand at the same time.

I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson here. Either GenXDaddy is a terrible artist or he needs glasses!

A Talent Manager Calls His Client One Morning….

Posted on Oct 17, 2012 by Jason

When I’m dropping the kids off at school in the morning, I try not to take any business calls. That’s our time to catch up, goof off, and sing along with the radio. (I dare you to have a bad morning after singing along with Kids’ Place Live on Sirius XM with a five year old.) Last Monday morning, I had no choice. I had to make one business call to a client. And, I was about to make a call at 7:48am! No one wants to hear from their representative at that time. My plan was to use Sly Dial (yes, I’m revealing a trick of the trade) to go straight to the client’s voicemail – thereby, not disturbing her. Sly Dial somehow failed and she actually picked up the phone. I think she was as surprised to get a call from me that early in the morning as I was that she had actually picked up.

By the way – if you ask Justin, there is one rule in my car: “When daddy’s on the phone, be quiet.” He is fantastic about that and this was no different. He quietly sat in the car as I drove and spoke with the client.

I apologized for calling the client (we’ll call her “JT”) that early in the morning, but wanted to let her know that I was talking to a casting director/producer the previous Friday about her for a project. After we hung up, she sent me an appointment for JT on a different project. I quickly reviewed the elements of the project, the dates, and who else was doing the project. I rarely pass without speaking to a client first, but in this case…I felt confident that the client would not want to participate in this project.

So, while on this call, I explained to the client that I had passed on a project on her behalf three days prior and I wanted to let her know about it should someone ever confront her and ask, “Why didn’t you do this?” I explained to her that A) it was a play in a small theater, B) it was scheduled to have rehearsals and performances in the middle of pilot season, C) the star of the play had a history of substance abuse (and even though he was clean now, anything could happen considering he would be “revisiting past behaviors” on stage every night), and FINALLY D) she would have to appear naked.

Once I said the word “naked,” Justin exploded into hysterical laughter. His laughter was so loud, that the client heard him and she began to laugh as well. (It’s good to know that we were all being professional about this!) I must have said the word “naked” a second time because Justin burst into hysterics again…laughing and laughing, all the while I can hear JT laughing in my earpiece as well. Thankfully, JT was in complete agreement with me that this was a “pass.”

As a male representative, I’m always uncomfortable having the “nudity conversation” with any client. I used to have a female partner and I would delegate those conversations to her. But, now I have a new way to have those conversations – I’m going to have Justin make the call!

He’s No R. Kelly!

Posted on Oct 15, 2012 by Jason

While on the way to Justin’s first school chorus performance, Justin and I were immaturely joking around in the car. We…………….. (ahem)…ok, I was being immature and using potty humor with Justin – but he was laughing hysterically, so he instigated my behavior. He made me do it.

I asked Justin how he would feel if I ran up on stage, turned around, pulled down my pants and mooned the audience while he was singing. He giggled and giggled. I then asked him if I could run up, moon the audience, and then flap my butt cheeks. He laughed out loud. Finally, I asked if him if it would be ok if I ran up on stage in the middle of his performance, mooned the audience, and then started farting along with the music. He convulsed with laughter.

When he finally caught his breath, he said, “Daddy – you need to run up on stage, pull down your pants, and then pee pee on everyone.” Together, we howled at this sick potty humor. We had no intention of doing these things. We’re men and these things simply make us laugh.

What you should also know is that Justin and I have our own, non-verbal language. It started years ago with me pointing to my eye, then my head, then towards him, and finally pinching my nose. (“I think you stink.”) He sends me similar messages as well.

However, I was not prepared for how far Justin was about to take our potty humor from the car in combination with our non-verbal language this past Sunday morning moments before getting on stage with his classmates.

While standing in between two female classmates, Justin waved at me to get my attention. He then mimicked pulling down his pants, grabbed his “Little Justin”, and fake peed on those around him – all while smiling directly at me.

My first reaction was massively inappropriate – I fell over laughing. I tried to compose myself as I raced over to him (while still laughing). I told him that he could not do that…we would both get in trouble. He did it a second time just as my mother-in-law came over to wish him luck. I’m pretty sure I was in more trouble at that moment than he was. With her help, we successfully got him to stop just moments before going on stage. (While sitting at lunch a little later, I was able to explain to her what led up to Justin’s mime act.)

I’ve learned a very important lesson here (both personally and professionally) – my pep talks to the “talent” need to be a little less graphic!

To Live and Dad in LA

Adventures in Being A Dad

Category Archives: Hollywood