for your VINformation

In 2008, did I…

• …get an agent. No matter what it takes, I will keep sending these people post cards until they see me just to make the mailings stop.
  • Well, not for lack of trying, but I didn’t get an agent this year, but did make some hopefully lasting Casting Director connections.

• …get another great TV gig.
  • Well, Bernie’s did reuse old footage to make a new commercial…

• …take much better care of myself. 2008 will heretofore be known as The Year of Living Healthily.
  • "The Year of Living Healthily" was a rip-roaring failure. 2008 was the sickest year I’ve ever had, what with the back issues, eye issues, the mono and the stress fracture, I was in bed for most of it!

• …write that book! I have so much material to work with, so many pieces; this year, I’m going to put it all together and see exactly what I’ve got.
  • Nope, didn’t do that either…

• …get into a high profile theatre production.
  • Again, nope.

• …do two Cakes. Whether Tom wants to or not, I’m thinking Gay Pride Month, June, we premiere Beef Cake: Polished & Buff and Fruitcake: More Spectacularer next Christmas.
  • Wow, were batting .000!

• …vlog more.
  • after my computer crashed and I lost all my great music and sound effects and all my videos, I lost interest in vlogging, and that upsets me…

• …help time slow down, by remembering to notice all the small, beautiful things around me.
  • I forgot about this one right after I wrote it down…

• …go to more museums.
  • I went to one. Which was more then the year before, Yay!

• …take at least a day per month and be a tourist in my own city; NYC, the biggest, bestest city in the world.
  • NYC can kiss my ass!

Customer: "I’d like tickets to For The Boys."

Agent: "Oh, someone is doing a stage version of the hit 90’s Bette Midler vanity project? I didn’t know that."

Customer: "Mmm yea, it’s the one starring Tom Cruise’s fake-wife…I’d think someone in your position should know that!"

Agent: "Of course, and you’d like, how many tickets to All My Sons."

For the second week in row I lost 2.8 lbs following the Weight Watchers program.

Yea me!

For those of you keeping track, that’s 13 lbs in four weeks.

As the new year approaches, I decided it’s the perfect time to update the marketing materials necessary to make it as an actor in NYC – of course, I update the resume every time I book something, but I haven’t updated the business or post-cards in a while…

I got one of many "everything is free!’ emails from VistaPrint and figured, no time like the present…present, get it?

My new "nice to have met you" postcard; which I send after auditions, call-backs, classes and the such, basically after I meet someone who may advance my career, I send one of these out:

Front:

I went with the old red-sweater standby, I changed up the format a bit just to try to make it stand-out from the rest of the slush-pile of pic/resumes and postcards…

Back:

I don’t know what possessed me to pick this design, but like I said, I wanted something that stood-out…and this way, the intend recipient get to look into my dreamy bedroom eyes twice!

My new business card:

This card still gets a great response when I hand it out, so I certainly wasn’t going to change the picture; the only thing I added was the AEA/SAG designation. I figure, if it ain’t broke…

Since I was at the VistaPrint website anyway…and I’m planning a major SAG franchised Agent mailing for January, I figured, while I was there, I should order these follow-up postcards for that mailing:

Front:

Back:

It says:

2009 is promising to be a great year for Vinnie Costa and he would love for you to be a part of it.

If you’d like to get in on the ground floor, now’s the time!

Give him a call at : 917-796-4209, or drop him an E-Mail: Vinpaw@aol.com

Don’t forget to check out www.vinniecosta.com for his hosting and acting reels and, of course, all things Vinnie.

Be well!

I got everything from VistaPrint.com – except for the 8×10s – 200 postcards and 500 business cards for a total cost of $27.00. My current head-shot only start circulating about six months ago. I think I can get at least another full year out of it, so it stays the same:

I love this shot! It looks just like me. It’s tells you "Vinnie is fun and great to work with. Hire him." Casting Directors seem to like it as well. More then one told me it’s nice to see a head-shot and have the actor look exactly the same when they walk in."

My time at Equity showed me there are far to many people with ‘glamour shots’ who on their best day, couldn’t show up to an audition looking that good…

You can check out my updated resume here.

I also had my webmaster-bater tweak my website, www.vinniecosta.com a bit. The news/reviews and Vinnie as pages have been redesigned and in my opinion, look great.

Since you’re only as good as your marketing materials, I’d say, I’m awesome!

I got an email from a Casting Director I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, today asking me to send out some 8×10s, she’d given what she had to a director friend for consideration for an up-coming project…and needed more.

The email also included a nice note complimenting my reel – saying exactly what I like to hear, “It’s very funny.”

Of course, I sent five copies right out and I’m taking this as a sign of good things to come for 2009.

2008 couldn’t end quickly enough for me…

I’m a geek, admittedly – and a big fan of the Star Trek franchise. I’ve always rated the series thusly:

• Voyager
• The Next Generation
• Original Series
• Deep Space Nine
• Enterprise

I’m very excited to see the new JJ Abrams movie, I’m a trekker/trekkie – whichever is the accepted fanboy moniker of the moment.

And thanks to Spike TV, I’m able to re live the joy that Captain Janeway and crew brought me. The only issue I have is that Spike is constantly preempting the show and changing the time slot. Lucky for me my DVR can keep track.

To boldly go…

I’ve got a bunch of Christmas gift cards burning a hole in my wallet!

It’s like legal shoplifting…

To avoid any confusion, the picture above is not a picture of all the gift cards I received…

I was defiantly writing an email, certain in the knowledge that I definitely didn’t know how to spell definitely. I’m embarrassed to admit that I am very spell-check reliant – in this sentence alone I misspelled embarrassed and reliant – my grammar, well, that’s a choice.

Aside from conscious vs. conscience, my greatest spelling nemesis is definitely. If you were to do of search of this blog, you’d find – with the exception of this post – I’ve never used the word, inserting instead certainly when needed. You’d think that I’d be able to learn how to spell a word that’s been around since 1553…

Sometimes I think I need a remedial English class…

The biggest problem I have with definitely and defiantly is that they are so similarly spelled that when I’m misspelling definitely and hit spell-check it usually corrects it to read defiantly – I just can’t get it in my head that’s there’s no ‘a’ in definitely…

From Merriam-Webster:

def·i·nite

Pronunciation: \ˈde-fə-nit, ˈdef-nət\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin definitus, past participle of definire
Date: 1553

1: having distinct or certain limits <set definite standards for pupils to meet>

2 a: free of all ambiguity, uncertainty, or obscurity <demanded a definite answer> b: unquestionable , decided <the quarterback was a definite hero today>

— def·i·nite·ly adverb

de·fi·ant

Pronunciation: \-ənt\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French, from Old French, present participle of defier to defy
Date: 1583

: full of or showing defiance : bold , impudent <defiant rebels> <a defiant refusal>
— de·fi·ant·ly adverb

When searching for the definitive spelling of definitely, I Google-d definitely and this helpful site popped-up. I definitely can’t be the only person who has such difficulty spelling definitely, if a website dedicated to just that fact exists…

…I have no words.

Rest in peace, Maryann Acocella.

You’ll be remembered fondly…

On December 1, I took Cristina and Brook to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

That was when this picture was taken:

When you combine bad lighting, bad angles and bad wardrobe choices, you can understand why, less then a week later, I found my fat ass at Weight Watchers (WW). Brook couldn’t be cuter and I couldn’t be bigger – well I could, but then I’d need prescription pants!

This horrible snap-shot of a fabulous "first" event in my lovely niece’s life was all the inspiration I needed. I want to be around for many more firsts, the guy in that picture, while he has a smile on his face, looks like he’s due for a heart attack in the next five years or so…and while I suffer from a serious case of Body dysmorphic disorder to begin with; seeing this picture put me over the edge – talk about maximum capacity…what really put me off, was the fact that only three months earlier, I was almost down to fighting weight – but spiraled into the abyss of fat as if I were out of control and if I didn’t eat a large one pound bag of Peanut M&M’s every other day I’d most surely die.

With the accountability WW offers me, I feel as if my weight struggle is finally getting under control. Today was my third weigh-in – I lost an additional 2.8 lbs for a total loss of 10.6 lbs.

But don’t you worry about me, I’ve got plenty of POINTS saved up for Christmas dinner…

Horses and Harry,
a startling combination.
Eye popping drama.

More spectacular
then fifty Rockettes, Liza
proves she’s a legend.

I finished my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago.

Then discovered, to my horror, I really hadn’t; when I set it all out and got ready to wrap it all up in colored papers and bows I saw I need to flesh out my mother’s gift and the last thing I wanted was to go shopping on the last weekend before Christmas.

So today, in the freezing rain, I ventured out. I had to get to the Post Office to mail off gifts  – I fully expected to be waiting in-line as it was certainly the last day to get things off to hopefully be received by the intended’s on Christmas Eve.

I went to the main, 24/7, branch on 8th Ave and 33rd St. As revolved in I took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. As I made my way over to the self-serve kiosk I noticed they were all available.

My first thought was "Fuck, are the machines down? I don’t wanna wait for a teller…ugh! I hate the post office! Why did I wait so long? Idiot!"

But those harsh thoughts were unfounded, there was nothing wrong with the machines, there was just nobody using them.

Thirty seconds later I was headed to K-Mart to buy myself a Christmas present – I got a coffee maker, a Martha Stewart stove-top reversible grill/griddle and a pair of slippers and yes, I did wrap them and put them under the tree – To: Vinnie…From: Vinnie – again, I encountered no lines and helpful employees.

It was nice; people were smiling, holiday music was playing, the bus was on time – there wasn’t as much hustle and bustle but it still felt like Christmas in NYC.