Goodbye

Go ahead and click play before you read this post.

Part Time Authors started 2 years ago. And this is our 499th post (which makes me think I should write one more before I post this one.) It was started for a few reasons. Primarily to promote a book we had all contributed essays too. Also to give us all a reason to write more regularly. But mainly because I have really amazingly talented friends and wanted to have a reason to do something creative with them.

Ken is one of the greatest memoirists/biography-ists I have ever known. I barely remember what happened last week and Ken can recall with stunning and hilarious detail events that happened 3 decades ago and his ability to write about his past is unparalleled. Chris is gifted and talented director. If you live in Utah you should see everything he is involved in. Currently he has a production of Big River playing at the Hale Center in Orem that is delightful and magical. Patrick is literally the funniest person I know (and I know a lot of funny people) and a brilliant singer and songwriter. When I hear him sing his stuff, it inspires me to be a better artist and writer because it is just so dang good. And Brett is a nuanced actor and hilarious comedian. I love to watch him perform.

Writing this blog with these gentlemen has been a lot of fun. And you all have been wonderful and have left great comments and sent us encouraging messages along the way. We didn't know what this blog would be when we started it (we were hoping for more free stuff, but alas) and it was incredibly satisfying to have people that NONE OF US KNEW in real life read and comment on our work. It's pretty great.

So it is with great sadness that we announce today that PTA is shutting its proverbial virtual doors. We don't know if this is a temporary shut down or a permanent one and for how long it may last. But for right now we all have different projects that are taking priority. And the last thing we want to do is to churn out content for the sake of having something posted, even when that content isn't our best work.

So we want to say thanks. And that you are awesome. And goodbye. And we will miss you. We'll leave the facebook page active to keep you up to date on our current projects. Thanks for 2 really fun years.

Some Other Part Time Stuff

You guys, I recently had the opportunity to be in two different commercials. So I should probably quit my day job so I can have a more flexible schedule to practice, you know, my "craft." Right? Let's first watch the commercials and then discuss together how I actually, probably, should not do that.

Yep, that's Utah Community Credit Union. I feel a particular loyalty, since they gave me my first car loan right after Katie and I were married. Our first big purchase! And UCCU was there for us. A single tear rolls down. Also, this shoot was great because I got a free lunch at The Melty Way! Guys, the perks of being a movie commercial star principal are pretty awesome.

The second commercial was for Baja Broadband. It was freezing outside, but that's not what I'll take away from this experience. No. What I'm taking away from this is that I am 42 and my wife in the commercial is … 23. And she's from England! I don't know what this is supposed to say about my character in the commercial. I'm guessing this is a second marriage for him. He's had a midlife crisis. He's super wealthy, guys. And he doesn't put up with other men ogling his wife. That's what I decided when I was doing a deep study of my character and what his motivation would be. I hope it comes through in the commercial.

no match

I've always felt like I've met a million celebrities, until I read Patrick's post. I cannot match the star power. My celebrities are lame sauce in comparison. I mean come on. David Spade? Thomas Gibson? That's the caliber I'm working with. The B minus list. (Except for Adam Levine.) So I will just post this picture because, even though it's not Cate Blanchett, I could not be more proud.

Name Dropping Like It's Hot!

Ya know, watching the Oscars was so fun, I mean, isn't Ellen just the best...that selfie?! Common!  Isn't it funny how you watch something and then you think that the people in it are sort of your friends and you kind of miss them after it's over.  It was like that selfie was stuffed full of all my dumb friends (and Lupitia's brother) who are all out having this super awesome night and I had to stay home and do Algebra...more likely they were just driving down by Utah Lake but they wanted me to think they were having a super awesome time so they were all really-hard-laughing when Bradley took the picture so I'd feel left out...well I did.

It's funny to think of Celebrities as normal people.  They don't fly or anything, they poop just like the rest of us (Meryl) and yet, they transcend.  Somehow and ridiculously they transcend.

So, in an effort to knock them down to size...or perhaps to elevate me to their level, I now present my list of celebrity interactions.  All of them true but in no particular order only that of my remembering them:

• I saw Victor Garber shopping in a Mall in LA.
• I sat on a the floor of a stage Cate Blanchett was performing on. (It shouldn't count but I was on the floor looking at her feet which were two feet away! Pun given and intended.)
• I saw Frances McDormand in the lobby of that same play.
• Also Either Joel or Ethan Coen, which ever one is married to Frances McDormand.
• I helped Angela Lansbury pick out pillows at Pier 1.
• I saw Sean Hayes buying a pretzel in a mall in LA and I got in line behind him and did the only thing a person can do when so extremely close...I sniffed his neck.
• I met Jane Krakowski and her mother at a party in NYC.
• I sang a song at Lance Bass' birthday party...he didn't seem super impressed.
• Ryan Gosling told me I was F@#$%ing amazing after seeing me in a play I was in...he did seem super impressed.
• I've done improv with both- Kirby Hayborn and Will Swenson...who is now married to Audra McDonald who I saw in concert once.
• I'm in a Book Club with Lisa Valentine Clark who was listed as one of the '100 Coolest Mormon Women Alive Today' and is currently on the cover of Utah Valley Magazine...also, our book club is closed.
• I was once at a party with Chloe Sevengy, TR Knight, Ellen Green, Mamie Gummer, Barbara Cook, Zachary Quinto, Guy from ugly Betty, Andrea Martin, Sean Hayes, Kristin Chenoweth, the guy who played Will's boyfriend on Will and Grace for a little bit, Steven Schwartz (wrote Wicked) Stephanie Seymour, Cheyenne Jackson, Kelli O'hara, Mo Rocca, Lee Pace, John Stamos, Brooke Shields,Tori Spellings mom, Ace Young, Alfred Molina, and Alan Cumming... I know this because instead of doing anything else at the party I walked around with my phone and made a horribly spelled list so I would never forget never talking to these people.
• I saw Tina Faye's back.
• I once met Sean Hayes and told him that I sniffed his neck in a mall in LA.
• I ripped my pants in front of Mariah Carey, who looked me up and down and then said to her two huge bodyguards, "Oh no." then crossed the street.
• I said hello to Kate Winslet at an Anthropologie in NYC.
• I started a fitting room for Amy Poehler at an Anthropologie in NYC.
• I went on a date with the girl from Major Dad...only one.
• Heath Ledger once gave my wife a knowing head nod right in front of me.
• I got hamburgers with Kathy Griffin. 
• Ryan Gosling came back to see my play a second time and again told me I was great using multiple expletives.
• I chased after Ty Burrell only to catch up to him and then address his daughter by name even though we'd never met.
• I met Sean Hayes a third time and gave him a copy of the New York Times review of a play I was in where they stated, "Livingston gave a good Sean Hayes-ian performance."

Needless to say, they are all chumps, all these people passing in and out of my life and has one...even one called me back?!!!

No.

Whatever...


Sean if you're reading this, just leave your phone number in the comments section on Facebook and I call you as soon as I can.


Oh yeah,

• Sean Hayes asked me in front of my wife if I was straight.