PF Happenings

Gonnabe.com or Be Productions gives PlattFomers a nice change of pace. Specializing on one type of client does have its advantages, but everyone needs a break from the norm every now and then. That’s were Gonnabe.com comes in. The organization’s primary objective is to help young people make a career out of acting. This is a much needed service since breaking into the acting scene is very challenging. In the past you had to know someone, or receive a lucky break. Becoming an actor was such a daunting task. Today companies like Gonnabe.com can give anyone a chance to see if they have what it takes to make a career out of acting.

Gonnabe.com does more than just give child actors a chance to shine; they produce their own material and have several successful TV shows. You can see some of Gonnabe.com’s material on Revver, and more on MetaCafe.

Riddle me this: What three words do you absolutely NOT want to hear while shooting outside in Las Vegas in May? Record. Breaking. Heatwave.

Yes, kids and campers … last week while I was shooting in Sin City, daytime temperatures hovered at nearly 110 degrees for two days. Had I been shooting in a lovely indoor climate-controlled setting, things would have been fine. Instead I was reduced to periodically dumping gallons of water on my head to stave off heat stroke.

Typically, I shoot indoors … but at Professional Fitness Institute’s Boot Camp, we followed students from all over the country who participated in a weeklong fitness regime. Um, outdoors. Alongside celebrity fitness professionals. In 109 degree heat.

The best part of the story? Imagine my surprise when a local news crew pulled up to do a piece on the Boot Camp participants. Seems they couldn’t find anyone else outside willing to brave the blazing sun. Go figure.

But the kids (under the watchful eye of Sports Endurance Specialist Tommy Boyer-Kendrick) seemed undaunted. In fact, once the news crew showed up … the kids snapped back to life like wilted flowers doused with water.

They lept. They jumped. They did speed drills. And they pushed each other to their limits. I, meanwhile, stood back and fanned myself with a tree branch from an evergreen and nursed a Mint Julip.

I have to admit I was genuinely surprised more students didn’t keel over. Or demand a fan and dry ice like I did. But 20-something personal training students are resilient and aggressive … and it was fun to see them work together to accomplish extreme things in extreme heat.

The next day I asked them if they ventured out to the Vegas strip to see the sights. Seems half of them went to bed before 7pm. The other half were so sore they feigned polio. But they all had a smile on their face and were ready for DAY III.

Which was at the pool.

PlattForm, Inc. is moving in less than two months … and, Lord, my load is heavy. Seems yours truly has been tapped to help decorate the new building and facilitate the move.

Regarding the interior design part: No sweat.

Regarding the actual physical moving part: Yeah … I don’t sweat.

Soon we’ll have these cushy new digs about a mile away from our old location. Emphasis on old. Everything in the old place is beige … beige as far as the eye can see. It’s like being trapped inside an eggshell — an eggshell with harsh fluorescent lights. In fact, that’s probably the name of the paint color … Drab Eggshell. Worse … a few intermittent walls are painted hospital green. And not trendy “Grey’s Anatomy”-green either. We’re talking “Spoiled Pea Soup”-green.

PForm’s Dream Team of Imaginaries has been meeting with the interior designer for weeks now getting everything just right. The new place is going to be RIFE with bold color choices and brushed coppers and silvers. As Fergie would say, it’s G-L-A-M-O-R-OU-S. However, you could not PAY me to be an interior designer and put up with all the bourgeois propaganda we’ve been throwing at her. Imagine five different people with five different ideas of what’s tasteful and what’s not. We did all agree that the new place should not resemble our current accommodations in the slightest.

Tomorrow the Dream Team will be traipsing from room to room taking inventory of all the crap we have in this building. And, believe me, there’s lots of it. Apparently, we must have an itemized list of every single tangible object – regardless of whether or not it’s nailed down. That’s unfortunate … as certain offices resemble an old-fashioned Hillbilly Jamboree. As one member of the team put it, “It’ll be a cold day in hell before those torn bean bags get put on that moving truck!”

And while there’s no accounting for taste (or lack thereof), there is a certain air of excitement buzzing around the (Drab Eggshell) walls of PForm. Why? There’s going to be a gym in the new building. A big boy gym with big boy weights so big boys can get even bigger. And, mercifully, there are showers too. There’s also a bona-fide in-house coffee shoppe. (I think we should call it “Hallowed Grounds”.) There’s a Rec Room, a child care area and windows galore. The moles who currently work in Media won’t know what to do with daylight pouring in their shiny new cubicles.

The Big Move is scheduled for the last week in June. Of course, that means the second to last week in June will be The Big Reminisce. And, of course, it means that I will take some much needed vacation time so I don’t have to lift a finger. Duh. I’m a designer. I’m a mover and shaker too … minus the mover part.

Several of our school groups who offer Personal Training use sweet, petite National Fitness Champion Beth Horn as their spokeswoman. She’s delightful, honest and has a real passion for what she does.

And she will apparently hurl you into a wall if you get in her way.

Seems Beth is about to hit the airwaves (pun intended) as one of the new American Gladiators coming in January to NBC. Had I not actually seen an ad where Beth throws a contestant over her head, I would not have believed it.

When I worked with Beth, she was the model of tact and decorum. A true professional. Now she’s body slamming people off platforms. And, in one clip I saw, it looks like she’s impaling someone with a giant Q-Tip.

You go, girl!

Face it, the original American Gladiators in the early 90’s was cheesy. Swiss, gouda AND cheddar cheesy. I loved it. I rarely missed an episode … and for a brief while I even wore my hair like Lazer … or was it Malibu? Believe me, there was not enough mousse in the world to keep my coif THAT perfectly doffed. I have a feeling the new show is not your father’s American Gladiators. For one, they have some FIERCE new names like “Fury” and “Militia”!

And what’s Beth’s new name you ask? It’s Venom.

Whoever was responsible for her makeover did a phenomenal job! She’s virtually unrecognizable. It’s part drag queen, part dominatrix. Whatever the case – she looks like a psychotic Spice Girl. And I guarantee that she will be the most vicious of competitors. I pity the fool that messes with Venom. No wonder she tried to stab me with a fork that time in Vegas when I tried to grab the last piece of sushi. She was practicing!

I recently Google’d myself. (Every time I read that it makes me giggle because it sounds dirty.)

Boy, it’s amazing what dirt you can turn up on yourself courtesy of the World Wide Web.
Of course, if you type in my name … the first thing that pops up will be this blog entry. That’s due solely to PForm’s behind-the-scenes Search Engine Optimization dudes – who are worth every penny!

But – come to find out – there are about a bazillion other Michael Mackies out there - each of ‘em with amazingly different stories. (Albeit none of ‘em have hair as good as mine.)

In real life, I’m an Emmy-award winning Writer/Producer. But I’m also a wrestler at Cornell. I’m the owner of a custom surfboards business. I’m a firefighter in Pennsylvania. I’m a well-known hay exporter. And I’m currently fighting a case in the Texas Supreme Court.

Whew. I’m tired already.

But here’s something nifty that I did not know … I’m a world record holder. No, seriously. Yours truly (and not one of my evil twins) is poised to be documented in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Two years ago, I invited myself to go to a humor writing festival in Dayton, Ohio. Writers from all over the world showed up to attend this conference (honoring the late Erma Bombeck). Most of the writers participated in a goofy Mad-Lib exercise. Well, it turns out I (along with 199 of my fellow witty brethren) managed to write the World’s Longest Mad-Lib. Guinness here we come! I had no idea! Without Google, I probably would have gone to my grave without knowing that little slice of trivia about myself.

So to all those other Mick Mackie’s, Mike Mackie’s and Mickey Mackie’s out there … (including the famed Australian marine doctor, the Canadian curling champion, and the one who has an online Will and Grace fansite) … I give you a shout out and tell you to go Google yourself. (Snicker.) You’ll quickly find we’re not only quite popular … but in some cases renowned.