I turned down a job offer today to voice a cartoon series. That really hurt. I had already done the first couple of episodes as a promotional tool for the client and, now that there was serious interest from investors, they were ready to go ahead with the series. I was really looking forward to doing this job, too. Too bad the studio is refusing to pay the actors fairly. When the client found out that the studio couldn’t get me to agree to do the job they contacted me directly. This is what I wrote to them:

Yes, I spoke with the studio this morning. They had previously sent an email stating the job details and the proposed pay which all looked absolutely correct and in line with the Catalan dubbing actors’ convenio. I was very happy to see that the project was going ahead! But in our telephone conversation, the studio mentioned how they were not willing to pay any of the actors via nomina nor would they give them the alta/baja in seguridad social, and they would instead require all of the actors to send facturas in order to be paid. I pointed out how this was in direct conflict with the stipulations laid out in the convenio and they agreed and were well aware of what the proper procedure was but insisted that this was how they as a studio worked. I was disappointed in their response and told them that I could not possibly undercut my fellow professional actors. As much as I’d love to work on this project, with you, and with the studio, sending facturas for dubbing work is not something that professional dubbing actors should be forced to do simply so that the studios can save a bit of money on their end. I was able to make an exception for the ‘maquetas’ that we did together in the past but this no longer looks like a promotional “one-off” job that could be considered as publicity instead of dubbing. I feel very strongly about this as do all of the other professional dubbing actors whom I respect. I hope that the studio agrees to adhere to the convenio so that we may be able to work together in the future. I’m sorry that this has happened and I urge you to speak with the studio in an attempt to get them to do the right thing.

I have since spoken with the other two actors who were approached to voice the series and they feel the same way. Now let’s see if the studio decides to do the right thing or if they troll the bottom of the barrel to find a desperate actor willing to sell their principles.

I haven’t had much time (or energy) to blog recently, what with Sebastian’s recent arrival, Emily’s inauguration of the Terrible Twos, my return to work, and the arrival of Jan’s parents (who are currently staying with us and have yet to purchase their return tickets). Notwithstanding, I am sympathetic towards your universal cry for more photos of the Little Boy. This is why I took advantage of every last second of my non-existent free time to assemble a humble collection of photos depicting Sebastian’s first couple of weeks as an oxygen-breathing member of our family. Here is the first one:

Sebastian (2 hours old)

Look like anyone you know?

Emily (9 days old)

Displaying all of the photos here on this page may not be the most efficient method to share them, so please feel free to click on the following link to enjoy a full-screen smattering of images taken from Sebastian’s first two weeks:
Sebastian – The Beginning

I’ve saved my favorite for last. Maybe it’s because this was the most recent one she learned. Maybe because, of the seven songs she sang that morning, this is the one you would least expect a toddler to sing. Or maybe it’s that last note.

There are another two verses that Emily left out here (give her a break, she’s only 2!) in which she eloquently sings about crisp apple strudel, schnitzel with noodles, and blue satin sashes that totally warrant another recording session. I can’t wait!

Before last week, I was the only boy born to my mom’s side of the family for over 60 years. Add to this the fact that, after my dad, I was the last known male Zamrycki in the world. It is not my intention to add to the already colossal expectations justly placed upon any newborn Zamrycki, but let’s just say that I’m sleeping a bit better now that Sebastian is on the scene.

It’s already very late and I will unfortunately not be able to stay up to see all of tonight’s Academy Awards in its entirety, but I would just like to say that few times in my life have I been more revolted than I was by the vacuous sycophants that inundated the shallow “red carpet” event, and few times in my life have I been more moved than I was by the sincere and eloquent tribute to the five talented actresses who were beautifully honored before the evening’s first award was presented.

I’ve still got two of these Emily sing-along videos left to share, so here’s the penultimate one. I’d just like to preface this video by pointing out that these were all filmed over the course of about 10 minutes one morning before school with me pressing the record button and then springing a surprise musical request on Emily. No advance warning, no second takes. Also worth noting is the fact that we had not sung this song together since Christmas. I am profoundly astonished at how a two year old can recall song lyrics from months earlier but can’t remember that I said to tidy up the living room just three minutes ago.

Emily handled the first two days of a Sebastian-filled world with grace and dignity. The next two days, not so much.

Today, particularly, was a rough one. Temper tantrums like we had never seen before and for no apparent reason. Jan was on the couch feeding Seb (let’s see if that sticks) and Emily actually tried to muscle her way between the two of them. Jan calmly explained that her little brother needed to eat, so Emily jumped up and down, cried like a banshee, and threw herself to the floor. Very un-Emily-like. She then stood up and demanded that Jan pick her up. When she was finished feeding, Jan went to pick her up and Emily freaked out and screamed, “No! Don’t pick me up!”. So she put her down and Emily demanded to be picked up again. There was another incident later on with different juice types, but I think you get the idea.

Emily needs her fair share of attention. We decided to go on a family outing to a nearby park and take turns playing with Emily. It was mommy and baby’s first time out of the house. Jan played football with Emily and then I went down the slides with her. Jan pushed Emily on her bike and then I climbed walls with her. All smiles and laughs and good cheer and songs. Until we got home.

We understand that this must be very disorienting for Emily and that this is very much a normal process when a new child appears out of nowhere. Patience, love, and understanding.

So, in an effort to pay special attention to Emily, I will now pick up where we left off with our Recording Sessions. I’ve still got a few videos left from that fateful morning so here, for your viewing pleasure, is a retrospective of Emily singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – first from when she was two years old, then five months later.

For the record, I did not teach her to sing, “Up above the sky so high”. In fact, we have had many heated conversations in which I tried to explain how a little star can’t really be above the sky since the sky extends on to infinity, so there is no above. The star is logically above the world. Emily obstinately argues her point and insists that it is I who don’t know the correct lyrics. In the end, we inevitably agree to disagree.

I love how she ends each song with a desperate need to see the video on the camera. Some things never change.

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who helped us decide on a name for the Little Boy. Along with breast feeding and circumcision, choosing a name for a child is probably the most important decision a new parent has to make. We received countless blog comments (I know because I counted), thousands of Facebook Wall posts, and 60 people voted on the naming poll here on this blog (I didn’t think I even knew 60 people!). Even if we didn’t go with your vote, having everyone’s feedback very much helped us make this agonizingly difficult decision. So thank you.

I was clueless. I couldn’t think of a single name that I liked. Convinced that nice names only existed for girls, I tasked Jan with starting the ball rolling by making a “short” list of names that she liked. She armed herself with a name dictionary and took her time. I then narrowed her list down to 8, added Finn and Kurt, and that was where we got the 10 options for the poll. At this point, we thought we still had two weeks left to choose a nice name. Little Boy had different plans.

If he hadn’t arrived 11 days early, all this deliberation could have been avoided. I highly recommend any prospective parents out there to chose a name before your child is born. We were forced to enlist the “Let’s look at him when he’s born and choose the name that best fits his face and personality” technique. This doesn’t work. For one thing, there is no perfect name that fits their face. Any one of many different names may work perfectly well and you can drive yourself bat-shit crazy trying to find the one “right” name. Secondly, babies are ugly when they’re born. Yes, I said it. Nobody thinks their baby is ugly, but they are. We thought Emily was the cutest thing in the world. A year later we looked at photos of her from the beginning and thought, “Ouch, I didn’t realize she looked like that!“. Newborns are purple gremlin-mole creatures and the only names that do their slimy faces justice are things like Periwinkle, Formaldehyde, or Chupacabra. Lastly, babies don’t have personalities when they are born. Newborns sleep 23 hours a day and spend the rest of their time eating and shitting. Good luck finding a name that goes along with that kind of “personality”. But I digress…

The poll results started racking up and, in a completely separate procedure, we started the arduous process of elimination. Some names wouldn’t go over well in Spain. Some names didn’t fit his face. Some names didn’t fit our family. It was fascinating to see the results of the poll and analyze which countries voted for which names. I was going to create a series of pie charts to display the results… and then I realized that I have two kids now. Our hearts eventually whittled the field down to four choices: Jacob, Rafa, Sebastian, and Zachary. And we loved them all. Rafa was the only Spanish name left on our list and it was short, fun, and worked well with Zamrycki. But the only reference anyone seems to have for this name is Rafa Nadal. Gone. Zachary had the advantage of starting with a Z (those would be some kick-ass initials) and shortened to the frisky yet amiable Zack. But saying “Zachary Zamrycki” 20 times made the whole thing seem rather forced. Gone.

For the past 24 hours, we have been bouncing back and forth between Jacob and Sebastian. Jacob flows nicely into Zamrycki, is as Hebrew as it gets, and shortens to the rough-and-ready Jake. Sebastian is sensitive, exists in both English and Spanish with similar pronunciations, and can shorten to the quirky yet awesome Seb (or Bastian or Sebas). I took the opportunity to ask the opinion of everyone I met: Emily’s teacher, our friends, the pediatrician, the grocer, our doorman. I even made typeface charts for both names:

Alternately yet definitively deciding on one and then the other all day long, Jan pronounced there was nothing left to do but toss a coin. I was very much against this! I wanted to think it out until we came to a satisfactory conclusion, but Jan’s reasoning was that, if the coin chose a name that we weren’t 100% happy with after sleeping on it, we would know that the other name was the right one. Heads: Sebastian. Tales: Jacob. The rest is history.

Sebastian Zamrycki. Jan thinks this is a name that could win a Nobel Prize.

He’s here. A little earlier than expected, our little Baby Boy joined us at 4:45am February 15th. Mommy and baby (and daddy and Emily) are all home and exceptionally fine. More details (including his name) to follow soon.

Little Boy’s due date is officially February 26. That’s 13 days from today. Jan went to the doctor this morning for a routine check up.

Jan: Wassup. How am I doin’?
Lady Doctor: Let’s see…
[fiddle about]
LD: Looks like you’re already a bit dilated.
Jan: Whaaaaaaat?
LD: Yup. About a centimeter.
Jan: What does that mean?
LD: Well, he could show up in 10 hours or 10 days.
Jan: …

I wasn’t actually there for the conversation but that’s how I imagine it went down. Anyway… flabbergasted! Neither of us are really ready for this, but I guess one can never really be ready. It’s all good.

Have I mentioned that we’ll be doing this one from the comfort of our home? Yeah, a natural home birth. I could write a lengthy entry on this but I’ll just say that we’ve got a wonderful midwife ready to come by at a moment’s notice and Jan and I have been taking a course in HypnoBirthing. We’ve got a birthing pool ready to be inflated and filled and babysitters are lined up to keep Emily from stressing us out during labor. I’m totally psyched! Jan has been doing some wonderful preparations and all that’s left to do is sit back, relax, and welcome this lovely little boy into the world. Oh yeah, and give him a name.

Choosing a name has proven to be more difficult than any other facet of this pregnancy (at least for me). Between the two of us, we’ve managed to eek out a short list with 10 choices. It must be said that this list is 80% Jan and 20% me. I just couldn’t find any names out there that really inspired me. But I’m happy with what we’ve got at the moment. We’d love to know your opinion. Name our child!

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