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8:30 am - Friday, Apr. 15, 2005
Congress Knows Best

Congress Knows Best

Sun 4/10/05 (11:38 a.m.)

Alan L. recently sent me a forward from the ACLU, regarding Congress's attempt to extend restrictions on "the public airwaves" pretty much across all broadcast media (Cable, satellite radio, etc). In essence, to censor pretty much everything that comes into your home.

(And if certain congressmen have their way, we're not just talking about massive fines here. I was reading yesterday that one Senator�I forget his name�wants to prosecute "egregious" infractions criminally.)

In the past, the reasoning behind restricting what's on tv or on the radio came from the idea that this stuff was coming into people's homes, and parents needed help against the onslaught of "filth" (Though last I knew, tvs and radios still had "off" buttons).

But now they want to censor programming that people pay to have in their homes. Warnings, v-chips, lock-boxes, parental supervision...None of that is enough, apparently. Now Congress wants to be parent, priest, and art critic, and decide for you, across-the-board, what is or isn't "appropriate".

As an adult, as a citizen, and an actor, I'm outraged.

(I could go on a tear here, but I'll spare you...at least for now...)

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Concerned about Tim G, manager and fellow cyclist at the bookstore.

He got in an accident on his bike on Friday (He was riding along the side of the road, when someone in a parked car right in front of him opened their door; he hit it, fell back into the street, and was then hit by an oncoming car, getting knocked about 10 feet in the air).

The initial word was that he was "okay", but he didn't come in on Saturday, and he left early yesterday (Before I got there), because he couldn't put one of his arms down below chest-level without a major-league jolt of pain.

I don't know if he's supposed to be in today or not, but if he's not there, I'm going to give him a call, if only to bug him to see a Doctor (He's one of those guys who would try to pass this off as "no big deal", when to me, it sounds at least somewhat serious).

Of course, this has me pondering my own safety out on the mean streets of L.A., but I think I'm okay�With an aluminum frame and bigger wheel base, Tim is going much faster than I am at any given point, and though he's less than half the distance I am from the bookstore, takes some busier streets on his route.
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Tim was at work that day, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say he was "fine", he was at least "ambulatory".

He's pretty sure he cracked a rib, and he's looking a little "Igor-like" in his movements, but it seems he's going to be okay (The bike was pretty messed up by the accident, but the guy who hit him is paying for it. And even though Tim opted not to go to the doctor, the guy gave him an extra $200 for his "pain and suffering".

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Jason S. emailed me yesterday with fun news: Our serial dvd thief at the bookstore got busted yesterday!

Apparently, our undercover guy caught him in the kids section--which he was using as a "staging area"--and took him down. And when the guy managed to get free and tried to run for it (And I can tell you from experience, the guy can move), the undercover guy took him down again, and sat on him till the police got there.

The most exciting thing that's happened at the store in quite awhile... and I missed it.

(I really wish I'd been there, so I could have laughed at the guy as the police hauled him out.)

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I don't know that I've mentioned it, but in recent weeks, I've gotten a copy of the Godzilla "spec commercial" I did around the end of '03, and the Incubus "Megalomaniac" video.

It was fun to see the video, which I never saw on tv, since I don't have cable (I only saw it as a postage-stamp-sized, herky-jerky image on my computer. In any case, it's definitely the "artsiest" project I've been involved with since being out here).

At one point, I was very hungry to get this stuff on tape, to put together a "reel". But right now, it's more about just having mementos of the experiences; I do want to get a commercial reel together at some point, but until and unless I want a new commercial agent, a commercial reel is fairly meaningless.

Well, speaking of my commercial agent, I see I've just gotten an email from JS, so I want to see what that's about...

 

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