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2:29 pm - Thurs 4/26/07 For some reason, I have a MySpace page, and every so often, I feel the need to "blog" on it/in it. This was my most recent MySpace blog entry, which I'm now posting here in Diaryland because I don't feel like basically re-writing what I already wrote, and no one reads my MySpace blog anyway, judging by the fact that no one's ever commented on it(And I know from past experience that even if I manage to successfully "link" to my MySpace page, people either won't know to click on said link, or just aren't sufficiently motivated to do so). So anyway, here's me writing about stuff on another website (Undoubltedly there will be some slight re-writing as I read over what I've written)... In The News...In My Underwear In the time since I last wrote, I've shot, not one, but two commercials (for Snickers and Coldstone Creamery), so it just goes to show--with this wacky career I've chosen, things can change very quickly. Last week I had two more auditions--one for Nissan, and a rare PMG-generated one for a Toby Keith video--but nothing this week, so without any auditions or workshops, it's feeling like I'm in a bit of a "lull" again (And once again, I'll say that I hope it's a brief one; while I'm currently in the best financial shape of my entire time in LA, the coffers are still not as full as I'd like them to be. Cause as I said to my therapist yesterday, it's not just about being able to "get through the year"; it's about "sustainability"). I have a "real" blog, and no one reads this one, far as I know, so I don't really know why I'm writing in here. But the impulse struck me , so I'm going to "go with it". Why not? I was telling my friend Casey yesterday that, while sometimes I feel "distanced" from what's going on in the news, lately a number of things have been going on that I've felt an intellectual/emotional response to, even if I haven't (yet) chosen to write about them. So here we go... 1) I was very saddened by Kurt Vonnegut's death. He's one of my favorite authors--I haven't read all his stuff, but I've read quite a bit--and he's one of the few authors I've really wanted to write a "fan letter" to (I wish I had now...). As someone who's given thought to writing myself from time-to-time, I always admired his simple, accessible writing style, and thought it was worth emulating (Not just in some imaginary future "creative writing" I might do, but in my journaling and personal correspondence as well). His humor and humanity really resonated with me, and made me feel I'd found "a kindred spirit" (I've been tempted to write an entry on him titled "Kurt Vonnegut's Asshole"--if you've read Breakfast of Champions, you know the reference--but was afraid to offend delicate sensibilities). He's someone I wish I'd known, but thanks to his work, I kind of did. Long story short-He'll be missed. 2) I've wrestled with writing about Virginia Tech, and the psycho who killed 32 people, and changed forever so many lives. I've felt as if I had nothing really "new" to say on the matter--I'm sad, angry, confused, I wonder what we need to do to protect ourselves, if we can protect ourselves, etc.--but if I make it "all about me", as I always end up doing, it does make me appreciate my relatively high degree of mental health (In other words, "Yay!" for me--I'm giving myself a big pat-on-the-back for never going on a shooting spree). And as an actor--as a person, for that matter--I've wondered about how I'd respond in a situation like that (For example, if someone came into ArcLight with a couple of guns blazing). Would I run for it, trampling over anyone who got in my way, or would I try to stop the guy and/or protect other people, like the professor who blocked the door while his class escaped? And maybe it's some measure of personal growth that I've gone from thinking "I'd definitely be running, and trampling anyone who got in my way", to, quite honestly, not knowing what I'd do in that situation--I imagine a lot of it would have to do with the circumstances of the moment (How close I'd be to the guy, who else was around me, etc). But I hope I never get the chance to find out... 3. The whole Don Imus business. I'm very unhappy that he got fired, and I'm no Don Imus fan--I never heard or saw his radio or tv simulcast for more than a moment or two at a time, on my way to something more interesting--but the way I see it, no one promises us at birth that we'll never be offended by what people say in the public sphere (Or else Bill O'Reilly and Anne Coulter would be serving life sentences for years of offending me). There's nothing in the constitution protecting us from being insulted, or getting our feelings hurt. I'm a bit torn, cause I'm not a big fan of racist/sexist/mean-spirited talk in general, and public discourse is uglier/meaner than I wish it were, but I feel that, as unpleasant as it is sometimes, we live in a free society (Or we used to, anyway), and if I want the right to say what I want to say, I have to "grin and bear it" when losers and morons use their right to say what they want to say ("Grin and bear it", or just not buy their books, watch their tv/radio shows, etc. Which reminds me--It's doubtful the Rutgers girls basketball team were big Imus fans, or even knew who Don Imus was before this. So while what he said was racist and distasteful and stupid--actually, I think his producer actually said it. He just kind of "went with it"--what do you say about the publicity hounds who ran to the Rutgers women to spread the poisonous word--"Did you hear what Don Imus called you?", creating a big controversy, and a great deal of pain and suffering in the process, where none really existed?). 4) I was disturbed by Alec Baldwin's phone message to his 11 year old daughter. It was just not appropriate, by any stretch of the imagination, to call a child a "thoughtless pig", and direct that level of rage at someone you supposedly love and care about (As someone who was verbally abused by a supposed "loving parent"--or "parental figure"--I'm particularly sensitive to this sort of thing). But on the other hand, while it's by no means "okay" to do that to a child, I felt sorry for Baldwin as well, because we don't know the context of his obvious anger and frustration, and if every parent who went off on their children verbally had their rant aired in public for millions of people, had their children taken away, or their custody rights put in danger, there'd be a whole lot of children without parents. I just hope--and this seems like a weird thing to say about the child of millionaire celebrity parents--that young Ireland is going to be okay. And I guess that's it for "Jim's Take On The News"... 0 comments so far 
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