Entries from July 2004 ↓

So I guess my acting career isn�t one hundred percent dead. I�m not actively pursuing it, but work still falls in my lap from time to time.

An old friend of mine, an independent filmmaker, emailed me the other day to ask about my availability to do some work on a new film he�s currently shooting. Last night after work, I went over to his place to shoot two scenes.

Eons ago, when we both lived upstate, he first used me to do some voiceover work for a public service announcement he was producing and later we acted together in an industrial video. About seven years ago I worked the production side on another feature he shot that had a successful run on the festival circuit.

Since moving to NYC we�ve both bumped around a bit before settling into our chosen paths. I selected the relative financial security of a 9-5, while he continues to follow the dream as a freelance producer of music videos, documentaries, commercials and his own projects.

I�ve often said I love acting but hate show business, so this was the kind of opportunity I could enjoy. No auditioning required. It�s all in who you know, baby.

I won�t tell you what the film is about only to say it�s a futuristic, suspense thriller with sinister undertones, and I have a small part as the mastermind of a mysterious criminal enterprise. He�s shooting for entry into the Sundance Film Festival and is producing it under a SAG Experimental Film Agreement that allows him to use professional actors on a deferred pay basis. Should the movie make any money, we will at least get our day rate. I may have another day of shooting next week as well.

He�s also shooting it on digital video that is so film-like it�s scary. He showed me footage he�s already shot and you really can�t tell the difference.

No matter how hard I try to get out, they keep pulling me back in! And that�s a good thing.

I was reading this and the comments posted afterward, which are really a continuation of the discussions people always have every four years or so. Another presidential election is upon us and nobody is really happy with the choices. What to do?

Well despite what some may be inclined to do, if four years of Bush has taught us nothing, not voting is not an option. Symbolic protests fall on deaf ears. Nobody is impressed. There is no rule stating that we need a quorum in order to hold an election. If there were 1 million registered voters and 999,999 stayed away because they didn�t like the choices, then someone would get voted in by a single vote. It�s that simple.

Not voting will only get us more Bush and further erosion of our civil liberties, more war, greater disparity between the haves and have nots. Four more years of him and I will be calling O Canada my national anthem.

Voting for Ralph Nader is also not an option. The key word here is viability. Viability is defined as a candidate�s ability to win. Nader has none. He has no party apparatus behind him, no funds, no ability to get out sufficient numbers of voters. He is not viable. Vote for Nader. Bush wins. O Canada. Get the picture?

A lot of folks aren�t crazy about John Kerry. I know I�m not. I�m a little more at ease with his selection of John Edwards as his running mate (picking Gephardt would have been a major blunder) although I wasn�t supportive of either during the primaries. (For the record I was a Dean supporter.)

While I am a lifelong registered Democrat who has worked in both politics and government and continues to contribute money to local New York campaigns, I have always been a political pragmatist. Politics is not about having the perfect candidate. There is no one human being who can be all things to all people on either side of the political spectrum. It�s about choosing the best from the options given to you. It has always been this way.

I think the annual whining that always comes from the left wing over not being happy with the choices stems from a certain lack of political sophistication. We want a perfect world, with perfect candidates to choose from. Grow up, already! Right wingers understand that it really doesn�t matter who gets the party nomination so long as they have a solid voting block with an agenda and an ability to push their issues. (Bush the father was a moderate, but conservatives forced him to do their bidding by their ability to organize.)

We so-called liberals and progressives�being a more diverse group�often have a hard time seeing past our own narrow issues in order to form coalitions with like minds. Thus the environmentalists and the gay marriage crowd aren�t in synch, or the labor groups are fearful of the immigrant rights folks because they think they�ll lose their jobs. Instead of recognizing that our collective numbers give us the ability to sway an election and set the national agenda, we snipe and curse if �he�s not strong on our issues.� Stupid, childish, divisive thinking while conservatives skillfully work their plan.

Instead of forcefully pushing our issues in front of whomever wants our vote, we wait for them to come and �inspire� us. If we vote, that�s all we do, while conservatives assemble in droves to lobby lawmakers at the local, state and federal level, every day of every week, whether their candidate has won or not.

Now despite my party affiliation I also think we need a stronger third party option as they have in many other western nations. Registering as an Independent isn�t an option either, because that�s not a political party. It doesn�t give you unified numbers just a mass of disgruntles.

To build a political party you have to work from the ground up, during the years between presidential elections. As former House Speaker Tip O�Neill once said, �All politics is local.� The heart of what the Democrats and Republicans do is get voters to the polls at the local level. Dividing each city into precincts and blocks allows huge networks of volunteers to go door to door to canvass for voters and encourage people to come out in support. A third party must create the same mechanism. Third party candidates winning city council races and mayor�s offices all across the country, and thus creating a broad local base, are the foundation that has to be laid before any viable presidential candidacy can be mounted.

John Kennedy said, �Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.� Progressives need to heed those words. Change will only happen when we make it happen, not by waiting for some politician. If you are looking for the agent for change, go no further than the nearest mirror.

I don’t usually do these memes, but this one was too good to pass up. And of course it’s all true.

Blame him.

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com