Just went out to get lunch. It's rainy and miserable outside. However, on Friday I will be in Brazil. According to my cousin it's hot and sunny.

Everybody out there have a happy new year!!

Dagness

So I didn't write this when it happened, but I'm sure some of you heard about stupid ol' Joe Lieberman endorsing stupid ol' John McCain for President. In that moment, I wanted to approach every asshole who criticized me for voting for Ralph Nader in 2000. Dick Cheney is an ass, but what has Joe Lieberman done since then that has made him any different from Tricky Dick? Did not this endorsement only solidify how much of a militarist he would have been had he been vice president?

Lieberman voted for the war in Iraq, still stands by it, and even dropped his party affiliation in order to run AGAINST an anti-war candidate in Connecticut in 2006. Democrats, who can't seem to accept that their party is just as dirty and opportunistic as their Republican counterparts, would have you believe that Al Gore would never have ordered an invasion of Iraq, but they forget that it was the Clinton-Gore team that maintained brutal sanctions against Iraq through out the 90's. Had Gore been elected and then been unable to capture Bin Laden following 9/11, why wouldn't he choose a convenient scapegoat in Iraq? What makes him so damned special? His V.P. certainly would have endorsed the whole affair, and his predecessor had no problem dropping bombs on Iraq in 1998 for the same reasons Bush invaded five years later.

Liberals seem to get nostalgic for Al Gore now that he's a Nobel prize winner, but he didn't talk at ALL about global warming in 2000 the way he does now. On top of that, had he won the election then, he and his buddy Joe Lieberman would have continued Clinton's misguided policy towards Iraq, and still would have launched the illegal and immoral invasion of Afghanistan.

####

I think it might be time for Americans to really consider boycotting their election system. Voting, in a process rigged to only allow the most militaristic of candidates to actually get nominated, is like handing these "leaders" a blank check. Election boycotting is a common tactic utilized worldwide by those who oppose the corrupt system they are living under. All states expend resources to prove their legitimate right to rule over people within their borders. Election boycotting denies them that ability to manufacture consent.

IF VOTING REALLY CHANGED ANYTHING, IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL.

HOLY CRAP!!!!

The Day the Music died.....

John Lennon was assassinated today in 1981.

Just thought I'd point that out....

YOW!!!

Holy crap I never update anymore! Why? CUZ NOTHING IS HAPPENING!!!

Well that's not true. I am in the midst, as always, of intense existential analysis. For many years I accepted AS FACT that human beings were unified by one common desire, to justify the world around them and to extract definite answers from reality. I no longer accept this premise. Since our ability to understand the universe is related heavily to language, and since the ability to speak is not inherent to all human beings (it is something which can only be learned at a young age), then the search for truth in the universe is not something that all human beings take part in. It is something which must be nurtured.

What are the implications of this? Well.... I'm not sure. It hit me while I was contemplating a meaningless existence. It made me quite calm to think of the universe as one spectacular coincidence, and life as one absurd episode after another. All of it an ocean of experiences, where you can swim in any direction or the current can carry you away. The latter of course being more likely, as the "current" is analagous to mass media, consumer culture, patriarchy, and oh, THE FUCKIN STATE!

I just saw a listing for auditions for a Coca Cola Commercial.... fuck that, I ain't submitting to them. They kill labor leaders in Columbia. I don't even drink soda. It's rotten.


Afaaowrigsdlfnas;difa;iohanrwwngwns CAN YOU TELL i'm at work!!!!! !SDGA

New Patriot Act

Check out this bill that just passed through the House of Representatives 400-6. It was sponsored by a DEMOCRAT!

http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=1185

Happy Halloween

Tape on my face.

Come see me in some play I'm in that I think I know the lines to.

Has the onset of winter got ya down? Are you afraid you'll be bored at home in November cuz of the cold? Then go drinking! It will cheer you up! Of course, you'll end up spending a chunk of change and feel crappy in the morning, so why not spend your money on something that you can deduct from your taxes? Like tickets to the show I'm in!!

What:
An O'Henry Christmas
by Howard Burman

Where:
Vpstart Crow Produtions
9008 Center St.
Manassas, VA 20110

When:
Thursday, Nov. 8 – 8 p.m. (Pay-What-You-Can Preview)
Friday, Nov. 9 – 8 p.m. (Opening Night)
Saturday, Nov. 10 – 8 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 11 – 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (Talkback after the matinee)
Thursday, Nov. 15 – 8 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 16 – 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17 – 8 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 18 – 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Here's the link to the show info on the Vpstart Crow website. http://www.vpstartcrow.com/news/news_2007_0826.html

George Carlin tells us the sad depressing truth

Warmongers for Clinton

Clinton campaign cashes in on the War Industry.

"Employees of the top five US arms manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon – gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to the Republicans. 'The contributions clearly suggest the arms industry has reached the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed,' said Thomas Edsall, an academic at Columbia University in New York."

Sting = Wanker

Off the Inveresk Street Ingrate blog:

AP: I actually heard a horrible story about Sting -- where'd I hear this story, about someone who went to dinner with him, and a few other people...

TB: I sent you that! From the Holy Moly newsletter...

AP: Yeah, you did! He pulls out his iPod during dinner, cutting himself off from the conversation...

TB: ... and the guests ask Trudi if they said anything wrong, to make him be so anti-social. She says, "He always does it, and the worst thing is, he's listening to his own fucking music."

Interesting interview with Greg Grandin on the legacy of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

"I Hate All Iranians"

Grace Jones' evil white twin (click on the photo):

George Bush criticized the government of Myanmar for human rights violations.....

....in other news the Pot has finally admitted to being as black as the kettle. I guess some folks know when to call a spade a spade.

Dear Columbia University President Lee Bollinger....

... Dubya said jump, whatcha gonna do?

Enough About Politics, eh?

Thanks to my friend Luke, the bike that I've been slowly building for TWO YEARS is finally complete! YAY! Joy! Glory and Spitballs!

I plan to ride it this weekend, hit lots of hills and return home completely exhausted. After that, I'll eat gold! Sweet!

Speaking of bikes and gold, check out this awesome picture!! It's gold!


SHUT UP I'LL NEVER STOP

Dilbert on Ahmadinejad.

U.N. calls for Nuke-free Middle East,....

...USA and Israel say that's just a bad idea.

I want to remind everyone reading this article, which in my opinion is heavily skewed against the passed provision, that Israel is the only country in the middle east that possesses nuclear weapons. Israel never complies with IAEA regulations because Israel refuses to sign any nuclear arms control treaties. Also, unlike Iran, they are occupying territory that is not theirs.

Hillary Clinton, shamelessly political as ever.

Hillary Clinton is an insufferable piece of shit. There, I said it. Her pro-Iraq War stance pisses me off. Her support for an attack on Iran pisses me off. Her undying support for Israel pisses me off. But now, a new thing she's supporting really pisses me off: Requiring that Americans get health insurance. That's right. Read that again, carefully. She's not advocating the creation of a National Healthcare service. She's not trying to end for-profit medicine. She's advocating even GREATER subsidization of private health care, and claiming, through some kind of insane bullshit logic, that further subsidization of a system that is already heavily subsidized AND inadequate is going to make health care more affordable. And actually, it's not even subsidization, it's tax credits.

Drug developers get subsidies. Agro-business gets subsidies. Individual Americans without health insurance, will get a tax credit.... To pay for health insurance which they will be held in contempt for not having.... Maybe those people should take the money from that tax credit and form a powerful lobbying group that can provide the kind of campaign money necessary to convince Hillary that they need subsidies too. Or a decent not-for-profit health care system.

Hillary, you are a corporate suck-up she-devil.

Greatest intro to a song, ever:

Yeah!
Why do American punk-rock boys always go out with the American new-wave hooker girls? I don't know! I don't like it!

I come from Norway and we don't like punk-rockers going out with the little bullshit new-wave hooker girls. We are going to teach you all a lesson. In Norway punk-rockers go out with punk-rock girls or telephone hookers, unless...they go out with themselves and do homosexual activity. This is a Norwegian folk song from Bergen, Bergen-Belsen, it is called “Tomorrow I'll Be Dead Because I Went Out with a New-Wave Girl Even Though I Was a Norwegian Punk-Rocker!!!"

Anybody remember this slice of joy from the '80's?



The best part is, you can watch whole episodes here:

http://nostalgiamanila.blogspot.com/2006/01/80s-cartoons-watch-silverhawks-full.html

Me! DYING!!!

A few weeks ago I got a part on a student film/web series called "Last Rights" as a hitman. My appearance in this series is limited to one scene in which I have no dialogue, so I wasn't going to make a big deal of it. That is of course until I saw that I made the preview!! Woohoo!

So check it out. It's not difficult to find me, I'm the dude getting wacked.

The only thing better than Brazil winning the Copa America, is Brazil winning the Copa America by defeating Argentina 3-0.

Oh, cry for me Argentina
The truth is you're overrated!

Congresswoman Sheehan??

Cindy Sheehan is saying she will run against Nancy Pelosi if the California congresswoman does not seek by July 23rd to impeach President Bush. Reading about this gives me some hope that the next election might actually wield a more interesting result than normal.

EDIT:
I want to point out that Nancy Pelosi was kind of a hawk back in the 90's in regards to Iraq. She supported the brutal UN sanctions regime that killed 500,000 Iraqis, as well Operation Desert Fox, when the US Air Force bombed the hell out of Iraq for not complying with UN weapons inspections. Don't believe me? Here's a quote from December 16th, 1998:

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Hey all!

So I'm in a play, AGAIN.

It's called Telemonster and you're all invited... to buy a ticket and come see me in it.

Where:
DC Arts Center
2438 18th St. NW
Washington DC 20009

When:
July 25th at 7:30 pm
July 27th and 28th at 10pm

To purchase tickets go to http://www.capfringe.org/ or call 1-866-811-4111.

Curious about the show? Lucky you, there's a website!: http://telemonster.i8.com/

Hope to see some of you there!

Did the US frame Libya for the Lockerbie bombing?

This movie's messed up. In like, a million different ways.

The song I am currently unable to get out of my head.

Been a while....

I've been neglecting this blog. Here I go starting up my old blogger account, only to treat it like a five year old would treat a toy he begged his mom to buy him cuz it was all shiny, only to pretend like he didn't want it later.

Well, I'm not gonna write about politics, because there is NO GOOD NEWS EVER!!!! The media still misrepresents everything, the U.S. is still occupying Iraq, and Israel still totally sucks. Democrats and Republicans are still the same, Americans are still too complacent to do anything about it, and Alex Pittman is still in college. Nothing ever changes!

So screw politics. Howzabout my acting, you ask?

Well, I'm still in the show "Telemonster" (http://telemonster.i8.com) for the Capital Fringe Festival. It's a comedy, so you could actually laugh if you wanted to. Check the URL for performance dates.

I got new headshots done on Sunday. I think they make me look really sexy. Too sexy. They make me look so clean cut and wholesome that I want to attach some shocking and inappropriate statement to each one as a caption just to keep me "real". Stuff like, "I do hairy dudes" or "Back door only, ladies" or "If he wasn't also my bro, I'd call him dad". I dunno, maybe all y'all out there in the blogosphere can help me come up with some good ones.

Apparently someone told me that DC has the second largest population of single people under 30 of any city in the US. Well, being that I've been out of the dating game for so long I think this is a sign that I need to get back out there. So I want to make it my goal this summer to hit all the singles bars in DC and get all those singles MARRIED!! I'm sick of seeing all this pretentious post-college carefree yuppy life-stylin' going on. Start getting married and having babies you rich bastards, we're never gonna beat the terrorists with their billion-baby families unless we start producing little suicide soldiers of our own!! LET'S GET SERIOUS FOR ONCE!!

EDIT: Okay I know I said I didn't want to bring up politics but check out this INSANE STORY about the military's idea of constructing a "Gay Bomb" and using it on enemy soldiers.

Cindy Sheehan quits

Cindy Sheehan, the woman who galvanized the antiwar movement by camping outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas to demand an answer as to why her son died in Iraq, has quit. As she explains:

"Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives," she wrote. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."

I saw Cindy Sheehan speak at a rally in DC almost two years ago. The impression she made on me was very deep. I, never one to trust American corporate news, had been very skeptical initially of this woman that the media was labeling as the face of the antiwar movement. But when I saw her and heard her speak, I was moved on a very personal level. This woman had lost her son because our government had lied. They lied to her, they lied to her son Casey, they lied to all of us. She decided to take her anger and her loss and turn into a cry for peace and justice. She didn't want to be elected to office, she didn't want money, she wanted this war to end. She wanted the liars responsible for starting it to be brought to justice.

McDonald's wants "McJob" out of the Oxford Dictionary. Hmm...

Former chief of CIA's anti-Bin Laden unit speaks out.

So it looks like I won't be involved in the "Decameron, Revisited" as previously posted. I will instead be working in a Capital Fringe Fest show titled, "Telemonster". The showdates are July 25th, 27th, and 28th at the DC Art Center Theatre.

****

My bike is in the shop till Wednesday. Lame, I know. The front breaks were squeaking horribly, and the fork kept bouncing whenever too much pressure was applied to the lever. No amount of adjusting or cleaning seemed to do anything, which probably means either the brake shoes are old and overused or the wheel is untrued. The shop I took it to was a definite last choice, "Spokes, Etc." in Vienna. Their mechanics are assholes, always talking to you like you know nothing about bikes and as if they have no time for you.

So while I do miss my steed, I turned my loss into an opportunity and walked to the metro this morning. It was a great day for it too, though no one else seemed to think so, evidenced by the lack of anyone else walking. I thought for a minute about all the people who drive to the metro even though it's so close to their houses, just because they can't stand a 30-minute walk, or are afraid of getting sweaty. But then I wondered if it was more than that. Maybe it's the status of driving everywhere that keeps people from trying alternatives. I mean, people in the Mclean/Falls Church area tend to be pretty wealthy, and they tend to have no shame in showing it off. An automobile is the perfect opportunity to do that. In a sane society, such vanity and waste would be chastised and those people shamed into walking, or biking, or (GASP!) taking the bus. But in the bizarro logic of the rich and mighty, being able to drive any kind of car for even a short distance is a way of showing off one's prosperity. And as anyone who's ever lived in NOVA, who isn't a total dooshbag (they do exist!) can tell you, the opportunity to put your wealth on display plays a big role in how people socialize around here.

Truly a shame. Because let me tell ya, if I had the money to spend on a "luxury" SUV, I'd buy one of these sweet babies right here.

****

This was a disturbing bit of news off the British press today. I don't know what the hell the Army was thinking in concocting such a plan. Luring an adversary out of hiding under the guise of a truce in order to kill them is horribly dishonest. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was the same dirty ruse used in the film Braveheart by the pro-English barons to lure William Wallace out of hiding. Did Bush, or some lackey general, see that movie and think, "Hey! What a great idea!"? Were they aware that the spirit of the film implied that such actions are immoral?

Reading about a trick this dirty forces us to look at the occupation of Iraq in perspective. So often we've seen terrible images, or read horrific stories, of atrocities committed by one faction or other of an insurgency that seems to direct its rage in many directions once. The corporate media presents the United States as being stuck in the middle of a sectarian war, like some referee in a boxing match. But when you read about things like this, or this, you begin to see that the intense hatred felt by Iraqis for the occupation indeed has a context.

Ron Paul, all alone.

I didn't realize the Republican candidates had a debate last night. I mean, had I known I still wouldn't have watched it, since like the Democratic debates it's really just about giving airtime to the media's favorite candidates, i.e. John McCain, Rudy Giuliani. Rep. Ron Paul (TX), however, took the opportunity to rebuke the other candidates in their "I'm a bigger fascist than you are" game, and made a statement rejecting America's interventionist foreign policy.

Of course, when I saw the roundup on CNN this morning, they spun it as Ron Paul making a statement attacking patriotism, with Rudy Giuliani rightfully putting him in his place by yelling, "....I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that."

Rudy, you are an immature asshole, and no intelligent person gives a shit anymore that you were New York's mayor during 9/11. You're like the Matt Damon puppet in Team America: World Police, but instead of saying your name like a dimwit you just yell "I WAS THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK ON 9/11!!"

I'm glad Ron Paul had the guts to say what he did in front of that audience.

Jerry Falwell died today. So it goes. I'm not surprising anyone when I say I couldn't stand that homophobic, dispensationalist, fundamentalist sack of shit. I wonder what other clean-cut hypocrite the Christian Right will get to replace him....

In happier news, I've been cast in a play that's actually being put on right here in Mclean. It's a professional gig, in that I get paid crap, but paid nonetheless. It is called "The Decameron, Revisited" and was written locally by play write Rachael Bail. I don't know much more about it than you at this point, other than it's a reinterpretation of, well, the Decameron. As always, when I know more, I will post showtimes online.

Youtube and IMDB

Yay, acting!

So not only is the film I did for the 48 hour film project on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFgMDJVANrs), but I am now listed on the Internet Movie Database(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2639877) for a short role I did in a local film a few weeks ago.

My career... ADVANCES!!!

48 hour film project

Butts were kicked last night and fools got served at the DC 48 hour film project. "Imaginary Joe" premiered with several other awesome short flicks, and I honestly can't say which movie will advance to the next round. I can only honestly say which ones won't. But I will refrain from saying anything, since it would be rude.

What I can say is that Anand and I received many compliments for our film, and I had the honor of becoming a minor celebrity after the showcase was over. Which is cool, in that I had obviously just gained a lot of exposure. It was weird though, in that compliments are scary to me, especially in large numbers all at once. I never really know how to appropriately respond to a random stranger who says, "YOU WERE SO GREAT!" I usually smile and thank them, but always get the impression my response was inadequate. I then thank them for coming, trying to deflect attention away from me and all the questions I might be asked about how challenging it must have been to play an anxiety-ridden, chain-smoking, alcoholic. "Very challenging," I want to say, "So challenging I need to go to a bar right now and order pint after pint of delicious, life giving beer so I can forget an entire room of people is suddenly looking at me"

Can anyone tell me the name of the song that was played in the incredibly dramatic finale of the movie "Glory"? It's the same music from the movie "Excalibur", used in the scene when Arthur and his knights charge out of Camelot to confront their enemies.

Anyone?

A student film I starred in, "Farewell, Providence", is now in my possession in the form of a DVD. I am considering having a bit of an informal NOVA screening for anyone who'd like to see it. I will let you all know if i decide to do that. For those who wouldn't be able to make it here for such a screening, I can also burn the DVD and mail it to you if you're interested.

Another short film I worked on, for the 48-hour film project, titled "Imaginary Joe" will be premiering on Wednesday at the AFI in Silver Spring. I will be going if anyone cares to join me. Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/events.aspx. Again, for those too far away to join me this film will, as I understand it, be available on Youtube in the coming weeks.

Commuting

Yesterday, I did not ride my bike to work. It wasn't the first time this happened since I started bike commuting with the advent of spring, but it was the first time I drove to work without having any particular need to do so. By that I mean, I didn't have an audition in Maryland right after work, or some other professional engagement which I wouldn't otherwise be able to reach by bike or metro. It wasn't raining, or snowing, or windy outside either. It was a perfectly sunny spring day in Virginia (there is no place on earth, in my opinion, with as beautiful a spring). I ended up driving because I ran late in the morning and in my rush to jump on my bike I forgot to pack my office clothes into my bikebag. By the time I discovered this, I was already a few miles from my house. I had to bike back home to get my clothes, after which I realized I would be late if I tried to cycle to work again. So... I drove.

And man, did it make a difference. I've heard that regular exercise improves your mood as much as your health, but I swear that after not riding too and from work that day I was the grouchiest son of a bitch I had been in weeks. When I got home I couldn't get the scowl off my face. I was so grizzled my whole head started to hurt. Just sitting at that stupid desk for eight hours without that workout before and after really changed how I felt about the day.

So... I guess the moral of all this is... RIDE YOUR GODDAMN BIKE!! IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL GODDAMN BETTER AND YOU'LL BE A LOT LESS ORNERY AND MAD AT PEOPLE!!!

I am restarting my old blogger account. Good for me. I am rather tired of having multiple blogs, so I really just want to synthesize it all into one space.