June 2004

It’s been two days since my last entry here. Time goes by fast. I actually had to do some work on Friday and was pretty tired when I got home so I went to bed. See, when you get older you can’t stay up as late as you used to (unless you have help). Something to look forward to.

What kind of work you may ask? When I am not working on various film and tv projects I have another company that does Technology consulting. I may have mentioned it before. Its’ called The MAC Authority. We help people get the most out of their computing experience and do consulting for companies who want to network or do anything that involves both the Macintosh and the Windows PC. It’s fun. And, its a great excuse to buy new gadgets all the time.

I pretty much know how to do two things well. I know how to make movies and keep them on budget and on schedule and I know how to work with computers and other technology. Which do I prefer? Right now, I am having a great time working with technology and am taking a break from the other business. I did it for some time and when you work that intensely on something there is a tendency to get burned out. At least there was for me. Hence, the break.

I still keep my hand in and most recently have been producing some commericals for a friend of mine. He is a very talented Director named Anthony Dalesandro. If you want to see some of the commercials, go check them out at his website. Other than that, we have some movie projects that we are working on and may or may not go somewhere. The trick that took me several years to learn is to make sure that you have another business to work in between gigs on film and tv shows.

That’s the life of a freelancer. You work quite a bit but then there are times when you don’t work at all. Sometimes those no work times last a long time. So, you need something to do and earn some money during the lean times. That’s the trick I mentioned above. Have another job. It’s that simple. Things are quite a bit happier when you have some money.

Even though I say bad things about money sometimes I’m not advocating that you get rid of it completely. You still need it to live. Unless you live in a monestary or something then you probably don’t need money. The rest of us do. Just don’t get too caught up in the pursuit of riches. It will usually end in disappointment. Not all of us can be Trump. The world needs ditch diggers too.

And last, but certainly not least, a very interesting article from Wired News:

A Pentagon effort to persuade Congress to allow military intelligence agents to work undercover in the United States met with resistance in the House Wednesday when the provision was left out of the highly secretive intelligence funding bill. However, the Senate’s version of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2005 still includes the provision, which exempts Department of Defense intelligence agents from a portion of the Privacy Act, a 30-year-old law that outlaws secret databases on American citizens and green-card holders.

The bill would allow Pentagon intelligence agents to work undercover and question American citizens and legal residents without having to reveal that they are government agents. That exemption currently applies only to law enforcement officials working on criminal cases and to the CIA, which is prohibited from operating in the United States.

Pentagon officials say the exemption would not affect civil liberties and is needed so that its agents can obtain information from sources who may be afraid of government agents, such as a green-card-holding professor of nanotechnology who formerly lived under a repressive government. The military has increased its focus on antiterrorism programs within the United States, most notably by reorganizing its command structure in 2002 by creating the Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The command is tasked with preventing and defeating threats and aggression aimed at the United States and helping civil authorities in the event of an emergency.

Such investigations should be conducted by the FBI, and the Department of Defense should not be engaged in widespread intelligence gathering in the United States, say civil liberties advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislative counsel Timothy Edgar. “This would allow military intelligence officers to undertake what amounts to undercover spying on Americans,” Edgar said. “This clearly should be in the purview of the FBI and state and local law enforcement.”

David Sobel, the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s general counsel, said that while the Defense Intelligence Agency does have responsibility for providing intelligence about attacks on domestic military bases, the agency should not be engaged in covert domestic spying. “Why can the DIA work undercover (in the United States) if the CIA can’t?” Sobel asked. “This is about the DIA playing an undercover intelligence role in the U.S.”

The DIA disputes it wants to collect information on Americans, saying the information exemption is intended simply to help its agents cultivate sources. Edgar, however, pointed to a recent controversy at the University of Texas as an example of how the current rules keep intelligence-gathering operations aboveboard.

In February, Army intelligence agents improperly sought information about attendees at a University of Texas law school conference about Muslim women. Conference organizers refused to provide a videotape of the event to the officers and publicized the request, leading to an apology by the Army. The Pentagon’s push for an exemption from the Privacy Act comes even as questions remain about the Army’s compliance with the Privacy Act in its homeland security efforts.

In September 2003, Wired News reported that Torch Concepts, an Army contractor ostensibly working on a base security project, was secretly given JetBlue’s entire passenger database in 2002 for a study of passenger profiling. There is no record that the Army published a Privacy Act notice about the data-mining effort, which sorted individuals’ social security numbers, family size and income to find potential terrorists.

The Department of Homeland Security’s chief privacy officer, Nuala O’Connor Kelly, admonished Transportation Security Administration employees in February for facilitating the transfers of personal information and breaking the spirit of the Privacy Act. The Army has yet to release the inspector general’s finished report, nine months after the revelation of the data transfer.

The Senate bill is now before the Armed Services Committee, which must finish its deliberations by early July before sending the bill to the full Senate floor for a vote. The bill is one of 13 remaining appropriations bills that must be passed by Congress by the end of the current session. If the provision remains in the Senate version and is not added to the House version before a vote, its fate will be decided in a closed-door House-Senate conference.

Interesting, right? This is something that probably isn’t a very good idea. Also, check out the good folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who fight the good fight. See what else you can do to get involved and stop crap like this from happening.

That is all.

Later.

Another article from the “no shit” department:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. fighter jets had virtually no chance to shoot down or intercept four hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, because of confusion and poor communication among “unprepared” officials responsible for America’s air defenses, a special commission said on Thursday.

The confusion was shared by Vice President Dick Cheney, who wrongly believed at one point that the military had downed “a couple” of aircraft under orders he conveyed, the panel said. In a report that included chilling quotes from hijackers commandeering the doomed aircraft, the commission’s staff found a White House order to shoot down hijacked planes did not reach Air Force jets until after the last airliner had crashed.

Although fighter jets were airborne seven minutes after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, military officials received insufficient notice of the other hijackings to stop the planes, the staff statement said. The civilian Federal Aviation Administration came under particular attack. “I think (FAA) headquarters blew it,” said panel member Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator.

Gen. Ralph Eberhart, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said that if the FAA had immediately reported all it knew to the military command, jets could have shot down the planes. The earliest notice the military had of any of the hijackings was nine minutes before a plane crashed.

The report was presented at the final hearing of the 10-member government-established panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. In the audience sat grieving relatives of some of victims, several clutching photographs of their loved ones.

The report said NORAD and FAA officials were “unprepared for the type of attacks launched against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001,” and “struggled under difficult circumstances to improvise a homeland defense against an unprecedented challenge.”

It said many front-line military and aviation personnel responded well, despite confusion, inaction and sometimes wildly inaccurate information at higher levels.

Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it? Just though I would share. Have a nice day.

Later.

This is an interesting bit of info in this Reuters article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of former U.S. officials is urging voters to defeat President Bush in the November election, saying his policies have isolated the United States, a spokesman for the group said on Sunday. The group of 26 former diplomats and military officials, including appointees of former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, plan to issue an open statement on Wednesday criticizing Bush’s foreign policies.

“We just came to agreement that this administration was really endangering the United States,” said William Harrop, a former ambassador to Israel under the previous Bush administration. The signers are a mix of Democrats and Republicans, Harrop said. They include Jack Matlock and Arthur Hartman, two former ambassadors to the former Soviet Union during the 1980s.

Also in the group are several other former ambassadors and retired military officials, the group said. Signers of the statement are concerned that the administration has undermined U.S. leadership in the world and alienated U.S. allies, Harrop said. As an example, Harrop cited the decision to launch the war in Iraq without sufficient international support.

“Our view is that the President Bush administration has chosen American domination of the world as in our best interest,” Harrop said. “We don’t think that’s going to work.”

Harrop said the group was not aligned with Bush’s Democratic challenger in the November election, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. “But we want an alternative and that’s the alternative,” Harrop said.
“We just came to agreement that this administration was really endangering the United States,” said William Harrop, a former ambassador to Israel under the previous Bush administration.

This is great. I can’t wait for the full statement to be released. Should be a page turner. I can’t remember a time when this kind of thing ever happened before. Although, I haven’t really been alive for that long. Ok, I’ve been alive for awhile but had my head up my ass for several of those years and didn’t give a shit about much of anything until the last few years.

What can I tell you. I was a teenager and then in College so my priorities we pretty much getting laid, drinking lots of beer and basically having a good time. I’m sure I went to a class or two now and again as well. What I didn’t do was concern myself with things like politics, war, death or the larger world in general. Did I mention I was in College and trying to get laid? So give me a break.

I’m trying to be a better person and a better citizen. Now I care a little more. Because I am older and smarter and much less tolerant of bullshit. Plus, I’m married now so that pretty much takes care of the getting laid part. As in, I don’t (well, sometimes, if I’m good). At least I can still have a cold beer now and again. Only a lite beer though. Gotta watch those carbs.

I find that the affairs of the world interest me more. Which is one reason for this blog. Not only do I find things more interesting and I enjoy forming opinions about things in the world, I want to share those pearls of wisdom with the masss. Because what I have to say is important, dammit! So listen up. Not now, though, I need to go.

Later.

Ok, I don’t claim to be an expert at sports, or anything else for that matter, but it looks to me like the Lakers got their asses handed to them. What a bunch of clowns. Who the hell do they think they are?

This is what happens when ego and money ruin sports. I am going to go out a limb here and say that athletes get paid to much money. You are just putting a round object into another round object. It’s not like one of them is square or something. Your round object fits easily. Why do I need to pay you so much? Also, while I’m on the subject, how come tickets to a Laker game cost so much money? Well, that’s for another time.

I also think that actors get paid too much money too. Don’t get me wrong, I like money as much as the next person. Unless that person is Donald Trump or something and then he beats me for sure. It’s just that it seems like money and the quest for it have basically ruined some pretty good things that I used to like. Movies, Sports, TV, that stuff.

The Lakers have all the talent in the world and should have won easily. What they don’t have is heart. The Pistons? They have heart coming out of every pore of their bodies. As much as I dislike the Pistons, they deserved to win and they played like champions. The Lakers played like a bunch of guys who felt like the world owes them something and they were only willing to work so hard to get it.

But surprise, if you don’t work for it you don’t get it. The Pistons worked for it, wanted it and are winners. The Lakers are losers and they acted like losers. For the record, I am not a fair-weather fan. When my team loses, I take it in stride because I know they tried their best. This time, they just didn’t give a shit and that sucks. There’s always next year. Maybe some of the lazy, egotistical jackasses will become free agents and the kids who really want to play will get a chance. Let’s hope so.

Ok, enough about the Lakers. They don’t deserve any more of my time or your time. In other news, the panel that was investigating the link between Iraq and Al Queda released a report today that says they can find no link between Iraq and Al Queda. Well, big surprise there. I pretty much assumed that they were not working together. Despite what our honchos in Washington would have us believe.

More details can be found here. It also goes on to say that many of the things that people in our government have been saying about 911 were basically fabrication and “will have to be corrected”. Meaning that our favorite leaders are basically full of it and that one of their main justifications for going to war with Iraq has so may holes in it you can drive a lifted H2 Hummer through it and still have room for a MiniCooper. Man I love our President and his gang. What a great bunch of guys.

Let’s hope that the people of this country wise up and send that guy and his buddies packing back to Texas or wherever come this November. John Kerry is looking better and better. Anyone, really, is looking better and better. Maybe will we get a Kerry / Edwards ticket? I think I could get behind that. Oh well, more news and whatnot later as I must go to the airport and pick up the wife. She comes back tonight.

I guess I’ll have to clean the place up and put the toilet seat down again. With all that, I’m still happy she is coming home. The place just isn’t the same when I’m here alone. Alone is nice, like many things, in moderation. But sometimes, its nice to have people around too. Well, sometimes.

Later.

This is just to piss off my friend ADD and get this published before he can do anything about it. I was at a party the other night and was talking to a bartender/actress named Jen who told me she lived on Studio City, which is near where I live and where ADD lives. So I asked her “What Starbucks do you go to?” and she told me. That’s the kind of small talk you make in bars or at parties these days. It may be because we have a Starbucks every ninety feet here in LA, I don’t know.

It seemed like a legitimate question and it was. She knew what I was talking about, got a kick out of the question, answered it and we moved on to a discussion of Swedish Vodka and low-rise jeans (see, I got that in again. some people said it was dead. not me, dammit!).

Anyway, we are going to have her and her fellow bartender, Jill, in when we cast the next commercial. We are looking for some LA party girls for this Bud spot we are going to do.

I wonder if we will be able to find any? I wonder if they will also all be bartenders whose names start with a “J”. I wonder what Starbucks they go to?

Later.

Two entries today. My, I am prolific. If only the quality of the content was related to the amount. Sometimes it is on sites more eloquent than this one. Sometimes it isn’t. However, as I am biased in favor of, well, me, I will say that what I offer is first-rate and should be considered such.

Now, on with the news. First off, Time Magazine no less has an interesting article on the power of the blog. If time can embrace this, why can’t you? Why are you not blogging up a storm? Afraid you don’t have anything interesting to say? That certainly doesn’t stop people from blogging their little hearts out.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it makes them look like an ass. So, in that spirit, blog away America. Anyway, you can find the Time article here.

I find it interesting that Time has picked up on this. Doesn’t that serve to legitimize blogging? Or, doesn’t that really mean that blogging will now be over as we know it? Soon, kids on “The Real World” will be doing it. Then, there will be a new reality series on Fox where teams of bloggers compete for valuable cash and prizes while having to eat disgusting things like squid or eel or jump through a ring of fire. Perhaps Donald Trump will be involved? We can only be so lucky.

Oh well, I guess we should just enjoy it while it lasts. I wonder what the next cool thing will be? Maybe we will all go back to getting together at the local and talking shit. You know, fact to face communication. It might help. It’s much easier to say bad things about someone via e-mail or a blog than to say those things to someone’s face.

See, like this. I can say “George Bush is a ass” or “the Lakers play like crap” and its easy because I am somewhat anonymous on my blog. Sure, you have a picture of me and an e-mail but really, what does that get you? You can send a nasty e-mail to me and I can just delete it. Or, I can subscribe you to various child-porn sites so that you get spammed to death and then the cops burst in and haul you pedophile ass to jail.

Now, if we were in the same room I might think twice about trashing our President or the Lakers. Well, at least the Lakers. That’s the great thing about this country and really, one of the main reasons other countries hate us so much. And make no mistake, other countries hate us.

We are hated because we have freedom. The United States is almost unique in the world in that I can pretty much say or do anything I want and nobody has the right to stop me. In other countries, like China for example, I could be jailed or worse for expressing my views on this blog. In fact, in China, may people can’t even get to the internet at all. Or, if they can, many websites that the government deems “unacceptable’ are blocked. And don’t even think about having a site that criticizes the government.

We are all very, very lucky that we live where we do and have the things that we have. Even if you are unemployed with two kids and are on welfare, you still have it better than most people living in Iraq or India or some other country like that.

What am I trying to say? Why, only my opinion of course. Expressed freely right here. In the USA.

Is this a great country or what?

Later.

The Laker game last night seemed familiar somehow. Oh yeah, they sucked last night too. Although, it wasn’t as bad as the last game (at least they didn’t loose by 20 points) They still lost. Don’t misunderstand, if a team tries their hardest and gets beat by a better team, I don’t feel cheated. I feel like my team got beat, not necessarily by a better team. By themselves.

In this case, I just don’t get what team was playing against the Pistons. It didn’t look like the Lakers that I’ve seen before. I guess what it comes down to, as I have said before, is great coaching by Larry Brown. Maybe we can get him for next year if Phil Jackson retires?

Ok, enough about the Lakers, that’s just getting old. Here’s an update on “Operation: Timewarp”. I actually heard back from a few people from the past that I sent a shout out to. Hard to believe. And here’s the really amazing part: they were actually glad to hear from me. Can you believe it?

Maybe I wasn’t as much of a jerk when I was younger as I thought? Mmmm. Or, maybe they have some kind of memory loss? I don’t know. Right now, we are at the stage where they have replied to my inquiries but I have not replied to their reply (confused?). I didn’t actually expect to get any response at all, let alone this soon so I am somewhat at a loss as to what to write back. I need to take a minute and try to say something good. (that will be a good trick).

Of late, I have found myself more interested in the past. Maybe its because every day I get older? It is only very recently that I have started to feel like an adult. I always considered myself a big kid at heart and prided myself (mostly privately) on my ability to stay that way this long. However, it seems like time is finally catching up to me, the sneaky bastard.

Over the years I have been able to avoid all the problems and ailments that I have always associated with “getting older”. Now, I have back pain. And, I am starting to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Lucky me. At least I don’t have to get up three times in the middle of the night to take a piss. Although I know I have that to look forward to in the future. Again, lucky me.

I guess it could be worse. At least I am mostly still healthy and can still walk around and still have most of my mental functions intact (such as they are). So, all in all, I am lucky. Plus, people from my past want to speak to me. Maybe I’m not such a bad guy after all.

Later.

I cannot believe how much the Lakers sucked. It is unreal to me. To watch a team that has won so many championships and has so much talent just piss it away is amazing to me. Actually, I think it wasn’t al the Lakers doing. I have to hand it to Larry Brown, coach of the Pistons. He took a look at the Lakers and then told his guys how to shut them down. And shut them down they did. Kobe Bryant with only one point in the entire first half of any game is difficult to believe. That it happened in game three of the finals is unreal.

I have to admit that when I was growing up I didn’t think too much about basketball. I was a football and tennis guy (sometimes golf). It was the Lakers that got me interested in basketball. Their love of the game and excellence at it made me love the game too. Guys like Kareem, Magic, A.C. and Worthy made me a fan. Now, I don’t know what to think. I guess I will think that it was just a fluke and move on. I hope the Lakers do too.

This will be a short one as I have just returned from a long drive to Redondo Beach to see my friend Kris. She and her fiance got a house there. It’s quite a drive from beautiful, downtown Sherman Oaks where your humble writer resides. However, I had work in Santa Monica today so I decided to make the trek. I also felt bad that I had missed their housewarming party as I was in New Orleans at the time. So, I went. It’s far, even from Santa Monica.

But, once you get there it is really quite nice. And an added bonus, they have only lived there for three months but they already know all the bartenders and the best bars. Obviously, they have their priorities straight. Good for them. Kris deserves to be happy and I think she finally will be so that’s good.

Ok, getting sleepy. Too many cocktails. Although, I was good and waited quite some time so I would not be under the influence when driving home. I made it home safely (obviously, or I wouldn’t be writing this) so I feel that is a shout out to my newfound responsible side. So, kudos to me.

Man, I really hate this keyboard. I gotta get a better one. Apple, what were you thinking with this piece of crap? The keys suck and it is very uncomfortable. Three grand for a computer and they stick you with a crap keyboard and a piece of shit one-button mouse. Come on Apple, get your shit together. Come into the new world. Two-button mice are ok and people actually like to type on their keyboards not just look at them and say “ohhh, white, pretty”.

I don’t usually say many negative things about Apple but sometimes their shit really pisses me off. I’m sure if Steve wanted two-button mice there would be two-button mice but not until then. That’s one of the big problems with companies that are driven by the vision of one person. It’s great when that vision is good but hell when that vision is missing the mark. Another case in point is George Lucas. Now, before I say anything about Mr. Lucas, understand that it was Star Wars that made me realize what movies could be. I and many others were captivated by the magic and still are, to a lesser extent, today.

The problem is that George has all the money and controls every bit of the process. There isn’t anyone around to say ” Come on George, Jar Jar Binks for fucks sake? Are you kidding me with this shit”. And God, we all wish their had been. Maybe there were people who had problems with “The Phantom Menace” or “Attack of the Clones” but they sure were not at the creative table. They were mostly in the audience.

When one person is in charge and won’t listen to other opinions, you tend to get into a little trouble. We all wished that the two latest Star Wars movies had been as magical as the original. Maybe it isn’t George’s fault at all. Maybe we just don’t believe in magic anymore?

No, I blame George. Although I will be seeing the next one on opening day, just in case. Maybe it will be the surprise we all hope for.

Later.

I’m watching a great movie right now and only want to mention a few bits of news. The movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece “North by Northwest”. Great fun with Cary Grant at his best. And now, here’s the news:

Apple again announces new products in the form of upgraded G5 Towers. For all the specs and dirt, go here.

This is cool. Dual 2.5 Ghz is pretty darn fast. However, they also announced that they will not be able to get to 3Ghz “any time soon” even though Steve promised they would at the last developer’s gathering. Apparently, the good folks at IBM cannot get their act together and make the chips work the way they are supposed to. Isn’t this the reason that Apple started buying chips from IBM instead of Motorola in the first place? We’ll see how this shakes out.

And, according to The New York Times (registration required) TiVo will offer a service in the near future that will allow you to stream video content from the internet right to your TV. This is in response to their deal with Direct TV going away. The feeling is that Direct TV is going to start offering their own TiVo-like boxes and also going to start doing the video streaming thing. So, the good folks at TiVo are trying to get a leg up now.

TiVo is a great gadget. We love it. If you don’t have one you don’t know what you’re missing. Go to the TiVo site to check it out and get one as soon as possible. It will change your life, believe me.

One other thing. If you are ever trying to find out who is trying to kill you and you go someplace to talk to a guy who can help answer some questions for you and he suddenly gets a knife in the back, for fuck’s sake don’t grab the knife and stand there for a picture.

If you don’t understand what I am talking about, go out immediately and rent “North by Northwest” and watch it. You’ll love it. I often wonder what Hitch could have done in today’s Hollywood with all the tools at his disposal. That would have been something to see.

Later.

I never looked before but a few minutes ago I clicked on the stats page at TypePad, curious to know if anyone was reading this site besides some of my bored relatives. Much to my surprise, I have recieved several hundred hits. So, in light of this development, I have decided to try to make this site more interesting and more insightful (as if that was possible). I, of course, have no real idea how to accomplish this. Like many things in my life I guess I will just wing it and hope for the best.

Which bring me to my next thought. Are the Lakers the luckiest mother effers around or what? If it wasn’t for the stellar play, practically at the buzzer, of Mr. Kobe Bryant, the Lakers would be down two games and heading for Motown. The fact that Kobe can be going through what he is going through and still pull that 3-Point shot out of his ass amazes me. That’s focus people. Pretty impressive.

I don’t pretend to know what happened between Kobe and his accuser in Colorado but I do know that even if his is found not guilty there will still be a stigma attached to him. Maybe for the rest of his life. You don’t just bounce back from that and resume your normal life. Forget being the spokesman for McDonalds or Coke or any other of the “family-friendly” companies. That’s all over. There will always be people who will think he’s guilty. Too bad, really, if he’s not guilty. If he is guilty, I have no sympathy for him. Of course, either way, he’s not a saint. He still cheated on his wife.

Keep in mind that there are still people out there who think OJ is innocent. These are the same people who will be thrilled with this next bit of info. OJ is going to be coming out with a new TV show. I can’t go into much detail right now to protect my source, but suffice to say that if what I have heard about it is true, it will definately spark heated debate. One tidbit for now: The concept is very similar to a show on MTV right now which was created by a certain male actor who like older women. The title, of course, is different but the concept is almost identical. More on this story as it developes. Also, you can probably find info about it if you look for it as OJ talked about it on TV last weekend during an interview.

What a crazy world we live in. And we are just getting started. But don’t dispair because here’s a bit of inspiration if you ever feel like life is getting too difficult and you can’t go on.

Go to this site and read the story of a 38-year-old woman who is rowing from Cape Cod, USA to Brittany, France. Amazing.

Later.