Ceaseless Harm

I had to switch the no complaints bracelet again. The less said in public about the reason for this the better. Suffice it to say that someone did something that pissed me off and instead of confronting him on it I griped to friends who were in agreement that he shouldn't have done it. Given my history with this person I do not think I could have confronted him but I sure shouldn't have been griping to others. Ah well. To distract you from my shortcomings I offer you the ultimate in cyborg names:

Get Your Cyborg Name

i'm in the movies

It really is funny how long it can take a movie to hit the shelf. Back in the summer of 2006, when I was still acting, I was cast in two local indie films and at long last both have DVD distribution.

The first, Max Rules, is written and directed by Robert Burke. An action adventure story following three teenage friends and how they foil an international spy ring that has the FBI stymied. I have not seen it yet, but it got great press at the various festivals as a kids adventure movie. I have a blink and you'll miss it part at the very end as the football coach. Available on Netflix for your renting pleasure. (By the by, Rob wrote the story when he was in high school and directed the bulk of it at age 20. He has chops and I cannot wait to see what he does next.)

The second is The Audience Strikes Back, written and directed by Pat Beacham. Born out of his frustrations with the Star Wars prequels, the film is an extended conversation starting with Star Wars and evolving deep into personal territory. I am featured much more prominently but I am not sure that is such a good thing. I saw an early cut and was not crazy about my performance - stiff and anticipating with almost no honest moments. (Not criticizing the director here; entirely my fault as an actor.) Due to be released on July 29, 2008, you can pre-order the DVD at Amazon. Have no idea if it will be carried by Netflix but I suppose if enough people requested it, they would have to.

It is great to see these hit the market, even if it means truly embarassing publicity photos get posted on imdb.

US & Torture III

And now we have the President of the United States of America admitting on national television that he personally approved of the torture of detainees.

What happened to our country and how do we fix it?

US & Torture II

More and more details are surfacing about how the U.S. government approved the use of torture at the highest levels. Again, it is information that has been assumed for some time now being confirmed. These actions are horrific and I would ask again, what do we do about it?

Wrist Switch

I had been doing so well, too. I made it through a couple of projects getting dumped on me at work, a couple of fights with Trish and just general stress. And tonight during a 5 minute car ride, I yell at another driver for not making a turn quickly enough. ratsenfratsenmumblegrumble Anyway, made it twelve days this time around. 

5 Things

Todd tagged me and I am still thinking up his appropriate retribution ("One day, your uppenace shall surely come!"). In the meantime,

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
* Starting a new job at Adobe
* Taking a writing course at UW Extension
* Living at the top of Queen Anne
* Spending far too much time at Chris & Gary's playing video games
* Trying online dating for the first time

5 items on my to-do list today
* Contact executive producer about shoot date for short film
* Shop for baby shower gifts for Katie & Jim
* Revise Duo budget
* Ensure all my billable hours for March are entered
* Quality time with Trish to celebrate her play closing

5 snacks I enjoy
* Kashi GoLean snack bars
* Bananas
* Cashews
* English Cheddar
* Any fresh berry

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
* Buy home and a vacation home
* Buy homes and pay off college tuition for all Loyd and Heinrich family
* Set up charitable trust with All Saints Church
* Travel so often I rarely use the vacation home (yes, you can use it while I am away)
* Fund my and my friends' film projects

5 bad habits
* Procrastination
* Worrying over issues I have no control over
* Infrequent and poor quality housekeeping
* Diet Pepsi
* Beer

5 places I have lived
* Honolulu, HI
* Spokane, WA
* Olympia, WA
* Seattle, WA
* That's it

5 jobs I have had
* Information booth at Pike Place Market
* Elevator operator at Space Needle
* Actor in indie film The Audience Strikes Back (paid and everything)
* Legal Communication & Tools Technologist at Adobe
* Book packer at Mountaineers Bookstore warehouse

Now I am supposed to "tag" 5 people who have to do the same thing, but I hate putting others on the spot that way. So we'll end it here. There you go, more than you needed to know about me.

US and torture

The John Yoo legal memos were released last week. (John Yoo was the number two man at the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department and wrote a series of legal memorandum that promoted skirting the Geneva Conventions and U.S. law to allow torture of terrorist suspects, as well as promoting unchecked powers for the commander in chief during wartime.) If you blinked and missed it, you weren't the only one as the traditional media seemed more interested in Obama's bowling score than U.S. sanctioned torture. Glenn Greenwald at Salon captures my anger at the whole situation.

This issue gets to me more than any of the other dozens of abhorrent actions taken by the Bush administration. Maybe it is just my romantic notions, but torture and its faux-legal justification are fundamentally opposed to what it means to be American. We tried Nazis for just this kind of action. And now our country has done the same thing in our name.

The question, of course, is what do we do about it. I have participated in online petitions and have written letters to my senators but that seems to do nothing. Even with a Democratic Congress, there is too much posturing and too little action. So my question is serious. What do we do about it?

I know the few people who read this blog do not comment much, but I really am interested in a discussion on this issue. How can we stop this from happening now? from happening again? Is it just a matter of wait until the election? Isn't there some way we can take steps now? What do you think?