The Glam Factor

Didja watch the SAGgies last night? I did because a) I'm a member and b) there wasn't anything else on.

I was going to try to catch up with my "For Your Consideration" viewing of all the contending films, but I got hopelessly behind and gave up for the time being. Since I don't have to return the "screeners" I can view them at my leisure. They are somewhat annoying, though. Every few minutes you get a superimposed message that this dvd is "for your consideration" and remains the property of whatever production company happens to own the film.

Still, the price is right. Free. It saves me from plunking down real money to see some films ("Hairspray") I really don't want to waste money on seeing. Oh, and don't get me wrong about Hairspray. But I saw the original John Waters' film, way back when and I saw the Broadway show a few years back. I have zero interest in seeing it (again) on film.

But it didn't matter if I'd seen the films or not. What I really wanted was my mid-winter dose of glamour, something that's been sorely missing from my steady diet of cold and darkness this winter. I needed glitz, tinsel, red carpets and bad fashion decisions to brighten up a Sunday evening. And the SAG awards did not disappoint.

I love Charles Durning but would it have killed them to put a ramp up to the stage to save the poor old SOB from having to climb up the stairs? Jeebus, I thought he would fall and kill himself.

Everybody else were either modest to the point of self-effacement (Javier Bardem) or over-the-top in love with themselves (Josh Brolin). Mostly, though, the winners were damn glad they were the winners and too bad for the losers.

The best part of last night? it was mercifully brief and unusually lacking in the sort of self-aggrandizing bullshit that the Oscars indulge in ("Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the most self-important night of the year in Hollyweird... Oscar Night.")

I love my parent union and my fellow 119,999 members.

My name is JoyZeeBoy and I am an actor (SAG member since 1981).

Rainy Days and Sundays

"From God’s lips to His ears" Copyright © Austin Cline

Doesn't it seem like Dubya has always been President? I know it sure seems that way to me. Just like it seemed like Ronnie Rayguns had been President forever, too!

I'm sure it seems highly disrespective of me to refer to Ronnie that way but he was, after all, just an unemployed actor when he got the best gig of his career. I should know. I'm a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, too.

Just like the Governator.

And speaking of governors, I'd like to ask everyone out there who believes in such things, to put in a good word with the Deity of their choice on behalf of our New Jersey governor, Jon Corzine, who wasn't wearing his seat belt. I hope he's okay. And I hope they give his ass a ticket for $76.00 for not wearing his seat belt. Seventy-six bucks is nothing to Jon Corzine. When he got ousted as the Chairman of Goldman Sachs, he was a jillionaire. He still is.

On a totally different subject, I hope you all noticed a new design element in my website today. It's just over there on the left. I've added a feed from Accu-Weather. You can add one to your websites too. It's easy. Drop by the Accuweather website and check it out.

Weather has, obviously, been on my mind. Yesterday (Saturday) was beautiful here in New Jersey. So, naturally, I went to the movies, because I really like sitting alone in the dark for hours on end, stuffing my face with junk-food and mentally checking out of life. Particularly on a beautiful Spring day! I can't help it. It's the alcoholic in me.

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today we're in the midst of a monsoon here in glorious New Jersey, the Garden State. They're predicting that half the beaches will be gone by Monday. Not to worry! The Army Corps will be around to suck up half the ocean bed and redeposit it on the shore in plenty of time for the big Memorial Day kickoff to the summer season!

But it is pretty icky out and I'm seriously considering not going to my usual Sunday morning 12-Step meeting. Not that bad weather ever kept me indoors when I was drinking. Hell, I would've roller-skated over five miles of broken glass in the midst of a hurricane in order to have gotten a cocktail, way back when.


So I guess I'll go, after all. I suppose that going to the meeting, even if I don't feel like it, is kind of like putting on my "sober seatbelt." Sure, I might not need it, but why risk it?

Have a beautiful day, no matter what the weather is like wherever you are!

PC Update - SAG

I think I mentioned that my IT friend, Bob, gave me a magical CD that helped me while I was trying to install a new drive and salvage files from the old (dying) drive.

Well, so far it's all working, thankyewjeezis. Last night I salvaged my Outlook PST file from the dying drive and THANK GOD for that! It not only has a boatload of e-mails on it, and my contacts databases, but also it has my calendar, full of reminders of people's recovery anniversaries, pending Civil Unionizations, birthdays, recycling reminders, doctors appointments and, well, MY ENTIRE LIFE!

How do people live without Outlook?

Anyway it's saved (until I get it backed up someplace else, off-site, in a vault).

Tonight I've reserved an hour to get a newsreader called "Agent" working. It's a very old, pre-version 1.0, copy. I probably should just upgrade (it's up to version 4.something).

Then there's the matter of licenses. I haven't worried too much about my iTunes licenses, but I'm really concerned about my two year subscription to Norton and my full-blown version of Office, which I have on CD.

I'm probably worrying over nothing. Right now, though, I'm having a problem with the network interface (Internet Explorer) which tends to "head south" quickly, when I try to visit my favorite websites. There's nothing wrong with my internet connection, though. I can ping the Comcast servers with no problems, but it won't recognize CNN, or Yahoo. I may have to dig into my firewall settings to see what that's about.

Anyway, it's like watching paint dry and, unfortunately, it takes me back to my Wall Street days, with all the insecurities I lived with for over 12 years, when I worked there. I hate feeling incompetent. It's the alcoholic perfectionist in me. I know that now. Still, it's uncomfortable.

On a totally different topic, when I got home last night there was an envelope from the Screen Actor's Guild. I ripped it open first. It contained my brand-spanking-new membership card. They not only restored my membership, they back-dated me to my initial joining date. And I got my original member number back, too. I looked at it and was kind of shocked when I read this:

"Member since 1981." It's been 26 years since I did a commercial for New York Air (a now defunct air shuttle between NY and Boston), which we shot out at LaGuardia on a bitterly cold winter morning in February of that year. That was my entree into professional show business. SAG became my parent union. Later I joined Actor's Equity Association and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

I don't know why these things mean so much to me, but they do. It's kind of like I'm shutting one door and opening another. I don't know where it will lead, but it's my duty to do the leg work to get there.

Life involves a lot of "showing up and being prepared", doesn't it?