Felix (my cat) and Riley (my dog) are laying face to face in a shaft of sunlight on my living room floor as I write this. It’s not a very wide beam of light, and I Felix wants to be in the sun more than he wants to be left alone by the puppy. It’s incredibly cute, and I thought I’d share.
On the way to school today, Nolan and I were caught in some annoying traffic on a major street. While we sat and waited for a light to change, he looked out his window, and pointed at an alley that lead away from the traffic jam.
“Why don’t we go down that alley?” He said.
I pointed at a moving truck that was blocking it about halfway down. “Because we won’t make it past that truck,” I said.
“Well, let’s just drive right into it, and hope we respawn on the other side!” He said.
“I don’t think that would work,” I said.
He frowned for a second and looked back at me.
“You’re right,” he sighed, as we started to creep forward. “With our luck, the respawn point is probably behind us.”
I laughed. “We’re kind of geeks,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, “but that’s okay.”
Parents always hope to see a little bit of themselves in their kids, and as a stepparent, I’ve always wondered if Ryan and Nolan will pick up anything from me. It’s been a challenge, because I don’t want to force myself on them in any way, and their dad has worked pretty consistently to marginalize my influence, and minimize my position in their lives . . . but over the last year or so, Ryan and Nolan have come to me. They’ve made efforts — entirely on their own — to close the gap between us. After almost ten years, I feel like they’re truly accepted me into their lives. They’ve picked up my interests, my humor, my sense of duty to Truth and my fundamental belief that we should always be giving without expecting anything in return.
It’s wonderful when I see Nolan stop to help a kid at school, or see Ryan take the time to do something kind for his brother or mother, just because he loves them. They may not carry my DNA, but they carry my spirit, and that’s far more important.
It was a silly little thing, Nolan geeking out with me about respawning this morning, but there was something unspoken between us, something that I can’t quantify or describe in words. It was something I just felt in my soul, and it was one of those important waypoints on our journey together that I don’t want to ever forget.
I’ve got an audition this morning, and a meeting at lunch, plus I’ve got workers coming to tear out some bushes (heh. I’m working on that this Tuesday, too) and trim up one of my trees, so I don’t know if I’m going to get Dallas up by the end of today. That story has taken on a life of its own, and I don’t want to rush it out. I think I’m going to put some of the Linucon report into that post, too, even though it’s almost as big as Texas already.
Chris The Film Geek has a great recap of the signing at Borders last Sunday, though, that I encourage you all to go read. I’ll fill in my thoughts whenever I finish the Texas oddessey.
This is probably it for this week, so have a great weekend and a safe All Hallow’s Eve, everyone.

It’s raining pretty hard over my house right now, which isn’t that big a deal, except we rarely get interesting weather here in Pasadena . . . but right now it’s a full-on Arizona-style thunderstorm, complete with bright flashes of lightning, explosive claps of thunder, and sheets of water falling from the sky so heavily, I can’t see across my street.
Actually, as I write this, I’m sitting in my kitchen, watching garbage cans float down the gutter in front of my house. Good thing I left my cans up on the sidewalk this morning, just in case.
I’m putting the finishing touches on the Dallas recap. It should post within 24 hours.
. . . and in the time it’s taken me to write this and preview it, the rain has completely stopped. I just opened the window and all I can hear is the ferocious rushing of water down the street, and the drip drip drip of the downspout on the garage.
Cool. 🙂

“If you are specific about your goals, and put yourself in a place where your
good luck can do you some good, the universe will absolutely conspire to make
your dreams come true.”
— My Mom, when I was a little kid, at a time when I was actually paying attention.
You were right, Mom, about more stuff than you could possibly imagine. I love you.

Several months ago, I did an interview for a show called The Technofile, hosted by a guy named l a z l o w. Now, anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto 3 or Vice City knows that is a big part of both those games, so when I called him for our interview I was able to keep it together for about 75 seconds before I blurted out, “Oh man, I have to tell you how much I love Vice City, especially the soundtrack, and it’s just super cool that I get to talk with you!”
He was very gracious and endured my fanboy explosion, and we did our interview. When we were done, we chatted a little bit more, and somehow the topic of GTA: San Andreas came up. One thing lead to another, and lazlow asked me if I would be interested in being a caller on one of the radio stations.
I just about crapped my pants, and told him that I LOVE the GTA games, and I’d do any part at all just so I could be part of San Andreas. He told me that he’d bounce some ideas around, and get back to me about it.
A few weeks later, he called and offered me a part as a news reporter in the game. Of course I accepted, and back in summer, I got to spend the better part of an afternoon in a sound booth, bringing the character of Richard Burns to life. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had, because lazlow, just like the producers of GR2, worked with me, and encouraged me to take some risks, improvise a little bit, and really push the limits of what we could get away with.
It’s super cool, man! Richard Burns is one of those characters that most people would probably say I couldn’t play, and most studios would have probably dismissed me out of hand, but lazlow believed in me, and took a big chance on me . . . and apparently it’s paid off, because about a month after I did my sessions, lazlow called me, and told me that he’d played my bits for some very important people at Rockstar Games, and one of the Really Big Important Dudes said something like, “I love Richard Burns!”
I haven’t been able to talk about this since I recorded it, because I signed an NDA. I haven’t discussed the details of my scenes with anyone, not even Anne or the kids, and none of my friends even knew that I was in it at all. Matter of fact, the only person who knew about it was my brother, and that’s because he’s also a talented voice actor who has a cameo on the game. But even when we talked about it, I couldn’t discuss specifics with him, and we kept calling it “The Project.”
It has been killing me to keep this to myself, because being in GTA: San Andreas is like being in Empire Strikes Back, but Rockstar was obviously very concerned about protecting the story, and I respect that. However, since it’s come out today (and it already breaking sales records, apparently) I can do the excited geek dance right here on WWdN –> w00000t!
As an actor, I always want to be part of projects that I am proud of, that I can confidently tell my friends about, and that doesn’t happen very often . . . I can’t believe that I get to be part of what is already being called “the single best title on the PS2 [the reviewer has] ever played.”
Again, I say: w00000t!

I stopped watching SNL years ago, because . . . well, because it’s thirty-five different kinds of sucks.
So I missed the whole Ashlee Simpson thing, until I read about it at daypop or blogdex or something earlier today. The Internets are abuzz with people slamming Ashlee Simpson, but I don’t think that’s the real story. I mean, anyone who is surprised that Ashlee Simpson would be lip synching on SNL (or any other time, really) would probably be surprised to learn that the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were fake.
(I hope I didn’t ruin Jurassic Park for anyone . . . but if I did, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.)
The real story, if you ask me, is more about SNL, and how it traded Andy Kaufman for Andy Dick. The real microscope shouldn’t be focused on Ashlee Vanilee Simpson, but should be focused on SNL, which used to be a reliable source of biting commentary and satire, but is now just another predictable, corporate, unimaginative stop on the flavor of the month’s publicity tour.
Tony Pierce, who keeps one of the greatest blogs on the planet, nailed the demise of SNL perfectly:

saturday night live used to be counterculture. it used to be punk rock. but it hasn’t been punk rock in decades and the other night night just put the last nail in your coffin. and good riddance i say. you are the establishment. you should do your lame open, show the cartoon, do weekend update, show the band, and get off the shitter. but you hate us. thats why you keep doing all this bad tv.
i know you hate us because you hired ashlee. thats not love. the highlight of most of the episodes of snl used to be the musical guests.
david bowie singing in a sarcophagus.
i remember the stones being on there, the dead, the replacements.
why don’t you take what happened saturday night as a hint that your show has jumped the shark. that you’re too old that you don’t care any more what is counterculture to america and the best way to realize that is by having jude law host and ashlee simpson “sing”.

Bingo, Tony.
B-I-N-G-fucking-O.
afterthought: I wasn’t clear when I posted this last night: If I had declared that the show was a pile without having watched it at all for years, I would have earned a special “asshat” badge. When I said that I haven’t watched SNL in years, what I meant was I haven’t gotten in front of the TV every Saturday night at 11:35 pm and stayed there until 1 am, rocking with laughter at the show. What I meant was, there used to be a time when something big would happen in the news, and I’d turn to my friend Dave and say, “Man, I can’t wait to see what SNL does with this!” What I meant was, several times over the last few years, I’ve tuned in for at least the first 15 minutes (where they usually put their strongest material), and I’ve found it to be the opposite of funny, clever, or entertaining. But that’s just my opinion, and if you :heart: the show, I’m not going to argue with you about it. Finally, I am certain that the writers and actors on SNL are all talented, dedicated people who work as hard as they can to produce a great show, but it sure seems like the network won’t let them push the limits like they once did. That is what I meant by corporate and unimaginative.
And I know that Tony Pierce has said some unkind things about me in the past. He’s still a great blogger, and everyone should still read his site. If you doubt me, check out his photo essays. They’re incredible.
Okay. Now go watch Kids In The Hall. Seriously.