bloggie blog

Over the last 3 days, I’ve had a lot of replacement parts to my black MacBook. Thanks to AppleCare and my 2 external backups, it’s been pretty painless, if a little time consuming. I got new RAM, and an unexpected boost from 2GB to 3GB. Then I needed a new hard drive, too, and an unexpected boost from Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Embracing change, I switched the DNS servers on our Time Capsule settings from Time Warner Cable’s default values to the settings over at OpenDNS. The internets have gotten peppier with every one of the above changes. Upgrading your RAM or your OS will probably cost most of you money, but you can all upgrade to OpenDNS for free … and I highly recommend you give it a shot!

Just be sure to write down your current settings so you can reverse them if it doesn’t make things peppier for you. (Sidebar: If you say it in French, a peppier might be the guy that walks around fancy restaurants to grind some pepper on your soupe or salade.)

When I first heard of Carmen Trutanich, I thought he was a she. Sorry, Carmen! Years of Laverne and Shirley can only go so far in opening the eyes of my otherwise sheltered upbringing. (Okay, that guy was a Carmine. But still….)

Mr Trutanich is the city attorney. A couple of days after learning who he was, I called his office and said thanks. I even tweeted that call! The thanks was for AB 1319 and its protection against advance-fee talent scams, both egregious and subtle. Many actors only hate egregious scams, I support clamping down on the subtle ones, too. Misguided actors are complaining. Why don’t you call him up and thank him for doing some good in the world?

My next stage appearance is in the great Arthur Miller play All My Sons. I play Dr. Jim Bayliss. I’m enjoying the rehearsal process, working with and meeting new people, and also working with my friend Lauren.

There are only 10 days till opening night!

After several days away, I am back in Los Angeles and happy to be here. I am refreshed. I am enjoying the weather. I have some good things here for which I am grateful, including lovely visits with 2 lovely friends. And I did not spend years of my life on Lost. All good.

This is one of my favorite poems. It was written by my dear mother, who passed away this week.

The story goes that this poem was inspired long ago by me and my siblings’ propensity for grabbing quickly at things in the basket on top of the fridge whenever dad would hoist us in the air, which he did often. If something fell down, it wasn’t my fault — gravity did it!

			Gwabity

		Kathryn R. Ashworth


	Gwabity did it;
		Gwabity told
	About all the things
		I climbed up and stoled

	Fwom off of the fwidge top
		And put in my pocket.
	Gwabity told,
		Though it couldn't talk it.

	Mama held
		My feet by her hand
	While I giggled and giggled
		At Upside-Down-Land.

	"Oh, oh," I said,
		And Mama did, too,
	As the pennies and pwetties,
		Away they all flew.

A paper clip here,
			A blue marble there,
	And one wubber band
		All hid in my hair.

	"Gwabity makes
		Things fall," Mama said,
	As the things I had gwabbed
		Fell down wound my head.

I’d mentioned this poem to mom recently, and it brought a big smile to her face. A couple of days later she said “Gwabity did it” with a twinkle in her eye. It’s one of the last things my dear mother said to me.

Thank you, mom. I love you. I miss you.

Lena Horne was a wonderful singer. Her most famous song, I suppose, is Stormy Weather, which I was introduced to via M*A*S*H. (Dang, that show made me smart. Do sitcoms do that anymore?)

But Lena also sang some cheesy, fun lounge classics. On this day of her funeral, take a moment to enjoy these two songs that appeared on the Ultra-Lounge compilations. Wives and Lovers. It Had Better Be Tonight.

RIP, Lena. Rest in peace.

I will not vote for Meg Whitman because she is immoral. A front-page article in today’s LA Times (yes, I spent 75¢ on it!) deals with corporate ethics, an area wherein she doth protest too much her innocence. But what really convinced me long ago that she is in the wrong were her many many many radio ads wherein she rails against handouts to the poor — and this, in an era of unprecedented handouts to the rich, is immoral. Next candidate, please!

I had my first rehearsal today to play the role of Dr. Jim Bayliss in a production of All My Sons, the great Arthur Miller play. More info will be forthcoming, naturally, but since today was my first rehearsal and since I speak first in the play, I thought I’d type up a snippet from the top of the play, including the last bit of prefatory stage directions into the first lines of dialog:

DOCTOR BAYLISS is nearing forty. A wry, self-controlled man, an easy talker, but with a wisp of sadness that clings even to his self-effacing humor.
AT CURTAIN, JIM is standing at L., staring at the broken tree. He taps his pipe on it, blows through the pipe, feels in his pockets for tobacco, then speaks.

JIM. Where’s your tobacco?
KELLER. I think I left it on the table.

I may wear a bow-tie. Stay tuned!

Careful readers of this blog know that I finished shooting my lead role in the indie film Look in the Mirror. Careful readers of this blog clearly have too much time on their hand, anyway, so I do not cringe to report that this weekend, we are spending two more days shooting some new scenes for LITM. These are scenes that were deemed necessary after months of ediiting to really make the movie work. Fine by me! Fun group, and I want to the movie to be as good as possible.

Today’s work is being overseen by this ever-vigilant butler, at the Calabasas house. He’s always been here, every day, at the house “I” own, but to be honest, I’m not sure he’ll be seen in the final cut. I wouldn’t want him left out, so you go, Mr. Butler!