There's a Storm Comin'

Today, I simply applaud the prose of my buddy JJ over at As Little As Possible from December 12. Yours truly was also raised Catholic, and having gone through a few angry years is coming back again... but it is sh*t like this, this intolerance, that makes me (and so many others) so angry. I hope JJ is not upset by my reposting here... have an equal opportunity day everyone.

Same-sex relationships — like nuclear arms proliferation and environmental pollution — constitute "an objective obstacle on the road to peace," wrote Pope Benedict XVI in a statement released by the Vatican yesterday.

This from the man who wears Gucci sunglasses and red Prada loafers. Did I mention he's also calling for an "equitable distribution of wealth" throughout the world?

Your Holiness:

Surely you've already sold your couture wardrobe and given the proceeds to the poor, so let's not waste time on that. As someone who was raised Catholic, I must politely register my displeasure over the first part of your statement. You are in a remarkable position; a great number of people listen closely to and follow what you say. You advocate peace, but you do so at the expense of a vast sector of society that includes not only the GLBT community but also the straight people who stand with it. You, as the leader of a religion that calls for loving one's neighbor as one's self, have the power to very bravely say, "Love manifests itself in many forms, and its power or worth does not diminish as it shape-shifts. We are finished with senseless discrimination and effrontery. It is beneath us. We welcome all people who choose to believe that life is better lived with and for others rather than above and apart. A love for God and the espousal of the altruistic tenets of Jesus Christ are all we ask for — we do not care about your race, sexual orientation or any other personal aspect over which you have no control. We only care about the part you can control: the manner in which you conduct your life. Conduct it peacefully, with an open heart."

Instead of leading us into the future, Your Holiness, you have chosen to remain rigidly anchored to dusty, antiquated prejudice. You have chosen to inculcate intolerance. You are tilling the soil of society so it remains fertile for the seeds of hate. I look forward to the day when you realize your mistake — your sin — and I pray that time comes soon, on this Earth, rather than in the afterlife, when your god will no doubt purse his lips, shake his head and break the news that you were very, very wrong.

With love and in hope,
J.J.

$ob $tory

What's the deal with money? Everything is so expensive nowadays.

I begrudgingly went to my audition this morning for a theatre I've been told never to work for, and they didn't even give me a callback. BAM! Ridiculous. So, I then meandered through the city trying to decide what to do next. I ended up spending about $80 in the next few hours, on simple necessities.

Stamps
Oh brother. Remember when first class stamps used to be like $23 cents? Sheesh. I bought two books of postcard stamps today because I just ordered some postcards with my picture on them to send out to casting people to remind them who I am, right? Well, it now costs $0.24 to send a postcard. That's almost a quarter! Are you kidding me? It's insanity. And don't try to send out a headshot to anyone or it'll cost you upwards of sixty cents -- $0.63 to be exact. And for cripes sake, I send out a bunch of them every week. No wonder I don't have any money. And, I had to stand in line for about twenty minutes to spend $22 on postage.

Vitamins
I went to replenish my supply of multivitamins, supplements and the like at GNC, using my member card. Now, thank goodness I have that, because I saved just under ten dollars today because of it. However, is it really fair to charge me thirty bucks for 180 vitamins? Of which, of course, I have to take two a day. So that's 30 bucks to get me through 90 days... which turns out to be $0.33 repeating each day for multivitamins. Oh brother.

Groceries
Come off it! There is no way I should have to spend over thirty dollars on orange juice, tomatoes, bread, mac&cheese, soup, apples, oranges, bread, cheese and turkey. For crying out loud! I just need to survive here. But, $35 later, the kind man who didn't speak my language (which is FINE! ... for today at least) just didn't have enough smile to make it worth it.

Finale Ultimo
What makes the whole tragedy sad, though, is the simple notion that I CAN'T AFFORD ALL OF THIS. I'm an actor. Which means my days are full of auditions. Which means my nights are full of rehearsals. Which means there is no time for a real job. Which means I can't make any money. Which means the jobs I do have a few and far between. Which means I now am beginning to realize why they came up with the whole starving artist mentality. I guess I'll just have to stop buying things, stop auditioning, get a job in a cubicle somewhere, begin hating my life and then be able to buy things again which won't make me happy anyway because I'm stuck in corporate America doing something I don't want to be doing next to fifty other people who feel the same way and are just spending their time updating their myspace profile on the boss's dime....

Love and peace. Beedow.

Journalism Gripe

That's right, now that I can command+shift+4, I will be showing you all different angles of my PowerBook desktop.

Today's topic is a gripe. With writers. Or, non-writers, perhaps.

So, the other day, NYT ran a profile on Kristen Chenoweth. Just a simple follow-her-and-her-dog-around-town type thing. Today, Playbill.com runs a story using a TEENY TINY bit of information from the NYT story, and passes it off as its own. We already learned from the Times that Chenoweth and Nathan Lane are developing a sitcom about talk-show personalities like Regis and Kelly. We know that. So why does Playbill have to tell us that same information, packed inside a "story" which only includes other information (bios) we already know and pawn it off as news? This is not news, this is old information.

I don't mean to pick on Mr Pincus-Roth from Playbill. Sir, I'm sure it's not your fault. I mean to pick on news sources in general. I read something in the Times or other reputable source on, say, Tuesday morning. I've been known to pick up my local Queen City paper up to ten days later and find the same story -- either word for word or simply repackaged. Can't we figure out a way to write our own stories? Doesn't anyone see the point in twelve people not writing the same story for twelve different papers or magazines or news outlets? At least spruce it up.