Today, I begin a new chapter in my life. Today marks the beginning of filming for a movie that I will be appearing in. It is an independent, feature-length comedy being made by a group of local filmmakers. It is not likely to be seen by very many people, but you never know!
At the moment, several movies are being made in the Memphis area. There are a couple that are being backed by major studios, that star famous actors, and that will one day be in theaters. This is not one of those movies. That's something I'm getting very good at explaining to friends who are excited to hear that I'm going to be on screen. The thing is, I'll be in the movie, but the movie may never be on a screen. Ahh, but I should not be so negative. I'm sure big hits and big careers have begun with smaller projects than this one. So, be on the lookout for "The Importance of Being Russell" at independent film festivals near you starting in 2005.
Today, I begin a new chapter in my life. I know very little about how it will turn out, but I'm quite certain it will have something to do with being in movies. Will it be a long chapter, filled with stories of living a life on the big screen? Or will it begin and end with "The Importance of Being Russell?" I can't tell you that. This is just the preview. You want the rest of the story? Buy a ticket!
Friday, June 11, 2004
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Blown Away...
Well, with the knowledge that there is a disposable toilet brush in the world (see previous post) has come the freedom to ponder other questions; to tackle other issues, if you will (and you will!). Here's one that has been gnawing at me for a little while:
I live and work in neighborhoods where people take their lawns and landscaping fairly seriously. I am lucky to spend a lot of my time in a particularly beautiful part of a very nice city (hooray for Memphis!). I regularly see homeowners or their chosen landscaping service hard at work around the neighborhood. At some point in pretty much every project I see undertaken, someone pulls out the blower. This relatively new addition to the home gardening scene perplexes me. You see, there is nothing in or on these lawns that actually needs to be blown around. There are, however, many things (cut grass, leaves, etc.) that need to be bagged and discarded. It seems that folks are under the impression that the easy availability of the blower has made bags and bagging unnecessary. Now - my neighbors seem to believe - it's okay to just blow any trash out of your yard and into the street and everything's clean. I guess trash bags were just a temporary band-aid on the problem that blowers have now fixed?
Everything I have ever learned about cleaning, being part of a community, or finishing a project tells me that this is not right. That you are not, in fact, finished with your work as long as you've gotten all the things you don't want anymore out into the street. Apparently, though, the common sense of many members of my community has been sucked through their garden hoses right out of their heads. Or perhaps someone just blew it into the street for someone else to find and clean up.
I live and work in neighborhoods where people take their lawns and landscaping fairly seriously. I am lucky to spend a lot of my time in a particularly beautiful part of a very nice city (hooray for Memphis!). I regularly see homeowners or their chosen landscaping service hard at work around the neighborhood. At some point in pretty much every project I see undertaken, someone pulls out the blower. This relatively new addition to the home gardening scene perplexes me. You see, there is nothing in or on these lawns that actually needs to be blown around. There are, however, many things (cut grass, leaves, etc.) that need to be bagged and discarded. It seems that folks are under the impression that the easy availability of the blower has made bags and bagging unnecessary. Now - my neighbors seem to believe - it's okay to just blow any trash out of your yard and into the street and everything's clean. I guess trash bags were just a temporary band-aid on the problem that blowers have now fixed?
Everything I have ever learned about cleaning, being part of a community, or finishing a project tells me that this is not right. That you are not, in fact, finished with your work as long as you've gotten all the things you don't want anymore out into the street. Apparently, though, the common sense of many members of my community has been sucked through their garden hoses right out of their heads. Or perhaps someone just blew it into the street for someone else to find and clean up.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
The Dawn of a New Day...
Early on in the life of Ziggybackride, I wrote a persuasive, lucid, well-thought-out piece on "The Most Disturbing Thing in My House." (at least that's what others seemed to think about it!) The title of the entry referred to the toilet brush. I asked then why, in our society, we did not have access to a disposable toilet brush. I asked why we should keep our bodily filth in a corner in the bathroom. I asked important questions. I demanded answers.
A new day has dawned, my friends! Presumably because of pressure exerted on the household products industry by avid readers of this site (I can't imagine any other possibilities), someone is now making a toilet bowl cleaner with disposable cleaning heads. Our dream has become a reality!
Now, the possibilities are endless. Now, we know that if we can but imagine, we can accomplish. We must now dream new dreams. We must commit ourselves to the noblest of causes. There were generations before us who could never have imagined the disposable toilet brush. What will the generations to come bring to this world of ours? I am humbled by the possibilities!
A new day has dawned, my friends! Presumably because of pressure exerted on the household products industry by avid readers of this site (I can't imagine any other possibilities), someone is now making a toilet bowl cleaner with disposable cleaning heads. Our dream has become a reality!
Now, the possibilities are endless. Now, we know that if we can but imagine, we can accomplish. We must now dream new dreams. We must commit ourselves to the noblest of causes. There were generations before us who could never have imagined the disposable toilet brush. What will the generations to come bring to this world of ours? I am humbled by the possibilities!
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
God Bless... well...God!
Happy Shavuot to you! That's right, the third and probably least well-known of the triumverate of Jewish pilgrimmage festivals is upon us and my office was closed today. I work at a synagogue, by the way. Random businesses aren't shutting down for Shavuot just yet. But just you wait! Only, be ready to wait a really long time. Or possibly wait in Israel. Anyway, Judaism being the pragmatic and efficient religion that it is, Shavuot is a holiday with a dual purpose. It celebrates the Spring harvest and the giving of the commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. It's fairly major, but no one knows about it because Sunday school is already out for the year by the time it happens and because it doesn't happen at the same time as any major Christian holidays. Chanukah is a pretty minor holiday, but everyone knows it. It owes all its fame to Christmas.
Anyway, it's been a nice day. Not quite the perfect day my friend Bekah described recently on her site, but not bad. I got my ass whooped in tennis by a good friend who just moved back to town. But at least someone backed into my car while I was playing. Poor kid. Driving his mother's tremendous Suburban and couldn't control it. Doesn't seem like a big deal - easily fixable. So I lost in tennis and my car got hit, but I guess it was a good day because I got to play tennis and didn't hit anyone else's car. That's a pretty good day! Off to pub quiz tonight with friends where, to top off my great holiday, I will have my lack of knowledge of many subjects demonstrated to me by people I've never met. In a bar. Happy holidays!
Anyway, it's been a nice day. Not quite the perfect day my friend Bekah described recently on her site, but not bad. I got my ass whooped in tennis by a good friend who just moved back to town. But at least someone backed into my car while I was playing. Poor kid. Driving his mother's tremendous Suburban and couldn't control it. Doesn't seem like a big deal - easily fixable. So I lost in tennis and my car got hit, but I guess it was a good day because I got to play tennis and didn't hit anyone else's car. That's a pretty good day! Off to pub quiz tonight with friends where, to top off my great holiday, I will have my lack of knowledge of many subjects demonstrated to me by people I've never met. In a bar. Happy holidays!
Sunday, May 23, 2004
What A Racket!
Several times in the last couple of days, I have been around people (most notably a professional photographer taking a class picture) who, while trying to do something, have said something along the lines of "I have to take my glasses off so I can see." They then proceeded to remove their glasses and successfully finish their respective endeavors. That can't be right! Why do they even wear the glasses to begin with? I'm supposed to go in for an eye checkup soon, but I'm reconsidering. I can currently see without removing any apparel. I sure as hell don't need glasses!
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Huzzah for a Hundred!
There's cause for celebration today! That's right. Ziggybackride has received its 100th visitor. Was it you? Maybe! No, it was me. I would say that approximately 92 of the visits have been me (and most of those came from my reloading the page for one reason or another). But people always say about whatever it is they have to offer, "If it changes or helps or entertains just one person, that's enough for me!" I tend to disagree with that thinking and scoff at those people for setting their sights so low. However, for the purpose of this blog, entertaining myself is enough!
I just wonder how quickly we'll hit 200 visitors. What about 1000? A million? If we continue at this breakneck speed (read 1 visitor every 3 days), watch out world! There'll be a new King of the Internet! For now, though, if I can touch just one person... oh forget it!
I just wonder how quickly we'll hit 200 visitors. What about 1000? A million? If we continue at this breakneck speed (read 1 visitor every 3 days), watch out world! There'll be a new King of the Internet! For now, though, if I can touch just one person... oh forget it!
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Happy New Year!!!
So, there it was - time for my quarterly visit to the blog upon which I still plan to regularly post witty and/or thought-provoking nuggets (For those keeping score at home, the blog to which I am referring is this very one. Oh, and if you're still keeping score, I have not been posting regularly.) amd I made a startling discovery. It turns out that I have not added anything for Ziggybackriders to enjoy since 2003. That was a long time ago! So, first of all...
Happy New Year! I hope your 2004 is off to great start (hey! we're still in the first half of the year! It's not too late. Is it?). How's it going with those resolutions? I didn't make any this year. At least none that I still remember, though it's quite possible that as the ball dropped, I said something to myself about posting more regularly on my badly neglected blog. And that was shortly before I engaged in a romantic, Happy New Year make-out moment next to a (drumroll please)... dumpster. That's a story for another time, though. Actually, it's not. We shall never speak of that again. Nothing against the moment or the girl... it was all as wonderful as you'd imagine. Moreso even! It's just that if I should ever again find myself expressing my fondness for someone in or near a large garbage repository, I wouldn't want her to think it any less special than it will most certainly be just because I've done it before. Understand? Yeah, me neither.
Okay, I have now filled you in on the first hour or so of this year. We're almost caught up! You'll know everything soon. Stay tuned!
Happy New Year! I hope your 2004 is off to great start (hey! we're still in the first half of the year! It's not too late. Is it?). How's it going with those resolutions? I didn't make any this year. At least none that I still remember, though it's quite possible that as the ball dropped, I said something to myself about posting more regularly on my badly neglected blog. And that was shortly before I engaged in a romantic, Happy New Year make-out moment next to a (drumroll please)... dumpster. That's a story for another time, though. Actually, it's not. We shall never speak of that again. Nothing against the moment or the girl... it was all as wonderful as you'd imagine. Moreso even! It's just that if I should ever again find myself expressing my fondness for someone in or near a large garbage repository, I wouldn't want her to think it any less special than it will most certainly be just because I've done it before. Understand? Yeah, me neither.
Okay, I have now filled you in on the first hour or so of this year. We're almost caught up! You'll know everything soon. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
More Commercial Problems
It's happening again! Television commercials are causing me to question my knowledge, my eating habits, my world. Speeding away from the hemi question, I find myself in the world of breakfast cereals. Two commercials, in particular, are raising eyebrows around, well, my face. First, Kellogg's Fruit Harvest cereal... In the Fruit Harvest commercial, a voice asks about the dream in which boxes of tasty, wholesome cereal grow on trees, you know... that dream! While we are reminded of the dream that we have all certainly had, we see are given a visual of rows and rows from an orchard filled with the mysterious cereal box trees. Okay, I'm with you so far, Kellogg's. But then it happens! The voice tells us to wake up. It's not a dream any more. The video continues to show us the cereal box tree orchard, in full bloom with "ready for store shelves" boxes of Fruit Harvest cereal. It's not a dream any more? Are they really growing cereal by the corrugated, full-color printed boxful? The voice tells me yes. A hearty congratulations to the fine folks at Kellogg's for this incredible advance in agricultural science.
It's not just Kellogg's that has me wondering, though. Post Maple Nut Medley (or something like that) has a commercial that has piqued my interest, too. In their commercial, the Post people don't suggest that their product is grown completely ready for retail sale. What they do show, however, is a woman enjoying a bowl of this delicious cereal... up in a tree! Now, I've eaten cereal for a long time and in a lot of places, but I can scarcely imagine a scenario in which I would be eating the cereal in a tree! And I don't see any milk up in the tree with her. Did she prepare the bowl first and then climb the tree? Maybe a cereal accomplice on the ground poured the milk over the clusters of hearty goodness and then somehow (maybe pulleys?) lifted the bowl up to this cereal-loving tree dweller. It all just seems like a lot of trouble. If I'm not going to be able to enjoy this cereal in the comfort of my home, I'm afraid I won't be able to purchase it. You see, I usually don't climb any trees until around lunch time.
It's not just Kellogg's that has me wondering, though. Post Maple Nut Medley (or something like that) has a commercial that has piqued my interest, too. In their commercial, the Post people don't suggest that their product is grown completely ready for retail sale. What they do show, however, is a woman enjoying a bowl of this delicious cereal... up in a tree! Now, I've eaten cereal for a long time and in a lot of places, but I can scarcely imagine a scenario in which I would be eating the cereal in a tree! And I don't see any milk up in the tree with her. Did she prepare the bowl first and then climb the tree? Maybe a cereal accomplice on the ground poured the milk over the clusters of hearty goodness and then somehow (maybe pulleys?) lifted the bowl up to this cereal-loving tree dweller. It all just seems like a lot of trouble. If I'm not going to be able to enjoy this cereal in the comfort of my home, I'm afraid I won't be able to purchase it. You see, I usually don't climb any trees until around lunch time.
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