开云体育

2 thrilling pics
Clinton was here to dedicate the new airport. i shook his hand as he worked the crowd & got the pic at about the same time

Peck was here for the LBJ Library & i had seen him the night before read from To Kill a Mockingbird. he was attending the LBJ 30 Years Later presentation. that's his wife with him & Lady Bird just behind

1999 newsletter

Now that the Xmas rush is over, here's one more. It was an interesting year. In May I got to see President Clinton. He was here to dedicate our new airport and luckily had to re-schedule the visit, since I wouldn't have been able to see him the first time. After his speech, he worked the crowd & I was able to work my way up to the front & then sideways about 40 yards (trailing a secret service man) where I got some great pics & finally got close enough for my arm to be within reach of Clinton's for a handshake. He does love to work the crowd. That same evening, I saw Martin Sheen and Ramsey Clark (LBJ's AG) and got their autographs. After 14 years of living under the flight path of the airport, the neighborhood is very quiet now without the airplanes.

A week later I attended an LBJ symposium on the 60's, which was, in part, a reunion of staff and press from that administration. There were some wonderful LBJ anecdotes. LBJ tried to persuade ex-Guv Pat Brown to accept a government appointment & was buttering him up; Brown wanted to be a Supreme (Court Justice) & thought that's what Lyndon was leading up to; finally LBJ asked him to be the ambassador to Togo; "Where the hell's that?" "Don't know, but there's a Togo room in town, maybe they know." Brown accepted the appointment. I got a photo with Bill Moyers that eve. Thursday I saw Peter Yarrow, Carol Channing, Gregory Peck & Van Cliburn entertain. On Friday Peck sat next to Lady Bird at the historians' session & I got his autograph & a photo. At that session Michael Beschloss remembered writing a letter (when he was 7) to LBJ in '63 suggesting JFK be added to Mt Rushmore. He got a nice reply from the president's secretary (which his playmates didn't believe was real). When he first visited the LBJ Library in 1977, he asked about the letter & 5 minutes later a staff member showed it to him. The famous reply of a congressman was recalled: on being phoned at 4 a.m. by Lyndon & asked if he'd been awake, he answered, "Why no, Mr. President, I was just lying here waiting for you to call."

Renovation on my school finally started in February. It has moved very slowly and often behind schedule. The new 600 wing was finished two weeks ago and four teachers will move in next week. The music building was supposed to be ready by this time, but will probably not be finished until February. I've been gradually preparing for moving out of my room (originally scheduled for this month), cleaning up 19 years of accumulation; throwing out or recycling tons of stuff and finding some forgotten and very useful things. The building's heating/ac was off most of December due to construction and my room was about 60 degrees most mornings. (I went to a play this month where it was about 10 degrees colder than that - a newly converted theater space, which needs to add proper heating once the money is raised).

For the past three years one of my colleagues was a former student from ten years ago. This fall, he transferred to a school nearer to his home & his replacement turned out to be a student I taught 20 years ago!!! I moved to Austin in 1976 in order to be with my girlfriend at that time. We split up in 1980 and when she moved to Seattle I didn't anticipate any further contact. This fall I discovered that one of my students is her niece. Small world.

For years I've wondered how much walking I do at school. This summer I bought a pedometer and was surprised to find I walk about 4 miles on a typical school day. During the fall semester I've walked over 400 miles.

I went to about 30 films at SXSW in March & also saw David Douglas Duncan, the photo-journalist, speak. He was a dear friend of Picasso & the talk turned out to be mostly about Picasso slides; he was the official photographic chronicler of Pablo's works.

In February I was having major allergy problems & (on a friend's recommendation) tried acupuncture (& herbs) to treat it. It was very helpful and I've had 6 treatments since then. We have 2 acupuncture schools in Austin & by chance I met the head of one (at a Trout Fishing in America taping); his clinic is very reasonable & the students do great work. I also had a sty which lasted for several weeks before finally receding.

Other autographs this year include Ernest Borgnine, Larry Niven, Gary Paulsen, (at film festivals: Mary Stuart Masterson, Karen Black, James L Brooks, Robert Altman and Matthew McConaughey) (at the Texas Book Festival: Michael Nesmith, Edward James Olmos, and Scott Turow) Jonathan Kellerman, Doris Kearns Goodwin David Sedaris, Faye Dunaway, John Landis, James Morrow, Horton Foote, and Leon Russell

In the past 30 years I've been involved in two juries before this year. In one I served on a petit jury in a case in which a man unsuccessfully sued Albertson's because a shopping cart hit his car. The other, 3 years ago, concerned an emu ranching lawsuit and I wasn't actually on the jury. This summer I was involved in 4 selections. The first three were for U.S. District Court. One suit alleged police brutality against some kids (hung jury); in the second case the defendant was found guilty of throwing feces & urine at a prison guard. The third was a woman's unsuccessful suit of sexual harassment & sexual discrimination. The final panel was a DWI and the panel included a neighbor (the father of a former student). I didn't serve on any of the juries.

I almost didn't; but finally went to my 35th high school reunion in San Antonio this summer. It was interesting to see some of my classmates, though I know as many of them from reunions as from the one year I spent at Jefferson H.S. I'm glad I went.

The past few years I've taped so many TV programs that I've needed to take a VCR into the repair shop about every 6 months to replace the pinch roller head. This summer I bought a "personal TV," as they are called. Mine is a Tivo and allows me to record up to 31 hours of programs (on a big hard drive). Once a day my unit updates the program listings (for the following 10-14 days) and I can search for a particular program in several ways. I then instruct the unit to record "The Simpsons" or "Citizen Kane" (or whatever) (by name or time or channel) and forget about it. I can watch a "live" program in slow motion or pause it as well, and there's a instant replay at any time. I love my Tivo. I can even watch a program that's being recorded from the beginning as the program is completed. And I can watch anything on the Tivo while it's recording something else.

The past two summers I was an extra in two movies. This summer I answered an ad in the Chronicle for work as a paid extra. The day before I went back to work I got a call asking me to work the next day. I couldn't do it (it would have been a 5 a.m. call!!!) but I did get called again to work all day on a Saturday. I spent the day waiting and they never got to my scene. I was offered another day's work, but turned it down due to school. The movie is "Where the Heart Is." (Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd star). It turns out the casting office liked my photo and want to use me again, when the chance arises. So maybe I'll get some work when Robert Rodriguez shoots his next film early next year.

I saw many movies as usual this year. My favorites include "Book of Stars", "All About My Mother", "American Beauty", "The Matrix", "Lovers on the Bridge," and "Being John Malkovich."

I saw 74 plays and the most memorable include "De Profundis" (performed by Corin Redgrave - followed the next evening by a wonderful lecture by the author's (Oscar Wilde) grandson), "Gross Indecency" (about Wilde's 3 trials), "Ruling Passion," and "Millennium Bug."

I just received a Macintosh G4 which I ordered a at Thanksgiving. My friend Julio helped me fix some problems and it’s great. It's much faster than my Performa and I finally got all my old files transferred to it.

My friend Amy was treated so badly by her supervisor that she's moved to Portland and seems to be doing well there. Sutton now has a boyfriend & I see her (sometimes with him) from time to time. I've renewed my friendship with Kathleen after 10 years and see her occasionally.

Last month, local humor columnist John Kelso made the family Christmas cards from the 50's & 60's the subject of his column. (see the 11/28/99 issue if you missed it)

I've just finished my 202nd book of the year. Some of the best books I read were "Suspects" by David Thompson, "Remnant Population" by Elizabeth Moon, and "Only Begotten Daughter" by James Morrow. "Suspects" is a must for film lovers. Thompson tells stories about characters from many great movies including "Citizen Kane," "Chinatown," "Taxi Driver," "Casablanca", "Maltese Falcon", "Double Indemnity" and many others; all as told by George Bailey ("It's a Wonderful Life"). The Morrow is a blend of Lenny Bruce, Mark Twain, Dante, and Jonathan Swift. "Suspects" was so good that I read it a second time. The Moon book was a total surprise and thoroughly satisfying.

I switched the email lists I run to a web-based carrier (onelist) and it's taken some time to build this list for this Xmas letter (going out to 285 people). I run 3 variations on my joke list, a list of Austin City Limits taping dates, upcoming Austin events, old family Xmas cards. Any of you are welcome to subscribe to any of these and it's very simple to unsubscribe if you decide to. Email if you wish details.

Once again I'm changing e-mail addresses. Update your address books if appropriate. For the second straight year my ISP significantly raised the price and provided inferior service. Last year at this time I couldn't find a web-based email that supported POP. This time I not only found one, but was glad to find one that forwards mail to my ISP. So, capydan@... will be my "permanent" email. My current ISP's email is capy@.... A good rate, and they're backed by Cisco, which makes them seem to be reliable. Either address will work, and I hope I won't have to change ISP again, but if I do, the former address won't have to change. It took me about a minute to change the forwarding address to CORE.

Back in 1972 KEXL-FM, the rock station I listened to in San Antonio hired a hot air balloonist to fly promotional flights for the station. I went to see the first flight & continued to do so & when I consistently arrived at the landing site before the balloonist's chase car, I was asked to drive the chase car. That fall, there was a flight near Floresville. President Nixon was appearing at former Governor John Connelly's ranch while Vice-Presidential candidate Sergeant Shriver was in Floresville for a campaign appearance. On the way back from Floresville, we were listening to KEXL and heard a commercial for Sam Green (he ran very obnoxious real estate commercials every Thursday through Sunday. One Thursday, I phoned the morning DJ, Nick St. John, and suggested to him, "Sam's Here It's Thursday." Nick agreed & re-worded the acronym as "Sure Happy It's Thursday." To make sure everyone got the point, every Thursday he would preface the phrase by reminding everyone what TGIF stood for.) The pilot, Derek Howard, mentioned that Green was as fat as a capybara. Assuming he was jesting, as he often did, I challenged him. He said to look it up. I did, misspelling it, and thus not finding it. The next time I saw him, 3 weeks later, he told me the correct spelling and identifying it as the largest rodent in the world. We then adopted this animal and Derek named his next balloon Capybara, while I created "Capybaras International." Shawn Phillips included a song on his "Furthermore" album with that name, but didn't know how to spell it either, so it is printed on the recording as "Capé Barras." Before I moved to Austin I went to see a capybara at the San Antonio zoo; however, they had died shortly before my visit. Three years ago, after being assured on the phone that they had capybaras, I visited the National Zoo in D.C. with my brother. Wrong. No capybaras. I learned recently that the Austin Zoo has capybaras, which I got to see this week. An attendant got them outside their pen so I could take pictures

Have a great Christmas, New Year, and year 2000.

Eliza Dushku, star of Bring It On, and many others. i played in extra in that film

"Most times, it isn't easy to know where to start a story, or what to include in the telling. The threads of any present moment are spliced into the weave of the past in a complex and often inexplicable way, and just when you think you've got the pattern figured out, another seems to emerge and the meaning unravels. Or to use a different metaphor, the present and the past swirl together like different colors of paint you're mixing in a bucket, one color marrying with the other in swirls that eventually belong to neither. Exactly when the two become something different than either are alone, it's impossible to say." (Susan Wittig Albert – Chile Death (1998))

After many months of being told I would have to move out of my classroom at Lamar for the renovation, we were told January that the move would actually take place in a few weeks. The next two months I began slowly sifting through 19 years of accumulation and managed to clean out tons of things and was almost finished in March. The move took place the day before spring break; we got all 27 computers and all the furniture moved to the portable where I would only spend about one month. Several hours were spent during spring break preparing the portable. One month later my room was ready and everything got moved back. On top of all this I had two very challenging classes which sometimes made life very difficult.

The renovation is almost complete and in the next month the building will finally be wired for the Internet. We will at last have a PA system that works for the entire campus. It will be a relief to have many months of hassle ended. This year the district ended the block schedule we've used the past several years (8 class periods spread over 2 days) and went back to 7 periods every day. It proved to be a more strenuous schedule for all of us.

Our principal was chosen as Texas Middle School Principal of the year and was a finalist in the national competition.

The past three years, as many of you know, I worked as an extra on one movie each summer. This June I almost worked as an extra on one movie but when I got to the site found no one there and later discovered that all of their footage had been ruined. A week later I began work on a movie, "Pageant", on which I would spend several days, be in about 11 scenes, get a few lines of dialogue, and possibly two screen credits. The movie has been submitted to South by Southwest and we will find out if it was accepted by late January (it wasn't). In late December I was in a pickup shot for it (one scene had to be re-shot because the sound on the original was poor).

In early July, immediately after what I thought was my last scene in "Pageant", I began work on "Miss Congeniality" (which just opened nationwide) starring Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen. I spent eight very long days working on this movie playing a backstage employee and got to speak to both Caine and Shatner as well as being paid about $550. I am visible in two scenes; the first is after the flaming batons when Sandy goes backstage & chases away the pageant girls by her water glasses. I pass behind Caine and only the side of my head is briefly visible for a fraction of a second. A few minutes later I am clearly visible during the announcement of the final five. There are several shots of Caine watching the action; I am about 10 feet behind him, watching a light board and looking up and down. During the filming I started a casting list for Austin films, signing up about 100 of the extras. This list has grown to over 560.

Two weeks later (because of my casting list) I worked on another film, "Still Steel Frames", for two days, again getting some dialogue. This film is still being edited. A few weeks later, after school had started, again due to the casting list, I worked one day on "My name is Buttons," which should be finished in March.

In late November I got a phone call to work on "The New Guy" and spent two long weekends of four twelve-hour days working as a paid extra for this movie. It appears that I will used in its movie poster (nope). It is directed by one of the co-writers of "There's Something About Mary" and will open nationwide next May.

I have written detailed accounts of my experience on the first four films and am working on the latest. You can read the details at by clicking on "messages"; click on "subscribe" to receive future accounts.

In mid December after discovering that they had none, I started a casting list for Dallas films; there are already 40 members.

I met and got autographs from Armistead Maupin (who is as delightful as his wonderful books), Ted Koppel, Laszlo Kovacs (cinematographer for "Easy Rider" and "Miss Congeniality"), Stephen Montague (composer and, now, friend), David Sedaris (hilarious), Spalding Gray, Joan Collins, Stacy Keach, Paul Mazursky, and Jim Jarmusch. I got to see ex-Presidents Carter and Ford speak in April and James Earl Jones in January. By mail I got autographs from Robert Duvall, Tim Robbins, Lauren Bacall, Philip Roth, Rob Reiner, Al Pacino, Ken Kesey, Milos Forman, Karl Malden, Jill Clayburgh, Jason Robards, and Blake Edwards

I saw one of the most unusual concerts of my life in May, Steve Montague's "Horn Concerto." It was performed by 12 automobiles, using their horns, engines, radios, headlights, and windshield wipers; it was so much fun that I saw both performances. An expanded version was performed in London in June.

I finally took the "moonlight prowl" at UT. If you're in Austin and haven't been, I highly recommend it; it's a tour of the original "40 acres" and is free, fascinating & great fun. (www.utexas.edu/tours/prowl)

Got a very cool voice recognition system for my Mac. Much of this letter was initially dictated on it. It's much easier to use it when I need to write a long document; it makes some mistakes, but is pretty accurate.

For years I've wondered how much walking I do at school. Last year I bought a pedometer and was surprised to find how much I walk (a daily average of 4.5 miles, 1600 miles for the year.)

I read about 200 books again, the best of which were "Get Happy" by Gerald Clarke (bio of Judy Garland), "Ender's Shadow" by (a parallel novel to my all-time favorite book, "Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card and "Remnant Population" by Elizabeth Moon.

I saw tons of films; I recommend "Almost Famous", "Finding Forrester", "Genghis Blues", "13 Days", and "A Time For Drunken Horses"

Saw only 29 plays this year, the best of which were the delightful "Male Intellect: An Oxymoron", and "Virtual Devotion."

I continue to run a daily joke list sending items out to over 200 friends.

Have a great new century.

David McCullough, the great historical author. i'd read 5 of his books then, my fave Truman, and i've read 4 more since.

2001 Xmas letter

It's been an interesting year. The spring semester was one of the most stressful I've taught, with some very difficult classes. This fall, by contrast, was a delight. Most of my classes were great, and I taught two sixth grade classes (the first time since the '70's). The last day at school I spent five hours moving out old computers and moving in newer ones; I'll be spending more time during the vacation setting these up. I'm also in the midst of many hours of preparation of a new curriculum for the change in computers. The renovation was finally completed, after two years of slowly changing the campus. Our campus was one of 37 Texas secondary schools nominated as a Blue Ribbon School

Last year I worked on five feature films, only one of which has been released ("Miss Congeniality"). Earlier this month I finally got a copy of "Pagaent" (on video) and I am in three scenes, with dialogue in two of them; I also got an end credit as Casting Assistant (and this was before I started any of the casting lists). Sadly, some of the sound is of poor quality, which may prevent it from being released. A brief clip from it was broadcast on local cable ("The Jeff Davis Show"). "The New Guy" was postponed several times and is presently scheduled for a Feb, 2002 release. The other two films are still being edited.

This year I worked on eight projects. Two were feature films: "Xtracurricular," which should be about complete (I am in one scene, briefly, as a teacher) and "No Pain No Gain" which is in production. I will probably work on it four days during the holidays. I was in one TV pilot "Behind Closed Doors" which is about half completed. I am in more than one scene, and have a little dialogue. The rest are shorts; I tried out for a lead in one, "Close to Normal," (not expecting to get the part), and a small part was written in especially for me. Sadly, that project is in a state of limbo in part due to the economic climate. "The Late Show", "Making the Porn," and "Diamondella" are all complete. I expect to see two in early January, and saw the third in December (I’m briefly visible, and got thanked in the end credits). A fifth short, "Lonelyland" is still being edited.

I will probably work in two feature films in early 2002: "Good Time Boys" (from the same company that made "Xtracurricular") and "The Perfect Man Contest" (in which I will be playing Jesus's Disciple #5 - in one scene I will be playing basketball with Jesus)

For all of these projects I took photos, which were digital after I bought a very cool Sony CyberShot camera (which sadly has been in the shop since October - due back in January). I've been able to borrow the school digital in the meantime. All of these have been posted at Ofoto.com.

One year ago my Austin Casting list had about 500 subscribers and I had just started lists in Dallas and Lubbock. The Austin list is almost up to 1500. The Dallas list has about 1100, and the Lubbock list about 150. In February I started a list for Houston, which now has almost 700. During the summer I tried to spread the idea around the nation and helped start lists from Florida to Oregon. Several have been very successful, but none as active as my Texas lists. The lists I started in LA and California were not run by the people I helped start them, so I have been running them. The LA list is up to 400 and has been very active with hundreds of casting calls; I've found someone in LA to post most of the calls. Earlier this month I helped start a list in Chicago which is still under 100, but should be very large by next Christmas.

I made many great friends as a result of the lists and on the sets of the films I shot.

During the summer I was treated to lunch twice because of the list; once by the head of one of the top talent agencies in town and once by the director of one of the films I worked on. I was also the guest on a local cable talk show ("The Jeff Davis Show") in June and again in December.

I have written detailed accounts of my experience on these films and am working on the latest. You can read the details at by clicking on "messages"; click on "subscribe" to receive future accounts. (Yahoo deleted these in late 2019)

I met and got autographs (and in most cases photographs) of Lance Armstrong, Tom Wolfe, Treat Williams, Ben Crenshaw, P.D. James, Rip Torn, Sissy Spacek, David Clayton Thomas (Blood Sweat &Tears), and David McCullough. I also got autographs through the mail from Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Ed McBain, Ann-Margret, John Woo, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Plympton, Ed Asner, and Ellen Burstyn.

Last year I bought a pedometer and was surprised to find how much I walk (1600 miles for the year.) This year it went up to just over 2000 miles.

I read almost 200 books again, and topped a total of 5000 books since I started keeping track. The best of list is much longer than usual; some amazing books this year: "A Primate's Memoir" by Robert Sapolsky, " Rules For The Unruly" by Marion Winik, " Diary Of An Adulterous Woman" by Curt Leviant, "How To Be A Chicana Role Model" by Michele Serros, "Memoirs Of A Geisha" by Arthur Golden, "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom, "Guns Germs & Steel" by Jared Diamond, "Shadow Of The Hegemon" by Orson Scott Card, " Princess: a True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia" (and its two sequels) by Jean Sasson. All of these are recommended highly.

I saw tons of films; I recommend "Amelie", "Cyberworld 3D", " Amores Perros", and "Harry Potter "

I saw 34 plays this year, the best of which were "Vagina Monologues", "Requiem For Tesla." "Corpus Christi" and "Art Stripped Naked"

I continue to run a daily joke list sending items out to over 150 friends.

I hope your Christmas holiday was wonderful and that you have a great 2002.

Ed visited dad & Thelma in August & i got to see him
the picture of me was a photo shoot for a film that was never made
Harvey Schmidt is the composer of The Fantasticks and a few other musicals.

2002 Xmas

I had a great spring semester. Most of my classes were great and the new curriculum I wrote during the semester (bit of a challenge, that) was very successful. I modified the AppleWorks portion of it as I taught it, and did so to a certain extent with the HyperStudio portion.

In April I discovered a leak in the living room; there was no rain the next month or so and as soon as school was out, Gene, a very good friend, came by and repaired the leak in the roof and the hole it caused in the living room ceiling He then started cutting down some dead trees he'd noticed in the front yard; we BOTH tripped over some of the branches that we had left in the yard and his trip was harmless; mine was not; I cut my cheek; bruised my right ankle and badly twisted my left foot. My friend Sutton (who's in Indiana the next 2 years, finishing her PhD) dropped off some Advil and a pair of crutches and gave me a ride to the doctor (I already had a physical scheduled).

For the followup appointment ten days later, my regular doc was out of town; the replacement doc was called away on an emergency!!! A third doc was able to see me and she was great (I switched to her as my regular doc - still my doctor in 2020). There was nondisplaced fracture through the bases of the second & third metatarsal; I was on crutches 3 weeks and had very limited mobility another 3 weeks; it healed slowly and I did PT for about four months.

I worked on a film most weekends during school. I spent countless hours on "The Perfect Man Contest" from late January to mid-May. I was Jesus's disciple #5 in this mockumentary, invited for the part by the writer/director and took about 1300 photos with my digital camera (and got screen credit for the photos).

In March I got to work on my first TV movie: "Warning: Parental Advisory" which aired in May on VH-1. I played a photographer and am briefly visible in two scenes. I got paid for this part, which was filmed in the Capitol. Also, I got work on it for two new friends, Marta and Sana. After working on the film I got to see Jesse Jackson deliver a speech

For "Jesse's Closet" I had a small part as an extra, but also got to be a boom operator (holding the mike) for one scene, as well as finding a composer for the film. When the film was shown I received screen credit as "Casting by Dan Eggleston".

For "Manhood is Dead" I was scheduled to be in several scenes, but the foot injury reduced my role to mainly a scene as a liquor store clerk.

"McLife" got me screen credit as still photographer. It also played at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in Dallas. "A Yeti in the City" was shot in Austin Studios (using green screen – the background added by computer later) and I got to be a blind prophet. "My Name is Buttons" (started summer 2000) was finished and selected for the Austin Film Festival. I was visible in three scenes. "The New Guy"(filmed two years ago) finally opened in May; I was surprised that I was visible in one scene.

In August I was paid to be a TV cameraman for "Screen Door Jesus." All told I worked on 22 films this year. I have written detailed accounts of my experience on these films. You can read the details at ; click on "subscribe" to receive future accounts. (Yahoo deleted these in late 2019) I took about 5000 photos on the films I was in, posting them all at Ofoto. Links to the photos are at the URL about my movies. (Ofoto started charging a few years later deleted all my photos ther.)

Next year I will get to be the head of a monastery for "Ex Libris" and the devil in "Leviticus." We did a photo shoot for the latter which was great fun. It took an hour to get my hair into horns. (sadly, the latter never got made)

I bought a new digital camera in January, replacing the one that I'd accidentally broken in October. In April I replaced my Macintosh with a new iMac. It's a very cool machine and I'm delighted with it. I needed a new scanner for the Mac and picked up a great one at a very low price.

I saw about 30 plays; "The Laramie Project" was one of the best I've ever seen; a great play and a wonderful production. Another wonderful play was "Vigil."

Ed and Sandy flew to SA to see Thelma in August and I drove down for a weekend family reunion. I hadn't seen them in six years, so we did a lot of catching up.

Got to see Kat Eggleston, a great folk singer from the northwest (not related)

As usual, I've gotten to see and/or meet some celebrities. Robert Caro has been one of my all-time favorite writers since I read his amazing "The Power Broker" in 1978. He's just published part 3 of his bio of LBJ (Master of The Senate, yet another fantastic book). It was a thrill not only to see him, but to have him know who I was (from letters I'd sent and having spoken to his wife). Got to see him again at the Texas Book Festival in November.

Harvey Schmidt visited UT and gave a great talk/Q&A. He is best known as the composer of "The Fantasticks." (which closed last year after running for 42 years!) I took a photo with him and he asked me to send him a print of it; this month I received an 83- page booklet, of his visit to UT for his class's 50th reunion, fully illustrated with lots of photos, including mine!!

Other celebs were David Halberstam, (another great writer), Ray Benson (the head of Asleep at the Wheel), Peter Bogdanovich (the movie director) Graham Nash (of Crosby Stills Nash &Young), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Werner Herzog (German director), Jim Brown (the great running back), Spike Lee (director) (all in person including photos) and (by mail) Henry Winkler

My little red Toyota was starting to leak oil and Ron patched it up, but it was going to need further work (and $), so in mid-December I bought a new car (after 13 and one-half years and 90,000 miles). It is a Honda Civic Hybrid (gasoline/electric).

Lots of cool features I've never had are standard. (I had A.C. on my first car, but not since). It has cruise control, power windows, power steering, a AM/FM/CD player – with 4 speakers, remote controlled exterior mirrors, rear window defroster, airbags, anti-lock braking, remote trunk/gas tank opener, and a theft deterrent system. When I unlock the door at night with the remote, the interior lights come on. The dash shows my current MPG (47 so far – but I got 47 in town and 55 on the highway) and what it's currently getting - when the electric part takes over, the gauge jumps up as high as 120 mpg); it's very responsive and has lots of power; I hit 80 mpg easily on I35. The battery recharges as I drive.

I read some great books (just under 200 for the year), the best of which include (besides the Caro) The River's Tale (E. Gargan) an account of a reporter's trip from Tibet to Viet Nam on the Mekong River, Between Silk and Cyanide (L. Marks) an amazing account of a leading Brit code breaker during WW II, The Eyre Affair (J Fforde) (wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide type adventure), Seabiscuit (L Hillenbrand) (account of the greatest race horse of the 20th century – the movie is in the works), Sandy Koufax (Jane Leavy – got to see her speak about the book), Strip City (Lily Burana) and River Town: Two Years On The Yangtze (Peter Hessler – first peace corps volunteer in China).

In December I bought an iPod (a portable MP3 player) which I love. I've been doing so much walking, it's great to have music along the way. So far I've got 20 hours on it and it's only about 10% filled.

In spite of the limitations imposed by my injury, I managed to walk about 2150 miles this year, averaging almost 6 miles a day.

When the fall semester started I had two math and three computer classes. After one week, however, I had to drop one computer class and take over a difficult 8th grade math class. Thus I have one 7th grade math, one 7th/8th grade math lab (kids who failed the TAAS test last year), one 6th grade computer, and one 7th/8th grade computer. It's been a difficult semester with so many preparations.

My Austin casting list has grown from 1400 to 2300 in the past year, and I now have 6200 on the various lists. I was able to take a free acting class due to the list and have met many people and made some very dear friends as a result.
Hope all is well with you and that you have a wonderful 2003.

Bill Bradley, former senator from NJ, super star with the NBA
Frederick Fennell great band conductor
Robert Caro one of my fave authors, great books on Robert Moses & working on final volume on LBJ
Shannon Marketic, one of my dearest friends, former Miss USA

2003 newsletter

It was a difficult school year for me. Last Spring I taught math 7, math 8, math lab, and two computer classes. I had some very troublesome students, and four preps is no picnic. Our principal retired to move back to Bay City and get married, after getting us National Blue Ribbon status. She assigned me to teach all math lab (6th-8th) this year, giving my computer classes to the Tech Ed teacher (who didn't know about it and didn't want them). Math lab is remedial math for the kids who flunked the TAKS test, and thus a challenge, with an excessive number of "problem" kids. It's been a battle. Luckily there are some good kids too, but not enough. The new principal, Mike Atchley, is doing a good job and is very nice. Once again, I had perfect attendance (which makes either 21 or 22 straight years). In February, school was called off one day by an ice storm. That morning, when I went out to get the paper I slipped on the ice and got several bruises. The next day, school was delayed two hours by the icy streets.

Film, as usual, played a large part in my life. My Austin list grew by 1000 and is now over 3300 (the largest in the nation). A friend offered to run a South Texas list, which I started a month ago. The Texas lists now number over 7000, and there are another 2000 on the other lists. I again made many wonderful friends through the list.

I ended up working on a baker's dozen of films. "A Promise Kept" was shot in January and a screening was held at the Paramount in August. (I'm clearly visible during the sniper scene, shot in the cold rain, temperature in the 40s – fun in spite of the cold). For "Go Round" I had a supporting role, but the film remains in editing. Recently I did extra work for two Hollywood films: "Cheer Up" and "The Ringer." During the summer, I had a fun part in a mock commercial, "Order Now" by John McLean. My scene was shot in my back yard. ()


I did a photo shoot for "Leviticus" in 2002, but the film is still in a fund-raising mode. I finally saw "The Other Side of the Hill," (2002) I got a "casting by" credit; each cast member got a photo in the end credits with our names. "The Perfect Man Contest" also had its first screening; I was heavily involved in the film last year, getting credit for extras casting, still photography, and as Jesus' disciple #5. The film was fantastic and I am very proud to be associated with it. In the summer, we finally completed reshoots for "No Pain No Gain." I'd been given credit for this film as still photographer (), but had not been visible in any scenes. During the final audience re-shoot, I got my own close-up.

In November, Joe O'Connell profiled me in his monthly Statesman film column, a real thrill. ()

This summer I was able to take (free, thanks to the list) audition classes with John Lansch and intermediate film classes with C.K. McFarland. In September I took a fantastic (and fun) improvisation workshop with Laurie Guzda (with another session next month). Earlier this month I took an advertising workshop with Donise Hardy.

Two friends, Jeff Curley and Dan Parsons, provided me with free headshot sessions.

My neighbors next door (who'd been there since 1946) had to move to an assisted living facility and this summer the house was thoroughly renovated for their granddaughter, who arrived in August. The renovation boss noticed that my side porch roof was coming off and arranged for some of his workers to repair it.

This summer I bought a Fingerworks Keyboard, but its learning curve is steep and I haven't had time to master it yet.

I saw lots of plays, but only two really stand out: "The Kentucky Cycle" - an amazing play of 200 years of history (1770s to 1970s); lots of violence, cheating and irony. The play was in nine parts and filled two evenings. The other was "I'm not Lying," Jaston Williams' (Greater Tuna) amazing autobiographical play that will play again early 2004.

I received two jury summons early in the year, both deferred until summer. The federal one overlapped the opening of school and I was excused from it. The other, in July, was for a cocaine possession case and I was part of the voir dire, but was not picked for the jury.

I've been a big fan of Cirque du Soleil for several years with tapes of three of their shows. It was a big thrill to see them perform their Alegria show. My new friend Jai Suire joined me, making the event even more fun.

One of the greatest writers I've ever read is Robert Caro. All of his books are great ("The Power Broker", and, so far, three volumes of his biography of LBJ). I got to see him for the first time last year, and in May he finally appeared at the LBJ Library, a very moving event, too long delayed.

Seven years ago, shortly before my dad died, he gave me a shoebox packed with several hundred old photos. I re-discovered them this summer and scanned them and posted them on-line ()

In June I had a colonoscopy (no problems); it was much easier this time than the one six years ago. In December 2002, two fingers started bothering me; acupuncture helped some. My acupuncturist thought it was the ulnar nerve, confirmed in August by an emg/nlv exam. The doctor gave me electrical shocks three or four dozen times to determine where the problem might lie. He then stuck a needle in my hand and listened to the nerve activity. There was a kink in the elbow part of the nerve (his analogy was a garden hose kink). I've worn an elbow brace since then, which has helped.

I continue to walk a lot for exercise. This year I've averaged 7.2 miles a day, (2631 miles, 400 more than last year, 600 more than 2001 and 950 more than 2000!)

The past two years or so, I've conducted surveys for A.C. Nielsen (mostly shopping, but one TV survey this month). This summer I won $1000 from them as part of their sweepstakes.

In June I found a computer for my Dallas moderator, Shannon Marketic, and drove to Dallas July 4 to deliver it and finally meet her. It was the first long drive for my new car and I got 62 mpg for the trip!!! (It's a Honda Civic Hybrid, which I've now had for one year, averaging 47 mpg)

I saw lots of great films; four of the best were "Rivers and Tides" (an amazing documentary on an artist who sculpts transitory works in nature), "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (another documentary, this one shot in the middle of an attempted coup in Venezuela), "Seabiscuit" (as great as the wonderful book), and "Russian Ark" a 96 minute long single take shot in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, totally amazing cinematography (the plot isn't super, but the technical aspect is so dazzling, that the experience is worth it.)

I've been to many book signings, but in May I got to see one for a good friend, Lindsay Lane, with whom I worked on a video documentary fourteen years ago. Other notable book signings were Paul Theroux (I've read 23 of his books) and Terry Pratchett (I've read one-third of his great Discworld series).

I read 196 books this year. Here are some of the best: "Black Dahlia Avenger" (Steve Hodel), the unveiling of the Black Dahlia killer by the his son (LAPD Homicide for many years); "Blue Latitudes" (Tony Horwitz), the re-tracing of Captain Cook's voyages; "Portrait Of A Killer" (Patricia Cornwell), the solution of the Jack the Ripper case; "Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College" (Jacques Steinberg), a thorough picture of Wesleyan's admissions office; "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation" (Olivia Judson), a delightful and fascinating look at some of the oddities of nature; "Moneyball" (Michael Lewis) reveals how baseball can be won in thoroughly non-traditional means. One of the best autobiographies I've ever read was "Running with Scissors" (Augusten Burroughs), and its sequel, "Dry." Burroughs' mom gave legal custody of her 12-year-old son to her shrink. One of the most creative and original books I've ever read (I've now read over 5200) was Jasper Fforde's "The Eyre Affair "(which I read last year). Its sequel, "Lost in A Good Book," is equally amazing.

I got to see the astronaut for whom Buzz Lightyear was named, Buzz Aldrin. I got both photos and autographs of Bill Bradley, Sam Elliott, Norman Lear, Suzy Bogguss, John Lee Hancock (director of "The Alamo"), Joel Schumacher, Peter Fonda, and Woodie Harrelson.

When I was growing up some of my favorite recordings were by the incomparable Eastman Wind Ensemble, founded and conducted by Fennell Frederick (the godfather of the wind ensemble). I saw him at UT in '95. As I recall, he only conducted a couple of pieces (he WAS 81 at the time). After the concert, I had to wait for the band members (70 or so) to speak with him before I got his autograph. A month ago, I got to see him, age 89, conduct a full concert, After the concert, I got a great photo with him and had a nice chat (telling him of the day in college when my band director asked, "Who wants to conduct?" When I raised my hand, I was told, "The only band YOU'LL ever conduct is a rubber band!!" The following year, I became the de facto assistant band director at Brackenridge H.S. - and for TMEA was the band substitute and DID get to conduct and had a ball.

I hope all of you have a wonderful vacation and fantastic 2004.

i was a santa for a photo shoot with multiple kids posing with me.
the great movie director Kevin Smith, after a paramount screening
and one of my all-time fave authors, Jasper Fforde, at a signing

When I was a kid we'd usually take the annual family Christmas picture around Turkey Day. In early December, I would help address the 400-500 envelopes, stamp our return address and add a postage stamp to each one. Once the cards had arrived from the printer, they had to be folded and inserted in the envelopes, which were sorted geographically. It always amazed me that our list was so large. I never anticipated having as large a Christmas list as I do now. A few years ago, it was several dozen, but, thanks largely to "the list" it's up to 350!

The big news this year has to be my retirement after 34 years of teaching. The spring semester continued the fall pattern. For me (as well as several colleagues) it was my worst year. As of January the faculty had already written as many disciplinary referrals as the entire previous year. Because I was assigned to teach math lab (kids who failed the TAKS test the previous year), I had more "problem" kids. This year would have been the same if not worse. After doing the research, I realized that I'd put in enough years to have a decent pension (and was very surprised to learn the two years I worked as a clerk-typist at UT were included in the calculations, giving me credit for 36 years of teaching.) I finished my final year with perfect attendance. The last time I was absent was January of 1981 or 1982. I taught a total of 6147 students. Two of them, Harry Knowles and Wiley Wiggins, are well known in the film biz; several others are also actors whom I've met on sets. Sadly, I also had two who were convicted of murder. Three of my students were connected to the Yogurt Shop murders: one of the victims, one of the four arrested, and the prime witness in the first two trials. I had the good fortune to teach many great students over that time (as well as many who were not as great).

In January I took Gary Chason's Golden Walnut Acting Class (he invited me to take the class after reading last year's Xmas letter!). There were only six students: one writer and five actors. The actor was also a writer, so we ended up shooting three short films; I got to be the lead in two of them, "Fat Chance" and "The Mortician's Girlfriend". When the films were screened, I was named best actor for the former and the latter was picked by the audience as best film. All three (the third is "Foiled") films (as well as "Keep Austin Weird") can be viewed online. Foiled , Morticians Girlfriend , Fat Chance .

I saw the usual 2 to 3 dozen films at SXSW and met Julie Delpy (here for the wonderful "After Sunset"), Kevin Smith and Annabeth Gish.

In May I took a great weekend workshop with Pato Hoffman, The Art of Not Acting. I took two weekend improv workshops (in January and May) with Laurie Guzda, and several during the year with Cindy Wood. Rob Nash taught a workshop in June on solo work (Flying Solo). Also in June I took an amazing intensive workshop from Van Brooks, The Mastery. In the summer I took John Lansch's advanced acting class. On Saturdays starting in July and continuing through October, I took the best acting workshop I've ever had, with Barry Pineo (who will be teaching it at CWLA next year). My acting grew a great deal thanks to hard work and Barry's guidance. I now have seven monologues in my repertoire. In October I enjoyed a workshop with former "General Hospital" star Chad Brannon. I took C.K. McFarland's delightful creativity class in the fall. One weird element about that class was the fact that I was the only male in a class of ten. Really enjoyed the class and there were some great people in all the classes and workshops.

In May I met Neil Stone who asked me to audition for a big budget film of "Also Spoke Zarathustra", which will be shot in New York City, Hawaii, and Australia. It's currently on the back burner. Neil plans to run for city council next year.

My Austin casting list has grown to about 4100; there are 9000 on the five Texas lists, with a grand total of 11,600. I worked on 28 films this year. Three more films I was cast in were postponed or canceled (and I had good parts in all three.) I also got to see (and in some cases get copies) of several films from previous years.

"Keep Austin Weird" was a fun film shot in January in which I drove up to the lead characters and traded them a canister of plutonium for a bunch of pudding. In the summer I was in "Project Teach", which included one of the most exciting scenes both as cinema and as pure fun that I've ever been in. It was a spelling bee with five other "teachers". We shot it twice, with no cuts, shooting an actual contest. We didn't know what words we'd be given, nor how to spell them, since they were "ghetto" words ("bootylicious", "skrilla", "fo shizzle"). I spoke to the director recently and the film is mostly edited and the scene looks great and I'm "all over it." (The film is "Chalk" now out of DVD.)

In August I was in a trailer for the Austin Film Festival competition, "American Gardeners for the 4th Reich" (). I received a DVD of the film less than two weeks later and the footage looked great (though the festival didn't use it). Also in August, I was one of the leads in a short, "Bunny & Clydo." I got to see it in November and it was great.

A third August film was "The King" (William Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal). This indie feature should be released sometime in 2005. I was a featured extra in a scene with both stars. I talked to them and got an autograph and photo for both. I played a hot, pathetic flower seller as they drove past; I was so convincing that (on take seven) Hurt asked me in great concern, "Are you all right?" Also in August I stepped in at the last minute for a trailer for "Inherited".

In September I drove down to San Antonio for my 40th high school reunion. Someone had brought some great photos from junior high days labeled with folks in my class. (I lived in Kansas City at the time.) It was nice to see a few familiar faces from the distant past. (I was only there one year and it was a class of over 800).

In the fall I worked as a volunteer for the Austin Film Festival (getting to see all the films for free in return). I hope to be one of their screeners next year (I'll find out in the spring). I saw some great films, and met Garry Shandling and Barry Levinson.

In November I had great parts in four UT shorts "The Tao of Telemarketing" , "Stalker", "The President of Friendship" () and "Love Math." I got to see three of them on the weekend of screenings at the end of the semester.

I saw Bill Moyers speak (again) at the LBJ. In November I met some wonderful writers at the Texas Book Festival. I was able to get photos and autographs of Augusten Burroughs (his "Running With Scissors" will be filmed next year - an amazing autobio); S E Hinton ("The Outsiders"), Rod McKuen, Susan Isaacs, and Seymour Hersh (he was the first to report the Abu Ghraib story).

I read 210 books this year (second highest year - the grand total is over 5600) and got to see and meet some great authors. One of my all time favorites, Jasper Fforde (both he and Burroughs were mentioned in last year's letter for their great books) was here in March. I highly recommend his books (just finished his third Thursday Next book: "The Well of Lost Plots" - his originality and creativity are amazing). I also met Christopher Paolini, whose wonderful book "Eragon" (in pre-production) was written when he was 15. Other books I especially enjoyed include "The Dark Side of Camelot" by Seymour Hersh, "Who the Devil Made It" by Peter Bogdanovich (a must if you love film); "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry, "Language Visible: Unraveling the Mystery of the Alphabet From A To Z" by David Sacks (an incredible and fascinating history of the alphabet) and "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson.

Also wonderful was the screenplay "Ex Libris" by my friend John McLean. Its plot shares amazing similarities to some of Jason Fforde's work, but in its own unique way. I'm helping John as he prepares a feature length zombie musical film entitled "Z." He wrote the part of a zombie philosopher for me (only two other roles were written with a specific actor in mind). We'll be filming, hopefully, in about three or four months. Right now we're looking for a composer.

I continue to walk a great deal for my health, and set a personal record of over 2700 miles for the year, including 261 miles in one month and almost 15 miles one day in October. I averaged 7.5 miles for the year (up from 7.2 last year)

In January I got a photo with Darrell Royal (which I still don't have a copy of - maybe next month) at a house concert. Notable musical events include Richie Havens (photo/autograph), John Smith, Mad Agnes, Small Potatoes and David Roth. I got to meet Scottish composer James MacMillan this year. And the ALO's performance of "The Flying Dutchman" was fantastic.

I saw 37 plays this year. The standouts were "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Nightswim" (a great play about Dobie, Webb, and Bedicek), "The Conquering Of The North Pole" (in Czech with subtitles - a bizarre and delightfully strange play) and "The Drawer Boy" (one of the best plays I've ever seen - wonderful script, superb acting and directing).

In March I got to see one of my all-time favorite dance groups, Momix. They hadn't performed here since the 80s. I saw two NPR folks, Ira Glass and Cokie Roberts (here promoting her book, "Founding Mothers" – which was OK)

"No Pain No Gain" finally was screened, in Houston, at their film fest, but I was unable to get there for the screening. I finally saw (and got a copy of) "Manhood is Dead", "Bad Jokes", "Derby Kings" (), "Emma's Visit", " Flash Mob Escape" () and "Toaster" I got to see "Gretchen & the Night Danger" and "A Slipping Down Life" (six years after it was filmed).

Looking over other movies I saw this year (that I was NOT in), my "best of" list has a few films that got limited release or that you may never have heard of. They include "Day of the Wacko", "The Five Obstructions", "The Chorus", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Los Angeles Plays Itself", "Sideways", "Case for a Rookie Hangman", "Triplets of Belleville", "Last Man Standing", "Metallica Some Kind of Monster", and "Coach Carter." (just saw a sneak of the latter; it was very inspiring).

I got to meet two big names in film: John Waters (here for a screening) and John Pierson (author of "Spike Mike Slackers & Dykes"- and the man who helped Rick Linklater, Spike Lee et al get their first films distributed - John has moved to Austin - he even saw me in one of my UT films). I've run into him several times this year.

In April Austin had its second annual art car parade (I missed the first one). Great fun.

Finally, in December I got a gig as a Santa. I had several dozen little kiddos, mostly age 3-5 sit on my lap and get their Christmas photo. Lots of fun and earned a few dollars.

Brian Wilson - of the Beach Boys
Darrell Royal - UT football coach. the stadium now has his name
Amy Jordan - very dear friend & a major part of making Z: a Zombie Musical get made
Rosanna Arquette - movie star
me as god in Land of No Return ()
and me in Zero Hour

Xmas 2005

In mid-January 2005 I auditioned for Eye for an Eye (UPN). The show has been described as "Judge Judy on acid" and is hosted by O.J.’s old "buddy" Kato Kaelin. Two weeks later I drove to Dallas and was the star in the Mail Order Bride of Frankenstein episode which first aired in November and no doubt will be repeated (its second showing actually was an hour after I typed this; two days later, while shopping, I was asked by someone (who'd just seen the show) if I'd been on TV - she especially remembered the noise I'd made describing overheard conversational noises). Two months later I drove up for the Revenge segment, but the location (a sports bar) was too noisy (due to a "Sweet 16" basketball crowd) and I had to make another trip in May. Call time was 6:00 p.m., but no one from the crew had arrived (a previous taping ran late) and we didn’t finish 'till 2:30 a.m. The show was a blast and I did a great job. It was very exciting to play a starring role in a nationally broadcast TV show. Sadly it took many months for them to pay me (they are notorious for dragging their feet when it comes to paying both talent and crew.) ()

In January I had a few new headshots done (gratis) by Suze Lanier, a fabulous Hollywood photographer (Mena Suvari is a client). At the end of that month I signed with K Hall; I stayed with that agency for about six months, but only got one audition and we parted company. This week I signed with Acclaim.

In late January I performed in the showcase at Casting Works LA. This is a videotaped performance before an audience of agents and casting directors which is mailed to all the casting directors in Texas. My scene (with Rana Haddad) went extremely well. ()

In February I was in my first play since college. "Dear Mr. President" (actual war letters to LBJ) won Best of Week at Fronterafest, and was repeated on the weekend.

That month was also the world premiere of John Corigliano's Circus Maximus (his 3rd symphony - commissioned by the wonderful UT Wind Ensemble - which was chosen by the composer over the NY Philharmonic). Six trumpets were in the aisles; two french horns in the first balcony and a saxophone quintet in the second balcony. A seven-piece band marched in the aisles, swinging their horns as they played. It was a thrilling composition and performance. I’d met the composer in '96 and '01 (and, many years earlier, his dad - concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic and later of the San Antonio Symphony) and chatted with him after.

My all-time favorite dance company, Pilobolus, performed at the Paramount (the seventh time I’ve seen them).

At SXSW, the subject of an inspiring documentary, "Emmanuel's Gift" invited me to see his film. He (now about 22) was one of the 10% of Ghanaians born deformed - only a stump of a leg. Most beg on the streets, but his mom vetoed that. He shined shoes ($1 a day). When his mom died he moved to the capital where he could earn $2. A handicapped athletes foundation granted him a mountain bike on which he rode (one-legged) 650 km across Ghana. He rode in a race in the U.S. and was fitted with a prosthesis which enabled him to knock three hours off his time the following year. He used a $50,000 grant to help the handicapped in Ghana.

I took great acting workshops from Cindy Wood, Pato Hoffman, M J Vandivier and Will Wallace (through whom I was able to get his father-in-law’s autograph (Terrence Malick)).

I saw a great radio play ("The Living Room") at HRC (by the LA Theatre Co.), later broadcast on NPR. Before the movie opened, I got to see the live version of "The Producers" at Bass, which was wonderful. Another fantastic play was "American Fiesta", (yet another magical work by Steven Tomlinson). In May I saw the annual hilarious Cimrman play (in Czech with subtitles) "Africa: The Czechs Among the Cannibals"

AMOA had a wonderful Andy Goldsworthy exhibit (one of the greatest I’ve ever seen). Another thrilling exhibit was the Ansel Adams at HRC (supplemented by a wonderful lecture by his biographer).

In the summer I was interviewed for an article in the August 2005 issue of "LifeTimes," a Blue Cross Blue Shield Publication. I also got to see my friend Sutton, visiting from Indiana.

My old Imac died in August and I replaced it with a new G5 iMac which is fantastic. Last week I got a wonderful Kenesis ergonomic keyboard. My iPod also bit the dust and I love my new tiny Nano iPod.

In December a leak in the bathroom pipes led to arranging to replace all of the 50-year-old water pipes. It'll be expensive, but it's definitely needed.

I got to see some very interesting people this year: John Irving, Norman Mailer, Isabel Allende, the Dalai Lama, Jordan Vernon, Grace Slick, and Salmon Rushdie (who refused to sign his autograph, since I didn't have one of his books). In addition to seeing the following, I also got their autographs: Volker Schlondorff, Todd Solondz, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Wilson, John Dean, Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer (cool to see both in the same year), Jasper Fforde, Jerry Lewis, Philip Glass, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Simon Winchester, Lemony Snicket, and Sarah Weddington (the lawyer for Roe v. Wade).

I continue to get great mileage from my Honda hybrid; overall I'm up to almost 50 mpg.

I read 270 books this year (my personal high - my grand total is over 5900). Some of the best: "Jane Fonda My Life So Far", "The Seuss the Whole Seuss & Nothing But the Seuss" (Charles Cohen), "The Double" (Jose Saramago), "Saudi Arabia Exposed" (John Bradley), "Kiss Me Like A Stranger", (Gene Wilder), "The Fall of Baghdad" (Jon Lee Anderson), "The Fourth Bear" (Jasper Fforde) and "The Bird Man & The Lap Dancer" (Eric Hansen).

I saw tons of movies; my favorites include "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit", "Mysterious Castle in Carpathia", "Reel Paradise" (I know the subjects: John Pierson's family - they now live a mile from here), "Pulse" (an exceptionally exciting IMAX film), "Munich", "The Squid & The Whale", and "Painted Fire".

Early in the year I had a nice role in "Real" and met the future DP and AD for Z: a Zombie Musical (Fred and Calley). I starred in a delightful student short, "Cislunar" . I was a guest again on the Austin Movie Show and "K Is for Kidnap" () got its TV premiere. In "The Land of No Return" I got to play God. . I was Beowulf’s girlfriend’s father in "Blade of the Sword". At the last minute I was added to "Pointy Pointy" getting a fun part with a dramatic entrance on a wheelchair, swinging a baseball bat as part of the film’s climax. I spend two days as a paid extra on "How to Eat Fried Worms." I got to play a melting scientist in "Zero Hour" with fantastic makeup which made me look like a zombie.

"Love Math" (2004) was part of a Hollywood Showcase in LA and also was included on a DVD in the current issue of Paste Magazine. I got to see "Chalk", a mockumentary feature I was in a year ago. It’s a great film and my spelling bee segment was a delight. Three years after it was shot, I finally saw "No Pain No Gain" (three dear friends from that film: Kim, Bri, and Sana all are in Z: a Zombie Musical). The film also got a limited national release (shown once on 270 screens nationwide on a Saturday afternoon).

The big news this year is the film "Z: A Zombie Musical". A year ago I had started work as its music supervisor. At that time I was looking for a composer for all the songs. I ended up with several composers, including Joe King Carrasco. I have worked on it all year long. In 2004 when John McLean said he wanted me to be very involved, I had no idea to what extent. On his previous feature ("Perfect Man Contest" - which (thanks to a column John has on Kevin Smith's website, comes out on DVD in June - I’d been Jesus's disciple #5, still photographer, and extras wrangler.) After I found all the composers I then found the musicians to perform the music. The score sounds amazing and I'm very proud of what we have created (Ben Blank, our great studio engineer, has made everything sound fantastic). I became the casting director, finding most of the talent and crew. I have met some great new friends on the production. Once shooting started I got the job of production co-ordinator (scheduling all the shoots). By chance I was able to get us an Executive Producer, Cheryl Adendorff, whose investment allowed us to shoot high def. I once again am the still photographer (3000 photos so far) and have found our extras. I've also found several great locations for the film. On most of my early films (starting in 1997), I was never more than an extra. Now I’ve been in almost 100 films. I never imagined that I’d become a co-producer of a feature film, but indeed that came to pass this year on Z. I’ve been able to get some amazing talent on the project, including some who are nationally known. Dale Watson filmed a segment in October. Kinky Friedman and Joe Ely have both agreed to film once we can schedule it. (Joe's in the film, but not Kinky) The Tosca String Quartet has recorded a song and will be filmed soon. The Austin Lounge Lizards have agreed to compose and record a song (once the lyrics meet their approval - didn't work out). The part of the Zombie Philosopher was written with me in mind. We filmed my first scene in December and my second this week. I got to do a lot of dancing which went surprisingly well, thanks to the gracious help of our fantastic choreographer. Back in April '04, when John originally conceived the idea of a zombie musical (as a short at that time), the first person I contacted about it was my friend Amy Jordan who I wanted to be our choreographer. Luckily for us, we didn't start shooting until this summer, since she was not available before then. Amy has not only done an amazing job as choreographer, but also is our lead singer, plays a ZBI agent, and is an associate producer. She also has become my dearest friend.

My Austin casting list has grown to about 5900; there are 12,000 on the five Texas lists, with a grand total of 16,000 on all my casting lists. I only worked on eleven films this year, my duties on Z limiting my time on other projects.

I continue to walk a great deal for my health, and set a personal record of over 3100 miles for the year, including 303 miles in one month and almost 15 miles one day in October. I averaged 8.5 miles for the year (up from 7.5 last year).

me as the philospher in Z (the part was written for me)


and me in script cops. great makup job

Xmas 2006

It's been quite a year: movie producer, concert booker, theatrical lead, adopted uncle.

In January I FINALLY met with Jeff at Acclaim Talent (he spends most of his time in Louisiana, where much of the action is now). He signed me up, so I've got an agent again. Also, in January Amy Jordan welcomed me into her family as her adopted uncle.

We completed shooting "Z: a Zombie Musical" in August. John McLean had been editing during free time and was able to finish that process in late September. Due to all of my work on the film, I was promoted to a Producer. When I realized that we would be unable to finish by the Austin Film Festival’s regular deadline, I was able to get an extension (I have worked there as a volunteer the last four years). They accepted our film, but, just as John finished the end credits, our hard drive crashed. All of the film was lost (including Joe King Carrasco's feature film). We were able to recover it all for $3105. The delay, however, kept us out of the festival this year. They offered to screen the film after the festival as part of their Austin Film Festival Presents... series. However, since such a screening would keep us out of other festivals, I postponed it, pending other festival results.

I was able to get an amazing collection of cameos for the film. Joe King Carrasco was our zombie mayor. Our Austin mayor, Will Wynn joined two former mayors, Jeff Friedman and Bruce Todd as zombie highway bums. Peter Bay (conductor of the Symphony) was an artist's model. Mark Zupan (star of "Murderball") was a zombie badass. Dale Watson was a zombie senior (lip-synching to my singing). Joe Ely, Sara Hickman, Michael Fracasso and Jimmy Lafave performed as a zombie guitar quartet (covered by Jim Swift on KXAN-TV) . Joe was originally scheduled to be part of a guitar trio, but Dan Rather and Senator Kirk Watson backed out. The Tosca String Quartet recorded a song composed for them and appear in the film dressed in black, wearing angel wings, in a cemetery. Kinky Friedman agreed to do a cameo in January, but was too busy during the campaign and changed his mind. I'm hoping we can add a bit with Kinky in early 2007. (not able to)

In September I spoke with Willie Nelson while working as an extra on his film, "Fighting with Anger." Willie agreed to do a cameo for us. Sadly, he was in Hawaii the last two months of 2006 and is in Europe in January. With his busy schedule and the difficulty in getting the needed paperwork from SAG, his bit may not be possible. (It wasn't.)

News 8 Austin ran two stories on Z. . Hanna Hardin (our female lead) and I were interviewed as zombies on a Sunday morning KVUE-TV newscast. . John Kelso wrote a column on us for the Statesman and Joe O'Connell wrote an article for the Chronicle about his role as a zombie casting director. and

We have had three cast/crew screenings: one at our attorney’s screening room, one at the Dobie Theatre (during which three of the songs got applause) and one at the Arbor Theatre. All three audiences enjoyed the film. I am very proud of the film, especially the music, which was my responsibility. We have one more screening scheduled at St Edward’s University this month. In December I was a guest both on KOOP-FM (playing six songs from the soundtrack) and on The Jeff Davis Show (local access TV).

John McLean, our writer/director loved my acting: "Just wanna say again how proud I am of your work as The Philosopher, a role I created and wrote specifically for you, as you well know. You freakin' NAILED that part, from start to finish, and I'm always delighted whenever I get to that section of the picture and get to watch you work for a bit."

In October we scheduled a benefit at Threadgills to pay for the hard drive recovery, but weather caused a postponement. The booker kept switching dates on me after I had already announced them, until I finally dumped him and found a reliable venue, Trophy's. We had a wonderful concert in December. Sadly, due to the repeated postponements, attendance was disappointing. After Joe King returns in February, he will organize a second benefit. It was fun lining up the musicians (including The Jigglewatts, a burlesque group consisting of Amy and the three zombie nuns from our film). Having to do it five times was too much.

So far we have applied to fourteen festivals (including one in Lisbon, Portugal). We did not get into Sundance (no surprise, no shame; we were one of the 5000 films that did not make it). The next festival makes its decision in mid-January. I think we should be able to qualify for most if not all of the Texas fests we have entered (SXSW, AFI Dallas, USA, Worldfest).

I read 296 books in 2006, a new personal high, (no surprise). My grand total is now 6250. With that many, I can recommend quite a few. The Manhattan Beach Project (Peter Lefcourt) was enormous fun. Great books on the mess in Iraq were Night Draws Near (Anthony Shadid), Fiasco (Thomas Ricks) and State of Denial (Bob Woodward) (he and Carl Bernstein will be at HRC in 2007). Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi) is an excellent book about Iran. More titles: Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen & The Original Tonight Show (Ben Alba), Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser), The Know-It-All (A J Jacobs), Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie) (the movie was also wonderful), Misquoting Jesus (Bart Ehrman), Possible Side Effects (Augusten Burroughs), The Self-Made Man (Norah Vincent), North Toward Home (Willie Morris), The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) and David Lean (Kevin Brownlow).

Concert highlights for the year were Small Potatoes (third time I've seen them), Tish Hinojosa (hadn't seen her in 14 years – I had helped interview her years ago) and Luka Bloom, an Irish folksinger making his first Austin performance (I have loved his music since his first album 16 years ago, so it was a thrill not only to see him but chat with him as well.)

I saw some great movies; one of my favorites actually opens in 2007, Freedom Writers (just read the book which is also inspiring). Films I enjoyed the most were An Unconvenient Truth, The Producers, Akeelah & the Bee, Water, Deep Sea 3D, United 93, and The Queen. I was able to see 33 films at SXSW and hope to see Z there in 2007. (nope)

I saw 39 plays; the best was Twelfth Night; other standouts were Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Hello Muddah Hello Faddah.

I was able to attend most of John Pierson's great master classes, seeing and briefly chatting with Mark Cuban, Gus Van Sant, Rick Linklater (whom I have known since the '80s) Kevin Smith, and Steve James (Hoop Dreams). I got autographs from all of them as well as from Bill Plympton (the great film animator), Sydney Pollack, Christopher Lawford, Roger Ebert (by mail), Lily Tomlin, Molly Ivins and Peter Bogdanovich.

In March I was invited to be in the David Belke play, Blackpool & Parrish (Live Oak UU Unicorn Players). My audition consisted of a cold reading of the play (recorded for rehearsal purposes). Both the role and play were great, so I gladly accepted. I was Blackpool ("the agent of all that is Evil on the planet Earth"). Parrish was the agent of all that is Good. The two of us had been battling for 5000 years; and we inform our kids, whom we had been training the past 25 years that tomorrow was the Apocalypse and that they would get fight it out for the survival of the planet. We performed in May and the director said that it was his company's best production. I did a great job.

I took three acting classes this year: improv classes in the spring with Shana Merlin and later with the Coldtowne Theater Company (a group of Katrina refugees); the latter is based a block and a half from my home, which is very convenient. Finally I took a film acting class in the fall with Mona Lee. All were beneficial and lots of fun.

Last year I wrote about the water pipes breaking; in June I finally had all the water pipes replaced, expensive, but it needed to be done.

I worked on a few other films besides Z this year. The highlight was Script Cops (five short trailers for the Austin Film Festival (which won its trailer competition). I'm in the "lost" episode on the website, as the "corpse" from Se7en. It took 2 hours to turn me into a very convincing cadaver. I was in Baghead, the new feature from the Duplass Brothers (whose The Puffy Chair was in theaters for a while this year (with great reviews) - I had been introduced to them at a screening on that film at St. Ed's). I also worked as a paid extra on a short, The Body, as well as the Willie Nelson film.

I have now worked on over 100 films. One 2005 film of mine, Chalk, (I have a small, but very noticeable role, improved in a new edit. Several strangers have recognized me from the part.) won the best audience and jury awards at the Austin Film Festival and has been nominated for the John Cassevetes Award in the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards.

I continue to get lots of exercise walking - 306 miles in January, one of three 300-mile months (only one of those before this year - there was also a 299 mile month!) I finished the year with 3409 miles, 300 miles over my previous record, and double that of six years ago. I averaged 9.3 miles a day. One day in December I actually walked 17.1 miles.

I transferred my master list of emails from the films I've worked on to a data base and discovered there are over 6000 entries!

John McLean gave me a novel he wrote in 1999 about Nellie Bly's solo trip around the world in 1889. It is fantastic and I have been looking for a publisher. I can send it to you if you'd like to read it too.

My Honda hybrid averaged 53 mpg this year; the overall total since I bought the car is now over 50 mpg!!! I haven't had to fill up the tank twice in one month since July, 2004!!! I also realized that I could use the UT shuttle buses when I needed to get to campus and there have been many days when I have not needed to drive at all.

I now have a URL on MySpace allowing me to keep in touch with some friends as well as make some new ones. (no longer)

I have been going to AOMA most weeks for acupuncture and it has helped reduce some of the pain in my back and shoulders from all my typing.

My casting list continues to grow and there are about 5200 members for Austin and 7000 more on the other Texas lists. My personal list, continues to have its faithful subscribers. (it ended in 2020 & was replaced with /g/DanEgglestonList)

The city has an awesome program to plant trees (for free) near the street. In October they placed one in my front yard (which reminded me of the tree I planted about 20 years ago when I lived on Avenue A, which is providing great shade).

As 2007 starts I have been helping John in pre-production for our next project: "Ex Libris." He wrote the script 3 years ago and it is the best script I have ever read. It will cost a LOT, so it may be a while until we can start production. If we can get Z into festivals and find a distributor, that may make the difference.

i met kim on No Pain No Gain
and Pa Ti on the set of Ringer

January 1, 2008

It always amazes me how much I've accomplished each year when it's time to compose this report. I am hoping, against odds, to get "Z: a Zombie Musical" a theatrical run here in Austin. The theater manager sounded hopeful when I spoke to him last week. In September we held a second benefit concert for Z and raised some more money to help pay off the $3100 it cost to recover the film. We spent over $500 trying to get Z into film festivals and were turned down repeatedly. We finally got an invitation from the Providence Zombie Film Festival. (We hadn't even applied; they had heard about our film from a friend of a friend). We screened in late October and Z sold out. "Generally, the crowd got into Z as they seemed very interested to experience a zombie musical. The Festival organizers - all four of us - are more than satisfied with screening Z." I submitted to a few film festivals that didn't charge and was accepted by the WT Os Film Festival in Os, Norway in November. They wrote, "The film was one of our biggest audience successes, and I overheard people talking about it for days (now, a few girls left it half way through, but then again, it certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, so...). It was recommended by one of the festival managers in a newspaper interview prior to the screening,"

I received some great feedback about my role from Cambofest noting, that "Professor Zombie number is very funny! Would be great if entire movie was of caliber of Professor Zombie segment."

I hope that we can get the DVD version of Z out in 2008. The May 4, 2007 issue of the "Austin Chronicle" included a feature story about me written by Joe O'Connell ()

I teamed with John McLean to produce a great short film, "How to Succeed in Film Festivals...Without Really Trying," which John wrote after we didn't get in SXSW. You can view it at . The trailers for Z are at Just Z It , Bloodweiser , Blood Be Gone .

Paid film work, sadly, is rather rare. Early in the year, I was twice a paid extra for "Friday Night Lights", as well as for a feature film set in the 1930s, "Kings of the Evening." This fall I was in six student films at UT. One was a scene from Spike Lee's "25th Hour" that required several hours of rehearsal and a performance in front of the class before it was filmed. The best of my UT films was "Stalled." . I almost got to be in a spec commercial (i.e., shot in hopes of it being sold) for Emerald Nuts (which has run ads in the super bowl). I was cast in it, but the producer didn't have enough money to shoot both the ad he was in town for as well as the spec; he promised me that I'd be in the ad if he ever does shoot it.

A feature film I was in three years ago, "Chalk", got a theatrical release in several cities (courtesy of Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me")). It was played an extra three weeks here due to great box office and is a great film (and now is available on DVD ). Numerous strangers have recognized me from my memorable appearance in this wonderful film.

Early in the year I helped John in pre-production for our next big project: "Ex Libris." John wrote most of the business plan, but was side-tracked by the need to earn money; he's been writing and working full-time on the staff of Esther's Follies the past few months. I found a professional writer (Bill Crider - I've read 31 of this books) to read John's novel. He loved it. Michael Moorcock used to work with John at Origin; when I noted that John wasn't sure Mike would remember him, Michael commented, "What does he think I am, a goldfish? Of course I remember him." Michael read the beginning, but his schedule hasn't allowed him to finish it yet. I submitted to a publisher, who rejected it and found a local publisher, who won't look at it 'till John finishes it (it's about 95% finished). If you'd like to read it, let me know; it's a wonderful read.

I was able to attend another of Laurie Guzda's wonderful improvisation workshops, and two of Will Wallace's acting workshops. In December, shortly before the second, I was contacted by Will about a film he was producing in Wisconsin. He hoped to cast me for a small role in that film. Unfortunately the director already had someone else in mind. (I learned later that that actor was not very good.)

On May 2, my step-mom Thelma died (age 85) after lingering for two years. My brother Ed, and Sandy (his wife) flew down from Maryland for the funeral (in San Antonio). The services were lovely and it was nice to see Thelma's family. I hadn't seen Ed & Sandy in five years, so it was great to spend with them the next day in Austin.

I saw some fantastic concerts during the year: Eliza Gilkyson, Ken Gaines, Mad Agnes, John Smith, Alash (throat singers from Mongolia), the UT Gamelan ensemble, David Massengill (here at my suggestion), the Carnatica Brothers, Jan Seides (a magical concert inside Longhorn Caverns), Cheryl Wheeler, Conspirare (wonderful choral music of Tarik O'Regan, whom I got to meet), and The Roches.

I saw some great shows this year: the road versions of "Big River" and "The Lion King" were amazing. Austin had the U.S. premiere of the excellent Phillip Glass opera, "Waiting for The Barbarians". The annual Jara Cimrman play: "Plum Tree A Dramatic Amnesiacon" was, as always, a delight. Two other standout plays were "Moonlight and Magnolias" and "Inherit the Wind."

I was able to attend more of John Pierson's fantastic Master classes at UT; the best were with Joe Dante and Chris Smith.

I got to see (and in most cases talk to and get autographs) from David Lynch, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (who presented two Watergate panels; Carl returned for the Texas Book Festival; I recently finished his excellent book on Hillary, ("A Woman in Charge"), Maria Shriver (who introduced a great film about her dad, "American Idealist: Life Of Sargeant Shriver"), Bill Bradley (who seems to be regularly in the company of the head of the LBJ Library), Joseph Califano, Jeffrey Toobin (I read two great books of his this year: "Run Of His Life: The People Vs O J Simpson" and "The Nine: Inside The Supreme Court"), Marlee Matlin, A.C. Jacobs (I loved his "The Know-It-All"), Jim Lehrer, Tim Weiner (who gave an excellent talk about the CIA, I just finished his book: "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" - highly recommended), Shirley Maclaine, Jasper Fforde (my favorite author, this is the third time I've gotten to see him - he's hilarious in person. I finished two of his wonderful books ("The Fourth Bear" and "First Among Sequels") this year and listened to most of his books this year), Gabe Kaplan, and Michael Beschloss.

They say a book a day keeps boredom away & I read 365 books this year (grand total is now 6500). Here are some (more) of the best: "The Emperors of Chocolate" (Joel Brenner – the story of Hershey's and of M&M's), "Bill Graham Presents" (Bill Graham), "Adam Worth: The Napoleon of Crime" (Ben Macintyre), "The Real Animal House" (Jeff Miller), "Isaac's Storm" (Eric Larson - the 1900 Galveston hurricane), "Yokohama Burning" (Joshua Hammer - the 1923 earthquake), "Ava Gardner: Love Is Nothing" (Lee Server), "Oh The Glory Of It All" (Sean Wilsey), "The Kite Runner" (Khaled Hosseini), "Unfinished Business" (John Houseman), "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl" (John Colapinto), "Gerald Durrell" (Douglas Botting - Durrell is one of my favorite authors), "James Herriot" (Graham Lord), "The Pythons: Autobiography" (Monty Python), "The Night Watch" (David Phillips - the uncle of the subject of my master's thesis, Shawn Phillips – David was a high ranking member of the CIA)

I saw dozens of films. The best of which were "The Lives of Others", "Steal A Pencil For Me" (documentary on survivors of Auschwitz – two of whom were at the screening), "Run Granny Run" (doc on a lady who ran for the U.S. Senate in her nineties - she was present too), "Manufacturing Dissent" (great doc on Michael Moore), "Mafioso" (an amazing 1962 film), "Away From Her", "Stardust", "Bolinao 52", "Kabluey" (shot locally, I hope it is released in 2008), and "No Country For Old Men".

My right shoulder was bothering me early in the year. My acupuncturist suggested trying a chiropractor; my insurance covered 20 treatments with one. I enjoyed it and it seemed to help, but not enough. My doctor ordered an MRI (my first). I was stuck in the machine 30 minutes. It was a very unpleasant experience. The diagnosis was adhesive capulitis (frozen shoulder). I had the same problem years ago with my other shoulder. For three months I worked with a physical therapist (only a mile from here, walking distance) twice a week; gradually the shoulder has gotten stronger and is now mostly healed.

I walked 3563 miles this year, a new personal high. The average was 9.76 miles a day; I had two sixteen-mile days!!! I was able to avoid driving my car 179 days this year (49%!!) (using the bus and/or walking). I only needed to fill up my gas tank 8 times in 2007. Moreover I was able to average 52.8 mpg with my hybrid, a real bonus with the price of gas hitting $3.

My cousin Janice Wiegley has been working on family genealogy and I realized that I could scan the tons of materials my dad gave me years ago. I've sent her dozens of documents and photos and have found some real treasures.

I made a lasting friend at the Mastery, Nevena Bentz. I also became a closer friend with Pa Ti Dixon, whom I discovered, lives a couple blocks away.

I found a few former students on MySpace, and one, Lucy Tinoco, visited last week while in town from Colorado for the holidays. Lauren Howard (the niece of my oldest friend, Derek Howard (whose wife Donna, is now in the legislature)) found me on MySpace recently. She was one of my all-time favorite and best students and we plan to meet for lunch this week.

I had a few invitations to join Facebook, but declined them until I got one from Dan Parsons. I have found it to have a much better interface than MySpace and have found many friends there as well as over 100 former students.

Have a wonderful 2008.a

the one of me is from an online ad that was delayed almost 2 years & which i got lots of time.

Nataly Pena is a very dear friend and the subject of one of my best photo shoots


Chendrith Pittman is one of my fave & best students at Lamar

Christie Turner Schultz is also one of my fave & best students at Lamar

Stephanie Boening is also another of my fave & best students at Lamar

Cokie Roberts is a great reporter and author who worked at NPR

Eve Ensler is the author of the great play, The Vagina Monologues

John Adams is a great composer of many works, Nixon In China is one of his best-known

Phil Donahue, the great TV show host

January 1, 2009

Another busy year. The most notable event was (finally!) my first commercial, a big one: Nike. It was shot in July and I had to dance, not my greatest skill to say the least. I auditioned on my birthday. I had heard nothing after two days, so I figured, no surprise, that I hadn't gotten it. The next morning I got emails from three people informing me that not only did I have the gig, but that there was a rehearsal that afternoon.

The ad was scheduled to go on the web in September, but has been postponed several times. Twice I was filmed in close-ups. The ad was a follow-up to a 2007 Nike commercial featuring Ladainian Tomlinson, star running back for the San Diego Chargers. The delay may reflect the Chargers' disappointing season (they did manage, barely, to make the play-offs so maybe it'll finally be posted). Whenever it does go on the web, the advertising agency will email me a copy. ()

Soon after, I was in a second commercial (a Visa ad for Canada). This time I was an extra; I'm not even visible (I was able to get a copy). I was placed next to two of the featured actors for a while, but got moved (as were dozens), ending up in the back row.

This fall I was in an ad for Westwood College (an online university), which I haven't been able to get a copy of yet. I play a professor who is boring his class. .

In December I was in a training video for Cap Metro (as a bus passenger). I also played a homeless man on Sixth Street for a live performance film of stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan (to be broadcast on Comedy Central late March 2009).

In July I performed a monologue ("Hunting Cockroaches") for a Talent Works showcase (see it at ). Its DVD was distributed to agents and producers throughout Texas. (My previous showcase "Dream of the Red Spider" is at )

I took acting workshops with Sally Jackson, Laurie Guzda, Daniel Foster, and Will Wallace. Last year Will wanted to cast me in a film he produced in Wisconsin; the director instead selected a friend who was so lousy that his footage was dropped from the film.

I arranged the first public screening of "Z: a Zombie Musical" at the Arbor in June and had a great turnout. (There was even another article in the Chronicle right before the screening: ). I arranged a screening at the Drafthouse in San Antonio in July. I was able to get a news story in the Express-News and was interviewed by the NPR station. There was a good turnout (enough that they invited me back in October when there was a very small turnout). I also got "Z" into the Horrific Film Festival in San Antonio in August where I met the man who, in 1941 - age 8 - was the voice and model for Bambi, and the son in the Son of Frankenstein.

I scheduled a screening in Houston, but it was postponed due to Hurricane Ike. An October screening in Dallas had such a small turnout (including two great former students: Trevor White and Jody Armstrong, and a good friend, Gwendolynn Murphy) that I canceled the Houston screening (I hope to find a university venue there where I can show it in 2009). That screening did yield two rave reviews, "Okay... seriously. I haven't laughed this hard in quite some time! This musical is the new Rocky Horror Picture Show. Every time I would start laughing I had to make myself stop so that I didn't miss anything." And "Z is a very busy film. There are so many things going on in the background. I'd like to buy the DVD just so I could go back and see what I missed. The songs are catchy, the dialog is full of funny innuendos and the cast bounces around unlike any Zombie I've ever seen. Y'all must have had a ball making this film. Great jobs guys!!!!!"

I was in several films; most notable were "Mommyhood" () and "Polecats" (). The former is a short written, directed and co-starring Deborah Abbott. My part was written for me. I had a great role in "Polecats," a feature. I portrayed a weird racist who mostly lives in his bathroom with a little chicken.

I also helped Dave Miller shoot an expanded video version of his "Dear Mr. President" play that I was in 3 years ago. Sadly he was unable to cast me, since I didn't look like one of the letter writers (from the 1960s).

I saw Pilobolus perform for the eighth time (I first saw them in 1980). They're my favorite dance troupe.

There were lots of plays on my schedule. The best were "Bronx Tale" (with its creator, Chaz Palminteri), "The Pirates Of Penzance", "Africa: The Czechs Among The Cannibals" (I got a cameo in this one), and "The Vagina Monologues" (whose author, Eve Ensler, was present and performed a final monologue at the end - I was able to get her autograph and a photo with her).

I took thousands of photos, mostly on set, but also a few photo sessions. The session with Nataly Pe?a in San Antonio (at the Sunken Gardens) was one of my all-time best. My old camera started acting funky, so I upgraded to a much better model, which I'm delighted with.

The most memorable concerts were by Susan Werner, Shawn Phillips (visiting from South Africa for an American tour), John Smith, John Adams (an amazing composer, honored at UT with three great concerts; years ago he returned an autographed postcard adding some of his music from "Nixon in China"); the Austin Handbell Ensemble (whose director, Bob Avant, used to be the band director at Lamar; I saw three of their concerts, including an amazing regional conference concert with about 300 performers); and three Conspirare concerts: one devoted to the music of Tarik O'Regan; the second, a thrilling performance of the Verdi Requiem; and the third was taped for national broadcast on PBS in March (during a pledge drive).

I got to see an unusually large number of celebrities this year, getting photos and/or autographs for most of them. John Pearson had his usual stellar line-up for his master class: most notably Charles Burnett, Steve Buscemi, and Matt Stone. I was lucky enough to attend a few of the excellent Texas Monthly interviews Evan Smith conducted for KLRU: Debra Winger, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Matthew McConoughey, Jeff Daniels, and John Sayles. I met Phil Donahue at SXSW (here for the amazing "Body of War" he co-directed). I saw Tommy Lee Jones (at a film that he narrated) and got his autograph.

Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me") recognized me from "Chalk" (which he distributed). David Mamet, Daniel Ellsberg, and Cokie Roberts delivered great lectures. Ralph Nader delivered a campaign speech a few blocks from here.

Mark O'Connor (violinist) conducted a master class at UT. I met James Cromwell, Robert Townsend, and Charlie Kaufman at the Austin Film Festival. Andre Dubus III, Christopher Buckley, Robert Caro, T. Boone Pickens, and Mike Farrell were at the Texas Book Festival. And finally, Peter Yarrow (Peter Paul & Mary), Mia Kirshner, and Sarah Vowell spoke at BookPeople.

Over the years I've worked on dozens of films and made some wonderful friends; it's great to be able to stay in touch with new friends made on set. One of the joys of teaching is getting to work with some amazing young people. Sadly, they all move on and are rarely heard from again. Thanks to the internet, and in particular Facebook, I've been able to re-connect with almost 400.

At Thanksgiving, one of my all-time best students, Christie Turner Schultz (now in Calgary, Alberta) wanted to get together with some of her friends. Sadly only Scott Russell (in Seattle now at Microsoft) and I were able to meet with her (it was very last minute). We had a great visit. I've been helping Christie locate classmates for their upcoming 15th reunion. I've also been helping Mary Voorhees and DeSean Roby find folks for their 10th and 20th reunions. I noticed a Lamar alumni page on DeSean's profile. After I joined it I discovered that some, like Christie, couldn't join. So I set up a new Lamar alumni page and it now has 366 members. ()

Just before Christmas I got to see Chendrith Pittman, Stephanie Boenig and fifteen more former students at an informal McCallum reunion. I was able to track down two students I taught in San Antonio in the early '70s as well as seven from Dobie in the late '70s. I've found former students all over the world: China, Singapore, Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Peru, Japan, and many states across the U.S. Occupations range from lawyers, professors, teachers, musicians, brokers, to owners of their own company. I've found a few working for Microsoft, Dell, IBM, and other computer companies who thanked me for getting them started in computers. No doubt some have lost jobs due to the current economic mess. Hopefully next year, the economy will have bottomed out and the recovery will have started. As many as I've found, they represent only about 6% of the students I taught.

As always I saw tons of movies. Some of the best: "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly", "Le Grande Voyage", "Body of War", "Flying: Confessions of A Free Woman", (a great 6 hour documentary available on the Sundance channel), "Young @ Heart", "JCVD", "Historias Minimas", "Slumdog Millionaire", and "The Reader."

I read an amazing 366 books this year and some of them were exceptional. The best of this year's: "Generation Rx" by Greg Critser (a powerful book on the abuses of the pharmaceutical industry). Three excellent books on post 9/11 Afghanistan: 1) "Kabul in Winter" by Ann Jones, 2) "The Punishment of Virtue" by Sarah Chayes, 3) "Kabul Beauty School" by Deborah Rodriguez. Two great books on Iraq: 1) "Ahmad's War Ahmad's Peace" by Michael Goldfarb and 2) "Mayada Daughter of Iraq " by Jean Sasson. "When A Crocodile Eats the Sun" by Peter Godwin, (Zimbabwe), "H2O" by Howard Schatz (unbelievable photography), "Schulz & Peanuts" by David Michaelis, " What Is The What" (Sudan) by Dave Eggers, "Blackwater" by Jeremy Scahill (a scathing indictment of that mercenary company); and "The Story of French" by Nadeau & Barlow. I read the first four books of the great Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross (thank you Sato Nishimura) (books five and six haven't been published yet). And I read 13 books by Robert J Sawyer, especially enjoying his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.

I was lucky enough to find CDs by Chet Nichols, two of his concerts thrilled me in the 70s; I even got to talk with him on the phone. Likewise, I got all the fantastic CDs put out by Bud & Travis. I even used one of their songs many years ago, when I had a music class one semester.

I walked even more than last year, averaging 10.2 miles a day, with a total of 3726 miles, walking 300 miles every month of the year.

I had to fill the tank only seven times this year. It would've been even less, if I hadn't driven to San Antonio three times and Dallas once. I even avoided driving 60% of the days this year. I was able to average 55 mpg for the year.

I hope that 2009 is a better year for everyone and that President Obama and the new Congress can solve many of the troubles our country is experiencing.