开云体育

Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles books
Catherine Keener, great actor, i've now seen 43 of her films
Edward James Olmos, another great actors, i've seen 28 of his films
Susan Sarandon, another great actor. i've seen 78 of her films
Jordan Strassner, a dear friend i met on set. did a great photo shoot with her
and me as i was costumed in the play 9/11- the Al Qaeda Press Conference

It's always fascinating to review the previous year's activities. This was, mostly, a great year, though being hit by an SUV did put a major damper on things for several weeks.

For the third time since I've been in Austin I was in a play (Conversations While Dining Alone - written and directed by Ken Johnson). We had six performances in January (Act 1 starts at with links to the 12 monologues that follow. act 2 ) and filmed a version of it this summer (). It screens at Windsor Park Library on January 22, 2013 at 6:30. For the stage version I also served as the stage manager, which initially was a challenge since I was given little preparation. I did very well once I had time to prepare properly. The finale from the play, "The N Word" can be viewed at .

In January 2013 I will be in another play, 9/11- the Al Qaeda press conference, which will be performed January 16 as part of Fronterafest. () I was in a play for that festival in 2005, Dear Mr. President. Its playwright, Dave Miller, has been planning since then to write the new play with me in mind and, once he writes the second half of the script, it'll happen. I will be portraying a press spokesman for Al Qaeda, delivering their viewpoint on that fatal day. It's a very provocative piece and it'll be interesting to see what kind of reaction it evokes.

It was a very good year for me as an actor in films. I got my first voiceover role (paid, no less) in Speed Levitch's (produced by Rick Linklater) web series for Hulu, Up to Speed (which you can see at ,p0,d0). I'm the voice of the bridge. It was over two months after the audition before I learned I had gotten the part; I had completely forgotten that I had auditioned for the project until I got the script.

I acted in seventeen films, three of which can be viewed on Youtube. Guardian Angel (I'm a patient) (); The Last Carnival (); and After ()

In Greenbelt I was cast as Leslie (the infamous cross-dressing character who was an Austin icon for years; he died this year and his obit appeared in the New York Times).

I attended two more great Will Wallace workshops and Will cast me in his feature film, Red Wing. I had to travel to Whitewing (40 miles north of Dallas) driving 535 miles the day of the shoot. Thanks to this role, I became SAG eligible. I got a great role in a third feature, Sacrifice, thanks to a video audition.

Marilyn Rucker cast me in a music video, Rude Jogger (). The song was based on a John Kelso column and Kelso appears in the video. Among the other films were Heelers () and Misanthropos. In both a part was written just for me. The latter also led to a role in The Dead Thing (shot by the same crew).

I discovered I could get into almost any Austin City Limits taping, but only went to three this year (most didn't interest me). Bonnie Raitt was a wonderful taping and it was a real treat to finally get to see her perform. An added treat for that taping was the presence of Michael Morton, sitting two rows behind me. I was able to tell him after the taping that his interview (two days earlier) on Overheard was very moving. For information on tapings and a chance to see them, go to . For upcoming ACL tapings, go to

I was able to attend every taping of Overheard with Evan Smith (18 of them) until my accident. Highlights were Deepak Chopra, Meat Loaf, Elie Wiesel (courtesy of Ballet Austin - they had the first three rows reserved for their members, but my usual front row seat was reserved for me. I chatted with their choreographer and executive director, both of whom remembered a former student of mine, Marta Bechtol, who'd been with the Ballet in the early 1990s), Seymour Hersh, Robert Caro (who remembered me), Michael Morton (released in 2011 after 25 years in prison after being railroaded for a murder he didn't commit), and Gloria Steinem. If you're interested in attending Overheard tapings, I post info on tapings /g/UpcomingOverheards.

Some notable people I saw (and in a few cases talked to) were Martin Short, Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Steve Inskeep (NPR's Morning Edition), Frank Deford, David Maraniss, Jack Abramoff, Paul Williams, Sissy Spacek and Stephen Tobolowsky (I highly recommend his podcast, the Tobolowsky Files).

I saw several former students this year. DeeDee Smith was at an art exhibit by Karen Oliphint. Cynthia Lucio and her daughter, Alison Stout-Marquez (one of the rare child-parent duos I taught) were at the corner gas station. I met Stephanie Fletcher at Stiles where she works. Manuel Pacheco and Maria Vasquez (married to each other) were at Cheko's, where both work. I also saw A J Curl, at the Honda dealer across from Cheko's. I was shopping at Sprouts when an employee there, Ian Mitchell, saw me. I saw Robyn Greer at a couple of art exhibits that she organized, including ones featuring the art of Mike Zornes. Stacy Bondurant comped me to a screening of Lawless (based on her husband's novel). Oliver Glenn had an exhibit of his art where I saw both him and his creations. Giovanna Rodriguez attended "Conversations While Dining Alone". I discovered that Stephanie Acosta lives two blocks from me and our paths crossed several times; I got her a small role in Greenbelt. Jose Lopez was part of a crew that put a new roof on my home. Gabriel Wisniewski was downtown during SXSW. Adam Medrano saw me as I was walking in his east Austin neighborhood. Demetre Milligan saw me as I was finishing a photo session at UT. I saw several more at Claudia Cordova's and Quinta Gonzales' weddings. At the latter were Sarah, Celia, and Julian, her sibs. I'd let Sarah know I'd be taking photos at her sister's wedding and I became the official photographer for the wedding.

Once again I was able attend most of John Pearson's fantastic master classes. Highlights were Terry Lickona (Austin City Limits producer), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise), David Gordon Green, and Peter Hedges (one of the best classes ever - his first answer ran about 20 minutes). I just learned that the next classes will be in the fall instead of the usual spring semester.

I saw twenty-three plays this year. The standouts were Young Frankenstein, The Man Who Planted Trees, and Fuddy Meers. I've seen Pilobolus nine times before and it was a real treat to see them yet again. They are one of the most amazing dance companies in the world.

I only had four photo sessions this year, and all resulted in lots of fun and some great photos: thanks to Laura Hernandez, Christal Cureington, Ashlyne Balusek, and Nicole Franco. I hope to do another shoot with all of them. I got roles in Greenbelt for Laura and Ashlyne.

For the sixth consecutive year I read 365 books (the grand total is up to 8375 books). Some of the best nonfiction books: The Shadow Factory (James Bamford – on the NSA); Sacco & Vanzetti (Bruce Watson); The Big Rich (Bryan Burrough - Texas Oil); Empire Of The Summer Moon (S C Gwynne - Quanah Parker & his mother); El Sicario (Molly Mollow - an assassin for the drug cartels in Mexico); Dragon Fighter (Rebiya Kadeer - Uyghar Woman Persecuted By China); Rawhide Down (Del Wilber - the Reagan Assassination Attempt); Reckless Endangerment (Gretchen Morgenson - Fannie/Freddie & the economy); Stories I Only Tell My Friends (Rob Lowe); Nothing To Envy (Barbara Demick - life in North Korea); Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson); Horns Of A Dilemma (Kenneth Ashworth - Frank Erwin & UT); The Wrong War (Bing West - the Afghan War); Wonder Girl (Don Van Natta - Babe Didrikson Zaharias); Bottom Of The 33rd (Dan Barry - longest baseball game ever); Wicked Bugs (Amy Stewart); Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age at the American Film Institute: Next Generation and Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's at the American Film Institute: Golden Age (both by George Stevens Jr); Front Of The Class (Brad Cohen - a master teacher with Tourette's) The Passage of Power (Robert Caro - LBJ); Barack Obama (David Maranis); Enemies (Tim Weiner - the FBI); Do Not Ask What Good We Do (Robert Draper - why the current Congress is such a colossal failure); Dropped Names (Frank Langella); Bill Veeck (Paul Dickson - the unique baseball owner); and The Oath (Jeffrey Toobin - the Roberts Court).

Some of the best fiction (more than usual this year): Where'd You Go Bernadette (Maria Semple); the WWW trilogy and Triggers (Robert J Sawyer); the Graceling Realm books (Kristin Cashore); Every Day (David Levithan); Cinder (Marissa Meyer - 1st in a series, next book out in 2013); The Schwa Was Here, The Shadow Club, the Unwind trilogy, and the Skinjacker trilogy (all by Neal Shusterman - I read nineteen of his books this year).

As always, I saw many movies. My favorites for the year: Silver Linings Playbook, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Unreal Dream (documentary on Michael Morton - should be out in 2013), The Other Son, Lincoln, Gregory Crewdson, Paul Williams Still Alive, A Separation, Headhunters, 2 Filhos De Francisco, Her Master's Voice, Margaret, and Argo.

I was able to finally complete and listen to my expanded My Word collection (the great BBC show) (downloadable at ); in the process of gathering My Word shows I discovered another BBC show, Just a Minute. Through a contact in the UK who wanted my My Word shows, I have 4 DVDs of about 800 Just a Minute shows. I've now listened to about 350 of the shows (of 840). The show will be broadcasting a new series in February 2013 and is in its 46th year with Nicholas Parson, the host, still going strong at age 89; he's never missed a broadcast (). A third major find late this year was about 270 of the Burns and Allen show from the '30s through 1950 (George Burns and Gracie Allen) ().

In March my doctor learned that I had small blockage in one neck artery and for several weeks I had physical therapy to deal with the problem.

I attended an amazing surprise party for my friend Cherry for her birthday party, which was exceptionally elaborate and, for a change, a total surprise.

In September I discovered that my friend Shana Norton was filming the Urban Bloom Dance Project and wanted friends to shoot photos and videos for it. The work was filmed in East Bouldin Creek with a dance company from Houston. My two cameras added a lot of great footage. () The music is by one of my favorite composers, Alan Hovhaness, and the dancers were amazing.

My health has been mostly good; I continue to walk a lot; in fact I didn't even drive 'till July. For the first time ever I walked 22 miles in one day. In ten months this year I walked 400 miles. Last year I logged 4696 miles, but due to the accident this year that dropped to 4614 miles (an average of 12.6 miles a day - until the accident I was averaging 14 miles a day). Every year since I started using a pedometer in 1999 the total distance had gone up until this year. I was able to avoid driving 97.5% of the time; up from 92% last year, 82% in 2010 and 73% in 2009. As a result I only needed to fill the tank twice (and the second time was the last day of the year).

On Saturday, October 13th I left my car at the Round Rock Honda dealer for a minor recall issue. I had planned to see a movie at the discount theater while they were taking care of the car. I crossed Mays Street and (with a pedestrian light) started to cross Old Settlers when I was hit by that infamous "car outta nowhere". I was knocked about ten feet. I never lost consciousness and remained fully alert. Three folks got out of their cars, helped gather my belongings, and called 911. One (a pre-med) gave me the standard consciousness tests (follow my finger, what's your name, date, etc). The driver remained in her car (the witnesses and I WERE blocking her path) and received a ticket. The fire department medics soon arrived followed by the police and an ambulance. I landed on my knees, forehead (a deep cut which required glue, but no stitches); the back of my right hand, right ankle, right elbow (this was a long bruise, and I had to warn nurses to fasten the BP cuff above it when they took vitals). The policeman took my ID and wrote up a report, which he later delivered to me at the hospital. A couple of weeks later I was pleased to learn that I was actually covered by my wonderful auto insurance company (USAA).

The ambulance took me to the Seton ER. This was the second time in my life I'd been in an ambulance. The other time I was about ten years old; that time, like an idiot, I decided to ride my bike in the face of a rare New Jersey hurricane (one much less destructive than Sandy). The wind knocked me off the bike and I regained consciousness when I felt the brick pavement under the ambulance's wheels.

At Seton, after performing a CT scan and x-rays, the nurse got me up three times to see if I could walk. I could barely do so, becoming light-headed right away. After two hours, I was able to phone the Honda dealer who sent someone to leave my car at the hospital and deliver the keys directly to me.

A new shift doctor came on duty and told me "This is the ER, we need to get you OUT, stat." (I'd already signed the discharge papers.) He made me get up and walk; immediately my BP dropped to about 60/30. This convinced him that I wasn't ready. They ran another CT scan. After another four hours in the ER they moved me upstairs to a hospital room. My left lower leg was swollen where the car hit me and a portable x-ray unit was brought to the room; luckily, it was just swollen with no breakage (it was still discolored a month later, but has since cleared up.)

An orthopedist came by on Sunday and told me the CT scan showed that I had a fractured pelvis but that it was a clean fracture. One month later I had to drive to Georgetown to see him (at the time not an easy drive since it was very uncomfortable to sit down, especially for a long drive) and he gave me a clean bill of health.

The first two or three days I experienced something I later heard about in an interview with Oliver Sacks and which I suspect is covered in his latest, no doubt, great book, Hallucinations. I thought I saw people in the room when I knew there wasn't anyone else in the room and knew that I was fully awake. It was a very strange and rather scary experience.

There was an alarm in case I got out of bed (which I had no intention of doing) and I was wearing a "fall risk" bracelet. On Monday they gave me a stool softener to help with a BM; nothing. That evening I requested an enema or suppository from the 7 pm nurse (they're on 12 hour shifts). She had to phone the doctor for authorization, which delayed the procedure until 9:30. She thought it might take 10-15 minutes to kick in, but it took 5 hours. Luckily the nurse had left a bedpan. When I buzzed for help, the other nurse scolded me for not calling him when I had the need. As if he would have been there on time!!

The first day or two in the hospital my still-working iPod helped pass the time, but I knew that the battery would only last so long. I especially enjoyed listening to some of the early broadcasts of Just a Minute. Then I discovered that the hospital had internet, though their keyboard wasn't very good. The TV screen was hard to read (it was across the room and I couldn't use my glasses, since the frames were battered in the accident). Thus it was impossible to check Facebook or email. So I mainly used it to listen to WBUR (a great Boston NPR station - fascinating to hear coverage of hurricane Sandy), ABC R (in Australia) and some of BBC radio's great programs. My neighbor Mikki posted an update on my Facebook page notifying my friends that I was in the hospital & it was very sweet of Tammy Watkins to phone after seeing the update.

A physical therapist came by once a day Sunday through Thursday for very brief visits; on the third visit I had her write down a list of exercises that I could work on; some were in-bed and some sitting. My hospital doctor noted that I could either go to a rehab facility or stay in the hospital; she recommended against the rehab since I was relatively healthy. Since the rehab required a minimum stay of five days, I decided against it. By Wednesday I was able, with a walker, to get out of the room and on a small loop around some rooms. That wore me out. Thursday I was very tired, but was ready to be discharged. My next-door neighbors, Jennings and Mikki, picked me up so one of them could drive my car back.

We stopped by the HEB on the way home to get my meds, which sadly, prolonged the BM story. They were for the pain, but also caused incontinence. The next day my other next-door neighbor took me to pick up replacement frames for my glasses. (The optician later let me know that he was authorized to replace the lenses for free, since they had a scratch-free warranty.)

By Monday, I had not only not had another BM, but three or four meals wouldn't stay down; spitting the food up immediately, reflecting a blocked system. I phoned my doctor to see about getting a suppository, which Jennings picked up, along with an enema. I inserted the suppository about 2 pm and four hours later discovered it had fallen out. I had no better luck with the enema, with most of it ending up on the bedsheets.

I phoned a friend who is a nurse, but didn't hear back from her for several days and posted a desperate plea for a doctor or nurse on my neighborhood's listserve. Luckily I got a phone call from Ruth, a former nurse (now an APL librarian), who read my post and volunteered to come by. It turned out that she recognized my name from the listserve and had seen me at her branch when they screened some Polish films. When the suppository she gave me that night didn't help, she came by the next morning and gave me a second, which also failed.

My doctor's office told me I'd need to go to an ER since I was most likely impacted. My friend Elle gave me a ride to St. David's ER. I arrived at 1:00; after waiting an hour I was finally seen by a pre-ER nurse. I then had to wait 'till about 5:00 before a room became open. When Elle had picked me up I thought I had brought a book to read, suspecting that there might be a wait, but discovered that I'd left it at home when I'd grabbed my walker. Luckily I had my iPod with me and enjoyed listening to some of the 1940 Burns & Allen shows (the first fourteen that year had a Gracie for President campaign, a candidate for the Surprise party).

Finally, after the ER doctor examined and confirmed the impaction, the nurse gave me a double enema that broke the blockage right away. I still had to wait another 90 minutes for the doctor to officially discharge me. Ruth's arrival may have helped get him to act. Ruth told me that the long times are not unusual for an ER. (She used to work at St. David's)

I was completely homebound for a month, recovering very slowly, but also very consistently. The week before the election, I got a ride in order to vote early. Luckily, I was able to bypass a very long line, sign in, then bypass a second shorter line (of about ten) waiting for a voting booth to open up. The wait time most likely would've been about two hours. For the first time ever I missed attending the Austin Film Festival (for which I had already bought a film pass), the Texas Book Festival, and a few tapings of Overheard with Evan Smith (I learned that Evan, who usually acknowledged my presence at most tapings, announced the reason for my absence.) I almost got to one taping when Dr. Bob promised to give me a ride, but he tried to pick me up on the wrong block.

For the first time ever, I missed one of Will Wallace's wonderful workshops. I also lost a rare paid acting gig; I think its director may be able to cast me in a future project.

Since I moved to my home in the 1980s I have maintained a block list, and thus was able to call upon eight neighbors to pick up groceries for me, pick up/return library books, help with the trash barrels, and repair my iPod's earbuds.

On November 17 my scene in Misanthropos was filmed; the director came by a few days before the shoot and chose my wardrobe; and I got a ride to the set from one of the actors. A few days later I was able to start getting out of the house for movies, plays, concerts, though I was moving very slowly for some time.

I am about 99% healed, with minor pelvic pain and occasional pain in the lower legs. Scars remain on my right knuckles, right knee, and right elbow and I'm wondering if those will ever clear up. As painful as the experience once I fully realize that it could have been much worse.

Hoping that 2013 is a great year for all.

Gloria Steinem - the founder of Ms Magazine & feminist icon
Seymour Hersh - great reporter, first covered the My Lai massacre in Viet Nam. i've read 8 of his books now
Paul Williams - wonderful singer
Helen Prejean - leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, author of Dead Man Walking - made into a powerful movie
Ashlynne Balusek - dear friend - subject of a great photo shoot
and me in my authentic Afghan costume i used in the play at FronteraFest - 9/11- the Al Qaeda press conference

Sandy Alcala - sandy was one of my best students at dobie

2011 newsletter

It's hard to believe another year has passed. Most noteworthy events: Slacker 2011, Medicare and Mikhael Gorbachev.

I was in a play (Conversations While Dining Alone) for the third time since I've been in Austin. This one was written and directed by Ken Johnson. We filmed a November performance; one show earned a standing ovation. We perform the show seven more times in January, 2012 (!/events/205237586229139/). Version one is at . Version 2 act 1starts at
With links to the following monologue (music rights from youtube necessitated this work-around) act 2 . And the film version is at .

I was in several other films, mostly as an extra. I was in Andrew Bujalski's "Computer Chess" and Paul Bright's "Goliad Uprising". Each year the SXSW Film Festival opens each of its dozens of screening with a humorous short film (called a "bumper"). I got to be in two of the five bumpers. In May I was part of a Drink 'n' Drive Go to Jail press conference for the Texas Department of Public Safety portraying one of eleven "drunk drivers." We each held up a sign showing our lame excuse for our DWI conviction, all of us dressed in a prisoner's orange jumpsuit. (). We had to stand with our backs to the press for twenty minutes before the event started, and, as a result, I got to visit with the young woman next to me, Amber Calderon, the current Miss Austin. I was also part of a photo shoot for "Failed Superheroes" a book by Scott Allen Perry scheduled for a 2012 release. And I was in an episode for the ABC Family show "The Lying Game", scheduled to air in early 2012.

From 1986 to 1997 I attended 128 Austin City Limits tapings, but none since then. This year ACL moved to a new studio, and, with its much larger capacity, I was able to see eight tapings; the best of these were Steve Miller, Miranda Lambert, and Randy Newman (one of the all-time best). For information on tapings and a chance to see them, go to .

I attended two more great Will Wallace workshops this year. Will was in town preparing a feature film that Terrence Malick's producer, Edward Pressman, is producing. Its shoot is planned for 2012. I hope I'll be part of it and may have persuaded Will to cast Bob Hinkle, a new friend. I met Hinkle the same evening as Jeff Bridges' ACL taping. I passed up the taping to see Hinkle speak. I had recently read and loved his book ("Call Me Lucky"), one of the best books I read this year. Bob was hired to teach James Dean and Rock Hudson to "talk Texan" for the film "Giant" and was hired by Paul Newman to do the same in Hud. Bob also knew LBJ and told of his encounters with him. Bob now lives in the Austin area and I was able to arrange for him to introduce a screening of Hud in San Antonio shortly after I met him. I videotaped most of his talk (until my camera's memory card filled up) and you can view it at

In January I noticed what seemed to be another hernia (after hernia repair surgery the month before) and my surgeon agreed that it needed tending to. It turned out to be some fatty tissue sticking out; the surgeon operated again and pushed it back in, adding another net to prevent recurrence. My health has been good; my doctor was very pleased with my physical exam, telling me that my EKG was "perfect" and the lab results were great. I continue to walk a lot and for the first time ever walked 19 miles in one day, following it up by walking 20 miles two days later. In May I logged 400 miles for the first time and ended the year with six 400-mile months. Last year I logged 4282 miles and this year raised that to 4696 (an average of 12.8 miles a day). I was able to avoid driving 92% of the time, up from 82% last year and 73% the year before. As a result I only needed to fill the tank twice.

In April I screened Z: a Zombie Musical in San Antonio. I got to visit Bob Maxham, a good friend since 1972. When I drove by Brackenridge H.S., where I first taught (in 1968) I discovered a new campus. The screening went great with about a dozen folks showing up including Laura Juarez-Fierro, one of my best students that first year.

I saw some great concerts. One of the best was the St John's College Choir from Cambridge, England. They reminded me of when I was in the boys choir at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Kansas City. I saw Vicki Carr perform, but the highlight of the evening were the musicians who opened and then accompanied her: the Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, who were fantastic. Two of my favorite folk singers, Ken Gaines and Buddy Mondlock, performed great house concerts. Atash, a local world music band, was a real discovery and I got to see them perform twice.

Some notable people I saw (and in a few cases talked to) were Mikhael Gorbachev, Eric Holder (Attorney General), Bob Edwards (original host of All Things Considered), Andy Borowitz (hilarious - saw him at the Book Fest ( and ) as well as on Overheard), Stephen Breyers (Supreme Court) Anne Archer (with her husband, Terry Jastrow, whose credentials were amazing - TV producer of golf tournaments, the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and much more), Nora Ephron, Robert Redford (along with Woodward & Bernstein for a great panel on All the President's Men), Donald Petrie (who directed Miss Congeniality in which I was an extra), Johnny Depp, Paul Giamatti, Jodie Foster, and Ben Sargent (the master cartoonist).

The Body Art Ball was great this year, with much more body art this time; it was at ACL Live, allowing the artists less restrictions. This year Austin hosted a "cow parade" and I had great fun taking photos of about seventy "art cows" which were auctioned off by Jay Leno for the Dell Children's Hospital. (photos start at )


Once again I was able to attend every taping of Overheard with Evan Smith. Of the thirty-three programs taped this year the most memorable were Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer, Garrison Keillor (got a photo with him, but it's badly out of focus), Andy Borowitz, Juan Williams, Julian Bond, Robert Kennedy Jr., Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons - a real thrill to meet him), Calvin Trillin (he went to the same H.S. as I did, in K.C.), Cenac Wyatt (The Daily Show), Chely Wright (who greeted me by name, a real surprise - she'd been told about me before the taping) and Bill Paxton. The shows are invariably interesting and some were brilliant. They are all available online at www.klru.org/overheard/ and the Q&As after are also at that URL (I'm in some of those). If you're in Austin and interested in knowing about upcoming tapings, let me know (/g/UpcomingOverheards). The program is now carried in numerous markets around the nation on PBS stations.

Once again I was able attend most of John Pearson's fantastic master classes. Highlights were Jay Duplass (who I met on one of his films a few years ago and discovered during filming of "Slacker 2011", that I had met his wife ten years ago on a film - Jay cast me for his segment in that film (), which was the 20th anniversary remake of Rick Linklater's first film "Slacker"); Rick Linklater, whose session was made even better with the screening of his wonderful next feature film, "Bernie"; Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me") and Art Linson (producer of Car Wash, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Melvin & Howard, Fight Club - both of his books are great)

I added a few autographs to my collection: Fannie Flagg, Chely Wright, Bill Paxton, Anne Archer, Calvin Trillin, Harry Shearer, Donald Petrie, Bob Hinkle, Juan Williams, Bob Edwards, and Andy Borowitz.

We had some unusual weather this year: one inch of snow in February and the hottest summer ever with ninety 100-degree days (the old record was sixty-nine) and an all-time record high for Austin of 112! I found that I was able to get along just fine without using my AC at home; my fans kept me sufficiently cool. The average temperature for the year was one degree above the previous record (2006).

I saw thirty-four plays this year. The Miracle Worker was a real delight, moving me to tears. Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Neil Simon) was great fun. FDR wasn't strong as a play, but it was great to see Ed Asner on stage. Ann was a wonderful play about Ann Richards. A second delightful play about an Austin legend was Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-ass Wit of Molly Ivins. The Servant of Two Masters was hilarious and reminded me of the time I saw it in college in the late '60s; the lady seated behind me back then told me that she enjoyed the play more due to my pleasure (and she was the university president's mom). I'd seen Hair three times before, but this was one of the best productions. The Shakespeare Improv Company (from Chicago) created Hamlet Gets a New Lease on Life; it was fascinating to watch and enjoy because they were creating the play as we watched.

I only had three photo sessions this year, but two of them were great: Kimber Reed's was one of the best ever (). Jennifer Ekeh was in the play (Conversations While Dining Alone) with me and her session was also fantastic (). Hope to have another session with both in 2012.

For the fifth consecutive year I read 365 books. Some of the best: Call Me Lucky by Bob Hinkle; Winner Take All Politics by Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson (excellent book explaining how our political systems have deteriorated - highly recommended by Bill Moyers); Strange Piece Of Paradise by Terri Jentz (the victim of a brutal attack returns years later to investigate the truth about the crime and find the man who attacked her); To Live and Perish Forever by Nicholas Schmidle (great book on Pakistan); In the Place of Justice by Wilbert Rideau (a black man, sentenced to death three times due to his race, spent decades in Louisiana prisons before being released); The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine (a second volume of his autobiography); The Last Boy by Jane Leavy (Mickey Mantle - my hero when I was a kid); Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (a man goes thru hell during Katrina); The Mascot by Mark Kurzem (a Jewish boy becomes the mascot of Nazi troops in WW II); Deadly Spin by Wendell Potter (health care); Cyber War by Richard A. Clarke (the new face of 21st century war); A Class Divided by William Peters (if you teach, this is required reading - an Iowa teacher's life-changing lesson on tolerance - great DVD is also worthwhile); Nothing to Fear by Adam Cohen (FDR's 1st 100 days); Charlatan by Pope Brock (a fake doctor in the early 20th century whose "work" killed dozens); Mentor by Tom Grimes (autobiography); An Unreasonable Woman by Diane Wilson (an east Texas woman fights the polluters); Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre (an English thief becomes a double agent and earns awards from both Brits and the Germans); Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintrye (the true story of The Man Who Never Was); The Prize by Daniel Yergin (history of the oil biz - his sequel (on all forms of energy) "The Quest" is also great); The Fear by Peter Godwin (life in Zimbabwe - yet another great Godwin book on his homeland); The Magicians by Lev Grossman (wonderful book - if you liked Harry Potter, read this - I pick up its sequel this week); Journey from the Land of No (autobiography of a Jewish girl who grew up in Iran in the 1970s - her Assassins of the Turquoise Palace is a compelling book on killers sent to Germany by Tehran); At Home: A Short History Of Private Life by Bill Bryson (fascinating book on origins - I read nine more books by Bryson and all are great), and Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield (alternate presidential history).

I saw many movies, as always. My favorites for the year: Blood Relation (an Israeli doc), The Descendants, Certified Copy (Kiarastomi), Sarah's Key (the book is also great), Being Elmo: A Puppeteer (Elmo (Kevin Clash) was present at the screening), The Concert, Bernie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (The Swedish version is also great), Moneyball (great book too) and Building Hope (Turk Pipkin's inspirational doc on building a school in Kenya).

I made two especially notable purchases this year. When my iPod's battery died, I upgraded to a new iPod Nano, which is even smaller and extremely convenient. In January I bought 20 CDs of old radio shows with four hundred hours of material: the Spike Jones show, the Stan Freberg show, Bob & Ray, the Danny Kaye Show, Benny Goodman concerts, Beyond Our Ken (Kenneth Horne - BBC), Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life, and My Word! I've ALMOST finished listening to all 400 hours of these shows and should finish this week. A BBC program, "My Word!" ran from 1956 to 1990; I was introduced to it about twenty years ago by my thesis adviser who sent me three dozen tapes of the program. Each program ended with Dennis Norden's and Frank Muir's very funny stories, beginning with a quote and ending with a pun on that quote. I now have about 200 of the shows and have found additional ones this year that I've been able to record from several NPR stations and ABC R in Australia all of which still broadcast the show weekly! I can provide a link to anyone interested in downloading any of the My Words.

I re-connected with over 400 former students on Facebook this year and have now connected with over 1400 of the 6000+ I taught. Got some very nice comments from some of them this year: "Hi Mr. Eggleston I passed my math and English test. I was so happy that I cried this is the first time I'm actually using my head I'm happy", "I wanted to say hello and thank you for being one of the few teachers who was able to get any math through to me. I still remember you saying if you remember nothing else, remember how to do proportions. It has served me well." "Oh my gosh you were like my favorite teacher ever lol" "Mr. Eggleston! It is truly a pleasure to hear from you. My entire life I have wanted to find you and just say 'I am VERY sorry for all the hell we kids gave you!' We were not fair to you. Yet, I bet you're the one teacher always remembered the fondest. I'll never forget our experiences on those old Apple computers. You made things fun. Just wish I had been a better student and taken full advantage of your teachings. Hope you are doing well. You're looking great! "Dan Eggleston I was excited that someone would have some kind of music playing in the classroom it got me relax and doing my work. Ur awesome teacher to have and also help keep us motivated to stay on task and rethink stuff thought.....Thanks :)" "Oh my goodness! What a blast from the past!! Some of my favorite memories of middle school were in your class! How on earth did you remember me? Thanks for all you've done to help so many children. You were an inspiration to me and now I teach kindergarten. Thank you! You are such a genius with the tech stuff. Your class was the only happiness I remember in middle school. Playing Oregon Trail and learning how computers didn't have feelings still makes me laugh. I hope you are doing well and that you've hopefully retired by now. I'm about to throw in the towel and I've only been at this 9 years. Then again, it is August and I say that every year at this time. lol!"

I got about TWO HUNDRED birthday wishes on my Facebook wall this year, the most ever. It was a real pleasure.

It's really strange to realize that I've reached 65; it's great to be on Medicare, which allowed me to lower my health care premiums somewhat. It also allowed to qualify for a half price bus pass, which I use often.

It's been a good year for me. I hope that 2011 will be a good one for everyone and that the economy shows major improvements and the politicians who are blocking progress will be retired at the polls.

sandy alcala was one of my best students at dobie - worked with her husband & son on a Danish movie
Laura Juarez-Fierro was one of my best students my first year of teaching (68/69) at brackenridge h.s. in san antonio
Ben Sargent is the award-winning poltical cartoonist
Bill Moyers is the great PBS commentator & reporter
Bill Paxton is a great actor
Bob Hinkle is the author of a great autobiography - he worked on many films, most notably Giant
Harry shearer is a great actor & activist. he worked on The Simpsons & has a great podcast Le Show
Julian Bond is a great civil rights activist
Amber Calderon was Miss San Antonio Texas 2010 and Miss Austin Texas 2011. she was in a PSA with me
Morgan Spurlock was the creator of the great film Super Size Me
and i was an a SXSW bumper at

2010 newsletter

It's hard to believe another year has passed. I had the good fortune this year to be in both a Coen brothers film ("True Grit") and a Robert Rodriguez film ("Spy Kids 4", which opens summer 2011). I'm clearly visible in "True Grit" about twenty minutes into the film. When Mattie enters the courtroom, she has to shove past me. I'm hard to spot in "Spy Kids 4"; I play one of five scientists (in the background) staring at an enormous clock during a TV newscast interview with the chief scientist. (I am visible, very briefly) While working on "True Grit" I discovered that another extra attended Brackenridge H.S. (San Antonio) the year ('68/'69) I taught there, and was even in the band. I was the unofficial Assistant Band Director that year, announcing the band's halftime performances and sitting in on French horn during the early morning before-school rehearsals. I was even the substitute teacher the day of TMEA (getting to conduct the band, an enormous treat - my university band director joked that the only band I'd ever conduct would be a rubber band). It was not surprising that the guy didn't remember me at all (it WAS 41 years ago).

I was in several other films, mostly in a small capacity. I starred in a spec ad for GoDaddy.com () which competed against 200 entries. We came in sixth in the popular voting, which, sadly, was ignored in the awarding of the prize money. We also shot a sequel, () also great.

I had surgery this year as well as two MRIs. My right shoulder had been bothering me for several months. A steroid shot/medications didn't solve the problem, so my doctor ordered a shoulder MRI. After the shoulder specialist examined the MRI, he requested a neck x-ray, followed by a neck MRI, which confirmed his diagnosis: the problem was the neck, not the shoulder. Two vertebrae in my neck were misaligned. I had several weeks of PT and have been continuing the exercises.

In 1975 I had left-inguinal hernia surgery. I scheduled it during spring break, hoping that I'd not miss any school. I believe I was in the hospital about four or five days. I had to take off another week to recover; I was barely able to walk, moving as fast as a geriatric. In the mid-1980s I had right-inguinal hernia surgery; methods had improved so much that I was back in action much more quickly; I may have stayed in the hospital overnight. I discovered this year that the repairs had worn out on both sides. On December 16 I had both sides repaired. The surgeon used a laporascope, making the procedure much quicker and safer. I was on the operating table at 10:30 a.m. and on the way home (thanks to Fred Woody) two hours later. My walking was slowed down somewhat, but I logged 12 miles one week later. The surgery went very well and after two weeks, there was some discoloration around that area, and minimal discomfort.

Otherwise, my health was good. In 2000 I started tracking my walking and logged 2101 miles. Every year since then I've walked greater distances. I was up to 4280 miles this year, which was also the third consecutive one that I walked 300 miles every month, with a record 380 miles this June. I also am using public transport when I can. Last year I avoided driving 73% of the time. This year it's up to 82%. As a result, I only had to fill up the gas tank four times!!!

Once again I was able attend all of John Pearson's fantastic master classes. Highlights were Rob Thomas (a former teacher at Reagan H.S. and the creator of Veronica Mars - I was able to watch all three seasons after I saw him, and it was really a great show), Evan Shapiro (the president of Sundance/IFC), Elizabeth Avellan (producer of Robert Rodriguez's films and his ex-wife), and Spike Jonze (director of "Being John Malkovich").

Once again I attended most of the tapings (in the eighth and final season) of Evan Smith's great interview program, "Texas Monthly Talks" () and got to meet and get autographs and photos with most of the guests. Highlights were Tim Matheson, Sally Ride, Gwen Ifill, Morley Safer, Thomas Haden Church, and Jake Silverstein. The show had been carried by most Texas PBS stations. Evan is no longer with Texas Monthly, so a new show has been created, "Overheard with Evan Smith", () It's being marketed to a national market, not just Texas. I've been to all nine of the shows, so far. My favorites were Michael Pollan, Bill Bradley, Jonathan Alter, and Howard Dean. It's a real treat to be introduced to the guests by Evan after the taping.

The best concert I attended in 2010 was by the State Symphony Capella of Russia. This is a large choral group that performs a capella (no instruments); they were stunning, a rich full sound. The same week I saw the UT Chamber Singers also perform a capella; they were wonderful. They performed the Samuel Barber "Reincarnations", a composition I've loved since college days and was thrilled to finally hear it performed. Also exciting was the Choral Arts performance of the Passio by Arvo Part.

I hadn't seen a PDQ Bach concert since the 1980s, so it was a real treat to see Peter Schickele perform again. He's still in top form in spite of his age (75) and health problems, and his concerts are wonderfully hilarious. This was the fourth time I've seen him perform, but the first time since 1987.

I've been a fan of Tony Barrands and John Roberts for many years (since John Aielli started played their wonderful Christmas songs on KUT), and even encouraged them via email to perform here. Barrands can no longer travel much, but Roberts performed here and was wonderful.

I got to see a wonderful Jon Anderson concert at the Paramount. I attended my 37th Shawn Phillips (the subject of my Master's thesis) concert (). I saw Ed Miller perform for the fifth time ( and ), and saw the extraordinary Indian violinist L. Subramaniam for the third time. It was a rare treat to see Tuvan singing, performed by Alash, and I was able to attend their workshop teaching the basics throat singing; it was fascinating.

The best play I saw this year was "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later", a superb and very moving follow-up to the original work. "The Understudy: Zaskok, The Unfortunate Premiere Of Cimrman's Play Vlasta" was an hilarious Czech play, which I fear may be the last Cimrman play performed in Austin. I hope that is not the case, but its director was pink-slipped as part of the budget cuts at UT. I'd never seen "The Trip to Bountiful" on stage, and it's a great work. I love Benjamin Britten, so it was a pleasure to see his "Albert Herring" again.

The Capitol Steps performed a delightful show this year. I was also able to see Sarah Silverman, Frank Deford, Sandra Day O'Connor, Spike Lee, John Lithgow, James Baker, and Bruce McGill ("Animal House").

The Body Art Ball () was much better this year, with much more body art this time. (It was also great to see Yvetta Hill again). One of the greatest highlights of the year was the performance of "Botancia" by Momix (in my opinion the best dance company in the world), part of the show is at ). It has to rank as one of the most amazing performances I've EVER seen. I'd seen Momix three times before and they are incredible.

UT celebrated the 50th Anniversary of "The Fantasticks", with several panels. You can see parts of the Harvey Schmidt/Tom Jones (the UT grads who created the show) panel at and . Seven years ago I met Harvey when he was here for his 40th reunion. If you're on Facebook, you can see his scrapbook from that year at .

I attended three McCallum reunions (9th/10th, 20th, and 21st) and got to see about twenty of my former students. I connected with about 265 former students on Facebook in 2010. (I've now re-connected with about 900). I finally located a few students I taught at Brackenridge H.S., including Laura Fierro, one of my best students that year.

I got a great note from T.C. Autry, "When I was in his class in middle school I thought that Dan Eggleston was the weirdest person I would ever meet. Now that I'm older and wiser, I realize that he is actually the coolest person I will ever know. Watch this video. He's the dude with long hair and sweat bands on his wrist. Incredible." ()

I also saw former students at Chandra Morgan's wedding, a beautiful ceremony. I saw more at the Michael Pollan Overheard taping. On a sadder occasion, I saw three of Bobby Pagan's sisters (I taught five members of his family) at a dedication ceremony at Anderson H.S. for a plaque honoring his death from the Afghan war.

Among the autographs I collected this year were Michael Pollan, Scott Westerfeld (I read twelve of his books this year; see him discussing zombies at ), Tom Jones ("The Fantasticks"), Leslie Stahl, Sally Ride, Bob Schieffer, Temple Grandin, Morley Safer, America Ferrera, and Robbie Krieger (The Doors)

I screened "Z: a Zombie Musical" twice in San Marcos (at Wake the Dead Coffee House) and once at UT. I've got a screening scheduled at UT on March 6 in the music building and am working on screenings in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston.

We had half an inch of snow in February, the most since 1985.

Late in the year I attended my second focus group, a most unusual one. We served as a mock jury to help the lawyers decide whether or not a lawsuit should go forward dealing with a prominent Austin family. It was a fascinating case.

Three times I saw a hot air balloon flying over my neighborhood, and got some nice photos of it. Reminded me of my ballooning days back in the '70s with Derek Howard.

For the fourth consecutive year, I read 365 books. Here's some of the best of them: all four books by Malcolm Gladwell: "Tipping Point", "Blink", "Outliers", "What the Dog Saw & Other Stories" (very highest recommendation. Countless fascinating accounts of many topics, some life-improving, if applied - for example children in kindergarten should be grouped by the months they were born in - you can also hear Gladwell on some of the RadioLab programs, another wonderful discovery. Find it at RadioLab.org or through iTunes); "Confessions of a Mad Playwright" by James Kirkwood (the insane & true story of the author's play which starred Mary Martin & Carol Channing); "The Dream" and "The Golden Willow" by Harry Bernstein (books 2 & 3 of the 100-year-old author's autobiography - he's still alive); "The Promise: The President Obama Year One" by Jonathan Alter (fascinating account of how Obama runs the White House - I met Alter at "Overheard"), "Alex" by Frank Deford (a very moving account of his daughter before her death at age nine, due to cystic fibrosis), "Adventures Among Ants" by Mark Moffett; "Dangerously Funny" by David Bianculli (the Smothers Brothers); "The Last Days of Old Beijing" by Michael Meyer; "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit" by Lucette Lagnado (a Jewish family is exiled from Egypt and end up in Brooklyn); "The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday" by Neil MacFarquhar (a great title - great pieces on life in the mideast); "It's Our Turn to Eat" by Michela Wrong (life in Kenya - all her books are fantastic); both of Greg Mortenson's wonderful books "Stones Into Schools" and "Three Cups Of Tea" (building girls' schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan); "The Great Deluge" by Douglas Brinkley (Katrina); Aljean Harmetz's "The Making of The Wizard of Oz"; "Six Suspects" and "Q & A" (source of "Slumdog Millionare") by Vikas Swarup (the only fiction books on this list); "The Angler: the Cheney Vice Presidency" by Barton Gellman; "The Sorrows of Empire", "Blowback" and "Nemesis" by Chalmers Johnson (penetrating analyses of the American military - very highly recommended); "Country Driving" and "Oracle Bones" by Peter Hessler (modern life in China, where Hessler has lived for 20 years), "Josh" by Joshua Logan (the autobiography of the great director/writer), "Wonderful Tonight" by Pattie Boyd (autobiography by the wife of George Harrison & (after he wrote "Layla" about her) Eric Clapton); "Emergence" and "Animals Make Us Human" by Temple Grandin; and "Name Above The Title" by Frank Capra (the great film director's autobiography).

It's hard to believe that one of my favorite teachers is still alive, well and active; especially since he taught me back in 1959 or so. But last year I located my French horn teacher, Russ Patterson, and this year I was able to talk to him on the phone (when last year's newsletter fell out of the envelope).

I saw the usual large number of movies. My favorites for the year are "La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet" (a truly wonderful doc by Frederick Wiseman), "King Lear" (the incredible 1971 Russian version - stunning), "Red Chapel" (an unbelievable and hilarious Danish documentary on North Korea), "Temple Grandin" (got to meet Grandin at a screening just before the film started playing on HBO), "The Ghost Writer", "A Thorn in the Heart" (another documentary, this one by Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") about his family), "Thunder Soul" (a documentary about the Houston high school director who took a troubled school's dance band to the best in the nation), "9500 Liberty" (a documentary on the anti-immigrant law in Virginia, very similar to the law passed in Arizona), "Toy Story 3", "Killing Katzner" (documentary on the Jewish Schindler), "Exporting Raymond" (a documentary on the creation of the Russian version of "Everyone Loves Raymond" - it looked to be a disaster but became the top-rated show in Russia, I'd never seen the show, but am enjoying it now, having seen about half of the shows so far), and "The King's Speech."

I had five photo shoots this year. Bethany Harbaugh's was so great and so much fun that we had a second in December and plan on more in 2011. Christina Childress's was also amazing. Right after Christmas, I shot one with my friend, Linda Lopez, who I hadn't seen in seven years. I got some fantastic photos in all five.

I attended two fantastic workshops with Will Wallace, meeting some great new friends. For the first, Joe Estevan (Martin Sheen's brother) helped teach the workshop, which was extra fun.

I had to replace a lot of items around the house this year: I've got a new washing machine, computer (an iMac with a 27" screen, about twice as big as the old one), a 42" HD TV, a new printer (enabling me, finally, to be able to print directly from my favorite graphics program, TypeStyler), a new Tivo, (which lets me record two programs simultaneously). I finally upgraded from dial-up to DSL (which was lucky, since shortly after that I got the new Tivo, which requires high-speed access). I also have a MagicJack, which allows me to finally (via VOIP) make free long distance phone calls.

It's been a good year for me. I hope that 2011 will be a good one for everyone and that the economy shows major improvements.

Jon Lovitz, the great actor
Kellie Albanese, one of my fave students
Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach) created the concert series in the 60s
Sally Ride, the first female astronaut
Temple Grandin, the great authority on animal treatment & autism
me in True Grit & my my surgery x-rays

January 1, 2010

I'm always amazed at how much I've accomplished when I review the previous twelve months each year. This year numerous events felt like they'd happened LAST year. Of course, since much of my life was spent in the classroom (34 years teaching and 17 more as a student), last spring IS considered last year. So that feeling is understandable.

The most exciting event for me was a commercial. It will be broadcast, starting in late January, throughout Texas. It's a PSA for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (photos are at ). It was exciting just to get a callback and even more to be cast. It was filmed the week before Christmas about seventy miles northwest of Austin in Llano County near Packsaddle Mountain. I play a crazy man wearing a sandwich board. "The End is Near" is on the front and "When do you renew?" on the back. An eighteen-wheeler drives by and I spin around revealing the back. I'm the only actor in the spot, which is very cool. They filmed three other PSAs, which I expect will be aired in rotation.

The same week I had another unique experience: I was hired to be on the cover of a local band's (Anew Revolution) second album. The shoot was originally scheduled at one of the locations we used for the Just Z It trailer. When I arrived, there was no one there. I then discovered that permission to shoot there had fallen through; we shot instead at the location we had used in Z for our zombie guitar quartet. Jim Swift shot a KXAN news story on us there. I was photographed in a hospital gown, barefoot, in front of a building on Fourth Street (the temperature was in the 40s that morning by the time they got to my shot had warmed up enough). They will photoshop the album title "iamerica" onto the large piece of cardboard I'm holding. (photos at ).

Last summer I was in a short web video ad for the game Serious Sam HD.

I had a great role (as a dad) in a short film entitled Betta, which I hope to finally see in early 2010 (completion is long overdue). See it at

I play a shop owner in the local feature Altitude Falling which will get DVD distribution on completion in 2010. In "Wave to Life" I got to dress in an Uncle Sam outfit. I got to play a doctor, again in a delightful "sick" short, Lord of the Greens.

I played a small role in the Pompeii video that Liz Reeder shot for the singer Michelle Shocked. I got to play God (again) in a Doritos spec ad (for the Super Bowl competition).

It seems very unlikely I'll ever see the Nike video I was in a year ago, The 2008 Westwood College commercial I'm in is at .

When my dad died thirteen years ago, his inheritance went entirely to his widow. It was a very pleasant shock to learn that one of my uncles had left a nice sum of money to my cousins, my brother and myself after his widow's death last year. That check arrived this summer.

I had a major shock last summer: I was mugged while walking home from campus. Just after I crossed Airport at 46th, I noticed two young men standing on the sidewalk. One started walking next to me and asked for some money. I told him that I had none. He then demanded my iPod and grabbed for it, only getting the earbuds (the iPod stayed in my pocket; its battery was nearly dead and was replaced the next day,). I reached for the earbuds and he punched me two or three times, knocking me down. At his point his friend called him off and I got home safely. I had bruises on my forehead, left knee, the heel of my left palm and three fingers of my left hand. Half of the pinky's fingernail was broken off and there was a bruise on part of my upper lip. A month later the Statesman reported that a local gang had been attacking people in a similar manner downtown for several months. Several of the victims were seriously injured. I strongly suspect my attack was a training or initiation activity. The following morning I found my earbuds in the grass along with my cap.

I had two dead trees removed from my back yard. It was fun to watch the very efficient "monkeys" trim the branches. In December I had to replace all of the drainage pipes in the house. It was very expensive, but definitely needed. Just after that was finished I had a new toilet installed. After reading "The Big Necessity" I knew I wanted to get a Toto toilet. They are made in Japan and are the best in the world. Before the toilet could be installed I needed to have an electrician add a bathroom outlet (which very welcome anyway). The toilet (the washlet part) cleans my butt with water sprayed from a nozzle; the toilet seat is heated and never slams (it takes 25 seconds to close, though you can push it down quickly if necessary). There is also an energy saver mode. I'm thoroughly pleased with it and will be getting a $200 rebate from the city since it saves a lot of water. I chose not to spend more money to get the version which lifts the lid when you enter the bathroom and makes "noises" to hide any human bathroom sounds.

I was very interested in getting an HD radio, having heard promos for KUT-2 (all news 24/7, including lots of great BBC programs). I discovered they were very reasonable and bought one. All I had to do was plug it into my stereo receiver. A few days ago I also replaced my old fridge, long overdue and reducing my energy needs.

Many years ago, my thesis adviser introduced me to the BBC program, "My Word!" He sent me several dozen tapes of the program which I loved. In August I bought 30 My Word! programs (22 of which were new to me) and I also got 8 "My Music" programs (also by the My Word guys) from a company in England. I was able to get over 400 half-hour programs (as MP3s) for about $30. There were three other BBC programs: The Goon show (164 shows – Peter Sellers became famous in the UK thanks to this program), Round the Horne (71 shows), and Take It from Here (156 shows). I have finished listening to all of the Round the Horne, which I loved and am on the home stretch of the delightful Goon Shows - 9 shows left and will soon start on the Take It from Here shows. I also found 8 CDs of the wonderful Jean Shepherd (best known for the movie, The Christmas Story)

Once more I was able to attend almost all of John Pierson's wonderful master classes; highlights this year were Mike Judge, Tim McCanlies, Morgan Spurlock (who told me that he loved Z), Rick Linklater, and Harvey Weinstein (the latter via an abbreviated satellite link). At the McCanlies class, just after I asked him a question, I had to leave the room to perform a scene for a film next door. Luckily, I was able to return after and explain why I had seemed to disappear as he was answering my question.

Thanks to Evan Smith, I was able to attend almost all (except two) of his great Texas Monthly Talks public TV programs. (for the two I missed, I was filming my DMV spot during one and meeting Jon Scieska at the Texas Book Festival during the other) Highlights include Madeleine Albright, Buzz Aldrin, Morley Safer, Carl Hiassen, Mike Leach, Jeffrey Toobin, Sonny Rollins, Abraham Verghese, Billy Bob Thornton, Doug Brinkley, Jody Conradt, and Rick Linklater. I was able to get autographs and/or photos with all except Albright, who was rushed to her next event. At Rick's taping, Evan told Rick that I was usually in the front row and always had great questions and Rick (who I've known since the '80s) dubbed me Helen Thomas (the reporter who has covered every president since JFK) so I began my question to him, with her traditional "thank you Mr. President."

I screened "Z: a Zombie Musical" three more times: in Houston, Bastrop, and Austin. We had small (but very appreciative) audiences for all three. The next screening will be January 27, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at Wake the Dead Coffee House in San Marcos.

I enjoyed some great theatrical events/lectures this year including Spamalot, Hal Holbrook (now 83, performing a fantastic Mark Twain Tonight), Iolanthe, Black Snow, Frost/Nixon, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, the Trash Project (city garbage trucks and sanitation workers performing!!), A Conversation With Edith Head (a one-woman play), Carol Burnett, Richard Garriott, the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, astronaut Alan Bean, composer Stephen Sondheim, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, cartoonist R Crumb, and director John Waters' strange Christmas show.

Notable concerts include Andrew Bird, David Roth, the University of Missouri at KC wind ensemble, Gina Chavez (a former student), Shawn Phillips, Rufus Wainwright, Bela Fleck & Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer, the UT Symphony performing Beethoven's 9th, the American Horn Quartet, and Woody Allen & his New Orleans jazz band.

In the UMKC program notes, I saw a familiar name, Russell Patterson, my KC French horn teacher about fifty years ago. I asked the UMKC director about Russ and learned that he was still alive. I was able to get his phone number after the folks at UMKC checked with him and in May had a great chat with him. He founded the Kansas City Lyric Opera and ran it for 40 years, before retiring, and now lives in Massachusetts, where, in his 80s, he runs a summer music festival.

I attended three reunions this year. I was at the early-80s and '89 McCallum reunions, and saw a dozen or so former students. On Halloween I attended my 45th high school reunion in San Antonio. There were about 150 of the 870 in my graduating class. It was nice to see a few of the ones I remember (I was only at Jefferson one year.)

I connected with several dozen more former students, including Nancy Hamilton (one of my all-time best and favorite students, who is living in D.C.). Yvetta Hill attended the Body Art Ball where we had a great visit. I got a very interesting note from one, "you were my teacher at Lamar in 7th grade in 1987. not a good year for me, i got arrested and put in rehab at the oaks. but i do recall you as being a really good teacher. I remember you explaining pi to me. You had a poster of pi with about 1000 digits. And later in life it had relevance as i became a master carpenter house builder and use pi all the time. yah i remember ya. Ya im doin good. I'm a boat mechanic now for about 3 yrs and i'm starting my own business on the side doing custom snap-in boat carpet on the high-end yachts. 7th wasn't all bad, I finally defeated the bully I'd been running from for years right in front of everyone." The Lamar Facebook page I set up a year ago has gone from 366 a year ago to 992!! .

I only shot 3 photo sessions this year, but the one with Anna Fugate was one of the best I've ever shot
()

My health has been good, though I suspect the three days I was stuck at home in bed last summer was a brief case of swine flu. I continue to walk a lot, and finished the year with a new high of 4126 miles, averaging 11.3 miles a day and setting a new personal record of 19 miles in one day. This was 400 miles more than last year and twice that of 2002. I avoided driving my car 73% of the year.

I was able to get a photo with and/or autograph for Danny DeVito, Chris Kraft (the Apollo capcom), C J Box, Eugene Cernan (the last astronaut to walk on the moon), Darrell Royal, Stewart Stern (screenwriter for Rebel Without a Cause) Tom Skerritt, Ron Howard, Jon Scieska, Oscar Casares, Barbara Ehrenreich, Diane Keaton, John Waters, Alan Bean (astronaut), Gerald Posner (one of my all-time favorite authors - his "Case Closed" is the definitive book on the JFK assassination), Cheryl Hines, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Billy Bob Thornton, Buzz Aldrin, Barbara Kopple, Gwen Ifill, Zooey Deschanel, Kathryn Bigelow, and Jason Reitman. Bigelow and Reitman's films are likely to get Oscar nominations for best picture as well as best director.

The movies I enjoyed the most were I've Loved You So Long, Trimpin The Sound of Invention, Me & Orson Welles, The Yes Men Fix The World, The Hurt Locker, Over The Hills & Far Away (possibly renamed The Horse Boy), Harvard Defeats Yale 29-29, Ponyo, King Lear (the amazing Russian version), Earthwork, Automorphosis, Up in the Air, Adrift in Tokyo, and One Peace at a Time. Garbage Dreams, Burma VJ, and The Cove all made the short list for Oscar documentary nominations.

I read 365 books again this year; most of the best of these are non-fiction. Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer (the best American history book I've ever read - highly recommended - a cultural history of America), Infidel by Ayaan Hirst Ali (a Somali exile's incredible autobiography; also on my all-time best list - helps make sense of the insanity in Somalia), The Film Club by David Gilmour (a dad requires his drop-out son to watch movies), In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz by Michela Wrong (Mobutu & the Congo), Confessions by Kang Zhengguo (great book on life in China), Out Of Mao's Shadow by Philip Pan (21st century China), The Big Necessity by Rose George (on sanitation - not a very sexy subject, but fascinating & a great book), Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royte (how bottled water got to be so big and its consequences), Hello I Must Be Going by Charlotte Chandler (Groucho Marx), Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca (about gypsies), Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (Sacks' usual fascinating material, music this time), Our Daily Meds by Melody Petersen (superb book on the pharma industry) and two novels: Censoring An Iranian Love Story by Ahahriar Mandanipour and Doghead by Morten Ramsland. The grand total is now 7241, passing the 7000 mark this year.

My Honda hybrid contains to perform wonderfully. I did need to have the main battery replaced, a $2000 item, but it was still under warranty, so no charge. I only had to fill the tank five times this year, with all my walking and bus riding, and I averaged 54.3 mpg this year bringing the overall average to up 51.1. I actually went 100 days this fall between fill-ups.

Early in the year I recorded a Sonic ID for KUT-FM; these are little Austin stories by KUT listeners which are usually broadcast with the station ID. Mine was about the time in the late 70s when I was listening to their broadcast of the Donovan album, H M S Donovan. The station had a weaker signal back then, and when it started to fade (near the South Congress exit of I-35) I stopped to listen to the rest of the album.

I discovered two art-related websites that I really love this year. David Levine, who died this week, is probably the greatest caricaturist of the 20th century, and about 2500 of his caricatures can be found at . Most major editorial cartoonists' work can be found, updated daily, at

I'm very thankful to have enjoyed such a great year when so many were suffering from the weak economy and hope that everyone has a wonderful 2010 and that I get to see some of my friends that I've been unable to for too long.

quite a collection

Alan Bean, Apollo 8 astronaut

Eugene Cernan - Apollo 8 astronaut

Billy Bob Thornton, actor & director - super nice guy too

Danny Devito, the great actor

Darrell Royal, legendary football coach

John Waters - movie director

Morley Safer - CBS reporter

Ron Howard - great director & actor

me in a PSA ()

and me as uncle sam ()

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.

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, 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

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

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.

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


and me in script cops. great makup job

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).

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

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.

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