For the past several years, my friend, collaborator, and frequent Simple Tricks commenter Mike Chenoweth has been working with a local charter school called East Hollywood High. EHHS is a pretty exciting idea, a place where artistically inclined kids can take, in addition to a standard high school curriculum, elective courses in film history and practical film production techniques, taught by people who actually work in the film industry. Mike has been instrumental in shaping this elective program, first as a teacher and, more recently, as Director of Film Studies.

A couple weeks ago, he asked me to do him a favor and judge a number of student-made films for the school’s annual Telos competition. On Friday night, it was my honor to attend the awards ceremony for the nominees and winners.

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There are a number of topics I wanted to blog about today, big, important topics that would require lengthy entries to fully explore. Today would be a perfect day to write them, too, because it’s been relatively slow at work. So what have I been doing? Playing with this HeroMachine doohickey I ganked from jaquandor, naturally. This is what I would look like if I chucked the writing and proofreading gigs and became some kind of latter-day gentleman-adventurer:

Of course, to really look like that, I’d need to be taller. And in better shape. And still have hair on top of my head instead of only in the back. And not wear glasses. And be able to afford really cool boots. And a good tailor. And… oh, jeez, this is depressing…

Andrew Sullivan on the whole Don Imus thing:

I wish I’d taped the conversation I had today with the editor of the Sunday Times in London when I had to explain exactly what “nappy-headed hos” were. He had images of garden tools covered in diapers.

And they say Americans and Brits speak the same language…

I do most of my online reading these days through an RSS aggregator. For my readers who don’t live and breathe this stuff, I should explain that an aggregator is an online service that compiles the content of blogs and other websites together in a single place, so you don’t have to move from site to site to keep up to date on all the ones you like to follow. There are a number of aggregators out there on the InterWeb; personally, I like Bloglines.

However, one drawback to using an aggregator is that the interface doesn’t show you what the blogs you’re reading actually look like; all you get is the content. Which is why I got such a start this morning when I clicked on over to Wil Wheaton’s blog for the first time in six or eight months and discovered that he’s using the exact same stylesheet that I’m using here on Simple Tricks. In other words, our sites look more-or-less exactly the same! In fact, I thought at first that I’d somehow bounced back here, and that something had gone wrong with all my entry titles. It was very disconcerting.

Still, it’s kind of cool to learn that one of the better-known stars in the blogosphere firmament shares my excellent taste in decorating schemes. Bravo, Wil!

One of my co-workers just cracked me up with the following observation:

“It’s just like that movie with Russell Crowe that I didn’t watch.”

Yeah, it’s just like that, isn’t it?

A week ago last Friday night, I stopped into a 24-hour supermarket on my way home from a St. Patty’s party. I’d been careful not to overindulge, but my mouth felt dry and gummy anyway, and I knew from experience that I would probably need a dose of electrolytes and rehydration therapy come morning.

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I just updated the earlier entry about my friend Jack’s new son, but I thought I’d better repeat it here in case no one bothers to scroll down:

There are now photos of the newest Hattaway here, for any who want to have a look…

I just received a phone message from my friend and Webmaster, Jack: he and Mrs. Jack welcomed their second child, another boy, into the world this morning. They’ve named him Tate, and the stats for those who follow this sort of thing are: 7 lbs. 1 oz., 20 inches long, born 4:25 a.m.

Congratulation, Jack and Nat, and hello Tate!

[Update: Jack has added photos of the newest Hattaway to his site here, if anyone would like to have a look…]

Some random stuff I’ve run across in recent days and would like to share with my Three Loyal Readers:

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A few days ago, a comedian named Richard Jeni committed suicide. I’ll be honest, I can’t place his name or face, even though I’ve seen The Mask, a movie in which he appeared, a couple of times. He apparently never made much of an impression on me.

My ignorance aside, however, I wanted to link to the statement his family issued today because it struck me as such a classy way of addressing such a painful and potentially embarassing subject:

Rumors have been circulating as to the cause of his death and have included speculation of Richard being depressed over the state of his career or a physical ailment. …The truth is: earlier this year Richard Jeni was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. One only needs to have a family member or friend with a mental illness to understand that there is nothing rational, predictable, or fair about these diseases. Mental illness is as serious as any physical affliction and can be just as devastating.

 

He was not down or blue, he was ill. If you knew Richard, you could understand, this was as much a shock to those close to him, as it is to his fans and colleagues. Perhaps Richard’s passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness. As we are all trying to make sense of this, take time to remember the joy and laughter Richard brought to the countless people he touched during his much too short life.

In just a few eloquent words, whoever wrote this satisfied the morbid curiosity we always feel when something like this happens while still giving Richard some degree of privacy and dignity. Also, kudos for the call to turn this one family’s personal tragedy into something with a social purpose and conscience. Very nicely done, and my condolences about Richard.

Also, my thanks to Evanier for bringing this to my attention.