Why can't I make a tax deductible contribution to NASA?  It seems to me there are a number of people on our planet, many of them U.S. citizens, who would gladly make a contribution, doing what the U.S. Congress doesn't have the wherewithall to do,  do the right thing as far as the human space program is concerned.  But alas, any contribution you or I might wish to make cannot be considered tax deductible.  NASA administration has had to make due with less each year for the past six years.  I can't imagine a more important outlay of public dollars, unless it would be for Internet infrastructure.  But then again, let's keep the government out of both the Internet and NASA.  Maybe if NASA could be organized in such a way as to allow it to raise money privately and at the same take government allocations, with less accountability to Congress, we'd all be better off.

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We finished shooting Flesh & Blade on Sunday, as planned.  It will be somewhere between 5 and 9 months before I'll see a finished copy -- maybe even longer.  But I think it will come together nicely.  This will likely be the best project I've ever been involved with -- at least as far as having a significant role in the production.  I've been involved in big budget productions in the past, but never as the lead.  And when I have been the lead, it was always a low budget effort -- this isn't to say that Flesh & Blade is flush with cash as it was not.  But it was high quality without being expensive to produce.  And that, in the end, is the most satisfying thing of all.

This photo of me was taken the first day of shooting.  As soon as my part of the shoot was done, I walked down to my favorite salon on 57th street and got a haircut, something I hadn't done in a couple of months. The sideburns in particular bothered me -- I felt like a blond Elvis or something, which was fine as long as I was working on a 19th Century piece.  But within hours of being released, it was time to adjust my image yet again.  Note the blue screen in the background of the shot.  This is the "key," the virtual background key, the space where another background will be placed.  Many of the scenes were shot like this, and I have no idea what the actual background will look like.  But I trust the film makers will do a fine job of editing it all together, including the selection of appropriate backgrounds.

Now I'm waiting for the next film.  I've gotten called back on both of the last two auditions I've had, so I'm feeling confident.  The second call back for one film was just today, as a matter of fact.  As I mentioned before, I will work on at least one more film this calendar year.  So -- I'm quite certain another opportunity will be forthcoming soon.  In the mean time, I've been working on a piece for JavaWorld, working on a couple of different presentations for Sun and doing a bit of research for a particular project at Sun as well.   Plus, a new SPARC system showed up via FedEx this morning, so I had a fun day getting my home LAN all squared away with the new system and all.  Now I have 4 systems at home, all sharing one ISDN line.  But it's just me and my roommate, so there aren't that many demands on the network.  One of these days, I'll actually get DSL at home too....once Bell Atlantic decides it's time.

The orientation for the entering class of Ph.D. candidates was supposed to take place next week, but I got email from the director yesterday stating that it had been postponed a week.  I have a reprieve, it seems, but very soon the program begins.  And the first year will likely be tough, especially in light of travel commitments for Sun.  And then there's my budding film career.  But I wouldn't have it any other way -- I  need to stay exceptionally engaged, every day.  I wouldn't have it any other way.