This is a bit random...

Two of my friends and former roommates at Rice University are out there making their way in the entertainment industry, and I just want to do my little part in getting their names out there. I can't remember if I've done this before, and I'm too lazy to check through all of my old posts. Anyway, I have new things to link to, so who cares if I did it before. Besides, it's easier than talking about myself...

The first is my man Mike Macrae. Now, if you're like me, you love a good standup comedy act. And that's exactly what Mike Macrae will give you. He has his own website, but it seems like he hangs out more on his myspace page. And what did I just discover today when I randomly surfed over there? He was on Letterman, and has a clip of the video there! It's really good stuff, you should check it out. I haven't spoken to him in years, but I know he's a good dude, and a truly gifted comedian. His impressions in particular, as you'll see, are awesome. Check out his tour dates on his myspace page and see if he'll be performing near you in the future!

I'm going to try to embed the video:



Then there's Elbert Traister. One of the greatest guys I know, and an aspiring actor in out in Hollyweird... he's got a myspace page, too, which I just discovered, and it's got links to several trailers of upcoming independent movies that he's in, and some of them appear to be pretty big roles. The two trailers I saw, Vengeance and Fists of Righteous Harmony, both seem to be action flicks; the trailers contain some violence/gore and maybe a curse word here or there, so be warned, if you don't want to see that. However, that being said, give 'em a look! I have no idea what these movies will be like, but I can honestly say that my interest is definitely piqued. Put that together with the fact that Elbert's in them, and I definitely want to watch!

I know the acting business is a tough business, and it's hard to get anywhere in it... but if anyone can do it, it's Elbert. So just keep your eye out for him in the future, is all I'm saying. And if you have the opportunity, throw him your support - he's definitely a guy who deserves it.

So yeah, I'm totally feeling semi-important because I know these guys. I know it's dumb, but I can't help it. But I'm also just really proud of them, that they're out there chasing these dreams. And that's not to say I'm not proud of all of the awesome people I know who are doing all kinds of amazing things with their lives - and believe me, there are many of them. I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of amazing folks through the years... but I guess there's something unique about being able to say, "that guy who was on TV - I knew him before all of that!"

In other news. My fiancée recently got me onto Facebook, since many of her school friends were on it and convinced her to join. And of course she needed me on there, so she could list that she was engaged to me... So anyway, in spite of myself, I'm finding that I'm really liking the site so far! And I actually found a few of my friends on it already, imagine that! It seems like a decent way to keep in touch with people who you don't talk to often - and there's ways to play around with those friends you do keep up with, too. SO, if you're someone I know, and you're on Facebook, find me and friend me! And if you're not on it - go sign up so I can increase my network. I'm only half kidding... (Do it!)

The fact that both Elbert and Mike (yeah, I'm back to those guys) have myspace pages is actually making me consider whether I should sign up for that thing too; but myspace just seems too chaotic. I guess I'll think about it, but I don't think I'll go jumping right away into signing up for yet another site. There's only so much I can keep up with, and I do a pretty lousy job already with what I have, most of the time. Still, there's something enticing about being on one of those sites and saying "yes, I'm this person's friend". I dunno. Maybe I'm just weird...

Oh, and I finally reserved Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the nearby Barnes and Noble. They'll be open at midnight; I wonder if I'll go then or if I'll just go in the morning? I have no idea what to expect, I've never waited for a book to be released before...

Do my real life friends know about the Harry Potter side of my life? I guess most of them do by now, although I wonder if they understand just how much of an impact it's been. I don't really talk about it all that much, but it sort of has to come up eventually, particularly insofar as how the heck I met g_smarmy in the first place! Ah, Harry Potter, my life would be a lot less excellent if not for you.

Somewhat related to that - I've written two essays, pulled mostly from my own experience as a fan and in the online fandom for Harry Potter. They're both hosted at the Leaky Cauldron. The first was for the first issue of Scribbulus - and you can find it here. (That's the low-bandwidth version of the site; the main site does evil things to my computer. They need to improve that...) The other was for the Harry Potter Seven project, which was originally supposed to be a chapter of a book that would be sold to raise money for Book Aid International, but... eh, something happened. I was disappointed, but they still made it into this snazzy looking collection attached the main Leaky Cauldron site. And they set it up with a donation button, but I have no idea how successful that ended up being. I just wished I could have had one of those books to hold in my hand, and put on my shelf, and know that yes, something I wrote got published in a book! Anyway, here's a link to it (I couldn't figure out if there was a low-bandwidth version of this). I'm fairly proud of these, but fair warning: if you're not involved in the Harry Potter fandom, you might not really appreciate them too much. I'm not discouraging you from reading them, per se, just giving you fair warning (and covering my backside, in case you hate them!). Of course, I don't think there are many people reading this journal besides those who might have me on their LJ friends list, and nearly all of those are HP people anyway.

What a rambling, crazy, entry. Should I put it under a cut? Ehh... too lazy.

Peace.