“America is more than just a country; it’s an idea.  An idea that’s supposed to be contagious.”

- Bono

In another life, Jason Pardo would be a professional stunt man.  And he knows it too.  To compensate, he loves to attempt all sorts of deft-defying stunts whenever possible, like climbing to the top of a pile of huge rocks (see photo above).  In this life, however, Jason’s one hell of a comedian, and we had the pleasure of working together on webseries last year called Casting Call.  He plays the off-camera voice of the casting director, who’s a real dickhead and really funny.

It also just so happens to be Mr. Pardo’s birthday party today.  Happy Birthday, JP!

This photo still cracks me up every time I see it.  Bob Dassie was one of my improv teachers way back when in Chicago at Improv Olympic, so you can imagine how excited I was to cast him in “Warthog” as Smokey Robinson Crusoe, a character based on my alter-executive-pesca-vegetarian-ego.  Needless to say, he hit it out of the park.

It was actually for Bob that we were visiting Joshua Tree in the first place.  He and his wife, Stephnie, another oft-collaborator of mine, were expecting their first child, Birdy, and this trip was our weekend-guy-getaway before the duties of fatherhood awaited him. Ironically, Bob and Steph are now preparing for the arrival of their second baby, so here’s hoping we can get him back out into the desert sooner than later!

Desert sky
Dream beneath the desert sky
The rivers run but soon run dry
We need new dreams tonight

-U2

Here’s a shot of my good friend and writing partner, Dave Hill, looking pretty cool as always.  Dave and I initially worked together as actor & director on my first “real” short film (ie. people talking on camera), a project called Warthog, which playfully chronicled the end of the world as we know it.  Or as Dave’s character, The Admiral, would put it, “T.E.O.T.W.A.W.K.I.”  We’ve since collaborated on numerous other endeavors, and one of these days, somebody’s gonna pay us for it.

Fun facts of the day: Joshua Tree National Park protects 501 archeological sites, 88 historic structures, 19 cultural landscapes, and houses 123,253 items in its museum collection.

Above: The shadows of four very tall dudes in the desert.

As I mentioned last week, U2 and their music had a profound affect on me when I was growing up, especially their album “The Joshua Tree.”  As a result, Joshua Tree National Park, which served as the backdrop for the album’s artwork and the inspiration for its title, became a sort of mythologized place in my teenage mind.  Oh, to someday take my own pilgrimage and visit THE Joshua Tree, I daydreamed.

However, before I moved to Southern California, I learned that the tree had apparently died of natural causes.  Ah, the cruel irony.  Maybe that’s why it then took me several years to make the two-hour trek out to Death Valley from LA, which I finally did a couple years ago with some good buddies of mine.   I do wish I hadn’t waited so long though.  It’s really an incredible place and nothing quite like I’d seen before.  It’s almost like a landscape of a different planet out there with these crazy looking trees and rock bluffs galore.  I’ll be posting photos all week from the afternoon we spent there, hiking along remote trails, climbing rocks and, of course, posing for pictures.