Sicily’s restaurant happens to be one of my favorite stops. I can’t go there as often as I’d like, because I’m trying to stay fit; I wish to add more credits to my name, not more weight.

The race to the White House this election year is perhaps one of the most talked about in ages. Change. Prejudice. Experience. Each end of the ideological spectrum has been covered in the midst of the hype.

What does the ’08 Presidential election and Sicily’s have in common? Not much, except for the following account based on actual events.

I was recently at Sicily’s with a good friend of mine (whose name will remain anonymous, but this person knows who he/she is), when the topic of The Devil and Tom Walker, one of the films I acted in, came up. My friend had not seen the picture yet, and I was describing the basic plot for him.

I mentioned the Devil, and my role, my fight with the devil. Concluded the description with my grisly and graphically bloody demise. Those of you who have seen the film know what I’m referring to. Those of you who haven’t, I don’t want to give the end away. As I described the amounts of blood seen of film, my friend and I laughed. What is it about our society that makes us laugh when we talk about horrific acts of violence on movies? Everyone, myself included, has let out at least a slight chuckle when we something grossly moribund. Our society’s condition for this reaction is a great discussion, but should probably be reserved for another time, another blog.

What moves this story forward is when I said…

There’s quite a bit of gore in this film…

And my friend let out a hearty laughter.

It was the laughter and the gore comment that caught a middle-aged man’s attention who was just moments earlier walking about his merry way. He stopped and looked at us, soft drink in hand, giving us the most threatening scowl that I might have ever seen; definitely the most threatening scowl I’ve ever seen at Sicily’s. This stopped my friend and I in our laughing tracks (no pun intended).

He then put his cup down and began his speech.

So you think you know it all, huh? Sitting here, stuffing your face with pizza and noodles. The comfort of those chairs must make young men brave. Meanwhile, this planet is dying. And all that Americans like you care about is getting damn pizza in your faces. We’re fighting a war we need to get out of; the consumption of gas increases, not only making a deeper cut in the pocket book, but also making a deeper cut in our atmosphere. China and India aren’t slowing down. We aren’t slowing down. The planet’s slowing down, though. It’s getting fatigued, and we’re the ones who are wearing it down. WE ARE!! DAMMIT!! And the pencilnecks in Washington don’t care. I vote for change! I vote for resourcefulness! But all I get is brush-off from a town that only has one Recycling Center. Only one politician, one man has decided to do anything about it. He has my respect, and I’ll be a rat’s ass if I see ingrates like you laugh at him while I just stand by and do nothing! I won’t; because I am an American…an American who cares for this planet.

Flabbergasted would be an understatement at the feelings my friend and I had at that moment. The first two questions that popped in my mind was ‘who was this guy?’ and ‘Is he crazy?’. The two combined and made me utter,

What are you talking about?

To this, the man banged his fist on the table, and curtly replied,

You know who you were talking about! Gore, Al Gore! And you (indicating my friend), you were laughing at him. I don’t think there’s anything funny about one of the greatest men of our time! A man who should be running for President this year. He’d be the only one in the bunch who’d have a clue as to what direction our country should take!

My friend and I looked at each other incredulously, and my friend blurted out,

You’re an idiot! We weren’t talking about Al Gore! We were talking about his (in reference to me, not Al Gore) movie, and how there was a lot of gore in it.

I always like it when people mention my accomplishments, but the man’s icy stare turned toward me, and then transformed into one of haughtiness.

So you’re an actor, huh? Tell me something, Mr. Sunglasses, have you ever won an Academy Award? (I shook my head) Because Al Gore has!

Much to my chagrin, I had to concede that point to him. He continued with the berating.

So I think I’ll take the side of the man who has won the gold, thank you very much. You two young guys, you just be more careful how throw a name like Gore’s around. The next time, you may run into someone who’s not as forgiving as I am.

And with that, the man picked up his drink, and went about his way.

My friend and I just sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Don’t know what was going through my friend’s head, but I was slightly embarrassed by the fact that the man was right that Al Gore had won an Academy Award and I hadn’t. Maybe I need to make a documentary on something to preserve the earth. That feat may catapult to the riches and fame I so rabidly crave! Ever since I encountered Wyland, the famous marine artist, and his group during my days at the Jackson Zoo, I developed a passion to preserve the earth’s water, making sure we avoid polluting it, so on and so forth. That could be my great and unforgettable contribution to society.

Far from what my friend was thinking, who decided to break the silence by saying,

So do you think the Lakers are gonna win it all this year?

And that changed the subject, and the tone, for the rest of the evening.

BTW, in the past several day I got cast to be in a BankPlus commercial (thanks, Sharon), and will be shooting tomorrow. Fill you in on the details later. And I’m not really sure about the Lakers; they were great with Shaq and Kobe, but who knows. Don’t really follow basketball that much.