my new blog

It was time for a change.  I hope you check out my new blog:

RUSSO ON THE ROAD

Oahu

The north shore near Sunset Beach.

What is Love?

"Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other." ~ the Dalai Lama

Prop 8 Rally in Los Angeles

Bill takes over Sunset Blvd. with hundreds of protestors

Tonight, disappointed people took to the streets in Los Angeles to protest the passing of Prop 8 in yesterday's election, which denies same sex couples the right to marry. An energized queer community, along with other supporters of the NO ON 8 campaign, rallied in West Hollywood and marched down Santa Monica Blvd., up to Sunset Blvd, and all the way into Holywood, stopping traffic and making headline news on all the networks. It was an inspired rally, and it was great to see people get out and stand up for equal rights. I just kept asking myself, why wasn't this rally YESTERDAY, or a couple days earlier???

Hope is Alive - President Barack Obama

photos from www.huffingtonpost.com

Seattle Script Reading

DIRECTED BY DOROTHY ARZNER, Written by Chris J. Russo & Glenn Gaylord -- A Live Script Reading

72 hours ago, I arrived in Seattle. Since then, I've auditioned 50 actors, cast 12 roles, rehearsed the script and gave direction to each actor, and presented a multi-media live script reading at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival! Here's a snapshot of my co-writer, Glenn Gaylord, and I with all 12 local Seattle actors from today's script reading that was held in an intimate theater at the Northwest Film Forum to approximately 30 audience members. During the reading, we presented a slide show of old Hollywood, pictures of Dorothy and the cast of characters from her life. After the reading, I screened the 5 scenes I directed in the Film Independent Directors Lab, and it was followed by a Q & A. The audience loved the show! It was a rousing success! I can't believe it's over, I feel like I just got here! Thank you, Seattle!

Seattle morning

This morning I enjoyed a long walk around the city of Seattle—crossing through Belltown, parts of downtown and Capitol Hill—before my day-long casting session at the Northwest Film Forum for the upcoming script reading of my project, "Directed By Dorothy Arzner."  It was a beautiful autumn day, punctuated with leaves of golds and reds and crisp, cool air.  I met a bunch of really talented local Seattle actors and, with the help of my co-writer Glenn Gaylord, was able to cast all the roles for the reading.  This is my fourth time visiting the lovely city of Seattle, I just can't get enough of it!

Poem for the day

THE INVITATION, By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Live Script Reading in Seattle

Next weekend I will be directing a live script reading of my feature script that I co-wrote with Glenn Gaylord, Directed By Dorothy Arzner, at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.  I will be casting local actors, rehearsing and presenting my work for the festival audience for the first time.  As a writer, it's a great opportunity to hear all the words spoken aloud for the first time, to see if it all makes sense, and if there is anything that we might want to change.  If you happen to be in Seattle next Saturday, check it out!  Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

thought for today

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." ~ Saint Augustine

most beautiful day in Los Angeles

This Saturday topped all other typical sunny days in Los Angeles in 2008. With the Santa Ana winds blowing all the grit and grime out of the precious air we breath here in this urban sprawl, the diffused haze of smog was lifted and one could see islands out in the Pacific that you forgot were there. Cool temperatures made it feel like a real autumn day in Southern California, and I reveled in it, spinning my bicycle all around Santa Monica, letting my wheels take me wherever it wanted to go. Carefree, beautiful weekend days like these reminded me of growing up on the East Coast, and I was super thankful to have been able to enjoy such a glorious morning both with memories of simpler times of youth, in a present moment that made today absolutely perfect.

thought for the day

Your soul mission is your reason for being, your life purpose. It's your calling in life--who you feel called to be, what you feel called to do. Mission is an energy that flows through you--a drive, voice, or passion that you cannot ignore... It's what you know in your heart you must live if you are to experience inner peace and harmony. ~Alan Seale

I love THE NEW YORKER

thought for the day

"Choice is a function of awareness.  As you embody a greater awareness of who you are, you understand there's something about you that has nothing to do with the circumstances, experiences or history of your life, something these things do not touch.  The You of you is independent of circumstances, experiences, history and karma.  Realization of this independence is the choosing ground for the quality of life you will live."   ~ Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith

Rocky Mountain Minute

Today I played around with some super 8mm film footage I shot last month in Colorado.  Here's my teensy video: Rocky Mountain Minute.

MS 150 Ride

Shifting Gears cycles in the MS 150 to Santa Barbara.

This past weekend, I cycled 150 miles in the Bike MS 150, a two day bike ride that raises funds for worldwide Multiple Sclerosis research efforts to help find a cure.  More than 14,500 Southern and Central Californians are living with MS, and more than 2.5 million people live with MS around the globe.  Team Shifting Gears raised $15,500 and came in seventh in the top ten fundraising teams.  It was quite a challenging ride from Camarillo to Santa Barbara and a day of intense climbing over Casitas Pass to Ojai.  But the views from the top were worth it!  Day two's route brought us along the coast and into Oxnard, where we battled intense head winds across farm fields back into Camarillo.  Despite the fact that I was suffering from an lingering head cold, I managed to complete the ride without too much difficulty.  I am thankful to my amazing teammates for helping pull me through the wind and for making me laugh. Having a cold is nothing in comparison to those who are living with and suffering from MS.  I am so grateful that I can make a difference in my own very small way of riding my bicycle and raising some money for the cause.  Thank you all for your support!

Walking Meditations in Colorado

Hiking to Lake Isabelle in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, CO.

Hiking through the woods to the top of Rollins Peak, CO.

Hiking on the Joan Lunning Trail, Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, CO.

yoga love

Last night in my yoga class, the instructor set an intention by quoting the film, "Mongol," the story about Ghengis Kahn.  "I couldn't hide from the thunder, so I stopped being afraid of it."  We can identify thunder with just about any fear in life, be it physical or metaphysical.  It's a lesson in letting go of fear, because sometimes there is just nothing we can do about it.  I love yoga because it combines the spiritual with the physical.  It's a release, yet at the same time it can be an awakening of the soul and of the body, and it's a place where I simply learn to breathe.  I am at home on my yoga mat, especially when I am practicing on a natural surface like the desert or mountain meadow or sandy beach.  But I can also call home a beautiful hardwood floor in the middle of Hollywood, as long as I'm on my mat, I can find peace within.

"Peace isn't determined by circumstances outside us. Peace stems from forgiveness. Pain doesn't stem from the love we're denied by others, but rather from the love that we deny them."  ~ Marianne Williamson

thought for today

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
           ~Maya Angelou

Last week, my friend Ashleigh and I went surfing at Sunset and the PCH.   It was a gloriously beautiful morning and I actually caught several waves.  I hadn't surfed off the coast of California in years, but the water's been warm and the time was just right.  The only bummer that day was when I returned to our beach blanket, I realized someone had stolen my sandals.  Now I found that interesting since my feet are rather small, I wondered who could actually fit in them?  I just hope that the small-footed thief was someone who really needed footwear!  Story update:  this past weekend there have been great white shark sightings in the exact place I caught waves last week!  Scary!  Check it out: www.sunsetsurf.com

love

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself—if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself—it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.  

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo of the Week

Beth, Santa Monica Pier Concert Series, July 2008

Santa Monica Stairs

In my ongoing quest for new and exciting endorphin experiences, I recently discovered the Santa Monica Stairs, a workout that takes you up and down several hundred steep steps along a cliff in Santa Monica that I have only previously enjoyed when joking about retarded Hollywood celebrity fitness routines. I mean, come on, this is the exact kind of thing people back East make fun of when they joke about those "flakey health nut Californians". Why don't they just go hike up a mountain? Or take a brisk run on the beach? Even I grew up in a two story house and never really thought going up and down a flight of stairs was all that interesting a way to lose weight or tighten my gluts. But I admit, I worked up quite a zen sweat as I hoofed it up and down, and I woke up the next day with a pain in my calves that felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my legs. (In a good way!) I followed my pal, Steph, who prefers to descend the concrete steps, then run over to the base of the other stairs, ascend the wooden steps, then run back over to the concrete ones, to complete a full circuit. If you've got game, you can add a couple chin ups on the metal bar that's connecting the telephone pole to the retaining wall on Entrada. And if you've got even more game, you can bring your yoga mat and do some sun salutations or a couple of push ups on Adelaide at the top of either staircase. Good luck finding parking in the permitted neighborhood at 6:30 in the morning, but it's worth getting an early start because the stairs become a climbing cattle cluster by 7:30am, just like the 405 a couple miles away. Ah, yes, I can hear those New Yorkers laughing now, but as truly bizarre as it sounds, there's nothing like a free oceanfront outdoor gym in the heart of Santa Monica Canyon! With free celebrity sightings to boot!

thought for the day

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Photo taken in Anderson Woods Park, CA