So last week a friend from Gay Poker gives me a call. Am I free to audition for a lead part in an Allstate commercial? Of course I am! I have a fever when I’m pretending to roll upside some “hot chicks” in traffic, standing up in a nondescript casting room, but I still get a callback. At the callback, the director tells me, “This isn’t Driving Miss Daisy,” in reference perhaps to my cautious imaginary driving techniques. It’s a no go.

But I still get to work background on the spot, spending two days out on the edge of the Grapevine. The Grapevine, for those unacquainted with the great state of California, is the treacherous Tehachapi mountain pass that separates Los Angeles from the Central Valley. So they decided to film this commercial on exactly the last road that separates the Valley and the Grapevine.

For two days we, meaning myself and 49 other extras, drove back and forth on that desolate country road dozens of times, while Dennis Haysbert (and, alternately, Esai Morales for Spanish-speaking markets) stood on the side of the road delivering unheard monologues to the camera. And we drove back and we drove forth. It’s such an easy job, and a meaningless job, and because it was a commercial and one of the days was a Saturday, a lucrative job. Though I didn’t book a lead part in my first commercial audition ever (at least since I was a child), which would have garnered an estimated $40,000, I did make a small windfall on this background gig, and earned enough to afford one of these bad boys.

My four-year-old Sony PDX-10 had a major malfunction a couple months ago, and I’ve been camcorder-less ever since… right at the moment when I wanted to begin making video blogs. So this Allstate gig was totally the work of Divine Providence bringing me the dough to afford a replacement. And what a replacement it is. The Canon HV20 is so tiny and technically brilliant and high definitiony, it has all the video nerds creaming their Dickies.

I’m so excited, I had to post about it on my blog. I know it looks unassuming, but I think I’ll be able to make some truly gnarly shit with this camera. And I can’t wait to share it with y’all! Thank you, Dennis Haysbert!