Over the last several weeks a windfall of donations has netted nearly $8,000 for the American Cancer Society. The contributions are coming by way of Bodie Olmos' fund-raising efforts, held in conjunction with his running the Los Angeles Marathon.

At the time of this posting, Mr. Olmos was a mere $275 way from $8,000 — the total was nearing $4.5K just a little over two weeks ago! — and if the giving trend continues, it looks like he might reach and surpass that amount by Sunday, when the marathon is scheduled.

That said, there's still time to donate and you can do so by heading over to Mr. Olmos' donations page at Active.com.

Oh, and for those of you who do not know or have not read previous posts on this site, Bodie Olmos is the son of actor and activist Edward James Olmos. Bodie also was a part of the Battlestar Galactica cast, portraying viper pilot Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza.

More extensive coverage of Bodie's fund-raising campaign and about Edward James Olmos can be found at OlmosPerfect.com.

I love Christmas and appreciate all the gifts I’ve been given and enjoy even more those that I give. But there’s always a gift or two that is really special. These were mine this year, though I confess one of them was a gift I gave myself — hey, it was a rare item and I ran across it on eBay and got it for a bargain price.

Now, without further ado, here they are:

Pacific Ocean’s Purgatory LP

Now, this was the gift to myself, one my dear friend had tried to find and had no luck. Thankfully, I had a fortunate troll through eBay to come away with this virtually mint LP. It’s the white-label promo version with a little wear on the sleeve, but the album itself looks just amazing.

For those who don’t understand the significance of this find, let me fill you in:

Back in the 60s and 70s, there was this kid from the barrio in East L.A. named Edward James Olmos who was part of a band called Pacific Ocean. He went by the stage name of Eddie James and they performed in some of the hottest clubs on the Sunset Strip. They released only one album — the one you see here — before the acting bug bit Eddie and he went on to earn a Tony nomination for his role in “Zoot Suit,” an L.A. theater play that ended up on Broadway. Then came other films, including the cult classic “Blade Runner” and a host of other projects leading up to the Ronald D. Moore reboot of “Battlestar Galactica.”

Needless to say the album is very rare and I’m excited to have gotten my hands on one.

Now to order a USB turntable…

Walk, Don’t Run … a book by Steven “Rusty” Johnson

It may have never been on any bestseller list — heck, I’d never heard of it until I opened the package — but I’m glad to add it to my personal library as it features Mr. Olmos and two of his pals and their paths to success.

I can’t wait to read it.

Thanks, Deb!

And thank you for trying to find the LP! Your efforts are appreciated!

I was watching The Horsemen the other night and found myself doing a double-take when I first saw Clifton Collins Jr. on the screen. He looked so similar to a TV cop near and dear to my heart, Miami Vice‘s Lt. Martin Castillo (Edward James Olmos). It was kinda uncanny with the black suit, narrow tie, and the mustache. Take a look and tell me what you think…

On the left is Edward James Olmos as Castillo, and
Clifton Collins Jr.’s detective in The Horsemen on the right.

The resemblance kinda made me nostalgic to see Marty so I ended up cracking out my Miami Vice DVDs and watching some eps.

On an semi-unrelated note, Collins co-starred with Olmos in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, a Disney film based on a Ray Bradbury short story.