Earlier this week marked the passing of not only the-day-formerly-known-as-Secretary's Day ("Administrative Professionals Day"), but according to our local newspaper, something called "World Penguin Day." Whether or not this special designation on the calendar existed before last summer I have no idea, but living in Florida and working in the art house business immediately brings to mind a couple of thoughts. For some bizarre reason I flashed back to my college days in the mid-1970's, when I helped put myself through school by working in the kitchen at a huge buffet restaurant that (of course) featured an Early Bird Special. The blue hairs in town would form a line out to the parking lot waiting for the doors to open, and as they filed in, one was always reminded of the saying, "birds of a feather flock together."

The more obvious thought upon learning of a World Penguin Day is where's the next MARCH OF THE PENGUINS gonna come from? And I don't mean the upcoming spoof by Bob Saget either, though the idea is intriguing and potentially hilarious. I mean a totally unexpected, out of left field, so good it's got to cross over art house smash. Could it be A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION? A SCANNER DARKLY? LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE? THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP? Or perhaps even AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, "the Al Gore lecture movie" with one of the scariest trailers you'll ever see. With no G-rated nature doc on the immediate horizon, only time will tell--hopefully there's a summer blockbuster or two for the indie screens as well.

--Matthew