I was shocked an saddened to learn that Anne Richards passed away yesterday. The former Texas governor accomplished a great many things in her 74 years with us, including breaking a 50 year dry spell for women in Texas state politics, but I remember her most for her razor sharp wit.

An oft quoted line was uttered to Larry King in response to Texas redistricting:

"Well Larry, I could drive down Interstate 35 with both my car doors open and be in three different congressional districts at one time."

Retiree William Fogarty restores Officer Chris Amos' faith in mankind with a $1 money order.

Here’s a potentially doc-worthy story, it will be interesting to see how far he gets - Following this week's supreme court decision expanding the limits of eminent domain , Logan Darrow Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, has put into motion an effort to seize Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home and turn it into a Hotel, which, Clement's says, would serve the public interest and generate more revenue for the city.

Quoting the above linked AP story "Am I taking this seriously? But of course," said Charles Meany, Weare's code enforcement officer. "In lieu of the recent Supreme Court decision, I would imagine that some people are pretty much upset. If it is their right to pursue this type of end, then by all means let the process begin."

And the discordian circus that is this election continues. It seems that Michael Moore has become a near Clintonian obsession Michigan's Republican Party and according to this E Online report:

"Michigan's Republican Party has sent letters to district attorneys in four counties asking them to bring bribery charges against the controversial filmmaker, claiming he tried to get college students to vote by offering them clean underwear and ramen noodles."

Somewhere I can hear a campaign advisor screaming about closing the Ramen noodle gap.

I just heard, thanks to CS Daily, that season one of Millennium is out on DVD. OK, so the series fizzled by the start of season three, nonetheless, for my money, the first two years of Millennium were some the best non-Simpsons TV to be had in the 90s.

Beyond dark, this good vs. evil, end-of-the-world is coming, series pulled no punches. The opening episode literally gave me nightmares and left me creeped out for days. Major characters were killed off each season, much to the chagrin of the more sentimental viewers, and there was always the very real chance that evil would triumph. The show would have us believe that good doesn't always win and we are never really safe.

Still, there was just enough hope interjected into the big-picture storyline that I tuned in weekly. To describe the characters or premise in anything but full detail would leave it sounding cheesy (which many feel it was I'm sure) so I'll just say that if you like your stories gritty, if you can handle demonic serial killers set in a pre-millennium, time-is-running out universe and you somehow missed this the first time around, check it out for yourself.

Well, it may not be evolution at work, though some have jokingly called her the missing link, but this is still cool. The AP reports that a 5-year-old black macaque at a zoo outside Tel Aviv has started exclusively walking upright. Apparently she was recently very sick, nearly died, and when she recovered, she started walking upright. One guess at an explanation for the odd behavior is that she developed brain damage while sick. I think she's making a play to be in the next X-men flick myself.

Update on Tuesday's post:

This story actually creeps me out; so the tiger is dead, shot by a wildlife officer when the cat allegedly lunged at him. Steve Sipek, the cat's owner who previously played Tarzan in a series of films, was on TV after the shooting, wearing a blood drenched shirt, complaining that the killing was unjust and uncalled for.

Yesterday, hundreds of supporters gathered for a candle light vigil at the actor's house. According to reports, mourners shouted things like "Save a tiger, shoot a wildlife officer." And apparently some would like to, the officer who shot the cat has received death threats.

As an environmentalist, animal sympathizer and one-time vegetarian, I think this is just nuts. It's also embarrassing and sets back the larger effort for animal "rights." Clearly, the problem is that he should not have been keeping the tiger in the first place and sure as heck should have kept it from getting loose into the community.

In related news, a woman who offered use of her pig as bait, to lure the tiger back to it's cage, has been charged with animal cruelty because she transported the pig in her trunk.

What is it about the Superman and Tarzan characters that drives actors nuts? An actor who played Tarzan in films during the 60s has apparently been keeping a pet tiger for a number of years. This week, the tiger got loose and is now running wild in the Palm Beach area here in Florida. The tiger already mauled a woman in 2002 during a photo shoot.

Hmm, I wonder what pets Hugh Jackman is keeping these days?

Tuesday night, after the 7 pm showing of F 9/11, Enzian theater hosted a panel discussion entitled "MESSENGER OR MANIPULATOR?" which basically asked whether or not F 9/11 is a doc, how introducing bias effects credibility and what is the larger impact of the film.

Enzian assembled an incredible collection of panelists, including Ambassador Ulric Haynes, Jr. - former American Ambassador to Algeria and one of the negotiators for the release of the American hostages in Iran, veteran film critic Jay Boyar, Steve Schlow - Writer/Producer/Director of documentaries and narrative films for nearly 40 years and Peter Brown - former Chief Political Writer/White House correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service and current Insight Editor/Columnist for the Orlando Sentinel.

Surprisingly, only Schlow, the established doc filmmaker, felt that Moore's work is not a documentary. I was not clear on why he made the distinction but he still felt the film was powerful and he even said that Moore finally "got it right" (he called Roger & Me and sophomoric work.) Most of the other panelists agreed that it was indeed a doc but also stated that they didn't really care what genre label it was given, I believe it was Boyar who said that the label only effects the Academy Awards.

I found Mr. Haynes to be the most engaging panelist and his excitement about the commercial viability of truth was particularly compelling. The idea being that if there is a demand for something, in this case, truth, the market will meet that demand. So when the mainstream press fails it's duty to inform the public, people like Michael Moore will pick up the slack. He also cited several specific examples where F 9/11 contained important news that was not covered by the mainstream press, further emphasizing the importance of films like F 9/11 in this day and age.

Saw the second spider-man film yesterday and I gotta say, I don't know what the hoopla is about. I'd call it a passable matinee flick but not the "best comic film ever" as it was hyped to be. In fact, it's not as good as the first and falls far behind the likes of Superman 2 (essentially the same story) and both the X-men films.

Sure there were some great scenes, I enjoyed the train scene in particular (yep, the cheesy feel-good part was my fav.) but it was a big Hollywood mess overall. Tobey Maguire should get an award for having the guts to call that a performance, he sleep walks his way through the entire film. And as for Dunst, did she think this she was shooting Pretty Woman 2? She plays M.J. as a such an ignorant, trashy tramp that I'm sure Spidey 3 will have a "our baby has four metal arms, but I swear it's yours" scene.

That said, the underlying story is strong enough to save the film, the characters solid enough that even a comatose Tobey and tarted up Kirsten, can't ruin them completely. The almost Shakespearean drama still tugs at the heart strings, quickens the pulse, and proves that a great tale poorly told is still a great tale.

Finally got around to reading Dan Brown's The Di Vinci Code last week. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The book is super fast paced and easy to read despite the sometimes dense theological content. I won't give anything away but the book does reveal some rather surprising, and allegedly well documented, theories about Christianity and the goings on of various secret societies. Obviously, Leonardo Di Vinci and his paintings play a big role in the book and I for one won't look at his work in quite the same light from now on. Already firmly entrenched as my personal favorite historical figure, Di Vinci as mischievous prankster and rebel just elevates him even higher in my book.

The wrapper story is a murder mystery that is a bit weak at times (don't paint your characters into an inescapable situation unless you plan for them to be caught) but is still solid reading and again, very fast paced. The book should translate well to film, though I hope Ron Howard can keep the cheese factor lower than in his normal fare.

After some 5 years of "buying" mostly indie film stocks, my HSX account finally crossed the $20 million mark this weekend. Woo hoo! That's a lifetime return of +913.42% !! Of course, HSX is just a game, those aren't real dollars, and while I'm in the top 5% of all traders, 20 mil is hardly impressive by thier standards.

Although I am currently holding a few yet-to-be-made Hollywood titles that are generating solid value, I have traditionally bought mostly indie films. I got started under the (false?) hope that the interest in the stock on HSX might somehow help the films. I was told at one point that they (HSX) were selling activity data to the studios but I don't know if that happens today or if it ever happened. Nonetheless, I enjoy throwing my support behind films that I like and even though I might go 1 for 10 in terms of making a profit, the Blair Witches and Super Size Me's let me afford that and then some.

Happy trading!