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| LA FLORIDIANA La Floridiana Lite: Will to Appear at Florida Collectibles and Vintage Memorabilia Show....Fall Debut Shows Redux by William Moriaty | ||
| MOVIE REVIEW Academy Award Nominations Are In by Mike Smith | ||
| SPLASH PAGE MegaCon 2006: Looking Ahead, Part 1....Profanity in "Deadwood"....Remembering the Challenger by Brandon Jones | ||
| MY MIDDLE TOE Oscar Snub by Mark Terry | ||
| MATT'S RAIL Wal-Mart Mess....Rondo Reminder....Bush: The Liar....Masters of Horror Update by Matt Drinnenberg | ||
| MIKE'S RANT Reunited....But Then He Lost Me....Oscar Time....My Favorite Films--Chapter 5 by Mike Smith | ||
| LETTERS | ||
Established A.D. 2000, March 19. Now in our seventh calendar year!
Number 306 (Vol. 7, No. 5). This edition is for the week of January 30--February 5, 2006.
State of the Union
The event began predticably with steady applause and handshaking followed by more applause, some introductions and more applause. You can always count on them pissing away at least the first ten minutes with that. Bush then began in earnest with a tribute to Coretta Scott King, the just-deceased wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King.
After a brief introductory statement the the "state of the union is strong" (more applause), came the expected summarization of how we're "winning the war in Iraq", with the traditional insert of a dead soldier's family standing for an ovation -- for some reason I bristle at that kind of thing; not because the soldier and his family don't deserve it, but because it all feels so staged and phoney and meant to inspire your patriotism or something.
Concluding the Iraq portion of his speech, Bin Laden's name was mentioned in passing as someone "we take seriously" (duh), and a resolute Bush stared down the congregation and stated the war would continue as long as necessary.
Postscripts: The newest Supreme Court justices, Roberts and Alito, were present in their ceremonial robes. The "Marine Mom", Cindy Sheehan, was arrested for wearing an anti-war T-shirt on the premises. Interestingly, another woman wearing a pro-wart T-shirt was escorted off the property! Keeping up the appearances of fair play, no doubt.
UPDATE, Fri., Feb. 3: It has since been reported that the charges against Cindy Sheehan were dropped and the officials have offered their apologies.
Commentary following the speech held no big surprises either, except, possibly, that the Republicans felt Bush didn't go far enough to silence his critics. And everyone loved Bush's comments about us being "addicted to oil"---this from a Texas oil man. It's true, of course, but the subtle irony is still amusing. OK, 'nuff of that for now...
Reminder: The Tampa Film Review UPDATE, Fri., Feb. 3: Evidently, the first TFN meeting was a success! Read the first comments here, and post some thoughts if you were there as well.
Recalcitrant Jones and the Dead Beats tells the story of a young musician who sells his soul to the devil and gets the band of a life-time--The resurrected Elvis, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, and Lawrence Welk. The misadventures ensue when the band begins to rot away into zombies. J Chris Campbell states that "It's a one of a kind Zombie story that oozes cool and reeks of Rock-n-Roll goodness."
For more information on Students of the Unusual, go to their website at: http://www.studentsoftheunusual.com
I've caught my death of cold oiver the last couple days and am feeling quite woozy, so please forgive me if the headline section seems a little short in this early edition --as soon as I get some adequate rest I'm sure I'll be back up to snuff in no time.
BUSH'S SPEECH
I did want to quickly comment on President Bush's State of the Union address, broadcast last night (1-31-06). In short, I can summarize it in basically three words: stay the course. Gee, what a surprise.
About this time, I had to start getting ready for work and couldn't monitor the TV (and haven't downloaded a transcription yet), but I did catch a piece of Bush calling for Congress to make his tax cuts permanent and calling for a renewal of The Patriot Act. Both got mixed reactions.
To all filmmakers in the area interested in networking with other filmmakers/actors/crew: Tonight (February 1) is the first metting of the Tampa Film Network, organized by Chris Woods and Joe Davison. It is being held at the Best Western Hotel, 1200 N. Westshore Blvd, presumably in the Durango Bar & Lounge (where my birthday party was held last August -- excellent location). If I wasn't so under the weather, I'd try and go, but I won't be able to make this one. Chris Woods has pledged to write it up for us in either this week's or next week's PCR! Thanks, Chris.
