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TAMPA FILM REVIEW REMINDER It's this Friday, Nov. 10 at the Int'l Bazaar in Ybor City! DETAILS | ||
| CHILLER CINEMA by Drew Reiber | ||
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Established A.D. 2000, March 19. Now in our seventh calendar year!
Number 346 (Vol. 7, No. 45). This edition is for the week of November 6--12, 2006.
THE TAMPA AND FLORIDA PICTURE Though her rivals featured a similar campaign (hers for merely being consistently late for work), stalwart Bible uber-thumper County Commissioner Ronda Storms (R) took her seat in the Florida Senate in a race that was closely watched. She's not very popular in many circles (tried to close public access TV, tries to run porno shops out of town, you know, really un-American stuff), but her constituency of fellow uber-thumpers thinks she rocks. (Ronda's not my district, so I couldn't vote against her, but was watching that race anyway.)
Her former enemy on the Hillsborough County Council meetings, Joe Redner (D), made a much better showing this time than any previous attempt with a 40% vote for County Commissioner! Alas, it was not enough to sway voters from Republican Jim Norman.
My representative to the Senate is Bill Nelson (D) who won handily over the much-maligned Katherine Harris (R). Harris's performance in her capacity as an election official during the 2000 mess alienated (or should I say disenfranchised...snark snark) her from most Democrats. Her recent remarks seeming to underscore a preferred national theocracy turned many people off as well. She was never favored to win this one.
Kathy Castor (D), daughter of former USF president Betty Castor (of Sami al-Arian fame), easily took her Congressional seat from rival Eddie Adams, Jr. (R).
My biggest disappointment is the voting result on Florida Constitutional Amendments, particularly Amendment 3. This is the one that revamped "majority rule" for adding amendments. When it takes effect, it will take a 60 percent majority to pass an amendment, rather than the previous simple majority. We are now the only state in the union to have this ridiculous burden. The intent of the amendment was to restrict the citizens from being able to add amendments by complicating the process. It was promoted by big business and lobbyists so their development schemes wouldn't be interfered with so easily. Their TV ad campaign staged a bunch of "Goodfellas" types sitting around what seems to be a poker table laughing at past amendment foibles (bullet train and the like). I'm shocked that more people weren't as turned off of that ad as I was.
This amendment does nothing to benefit the citizens. Every newspaper in the state and both the Dem & Rep gubernatorial candidates advised voting "No" to amendment 3. What short-circuited there, I don't know.
THE U.S. PICTURE "MILK CRATE SCARS" TO PLAY AT TAMPA FILM REVIEW
Election Results
LA FLORIDIANA
by William Moriaty
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW
by Mike Smith
ODDERVATIONS
by Andy Lalino
MIKE'S RANT
by Mike Smith
Also...
This Just In: Donald Rumsfeld Steps Down.
Post your thoughts on the message board
11th-hour update: Jack Palance Dead at 87.
Post your thoughts on the message board
While I'm not so crazy about how some of the polling went in my native state of Florida, on a Federal level, us lefties/Democrats/Libertarians/liberals have some cause to celebrate. At the time of this writing (close to noon, Wed., Nov. 8), the power shift in the Senate is not yet confirmed, but the House is solidly Democratic now as enough Republican seats up for grabs were...er....grabbed. Some races too close to call are still being tabulated.
Back home, State Attorney General Charlie Crist (R) won over Jim Davis for Governor to replace the outgoing Jeb Bush. Crist was the odds-on favorite and was a name we heard quite a bit during post-hurricane meleés (gas-price gouging and the like), not too big a surprise there. Worth mentioning also is that his was the most expensive campaign in Florida history, weighing in at around $20 million. His TV ads prominently featured Davis' empty chair and the claim of the 2nd worst attendance record in Congress.
The great news is the power shift in Congress we are watching go from right to left, and well about time. Enough seats in The House went to Democrats to wrest control away from Conservatives, the only thing left to see at this writing (noon Wed.) is if The Senate follows. After a scandal-ridden year for Conservatives and the public's loss of faith in U.S. foreign policy, this was hardly unpredictable.
PCR FORMAT REVERSES ITSELF
Yes, I know. Over the past several issues I've been violating my own new format code by writing a little more and a little more right here on the homepage rather than carry it over to a separate page. Well, special articles still go that way (like TFR reviews). I guess I just can't get used to the homepage being naked, so for the time being, I'm going back to filing my shorter rants right here. Longer articles will still go on the multi-purpose format page.
Among the other fine films playing at this week's Tampa Film Review (including "Unbanned", the documentary on Ronda Storms I'm looking forward to) is our very own Milk Crate Scars produced by Terence Nuzum and directed by Terence, Vinnie Blesi and myself. Three stories, three directors. An experiment. Let's hope the audience likes experimentation!
La Floridiana Lite
"Babel"
Get Miff'd! ... Concert Review: THE CULT
Happy Birthday .... Bond Is Back .... And There Was Much Rejoicing....In Texas, "Doing A Great Job" Means "You're Fired!"....I H8 You!...What??...But Can He Bite The Head Off A Bat?...Passing On....My Favorite Films, Part 45: "All That Jazz"