Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose

Texas Republicans commit stupid mistakes like ramming a voter-ID bill through the state Senate and then scratch their heads and wonder why they can't get any support from minorities. I guess their strategy is to make sure minorities can't vote anyway so there's no problem.

An editorial disguised as a news story

Ran across this story concerning election vs appointment of judges in Texas on the Dallas Morning News Web site this morning under the heading of local news. I don't know about you, but it reads far more like an editorial comment than a straight news story to me.

A coincidence? I think not

The same day I heard that Victory Park is now seeking "less pricey restaurants and bars" came word that the Hard Rock Cafe is returning to Dallas and will be located in Victory. I can't decide whether that's a commentary on Victory or the Hard Rock. I also wonder whether the Hard Rock had to sign a non-compete clause with American Airlines Center.

Ron Silver apparently voted for Obama

The crow dinner you see being placed before me comes after reading the Ron Silver obit in the New York Times, the final paragraph of which quoted Silver's brother:

"Ron’s politics, as far as I know, were not shared by anyone he knew, except for the people he knew because of his politics,” Mitchell Silver said. He paused and added, “He told me that he did vote for Barack Obama in the end."

So I humbly take back those words I wrote in the last paragraph of this.

The news about Natasha Richardson is either bad or absolutely terrible

The Associated Press is reporting that actress Natasha Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson, was critically injured in a Canadian skiing accident and is on her way by airplane to a destination in the United States that has yet to be announced.

However, there are other reports, mostly coming from family members, who have said they have been given "the bad news" by doctors that Ms. Richardson is brain dead and is being flown to her New York home where she will be taken off life support and "allowed to die." According to the New York Post: "Actress Natasha Richardson is brain dead, after falling in a ski accident in Canada, friends told The Post today."

I have been trying to piece together the entire series of events and it all seems strange. She apparently suffered the injury yesterday during a private lesson on a beginner's trail at the Mont Tremblant ski resort, 80 miles northwest of Montreal. She did not display any signs of distress immediately after the fall, according to reports, and returned to her hotel room. An hour later, she complained of a headache and the hotel sent her to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe from where she was transferred to the Hospital du Sacre-Coeur in Montreal. It was that hospital that put her on the private jet, reportedly to New York.

I have always had, as one of my life's philosophies, that I never want to participate in any activity where there's an ambulance waiting for me at the end of it. Thus, snow skiing was out of the question. But lately My Hero has slowly, steadily got me interested in at least trying something, say, on a beginner's course. This tragedy, however, sets that possibility back light years.

UPDATE: Irishcentral.com is reporting that Ms. Richardson is being flown to a hospital in New York, not her home, although it is also saying she is "fighting for her life." The Web site also had the following statement from the hotel where the 45-year-old actress was staying:

"Ms Richardson fell during a ski lesson but she didn't show any signs of injury. The ski patrol looked at her and reported that she was laughing and joking. They told her to see someone but she insisted that she was fine and just wanted to go back to her room. The instructor and two members of the patrol accompanied her to her hotel room. She refused to see anyone and signed a paper saying she didn't want to see a doctor. After an hour or so she said she had a headache, then they called 911. She was not wearing a helmet. The law in Quebec does not require it but we always suggest it but cannot impose it."

It could get ugly tonight

Let's see: the last time the Mavericks played San Antonio, the Spurs played without two of their mainstays, Manu Ginobli and Tim Duncan. The result? Mavs lost. The last time the Mavericks played Oklahoma City, the Thunder were without their two leading scorers, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. The result? Mavs lost. Last week, when the Mavericks played Golden State, the Warriors were without Corey Magette and, for most of the game, Andris Biedrins. The result? Do I really have to remind you?

Tonight the Mavericks play Detroit and the Pistons are without Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace. I'm feeling very uncomfortable with this, even if the Mavs will be wearing their St. Patrick's Day green uniforms.

Angela Hunt is gumming us again

Angela Hunt never misses an opportunity to take a symbolic, if not a realistic, high road. This time she has announced she will no longer use city funds to travel on city business. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

Dave Levinthal of the Dallas Morning News nailed it when he said Ms Hunt's latest stunt is "a move that's perhaps more symbolic than anything." Levinthal's report also said the council members with the highest travel budgets last year were Ron Natinsky who spent $14,925.75, Carolyn Davis who spent $13,388.75 (much of it on a trip to Belize to study, I guess, the habits of people visiting beach resorts for when Dallas gets a beach and a beach resort), Tennell Atkins who spent $12,790.60 and Pauline Medrano, $7,941.95.

Look, here's the deal. Each City Council member is allotted $4,000 annually for "any city related travel purposes." Hey, that seems like a good deal to me. If Ms. Hunt is really serious saving tax payer money, I suggest she introduce a resolution for a full vote of the City Council that restricts all council members from using any other funds, especially their office expense fund, for travel, so that all members will be limited to the $4,000 a year set aside for them for city related travel purposes.

Oh, if she really wants to get tough, then she should go this route. According to my rough calculations, city council members spent an average $2,310.45 each on travel. Now, Ms. Hunt, here's what I would like you to do: Introduce a resolution for a council vote that puts an absolute cap on all taxpayer-funded city travel at $2,500 per council member. Any amount over that must come from the council member's own pocket (campaign funds are permissible to use). If a council member uses less than that, the council person in question gets to pocket the change.

Now that would put some teeth in her message.

The Lions, or whichever team drafts Matthew Stafford, gotta love this

The following quote comes from Highland Park-U of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, courtesy of NFL guru Rich Gosselin:

"It's really about football. When it comes down to it, my marketing guy, my agent, my financial people all work for me. If I want to get (the contract) done, we can get it done. It's important for me to get into camp because I want to play football as soon as I possibly can. That's what it's always been about for me -- and that's what it will always be about. It's important for me to get into camp, working with the guys and trying to get as ready as possible."

And frankly, I don't care what Don Banks of SI.com thinks, I still think the Lions will (and should) take Stafford with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

The real weekend box office champ

If you read the conventional news stories, you will be told that Escape to Witch Mountain was the biggest box office winner this past weekend. I'm not so sure that's true. A little independent film called Sunshine Cleaning played in only four theaters this past weekend, but collected an astounding $54,000-per-theater average (Witch had a $7,657-per-theater average). The film stars Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as sisters who try to turn their lives around by starting a crime scene cleaning business. It opens this Friday at the Angelika.

I gotta admit: I have yet to see an Amy Adams performance that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. I first noticed her about six years ago in Catch Me If You Can, but it was in Junebug that she really captured my attention and my fancy. Since then I have relished her performances in Enchanted (any other actress possibly destroys that film) and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. She was also one of the few things I liked about Charlie Wilson's War. To see her in those four films shows her excellent range (I have yet to see her Oscar-nominated performance in Doubt, but am looking forward to it).

I am less familiar with Emily Blunt, although she was also in the aforementioned Charlie Wilson's War. Her role as a sex foil for Wilson didn't do much for me, but I thought she was marvelous in The Devil Wears Prada. I know she appeared in Dan in Real Life and The Jane Austen Book Club, but since I quickly forgot both films soon after seeing them, her performances obviously didn't register either.

Ben Stiller remembers Ron Silver

When someone mentions the name Ron Silver, who died Sunday at 62 following a two-year battle with esophagel cancer, I always think of Reversal of Fortune, that marvelous film in which Silver played attorney Alan Dershowitz, who, among other notable achievements, defended Claus von Bulow, accused of trying to murder his heiress wife, Sunny. Although Jeremy Irons deservedly won an Oscar for playing Claus in that film, I thought Silver stood toe-to-toe with Irons.

I must also admit that I enjoyed Silver in a film, Enemies: A Love Story, that came the year before Fortune. He appeared in many other films and a lot of episodic television, but those are the roles for which I admire Silver. I never saw him in his Emmy-Award winning performance in David Mamet's Speed the Plow.

When Ben Stiller remembers Silver, on the other hand, he recalls someone who "lovingly" contributed to the deliquency of a minor.

Of course, there's always Silver's political transgressions that began on 9/11, but right now I'm in a charitable mood, so I'm trying to remember the pre-9/11 Silver (much like a try to remember the pre-O.J. defender Dershowitz).

What willl folks in Seattle read with their morning lattes

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer prints its final edition tomorrow and, beginning Wednesday, may become a Web only newspaper. So Seattle joins the list of one newspaper towns, a list which Tucson, Ariz., will join by the end of the week and San Francisco may join before too long. But now comes word that the larger paper in Seattle, the family owned Seattle Times, may be in even worst financial shape than the Hearst-owned P-I. According to the report: "Of all the big cities that have lost or are in danger of losing newspapers -- Denver and San Francisco, among others -- none is as likely as Seattle to find itself without a printed daily newspaper."

What happened in Seattle? "Rowland Thompson, a newspaper industry lobbyist here, traces the city's journalistic woes to a strike staged by workers at both newspapers in 2000," the report says. "The seven-week strike cost the newspapers dearly -- just when the Internet bubble had burst. The Times and Hearst also spent much of this decade in an expensive legal fight as the Times sought to end the joint operating agreement. Finally, in a 2007 settlement, the Times paid Hearst a net $24 million to perpetuate the agreement, even though the Times had described it as financially untenable. Between the strike and the legal fight, the papers weren't able to regain their footing before the current recession set in, Thompson said."

Meanwhile, the Washington Post, which owns a daily newspaper in Everett, just north of Seattle, announced today that it will no longer feature a separate business news section Monday through Saturday, folding that content into the main news section. The Post joins the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and other papers that have decided it's too costly to have separate business news sections of the paper during the week.

Sometimes depth can be overrated

The big thing I noticed about yesterday's Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Lakers basketball game, which was far more exciting than I thought it would be, is that the Mavs have more depth than the Lakers, but the Lakers have a far superior starting five. I say that because, when Jason Terry led the Mavericks on a 21-2 run that brought Dallas from a 15-point deficit to a 95-89 lead with 7:13 left, both teams had their reserves on the floor. But then Kobe Bryant and the other Lakers starters returned, Los Angeles outscored Dallas 12-0 and that was that.

New movies to be released this week on DVD

Elegy (2008) *** Cultural critic David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) sits comfortably in his ivory tower, divorced from any romantic or familial entanglements, that is, until a striking 24-year-old daughter (Penélope Cruz) of Cuban exiles reawakens his sense of sexual excitement. Sparse, low-budget drama,directed by Spaniard Isabel Coixet, intelligently translates novelist Philip Roth's meditation on lust and mortality without soft-pedaling its narrator's brutally honest, unabashedly sexist views.

Punisher: War Zone (2008) * Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson), a one-man force of vengeance known as "the Punisher," battles mob boss Billy Russoti (Dominic West). Left disfigured by the encounter, Russoti reemerges as Jigsaw, a psychotic villain with a small army at his command. So unrelentingly violent that all but teen boys might as well stay away from the rental counter.

Twilight (2008) **½ Based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novel, the film follows the saga of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), who moves to a small town to live with her father. At school, she meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire. Bummer. The vampires have no fangs. The humans are humdrum. The special effects and makeup define cheeseball. And the movie crowds in so many characters from Meyer’s book that Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) is less a director than a traffic cop. But there’s a reason that Twilight has already become the movie equivalent of a bestseller: The love story has teeth. (Will be released Saturday).

The next thing you know someone will try to convince you Lee Marvin was once a television pitchman for cigarettes

Can the G-O-P become H-I-P?

It will undoubtedly depend on what the party does with that Spongerush Fatpants guy.

Care to guess who wrote this?

"I’m not one of those film people who can tell you who the cinematographer was on On The Waterfront or who most influenced Truffaut. When it comes to knowledge of film history, I’m semi-rubbish (a friend of mine once left the dinner table when I admitted I had never seen one of the most famous and most well-regarded films of all time). I can do the whole rap at the end of The Revenge of the Nerds and all of Jeff Spicoli's dialogue, but sadly, my expertise ends there. I do, however, love film and whether it is an exceptional documentary, a classic or a Seth Rogen vehicle, I am always excited about seeing something that my friends love. The films I love best usually contain a breathtaking female performance (The Reader, Sophie’s Choice, Klute), as the genius of a creative woman inspires me in all areas of my life. "

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Today is Friday the 13th. Should you be afraid? Very afraid? Not so much, at least according to Ben Sherwood, who says "you might want to exercise a little extra caution" but "you don't need to be afraid or stay home." Ultimately, he says, "it's not the day or date that will get you. It's the fear."

SI writer picks Sanchez over Stafford

According to Don Banks of SI.com, Highland Park's Matthew Stafford not only will not be the No. 1 pick in the draft, he won't even be the first quarterback drafted. Banks is predicting the Jacksonville Jaguars will take USC's Mark Sanchez with the N0. 8 pick:

"Filling their need at offensive tackle at least on a short-term basis with Tra Thomas in free agency only leads me to believe all the more that the Jaguars might be tempted to go quarterback here. And while Matthew Stafford is practically the home-state star in northern Florida, I'm told Jacksonville has Sanchez rated higher than the ex-Bulldog."

He predicts Stafford will wind up being picked tenth by the San Francisco 49ers:

"With Alex Smith sticking around to challenge starter Shaun Hill, the 49ers could feasibly address their need at offensive tackle in the first round. But getting Stafford this low in the round will have its own appeal, and the fact he wouldn't have to play right away means San Francisco could avoid repeating the mistake it made in rushing Smith in there."

Now a lot of folks may say this is a blow to Stafford and, financially, it would be. But if I'm presented with the choice between living in Detroit or living in San Francisco, it would take me less than a second to decide on the California city. A real no-brainer, as far as I'm concerned.

Banks is saying the Lions will pick Baylor offensive tackle with the No. 1 pick. He has only two others who played their college ball in Texas going in the first round and both of those are in the Top 10, ahead of Stafford: Texas defensive end/linebackacker Brian Orakpo, No. 6 to Cincinnati; and Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree, No. 7 to Oakland. He has two Missouri players being tabbed in the first round: wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to San Diego at No. 16 and defensive tackle Evander Hood to Tampa Bay with the 19th pick. But that's it for Big 12 players. Not one from league champ Oklahoma taken in the first round, according to Banks.

30 years ago Dallas was ahead of its time

I remember back in the late 1970s when I was working for the Dallas Morning News, the paper's executives were concerned about circulation, as they the paper's executives are today. Back then there were two daily newspapers in Dallas and the population was booming -- folks were migrating in droves, especially from the so-called Rust Belt in the Midwest. The problem was that the paper's circulation, while increasing, was not in any way, shape or form keeping pace with the population increase -- not by a long shot. So the Morning News contracted with this highly respected polling outfit -- Yankelovich, Skelly, and White -- to find out why. What the pollsters uncovered staggered all of us: it turned out that more than two-thirds of the Dallas population got all their news from television. Even the pollsters were surprised: At the time, YS&W called Dallas "the most wired city in America."

I mention this only because another highly respected polling outfit -- the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press -- released the results of a survey yesterday that said the majority of residents of an American city would not miss their daily newspaper if it went out of business. Why? Because, the survey noted, 66 percent of those polled regularly get their news from television. What surprised me the most about this latest survey is that more people (34 percent) said they get their news regularly from radio than the Internet (31 percent). I'm willing to bet those numbers will be reversed before long. (For those that added those three just mentioned figures and found they exceeded 100 percent, the respondents were asked to name all their sources for news, not just the one used the most.)

In the new survey, more than one out of every four persons polled (26 percent) said they would not miss their local newspaper at all if it folded. For some reason, I think that figure might be higher if just Dallas residents were surveyed. Which leads me to the obvious conclusion: In this area, Dallas may still be ahead of its time.

On behalf of all the unemployed in Texas: Damn you to hell, Rick Perry

Gov. Hair decides it's better to play petty partisan politics than to act in the best interests of those who are probably not in his political party to begin with.

Is this all an act?

Joaquin Phoenix took his hip-hop act to a Miami club last night, angering those who were foolish enough to come see him by not taking the stage until almost 2 a.m. Then this ensued -- he jumped into the audience to go after someone who was heckling him. What I find interesting is that brother-in-law Casey Affleck was there filming the entire thing. Hmm. Makes you wonder, doesn't it.

Purim at the J

Scenes from this week's Purim Shabbat at the Jewish Community Center's pre-school:

Director Laura Seymour (right with the mult-colored hair) presented a child's version of the Megillah featuring Esther (in the cow's costume), Haman (holding the staff), Vashti (in white) and King Ahasuerus (wearing the crown, of course)

A sampling of the kids in their costumes

My favorite princess, my granddaughter Grace, relished the festivities

Grace back in the classroom enjoying the traditional (or not) hamantaschen

What's up?

The state of Mary Suhm's city

Went to hear City Manager Mary Suhm deliver her "current" state of the city presentation today at a luncheon at the Lakewood Country Club and it sounded like business as usual. She did say the economy was causing a downtown in sales taxes -- she is estimating it as a 4 percent per month drop in what was forecast -- and that building permits were way down. But she didn't come across as an alarmist -- just the steady hand on the tiller guiding the ship of state through the shoals.

She mentioned the Corps of Engineers' rating the Trinity River levees as unacceptable, but nothing that city wasn't prepared to address in its normal course of readying the Trinity River Corridor Project. "All along this has been a flood control project," she said of the largest public works project in the history of Dallas. She also gave the back of her hand to those critics saying it's taking too long for the Trinity River Corridor Project to be completed, reminding those in attendance that work on the downtown Arts District began more than 20 years ago and is just now coming together with the construction of the Winspear Opera House and the performing arts center. Once completed, she said, the Dallas Arts District will be the largest of its kind in the country. "We haven't seen anything like this since the opening of the Lincoln Center in New York City," she said.

But, back to those dang levees. Ms. Suhm said Dallas was not the only city to have its levees graded unacceptable under the Corps recently revised standards. Fortunately for us, she said, Dallas is one of the few, if the only, city eligible for federal funds to help alleviate the problem. Following the presentation, Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez, who's been shepherding this whole levee business, told me the biggest holdup right now is that the Corps still hasn't defined exactly the standard it wants the Dallas levees brought up to.

Ms. Suhm also promoted the construction of the convention center hotel, saying without it, the city's convention business would disappear, costing the city some $50 million annually. I'm not sure I would agree with the word "disappear," but I'm convinced that business would take a crippling hit without the hotel, a hit that could be devastating to our future economic development. She also cited a number of public/private partnerships that are helping Dallas develop, developments she said would never have happened if the proposed ordinance requiring voting approval of such projects had been in place. Thus, she subtly politicked for "no" votes against both proposed city charter changes on the May ballot.

She was bullish about the results of the latest Dallas Citizen's Survey, which said:

• More than two-thirds of residents rate the quality of life in Dallas was "excellent" or "good."


• 78 per cent said Dallas was an "excellent" or "good" place to live;


• City services that received a rating of at least 73 percent good or excellent were fire (86%), EMS (81%), library (78%), arts and cultural programs (76%) and solid waste services (73%--78% for garbage collection and 71% for recycling).

She said she had slowed the pace of hiring at the city, fearing some jobs might be lost in the next budget cycle. But she vowed that the scheduled new police officers would be added and that work on the bond projects, which she called "Dallas' own stimulus package," would continue regardless of what might have to be cut elsewhere in the 2009-2010 budget, which she will unveil at the beginning of August.

Good night, Jimmy

Mention the name Jimmie Boyd and you'll probably be met with quizzical looks or responses of "who's he." But most of us remember, perhaps not all that fondly, the song "I Saw Mommie Kissing Santa Claus." Jimmie Boyd was the 12-year-old who recorded that song.

Call me a curmudgeon, or call me Jewish, but the fact is that I have never cared that much for Christmas music. It comes from being introduced to rock 'n' roll in the mid-1950s and during the weeks immediately preceding Christmas, the radio stations would suspend playing Fats, Ivory Joe, Lavern and the rest to play schmaltzy holiday music. "I Saw Mommie Kissing Santa Claus" was just one of the worst of the bunch. It was Boyd's only hit song and he parlayed it for all it was worth -- even landing a bit part as a biology student in the film "Inherit the Wind." (He also parlayed it into some controversy: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston condemned the song for mixing sex with Christmas.)

True, Jimmie Boyd was not major star in the musical constellation, even at the time of his hit single. Still, it seems to me like more attention should have been paid to the fact that Jimmie Boyd died this past weekend. He was living on a sailboat moored in Santa Monica Bay (gotta love that) and apparently died of cancer. He was 70.

So here's to you, Jimmie. At least you came out and told us what happened "under the mistletoe last night," whether we wanted to know or not.

Kinky mulling over another run for governor

Kinky Friedman, who ran as an independent for governor three years ago, finishing fourth, is considering running again, this time as a Democrat, according to this article by W. Gardner Selby, found on an Austin American-Statesman political blog. Friedman told Selby he'll decide by the end of the month whether he'll form an expoloratory committee, which would allow him to begin fund raising for a Democratic primary battle that, so far, features one other announced candidate, former ambassador and George W. Bush cronie Tom Schieffer of Fort Worth.

Selby wrote this about the platform Friedman would run on:

"He envisions a “no-kill” Texas with executions banned. He vows to give every schoolteacher a $3,000 raise the day he takes office. He said he’d seek to repeal the revamped business franchise tax, perhaps replacing it with a state personal income tax or the legalization of casino gaming."

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Battle in Seattle (2008) ** With the World Trade Organization about to convene in his city, Seattle’s Mayor Jim Tobin (Ray Liotta) tries to make sure all events go smoothly. As tensions between protestors and authorities rise out of control, activists and bystanders get caught in the crossfire. The picture’s ambition, cogency and decent performances make up for its uneven aspects. Woody Harrelson has some especially good moments as a cop.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) **½ When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone wears striped pajamas, unaware of the fate of those Jewish prisoners or the role his own Nazi father plays in it. The movie should be heartbreaking, but it isn’t. The muted quality of its impact is the result of narrative shortcuts and a desire to keep the images from being too startling.

Cadillac Records (2008) *** The true story of Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), a bar owner turned record mogul who signs a lineup of future legends to his fledgling label, Chess Records. The movie may be a mess dramatically, but it’s a wonderful mess, and not just because of the great music. The people who made it must have harbored the notion, almost subversive in a season of so many depressing films, that watching movies should be fun.

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) ***½ Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a perpetually cheerful 30-year-old London teacher. When her beloved bike is stolen, she decides to take up driving, and is paired with Scott (Eddie Marsan), an instructor who’s her polar opposite. For all of its laughs and a star-making performance by Hawkins, this film represents a serious philosophical inquiry by writer-director Mike Leigh, who has illustrated a consistently pessimistic view of humankind in his semi-improvised movies.

Let the Right One In (2008) ***½ Twelve-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), the constant target of bullies, spends his time plotting revenge and collecting news items about the grisly murders plaguing his town. This is a sweetly queasy film that suggests the spirit that sustains us, the demons we hide from the world, and the monsters that prey upon us in the dark might all be variations on the same beast.

Milk (2008) ***½ Sean Penn stars in this fact-based drama about Harvey Milk, the openly gay activist and San Francisco politician who was murdered along with mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber) by disgruntled city employee Dan White (Josh Brolin) in 1978. The film is superbly crafted, covering huge amounts of time, people and the zeitgeist without a moment of lapsed energy or inattention to detail.

Nobel Son (2008) * On the verge of receiving the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Professor Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman) learns that kidnappers have snatched his son Barkley (Bryan Greenberg), a promising graduate student. A dreary little thriller that irritates more than it thrills.

Rachel Getting Married (2008) ***½ When drama queen Kym (Anne Hathaway), a former model who’s been in and out of rehab for 10 years, returns to her parents’ home just before the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), long-standing family conflicts begin to resurface. The longer it goes on, the more you’re swept up into the jet stream of good feeling.

Role Models (2008) **½ Slackers Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) have coasted their way through jobs at an energy drink company. When their goofing off catches up with them, they’re sentenced to community service with the Sturdy Wings mentoring program.The movie has a tart surface, a heart of goo and grows more obvious as it goes along.

Synecdoche, New York (2008) *** After his painter wife (Catherine Keener) leaves him and takes their daughter to Berlin, theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) stages a new autobiographical play in a massive warehouse amid a life-size replica of Manhattan. It is a sprawling, ambitious and very long look at so many things, it’s almost a miracle writer-director Charlie Kaufman was able to wrap it up in just two hours. And yet, for a film that is principally about death, the conclusion is surprisingly life-affirming, especially coming from Kaufman.

Transporter 3 (2008) ** Follows the adventures of Frank Martin (Jason Statham), a mercenary driver who makes his living by delivering important cargo, no questions asked. This film is so far over the top that it more than once spills into outright cartoonishness.

Didn't Kevin Costner stand on this same street with this same building in the background in "The Untouchables"?

In a tight economy, would you put your money here?

I'm hearing reports of a musical remake of My Fair Lady with a new script by Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley as Eliza Doolittle, Hugh Laurie as Professor Henry Higgins and directed by Danny Boyle, his first post-Slumdog Millionaire project.

Once upon a time, Rasansky might have made a difference

Mitchell Rasansky, as mentioned here earlier, is starting to go negative on the Trinity River Toll Road and, according to Sam Merten at the Dallas Observer, the District 13 Dallas City Council member had this to say today about the project:

"Let me tell you, if I do not see that we're going to have the funds to build the tollway -- I am only one of 15 -- I am not going to support this at all."

Yawn. Who cares? Back when he was semi-relevant, Rasansky had the staff of City Hall quaking at his every utterance. They were collectively scared to death of this one individual, even though he was only one vote on the Council and usually did have the support of any of his colleagues. Yet this staff bent over backwards to accommodate and placate him.

But (and thank you, G-d, for term limits), the man is gone in a little over two months. And I don't think he's going to be capable of returning from the dead to haunt the council and the city staff once he's gone. And, as far as I've seen so far, both of the leading contenders to replace Rasansky seem to be an approvement, although one of them certainly needs to do better with his misleading campaign mailers.

I think this is a mistake

I know I'm going to be in the minority here, and probably outshouted by folks like Tim MacMahon of the Dallas Morning News, but I think this move of releasing Terrell Owens is a big mistake by the Dallas Cowboys. I'll admit, his best days are behind him, but I'm willing to say the same of just about everyone on the current Cowboys roster and Owens was the best pure athlete on that roster.

MacMahon seems to think Owens was a negative voice in the Cowboys locker room and was the principal reason the Cowboys were more of a soap opera than a football team. To me, Owens came across as one of the few players willing to speak out, take charge and provide some sort of leadership in the locker room. MacMahon admits all the younger players looked up to and respected Owens, but he also thought this was a bad thing. Why? Because he tried to motivate them when namby-pambies like Tony Romo or leave-me-alones like Jason Whitten wouldn't or couldn't? According to MacMahon, he "poisioned" the younger players by saying calling out Romo, Whitten and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett when they should have been called out. Let's see: Owens, Romo, Whitten or Garrett; which one has the best shot of making it into the NFL Hall of Fame? Don't make me laugh. Owens earned that respect his fellow players gave him, while Romo thinks it comes with the position he plays, like some divine right of Aikman or Staubach.

Next season, the Cowboys will still be more of a soap opera than a football team -- owner Jerry Jones, head coach Wade Phillips and Romo will make sure of that. If anyone thinks releasing Owens makes the Cowboys a better football team, they need to retake Football 101.

Dallas Mavericks are even more schizophrenic than either one of me

I give up. Which is the real Dallas Mavericks, the one that pulled out this thrilling win tonight over San Antonio or the one that looked so bad against Oklahoma City Monday night, team owner Mark Cuban had to threaten to fire the whole lot of 'em.

Incidentally, My Hero and I found a good downtown joint from which to watch the game. It's called the Ten Sports Grill and it's located at 1302 Main Street, on the south side of main just east of Field Street. The barkeep last night made a decent (not a superb, but a decent) Manhattan and the menu features a great deal on Wednesday nights: two servings of grilled chicken pasta for just $10. And each one is a complete pasta meal, folks, and, according to My Hero, it was good enough that she ordered one more for the road to have for lunch tomorrow. The place features many TVs so that I could cheer the Mavs and only slightly turn my head to catch the Oklahoma-Missouri upset.

At 92

When you reach the old curmudgeon stage that I have, things like this mean something more than they might to a younger crowd:

• Horton Foote, the marvelous playwright who created the fictional town of Harrison, Texas, from his natural birthplace in Wharton, and captured the dreams, many of which were broken, of Texans in such masterpieces as Tender Mercies and Trip to Bountiful, died today. He was 92.
• Kirk Douglas, working through a speech impediment caused by a stroke he suffered in 1996, is in rehearsals for a one-man show that will open this Friday for four sold-out appearances at the (where else?) Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City, Calif. The actor, who has appeared in more than 75 movies ("Some good, some bad," he says), is 92.

Collins remembers the Alamo

Probably because people are forgetting him.

UPDATE: Just read the following note I received from Donna Diorio with whom I worked a hundred or so years ago (she was one of the area's better -- and certainly better looking -- rock journalists):

"Interesting. I remember going several days to the old Dallas Convention Center watching Genesis rehearse for their U.S. tour right after Collins came out from behind the drums. I think this is right - I didn't know that band before my record store boss closed down his store, filled an ice cooler with beer (he didn't drink) and drug me along as 'bait' to get access to the rehearsals. Hey, it worked and we watched the rehearsals for a couple days. He was in hog heaven, as they say. :-)."

For those of you not familiar with the term "record store," that was a joint, usually locally owned, where music afficianados hung out to listen to and purchase 45s and LPs. For those of you not familiar with the terms "45s" and "LPs, " well, then, why are you even reading this because that means you probably have no idea who Phil Collins is either.

Ed Oakley may not run against Dave Neumann, but that doesn't mean he won't slap him on the face a couple of times

Dave Levinthal of The Dallas Morning News had a conversation with former District 3 Dallas City Council member Ed Oakley about whether he might challenge first termer Dave Neumann's re-election bid in that district. According to Levinthal, Oakley said the chances he will run range from "slim to none." But then Levinthal asked Oakley, if he didn't run, would he endorse any other candidate. Oakley said he would not. "I've made it a policy to endorse candidates I believe in, and that's where I'm at."

Ouch!

Some staggering statistics

The following information comes from a story in today's New York Times:

• One in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, on parole or probation.
• At a time when states are facing huge budget shortfalls, prisons, which hold 1.5 million adults, are still being built yet they cost far more per convict than community supervision.
• A survey of 34 states found that states spent an average of $29,000 a year on prisoners compared to $1,250 on probationers and $2,750 on parolees.
• One in 11 African-Americans are under correctional control, one in 27 Latinos, and one in 45 white people are in prison, jail, or under correctional supervision. Only one out of 89 women is behind bars or monitored, compared to one out of 18 men.

Then the cat developed a severe craving for munchies

It's not the stuffing of the cat into the bong that bothers us, Mr. Schomaker, it's that then you tried to smoke it.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.

You see, sergeant, it was like this. Melanie and I were out throwing back a few at this club. And, man, those guys in that club were pissants. Jeez, just because I tried to fondle this guy's wife, he gets all upset. And because of all that fuss that minor incident caused, they throw us out of the club. Melanie and me. Not them other dudes. Then Melanie starts giving me hell for drinking too much, trying to make out with that other pig and getting us thrown out of the club. So we get in the car so we can drive to some secluded spot where I can beat the living crap out of her -- you see, I like to do that once or twice a week, just to keep her line. But, man, I gotta piss real bad. So I pull over to the side of the road on LBJ -- actually we're on a bridge or something. And I get out to take my leak and then I turn around and head back to the car and Melanie is gone. Disappeared. Vanished. I called for her, but there was no answer. So I figured, well, now I don't have to find a secluded spot to beat the living crap out of her, so I get in the car and drive to this strip club where I'm trying to think where Melanie could have run off to. Then, right in the middle of stuffing this dollar bill in this babe's g-string, it hit me. She probably fell over that bridge back there where I stopped to take a leak. So after getting a lot of grief from the stripper who, for some reason, don't want to come home with me, I go to a Denny's nearby for a couple of cups of coffee -- you know, to sober up, and all -- and then I come right here to the North Central patrol station to report Melanie missing.

You do believe all this, don't you, sergeant? Don't you?

A rare spotting of common sense in the Texas Legislature

Republican state senator Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio has introduced legislation to take the politics out of the congressional redistricting battle. What a novel concept! Next thing you know state lawmakers may find the courage to discuss appointing and not electing Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals justices.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Australia (2008) **½ Yes, you can enjoy bits and pieces along the way, more than a few, even. At the end of this journey, though, you feel more exhaustion and relief than catharsis or satisfaction.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) *½ Coasting on lazy stereotypes, the script basically ends where it started, teaching young viewers that it's really not so bad to be a spoiled bitchy puppy.

I’ve Loved You So Long (2008) ***½ A revelation comes near the end that is both tremendously moving and a bit disappointing, in the way that the solutions to great mysteries frequently are. This turn does not diminish the accomplishment of Kristin Scott Thomas's deep, subtle and altogether stunning performance, but it does alter the scale of the movie, turning it into a more manageable, less existentially unsettling drama.

Lake City (2008) * One of those Deep Dark Secret movies, this dull indie combines a wholly uninteresting family mystery with a wholly unconvincing crime drama.

What, me worry?

The Dallas City Council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee is scheduled to be presented with this briefing --an update on the Trinity River Parkway (why they don't call it what is really is -- a high-speed tollway, not a parkway -- is beyond me) at its meeting Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. I found the briefing fascinating for what it does not say -- I saw no mention of either levees or money in it, presented by, of all organizations, the North Texas Tollway Authority. The Q&A following the presentation could be interesting, especially if committee member Mitchell Rasansky continues in his ornery ways. He is emerging, after Angela Hunt, as the most outspoken council critic of what the City and other government agencies are attempting to do between the levees in the Trinity River. My money is still bet on "the dang thing will never be built."

Movie casting rumors

• Sean Penn and Brad Pitt will star in The Tree of Life, directed in I-Max by Terrance Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven). The movie is also supposed to feature some rather large (I-Maxed-sized) dinosaurs.
• Johnny Depp will play Moe and Sean Penn will play Larry in the Farrelly Brothers' biopic of the Three Stooges, set for release in November.
• Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election) has cast Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, Reece Witherspoon and Sacha Baron Cohen for his next film, Downsizing.

Columnist argues our health care is rather shabby

One of the arguments against universal health care is that we already have the best health care in the world so why would you want to change it to a socialized bureaucracy. Nicholas D. Kristof, in an op-ed column in today's New York Times, debunks the basic premise of that argument:

"Partly because so many Americans fall through the cracks and don’t have insurance, life expectancy is higher in most of Europe than in the United States. Even the people of Cyprus live longer than Americans, according to United Nations figures.

"Meanwhile, American children are twice as likely to die by the age of 5 as children in Portugal, Spain or Slovenia. And the World Health Organization found that an American woman’s lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is more than three times that of a woman in Greece, Spain or Germany.

"Meanwhile, Americans spend $6,800 per person to get these second-rate results, about double what is paid in Canada or much of Europe. It’s true that Canadians and Britons wait longer for non-urgent medical procedures than we do. But we have to wait a bit longer than Germans do. "

He goes on to argue that if President Obama succeeds in gaining universal health care for American families, "even gradually, he has a chance to join the pantheon of truly great presidents like F.D.R. himself."

Most politicians talk in circles, just not in these circles

In his news release announcing he was not going to run for the District 13 Dallas City Council seat being vacated by Mitchell Rasansky (he did run as a write-in against Rasansky in 2005), self-styled political activist Rich Sheridan wrote:

"In his work, some animosity towards Sheridan has developed in certain circles, and by certain individuals. It is Sheridan's position that these attitudes are part and parcel of the scenario, that this 'negativity' is an essential part of what is 'Going On'. 'If people don't know what's going on, that they are in a game, a truly life and death game, in a Millenniums long spiritual battle, and all the world's the stage for this battle, and that there are (up to now mostly hidden) rules of this game, then we will always lose. "

Got that?

Let the spinning wheel spin, or another reason to favor a convention center hotel

Because of crap like this and this, there is one Republican, namely the one sitting in the governor's chair, that can't be out of office soon enough (before he comes up with another toll road corridor). Because of neat moves like this, however, there are Republicans like State Senator John Carona that are doing things right. Mr. Carona is sponsoring legislation that, if passed, would allow Texans to go to the polls in November to vote on having Vegas-type (or, for you right handed folks, Atlantic City-type) casinos right here in Texas. Where in Texas? Well, there would be 12 of 'em, located in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, South Padre Island and two right here in Dallas, one of which would be located downtown (presumably at the spot where Reunion Arena is about to be torn down.)

Now I don't know about you, but a casino located just a chip's throw away from the Dallas Convention Center suddenly makes the proposed Convention Center Hotel an even more attractive option. A casino there would also go a long way toward the complete revitalization of the West End.

What might be fun is guessing where a second one might go. I'm leaning toward the Fair Park area for two reasons: 1. I want that area to develop into more of an entertainment destination with attractions happening inside Fair Park year-around (plus it would be near the new DART Green Line) and 2. It would further enhance the city's commitment to revitalizing the southern sector of the city.

There's no such thing as clean coal

I understand this public service announcement comes to us courtesy of tge Coen Brothers.

Another two-newspaper city bites the dust

The Rocky Mountain News has announced it will publish its final edition tomorrow.

"Denver can't support two newspapers any longer," Scripps (the paper's owners) CEO Rich Boehne told staffers in a noontime announcement today. "It's certainly not good news for you, and it's certainly not good news for Denver."

The Rocky Mountain News, founded in 1859, has won four Pulitzers and earlier this week its sports section was named one of the 10 best in the country.

Last December Boehne said he was trying to find a buyer for the newspaper. Apparently there was interest from one out-of-state party, but when it learned it would cost $100 million on top of the purchase price just to stay afloat, the potential purchaser backed out. The Rocky Mountain News has had a joint operating agreement with the Denver Post for the last seven-plus years. That agreement was more inclusive than the one between the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The Denver model shared all business services -- advertising to printing -- while the local papers, as far as I know, are only sharing editorial content.

"I certainly feel that all of (us) did what we could to make this paper successful, and I want to thank you for that," Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple told the staff. "To me, this is the very sad end of a beautiful thing."

Next up it appears that papers in Seattle and Tuscon, which are also operating with joint operating agreements, will shut down and word is out that the Hearst corporation is seriously considering closing the hallowed San Francisco Chronicle.

First he takes Manhattan, then Grand Prairie

"Leonard Cohen kept returning to the stance of a supplicant at the Beacon Theater on Thursday night, dropping to one knee, or both, to intone his wry and ruminative songs. At the same time, he basked in the rapture of the crowd, artfully courting adulation. His mix of humility and sovereignty felt effortless, entirely true to form. And it girded the concert, his first in the United States in 15 years, with a vibrant and effective tension."

Thus began the New York Times review of Leonard Cohen's Feb. 19 New York concert. It continued:

"Mr. Cohen, 74, left little room for disappointment in a show that lasted just over three hours (with an intermission) and featured more than two dozen songs. The evening doubled as a preview, coming with the eagerly anticipated announcement of a North American tour this spring."

That North American tour has since been announced and the second stop on that tour will be at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. "Everybody knows" you should break out your "famous blue raincoat" and see a concert I feel relatively safe in saying won't be coming this way ever again.

It's simply great mate waiting on the levee

I received the following e-mail blast today from City Council member Angela Hunt:

"I was very concerned to see that the U.S. Corps of Engineers have deemed the safety of Dallas' levees 'unacceptable.' The Corps revised their safety standards after the Katrina tragedy, and re-evaluated Dallas' levees under this new system. They announced the results of their review yesterday.

"I was surprised that our levees failed to meet the new standards since the Mayor just got back from lobbying our Congressional delegation to pressure the Corps into speeding up their safety evaluation of the Trinity toll road, which is to be built within the levees. If you've been following this issue, you know that no major road like this has ever been built within a levee system. Knowing that our levees do not meet the Corps' new safety standards, I think it's irresponsible to lobby the Corps to speed up what should be a thoughtful, deliberate safety review of an untested engineering design like the toll road. Rushing to pour millions of tons of concrete into an already unsafe levee system is a dangerous plan that could have dire consequences.

"In light of the Corps' safety analysis, it is clear that we need to fix our levees NOW. Not next year, not five years from now, not after a catastrophic flood, but today. But the toll road is holding up our levee improvements. We fix all the safety problems with our levees until the design of this toll road is completed. As long as the toll road is part of the equation, all those parts have to be built to work together, and if we don't have the design for the road, we can't plan the design for the levees, and we certainly can't start fix them.

"The fact is, this toll road project is dead. There's no funding for it. Despite the Mayor's assurances during the Trinity referendum to the contrary, the NTTA just admitted that the toll road is facing a billion dollar funding shortfall. If the Corps is allowed to do their job without political manipulation, the toll road will likely face even more delays as a result of their new safety review. If we continue on this course, if we ignore the obvious warning signs and stubbornly plow ahead, the safety needs of our levees will continue to languish and be held hostage by this white elephant of a toll road for years to come. The dirt will not fly. The Mayor's 2013 deadline for toll road completion will come and go, the toll road cost will double again, and the funding gap will increase exponentially. In another ten years, 2019, future city officials will reluctantly admit that putting the toll road between the levees is not a viable, fundable option. The toll road will finally die with a whimper, and we will have wasted twenty years and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars without the levee improvements we so desperately need. It's time to change course and admit today that this toll road won't work, and find a better way to address our transportation needs without delaying or compromising the safety of our flood levees."

I wish I could share Ms. Hunt's view that the toll road project is dead. I distinctly heard City Manager Mary Suhm tell the Dallas City Council today "The toll road will be built" and the money is available to construct it. I'm not sure where she is coming from, but when she is that sure about something, she is correct 99.99 percent of the time.

I also don't think, like writers from the Advocate and the Observer seem to think, that this assessment from the Corps of Engineers kills the road. This just says there are problems with the levees along the Trinity that need to be rectified. This, to me, is more like someone who wants to repaint his frame house but then discovers there's some rotten wood in parts that needs to be replaced. So, before he repaints his house, he needs to replace the rotting wood. The Corps this time around is simply telling the city to replace the rotting wood in its levees before doing anything else. But the Corps didn't tell the City -- at least, not yet -- it can't repaint its house.

I do, however, emphatically agree that the soundness of our levees is more important than any other part of the Trinity River Corridor Project -- any part, including the toll road, the bird sanctuary, the soccer fields, the fake lakes, the Calatrava bridges, anything. In my wildest imagination, I can't foresee a Katrina-like catastrophe happening here, but, then, I'll bet many people in New Orleans never foresaw it happening there either. Bringing the levees up to standard must be Priority No. 1 for the Trinity River Corridor Project and I would hope the City Council would refuse to approve any other parts of the project until the levee problem is fixed to the Corps' satisfaction.

The high cost of killing

An organization called the Urban Institute has found that it cost states and average of $3 million to prosecute a death penalty case compared to $1.1 million for a case where the death penalty is not sought. That's why many states are considering abolishing the death penalty -- not out of humanitarian concerns but out of financial ones. Moves are underway to cut costs by abolishing the death penalty in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire. Bills abolishing the death penalty now have an excellent chance of passage in Maryland, Montana and New Mexico.

Capital cases are expensive because the trials tend to take longer, they typically require more lawyers and more costly expert witnesses, and they are far more likely to lead to multiple appeals. Studies also found that most of these cases end up with the defendant receiving a life sentence anyway. In the last 20 years in Maryland, for example, prosecutors sought the death penalty 162 times. Of those, only five were executed and five more are awaiting execution.

A bill has been introduced in Colorado that would abolish the death penalty and use the savings to create a cold-case unit to investigate the state's 1,400 unsolved murders.

Texas faces budget problems as well but knowing its penchant for killing people -- dispensing frontier justice in these more civilized times -- I doubt if we have enough clear thinking lawmakers to bring this topic up for serious discussion.