In Good Company

For a while, fifteen or twenty years ago, I thought Dennis Quaid was going to be a big star. He had the looks and that killer grin, and he could even act a little. But for some reason he never quite made it. The Right Stuff, The Big Easy, Innerspace, the remake of D.O.A., Everybody's All-American. They didn't put him over the top. Then he made Great Balls of Fire, which was pretty awful. Maybe he never recovered from that. Anyway, he still makes an interesting movie now and then, and this is one of them.

Quaid plays Dan Foreman, an ad salesman for a sports magazine, whose company is taken over by a conglomerate. Suddenly Dan finds that he has a new boss half his age. People get fired. The new boss dates Dan's daughter. Dan's wife is pregnant. You're thinking this can't end well. It does, though maybe not convincingly.

Topher Grace, who plays the new boss, Carter Duryea, manages to do very well in a part that requires him to be scared on the inside and confident on the outside (except with Foreman's daughter), and it's on his character that the movie finally turns. Both he and Foreman learn something about themselves and about the need for change, but it's Carter who has farther to go.

Things probably never work out quite so well in real life as they do in movies like this one, but then again maybe they always do. As Jake Barnes says at the end of The Sun Also Rises, "Isn't it pretty to think so."

Side by Side #3

Here we have the 1956 Graphic Books edition of Richard Powell's Say it with Bullets side by side with the new Hard Case Crime reprint.

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That

Dan Brown, Cover Your Eyes: Gay Porn 'Da Vinci' Adaptation to Be Released Same Day as Ron Howard's 'Da Vinci Code'

March 01, 2006
By Chuck Shelton

Production outfit PZP Productions has announced plans to release its gay-sex film The DaVinci Load on May 19, the same day the movie that it parodies—Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code—is scheduled to hit theaters.

PZP head Peter Zaragoza told Gay Video News, “The DaVinci Load is our most ambitious and expensive film to date. The star, new discovery Sebastian Young, is a hot bad-boy with a [remarkable appendage] and great charisma.”

Sunset at the Crider Manse

If you look up at the top, in the middle, you can see the fingernail sliver of the moon.

Just in Time for Texas Independence Day

The photo on the left if of the San Jacinto Monument at the battlefield were Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna. As you can see, it now overlooks the Houston Ship Channel. The story below is related to Texas Independence Day.

WASHINGTON - One of the state's most historic documents is back where it was created.

Four mounted Texas Rangers Tuesday escorted a stagecoach carrying documents penned at the birth of the Texas Republic back to the place where ink was applied to the now yellowing paper.

The Star of the Republic Museum at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site will display the 170-year-old documents beginning Thursday, which also happens to be Texas Independence Day.

The papers include what is believed to be the first draft of the Republic of Texas Constitution.

The constitution was written in 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos as Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his troops battled with Texans seeking independence from Mexico.

‘‘This document was touched by patriots,'' Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. ‘‘These guys heard the hoofbeats over their shoulders as they drafted this.''

The draft was lost to history until an archivist at the Texas General Land Office identified it two years ago in the agency's collections.

An armored vehicle picked up the historic document from the land office in Austin Tuesday morning to return it temporarily to the historic site on the banks of the Brazos River.

At the historic site, the papers, which were stored in a strong box, were transferred to a stagecoach escorted by four mounted Texas Rangers who took it the rest of the way home.

Lindsay Lohan's Nipples

No, I don't have any pictures. But this guy does: What Would Tyler Durden Do?

And in the interest of truth and honesty, it's only one nipple. Click the link at your own risk.

Into the Blue

I'm with James Reasoner on this one. It's not a bad little movie. But then I'm a sucker for pirate treasure. Throw in a some really nice underwater photography, Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott in bikinis, and I'm there. Sure there are people holding their breaths for what seems like five or six minutes. Sure the actors aren't ready for Shakespeare. Sure the plot's a little too cute. But who cares? Certainly not me, movie slut that I am.

My Homie!

Chron.com | Former Playmate Smith charms the high court:
"Smith's case goes to Washington and could leave with a surprising result

By PATTY REINERT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, photographers trampled each other as they tried to get glamour shots of Anna Nicole Smith, former Playboy Playmate and widow of an elderly Houston oil tycoon.

Inside the buttoned-down, no-cameras-allowed courtroom, the onetime Texas stripper, who has waged a fierce and often comical legal battle to inherit her late husband's fortune, was just another role player in heels and a conservative, knee-length black dress.

Her appearance before the highest court in the land was the latest episode in an 11-year-old Texas soap opera, and it offered the prospect of an ending worthy of the short story master O. Henry.

Judging from what happened inside the court Tuesday, Smith might just win.

Despite her uncharacteristically demure demeanor, or perhaps because of it, Smith, or her legal cause, or both, seemed to charm several men — and the one woman — on the bench."

Thanks to McGinnis expert Art Scott for the photo tip. Art believes that Anna's had a little work done. He's such a cynic.

One Tough Gramma

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Crocodile-wrestling gran honoured:
"A 61-year-old Australian grandmother has received a bravery award for wrestling a giant saltwater crocodile as it dragged her friend from a tent.

Alicia Sorohan was awoken by screams while camping in Queensland and jumped on the 4.2 metre (14ft) reptile's back in an attempt to distract it.

The animal then turned on her, breaking her nose and almost ripping her arm off before her son shot it."

Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for the tip.

Scooped Again!

Yes, once again Banjo Jones has come up with Alvin news that I missed. I beat him on the "Honk for Tittys" sign, though.

THE BRAZOSPORT NEWS: "Recently, in Alvin, former hometown of fireball pitcher Nolan Ryan, state environmental authorities handled two cases.

One was against the Wee Mart, a little rundown convenience store.

The other was against Equistar Chemicals, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lyondell Chemical Co., which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange."

The Sad Decline in the Spelling Skills of America's Youth

This morning when I was out for a little jog, I went by the Alvin High School parking lot. A little red truck parked there had this painted across the back window: "Happy Birthday! Honk for Tittys!" While I admire the sentiment, I deplore the spelling.

Another Mexia, Texas, Story

Just so you don't think Anna Nicole Smith is the only woman from Mexia, Texas, to make it big in Washington, here's story about Mary (Martin) Ourisman, Mexia High School Class of 1965. (The photo at left is from an earlier event.)

Forget the Script. Try the Backstory.: "Yee haw! Laura Bush was the surprise guest at a Texas-themed birthday party for GOP hostess Mary Ourisman yesterday. The bipartisan luncheon for 24 'Texas girls' at the Northwest Washington home of NBC4 anchor Barbara Harrison celebrated all things Lone Star: Tex-Mex food, cowboy hats and bandanas, and a fiddler. The first lady joined in a version of 'Deep in the Heart of Texas' customized for Ourisman: She's cute, it's true, Her faults are few, Just like the state of Texas.

After enough verses of that, we would have begged for a margarita.

And for all those keeping track: Harrison, who has lost four pounds on her on-air sweeps diet, skipped the tres leches cake."

Miss Smith Goes to Washington

I'm back from ConDFW, and the big news is that Anna Nicole Smith is doing the old hometow proud. Well, that and the fact that Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, and Dennis Weaver have died. A sad weekend indeed.

Star-Telegram.com | 02/26/2006 | Anna Nicole Smith case gets Supreme Court hearing: "Anna Nicole Smith case gets Supreme Court hearing
By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Even participating attorneys admit that Supreme Court Case No. 04-1544 is dry and legally esoteric. So why does Marshall v. Marshall get so much attention?

Three words: Anna Nicole Smith.

Smith, whose evolution from topless dancer to celebrity widow to reality-TV star is the antithesis of dull, descends on the nation’s highest court Tuesday in her long-running claim for the fortune of her late husband, Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall II.

The 38-year-old former Playmate of the Year is expected to be present in the court chambers as attorneys argue the case for one hour before the nine black-robed justices. But those looking for any display of flamboyance inside or outside the court are apt to be disappointed, says her companion and attorney, Howard Stern."