Kudos to author, director and Gambit Weekly contributor Jason Berry, whose film Vows of Silence, an exposé on the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, was named Best TV Documentary by Mexico City’s Festival Internacional de Cine Documental. Read more about Berry’s film in my April Gambit review, archived here.

Photo lifted from ESPNtheMag.com

-

Last week I pointed out that the best media blowhard to make fun of was L’il Wayne for completely omitting any reference to his hometown Saints. I was not alone as many people on his ESPN blog wondered in the comments section as to why he didn’t mention the Black and Gold.

-

Well, L’il Wayne’s second blog post is up now and he offers an explanation (albeit a weak one): Read the rest of this entry »

On CNN this morning, a talk radio host in St. Louis declared Sarah Palin’s performance in the VP debate a success, citing her use of “complete sentences.” (Up next on AC360: McCain surges ahead on strength of subject/verb agreement!) To anyone else disappointed by Palin’s, um,  non-face-plant last night, take heart in knowing that the Katie Couric clips just won’t die. At around the one-and-a-half minute mark of this latest chestnut, after Joe Biden says Dick Cheney’s shredding of the Constitution has been more harmful “than any other single elected official in my memory,” Palin deems Icky Dick’s biggest failing to be accidentally shooting Harry Whittington on a hunting trip in 2006. Really? Not advocating torture in worldwide rendition camps? Not selling Americans on WMDs in order to sell Iraq to Halliburton? Not inflating his own legislative influence through the dissolution of checks and balances? Nope: “Worst thing, I guess, that woulda been the duck hunting accident (Ed. note: it was quail), where, you know, that was, that was an accident. And that was made into a caricature of him, and that was kind of unfortunate.” Lodging buckshot in your buddy is a big no-no in Wasilla, dontcha know.    

OK, everybody? Just like we rehearsed, all together, on three… one, two, three! We’re a team of mavericks!

mav·er·ick (māv’ər-ĭk, māv’rĭk) n.
1. An unbranded range animal, especially a calf that has become separated from its mother, traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it.
2. One that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resists adherence to a group; a dissenter.Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maverick (accessed: October 03, 2008).

Pardon my skepticism, Gov. Palin, but please, “a team of mavericks”? Seems to me McCain was branded by the Bush administration a while back and hasn’t bucked much lately. More alarmingly, McCain’s current tactics look like a direct lift from Karl Rove, who used a vicious smear campaign against McCain and his family to derail McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” in the 2000 race for the Republican nomination. McCain’s been roped and tied to Bush administration policies ever since.

McCain is no Tom Cruise, but if this “maverick” malarkey keeps up I’ll have to start referring to Gov. Palin as Goose, and if you’ve seen Top Gun you know that’s not the callsign you want.

Side Note: If Palin can pronounce Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name so well, why can’t she pronounce nuclear or learn the duties of the Vice President?

The Orleans Parish School Board has announced that it is extending the deadline for public comments for the School Facilities Master Plan to October 17 at 5 p.m. Numerous criticisms have already been lodged against the new plan, so perhaps the present board is recognizing the need for more public input before passing any proposed plan, which will affect the city’s public school landscape for decades.

     It’s no secret, however, that state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is intent on getting the plan approved before the new school board takes office. To let your voice be heard, you can email your comments to masterplan@rsdla.net, or via mail:

Public Comment, Orleans Parish School Board, 3520 General De Gaulle Dr., NOLA 70114, or fax: 309-2875.

Photo by Jonathan Bachman

Because the Saints Monday night game this week, there won’t be a “Best of the Saints Game Preview” until after Sunday. In lieu of that, though, I bring you this report from the Green Charter School, where the Harrah’s Foundation donated $257,000 to the Brees Dream Foundation on Wednesday to help complete the school’s Edible Schoolyard.

-

 

Read the rest of this entry »