Skattershooting about the Academy Awards, movies, and other stuff . . .

• Steve Martin, who hosted the Academy Awards this year, remains as funny as ever. One of his first films, The Jerk, remains a classic, not to mention Father of the Bride and Parenthood.
• What in the heck is so great about Russell Crowe and why is he so smug?
• I am now officially "off board" with Julia Roberts. Her goofy acceptance speech was about as authentic as Garth Brooks.  There she was, acting as if she was stunned to win, when she was clearly the odds on favorite to capture the Best Actress award. Las Vegas bookies set her odds at 1 to 5. Note, that not "5 to 1" but "1 to 5".
• Sting, who performed at the Awards, is cool.
• Bob Dylan, who also performed, is not cool.
• Jennifer Lopez's dress was cool.
• Bjork's dress was....I'm still not sure.
• The only one of the films up for Best Picture that I saw was Traffic which attacks the failed War of Drugs in this country. I loved it, but I don't think your local Rush Limbaugh groupies would think too much of it.
• I also saw Castaway this year. Good, but not great. Did you know that every scene depicting Tom Hanks on the island (which is a good 70% of the movie) is completely devoid of any background music?
• Two flicks I really enjoyed were Snatch and O, Brother, Where Art Thou?.  The latter is about three guys, led by George Clooney, escaping from prison in the 1930s and heading across the South. I may put it in my top ten of all time.
• Hannibal made me miss Silence of the Lambs.
• Changing subjects altogether, has anyone else noticed the new highway signs on 287 heading into Fort Worth. Right before the exit to Jeterville is a new sign which reads "Gas" and "Food" and directing those desirous of those items to the Jeterville exit. I'm very confused. Why is the State of Texas directing motorists to any private business and, more importantly, why in the heck is it putting them on the road to  Jeterville?
• I'm almost ashamed to admit, but I've been flipping the TV channel over to watch a bit of NASCAR lately.
• The NCAA basketball tourney is always great stuff (thanks to office pools), but is there anything more excruciating than watching the last one minute of a close, but not real close, basketball game? Time-out. Foul. Free throw. Time out. Foul. Free throw. Time-out . . . .
• I'm very disappointed in the XFL.  I was supposed to be like the WWF but nothing could be further from the truth. It's just football.
• Do you Lake Bridgeport fans realize it has gone from 18 feet low to 6 inches low in three months?
• A recent national poll indicated that only 30% of the population approved of the way President Bush was "handling the economy".  How many of those polled can name one way that a President actually "handles" the economic system.
• Did you see the story about the 13 year old boy in Florida that was sentenced to life in prison for the beating death of the little girl? His lawyer recommended the kid turn down a plea deal that would have had the kid free after three years of incarceration and probation. To quote John Grisham's The Rainmaker,"You must be stupid, stupid, stupid".
• Odd random criminal statute: "No torture, or ill treatment, or unnecessary pain, shall be inflicted upon a prisoner to be executed under the sentence of the law." Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 43.24
• Did you see the news from Waco? Baylor baseball pitcher Derek Brehm, 20, and reserve outfielder Clint Bowers, 22, were charged March 9 with animal cruelty. "The students were arrested after officers responded to a report of a firearm being discharged near a Taco Cabana. Police were told someone had shot a stray cat that restaurant employees had named Queso, and put it in a sports utility vehicle and drove away. Police then stopped Bowers' Chevrolet Tahoe and saw what appeared to be blood on the door and steering wheel, police said. While searching the truck, police found a severed, skinned cat's head in the back beneath some clothing, as well a pellet gun, a knife and a golf club that appeared to have cat hair on it."
• Did you see the story of the five month old Dallas child dying in his mother's car after she forgot to drop him off at the daycare? Apparently, she left the child in the car several hours before she remembered him. Anyone else think there's something just not quite right about the whole story?
• Remember the anti-abortion web site that was hit with the $109 million verdict because it listed the home addresses of doctors who perform abortions and referred to them as "baby butchers"? The award was overturned today.
• Did anyone really think Puff Daddy would be convicted in New York where he was accused of firing a gun in a nightclub?
• Of all of Decatur's fast food restaurants, which one has the slowest traffic for its drive through window? I'll vote Whataburger.
• Whoever designed the clover leaf intersection for Highway 287 and Highway 380 in Decatur was crazy. There will be a ton of folks die there in the years to come.
• One final "did you see": Did you see the dove fly in the path of a fast ball thrown by Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson at spring training? Amazing. Never have so many feathers been in the air at one time as the bird literally exploded.