We're having another heatwave here in Western, NY, and it's not pleasant. Hot is one thing, hot and humid is something entirely different. The birds don't seem to mind the heat. They just keep eating and eating. I saw a brown headed cowbird (Jim's least favorite kind of bird) feeding another cowbird (I'm guessing her baby although he looked almost as big as she did). She would peck the seeds on the ground and then literally put the food right in his mouth. It was kind of cute in a twisted sort of way.

My video pick of last week is a 1949 film called All The King's Men. It tells the story of Willie Stark (loosely based on Huey P. Long, one time governor of Louisiana). It stars Broderick Crawford who plays Stark and appeals to the common man and becomes a popular political figure. As his popularity soars he becomes more controlling over others as he loses control of his own life. He even has his right hand man keep a little black book detailing all of the dirt on just about everyone in town. Mercedes McCambridge (who was big in radio) stars in her first film role as the manipulating assistant. McCambridge lights up the screen no matter what scene she's in and I found myself focusing on her even when she wasn't the main attraction in the scene. McCambridge (along with Crawford and the film) won an Oscar and almost 25 years after that film another generation was exposed to McCambridge's talent. In 1973 McCambridge lent her "demonic" voice to the film The Exorcist. That wasn't Linda Blair you heard, it was McCambridge giving us the shivers. And as with all classics, Hollywood is seeing the need to remake the film. Filming is currently underway to remake All The King's Men and will star Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Sean Penn and Anthony Hopkins. Having said that, the original Men was based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name.

Jaw dropper of the day: A woman who was in a car crash in Tokyo was actually dead before the crash. On Sunday, a man driving with his son hit a concrete wall, rebounded and then hit the lane divider. The three year old son was thrown from the front passenger seat and both father and son were killed when they were hit by oncoming traffic. The woman, who was the wife and mother of the other two, was found near the crash but was already in a state of rigor mortis. She is believed to have died one or two days before the crash. Nothing like riding around with your dead mother/wife in the car.

Enjoy your day,

paul