A dream job - what Marty Stouffer does mainly as photographer/produce of Wild America. Whether it is my dream is another story.

It is official, Microsoft sets out to make Zune an iPod killer with Toshiba.

Checked out Garls Barkley "St. Elsewhere." Coming from a first impression: Cee-Lo has a great voice and the production is great. It's old school sound, good background vocals, richly hybridized with synth sound.

But what else is on this CD with a cover bearing the phrase 'Live Sex'? I'm wary.

Man, I'm in a serious mood.

Paramount (World Trade Center, Nacho Libre, Hustle & Flow, Mission Impossible III, Titanic) has purchased Dreamworks SKG (Transformers, War of the Worlds, Gladiator, Shrek, The Ring, Catch Me if You Can).

Hmmm... Dreakworks Animation SKG is working on a CG film called "Kung Fu Panda" slated for 2008. I assume comedy.

Fall 2006 will have a lineup of weighty movies:

• THINKflim --> Half Nelsion (Aug 11) - drama - teacher in urban school (S: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie)

• THINKflim --> 10th and Wolf (Aug 18) - drama, organized crime (S: James Marsden, Giovanni Ribisi, Brad Renfro)

• Yari Film Group --> The Illusionist (Aug 18) - period, drama- magic (S: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel)

• Sony Pictures Classic --> Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Sept 1) - foreign film, family drama, China, Japan (D: Zhang Yimou)

• Focus Feature --> Hollywoodland (Sept 8)--> period crime/mystery drama (S: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, Bob Hoskins)

• Universal Pictures --> The Black Dahlia (Sept 15) - period crime, mystery (S: Scarlet Johannson , Hilary Swank, Josh Hartnett)

• Dreamworks Pictures --> The Last Kiss (Sept 15) - drama - coming of age (S: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson)
  

• Miramax --> Renaissance (Sept 22) - animation, sci-fi - crime, future Paris

• Rogue Pictures --> Jet Li's Fearless (Sept 22) - period, martial arts fighting

• Fox --> The Last King of Scotland (Sept 27) - drama - Ugandan President Idi Amin and his physician (S: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy)

• Universal Pictures --> Children of Men (Sept 29) - sci-fi, drama - hope in an infertile near-future (S: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore)

• Warner Brothers --> The Departed (Oct 6) - drama - cops & crooks (D: Martin Scorsese | S: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg)

• Warner Brothers --> The Fountain (Oct 13) - sci-fi - The Fountain of Youth, across time (S: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz)

• Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures --> The Prestige (Oct 20) - thriller, magic (S: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale)

• Paramount --> Babel (Oct 27) - drama - security in cross culture (D: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu | S: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho)
• 
  
• Sony Pictures --> Casino Royale (Nov 16) - action - 007 film (S: Daniel Craig - the new James Bond, Eva Green, Madds Mikkelsen, Catarena Mureno)
  

Crutch
Alistair Begg asked, "Is Christianity a psychological crutch?" No. Why? Because Christianity is hard. It hard to swim against the current; whereas it's easy for dead fish to be carried by the flow.

Consider how more Christians were killed for their belief during the 20th century than the sum of all Christians murdered for their faith in all time before the 1900's. In fact such persecution has not waned and in many places they've intensified despite the reduced numbers of Communist nations.

In having such conviction to live for Jesus Christ, many lose their livelihood, family, and life. And some say crutch, hah! Not quite. If everyone is moving in the same direction, no one notices they head towards destruction. He who holds fast to the anchor of God sees the shifting currents and is buffeted.

Angry? Chicago
I'm told by some people from other U.S. cities that Chicagoan's are generally angry with an anger on par with New Yorkers, but New York throws it straight at you -- that proud bluntness.

Is Chicago really so? Is there this so-called undercurrent of anger in Chicago? One can argue for angry traffic but I don't think that's comparable to New York.