Happy Monday to you all. In my January 26^th posting, I discussed the Sundance Film Festival and Independent Films. Well, the festival ended yesterday and there did not seem to be as much excitement coming from it as there has been in past years. Drawing the most attention was U2's three-dimensional concert movie called "U2 3D" which follows their 2006 "Vertigo" tour through South America. Not many of the real movies seemed to draw as much interest. Of the films I heard about, the one that seemed to peek my curiosity the most is called The Wackness. This story, set in 1994, is about a "troubled teenage drug dealer who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist and in the process fall for the doctor's daughter." It turns out that this film won "The Audience Award: Dramatic" during the festival, so it obviously connects with its audience in a special way. If you want to see an article regarding all of the awards presented at Sundance here is a link... www.sundance.org/festival/insider/2008 -01-26-L@S-awards.asp

Speaking of movies, the 14^th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were held last night. Unlike the Golden Globe Awards, this show went on as scheduled. These awards honor both television and movie greatness and are considered a strong indicator of who will win the Oscars which are held next month. Though the Oscars seem to hold more prestige, the SAG award is given by your peers. To me, an honor bestowed by my peers would hold much more value than any other, so I am sure these actors are very proud to even be nominated. Though the Guild is celebrating their 75^th anniversary, these awards have only been given for the last 14 years. In my January 22^nd posting, I discussed the Oscar nominees and specifically noted the two films that I have seen and enjoyed very much. These films, Michael Clayton and Juno, each had SAG award nominations, but sadly did not take home any of the awards. The Coen Brothers movie No Country For Old Men won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, so I definitely have to re-think finding an opportunity to see that film soon. Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his award to the late Heath Ledger in a touching moment and 83-year-old Ruby Dee won for her supporting role in the film American Gangster. As for television, "The Sopranos," which recently completed its final season, was honored with all 3 major drama series awards. The Comedy awards went to two shows that I enjoy very much (as noted in my January 24^th posting). Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey ("30 Rock") won the individual actor honors while "The Office" was deservingly named Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Overall, it was nice to see the awards shows back on television.

I have mentioned Roger Clemens and his sudden involvement in baseball's steroid investigation a couple times (most recently January 16^th posting). The question that Clemens or any accused player has is simply "How do you prove a negative?" What evidence can you provide that something never happened? This seems much more difficult that actually proving that something did happen. What can someone do when they are put in that position? First I think you would get angry at the insinuation and scream your innocence. Clemens has already done that. Second, you would try to provide any information that might lend credibility to your case. Clemens continues to try to do that. First, he provided a recorded phone conversation with his accuser which had mixed results. One of the key indicators that accusers point to with Clemens has been his amazing performance especially at an older age. Today, he released a 45 page report documenting that Clemens 24-year career has proceeded in a consistent manner as he has aged compared with other pitchers as they have aged. You can go check the report out for yourself, it is a pretty impressive compilation of analysis... http://rogerclemensreport .com" title="http://rogerclemensreport .com" target="_blank"http://rogerclemensreport .com....  Clemens was supposed to have his deposition in front of Congress this past weekend, but it has been pushed back to February 5^th with a hearing scheduled for February 13^th as well. I really hope that Roger Clemens is telling the truth, but either way it will be interesting to see how this situation plays out over the coming months. By the way, only 17 days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training!

Please go back to any of the postings noted above if you have not read them or do not remember.  I will often refer back to topics covered before.  That's all I have for tonight. Thanks for reading and reacting. I wish you all peace and much love.

Check this out: I am not sure if this is a true story or not, but thought it was pretty interesting either way... A bear was walking across the Rainbow Bridge in Truckee, California, on the I-80, California / Nevada State line, when two cars also crossed the bridge from both directions. The bear was so scared, with no place to run, he made a leap over the side of the bridge. The motorists stopped their cars in horror of what just happened and ran to the edge to see how badly the bear was injured. To their amazement, they saw that bear had somehow grasped the lower ledge of the bridge support as it fell and pulled itself back up. The authorities were notified that night and after making an assessment they decided there was nothing that could be done until the following morning. Authorities returned at day break to find the bear sleeping on the ledge of the bridge support. A large, construction style, safety net was hung under the bridge and the bear was shot with a tranquilizing dart; then safely lowered to the ground below. Here are some pictures taken during this event:

Quote of the day: "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right." -Henry Ford

Download this: "Hey Ya" by Obadiah Parker - This is an acoustic cover of the smash hit by Outkast. I love acoustic music and love quality acoustic versions of good songs. You will see a lot of acoustic recommendations here.