A DAY OF MILESTONES

I knew today was going to be out of the ordinary because it started out with some really great news. For the first time in school history my alma mater, the Florida Gators are #1 in the country! They are currently on the longest winning streak in school history as well, at 14 games. Last week, every team in the top five got upset except for them and it was enough to propel them from 4th to 1st in the latest ESPN/USA and AP polls. If you love charts and graphs and brackets and the NCAA tournament as much as I do, you must check out Bracketology. Now, this might be a prime example of ESPN going overboard, but they really love their college basketball. And so do I.

More charts, different event. This year more than in previous years, handicapping for the Oscars has gotten serious. David Poland, who writes an outstanding column on everything cinema called The Hot Button, also contributes to an excellent site called Movie City News. There you will find a page of extremely well-researched and well-educated Top Ten Rankings for who and what will receive Oscar nominations when they are announced a week from tomorrow. Take special note of the tight races for the fifth spot in Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. Looking over the list of movies and performances and scripts, I'm reminded of just how good a year it was for movies. But, yet again, it was a dreadful year for straight-up comedies. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was such a bloated hit precisely because there was a big fat comedy void in the marketplace. "Austin Powers in Goldmember" was a pretty funny movies and a box-office smash, but beyond those two, there is a stack of duds, like "Undercover Brother" which I watched this weekend, now available on DVD. I'm man enough to admit that the movie that made me laugh the most this year, by far, was "Jackass: The Movie." What more do you need to illustrate the current state of big screen comedy? No need to fear, though. I'm doing something about it. I am working on some things that will have all of you howling and hysterical in the coming years... hopefully.

Today marks the one year anniversary of My Girl and I hanging out.

It's also been one full year since I last worked full-time.

But... I landed a gig today. I'm back in the land of sitcom TV. Truthfully, it was a pretty easy call to make:

A) They needed someone with my specific set of skills and experience.
B) It's only a six week committment.
C) It's a five-minute commute to the studio.
D) They pay me money.

Hooray!