Drowning At Lake Bridgeport

Just saw a brief story on Fox 4 News that a "rafter" was missing in Lake Bridgeport in the Wise County Park area. The raft was found around 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Edit: The body of a 17 year old has been recovered. Name not released yet.

Just Caught My Eye

I was looking through the Messenger while working on The Spin and came across this wedding announcement. The couple was married in Belize and then spent their honeymoon in Istanbul, Turkey.

You just don't see that every day.

Movie Talk

Went and saw The Simpsons last night. Very funny. I've been a fan of the show for years but I rarely watch it. Odd. I know. Shows like that and well, Arrested Development come to mind, require undivided attention. Perhaps that's why the cartoon works so well on the big screen. And I still laughed at the "Spider Pig! Spider Pig" segment even though I had seen it on the promos about 10 times.

On the DVD landscape, I watched Alpha Dog last week and really, really liked it. Heck, I didn't know it was based on a true story until the end. But if you are offended by F Bomb, look out. It is dropped a whopping 369 times. And Sharon Stone's rant at the end of the movie is worth the cost of the rental alone. And a little extra trivia: the lead actor, Emile Hirsh, will play Speed in the upcoming film, Speed Racer.

Spider. Big Spider.

Yeah, I've been a little slow in posting over the last couple of days. The heat is getting to me. But a faithful reader sent me this link which was enough to wake me up.

Oh, My

Messenger story here.

Creeps Me Out

Saw this over at bagof nothing.com. (Move the cursor.) Almost made me want to go all Michael Vick on him.

Karaoke Night at Frilly's

I Think . . .

. . . I'll cancel my date with this woman.

Jerry's Crazy New Commercial

Bruce Willis' New Girlfriend

Standing. Slowly beginning to clap.

Cowboys Preseason Game

We'll all gather around the TV at 7:00 to watch Tony Romo and company play the first game of the season. And then within 15 minutes we'll be beaten down beyond recognition. Then comes the 4th quarter when time will simply stop. We can at least hope for a career ending injury to Rowdy.

I went to a Houston Oilers / Dallas Cowboys preseason game one year, and I still haven't recovered. But I still remember being able to sneak to a 50 yard line seat late in the 4th. I also recall having a radio with me and hearing play by play man Dale Hansen say, as the clock slowly, slowly moved: "When I am on my death bed and I have just minutes to live, please replay the last 15 minutes of this game because it will seem like I will be living forever."

Stolen phrase: "Games that don't count where the players don't try which we watch for reasons we don't quite understand."

23 Days And Counting

College football is around the corner and the first point spreads are out for opening weekend:

TCU over Baylor by 21 (The suffering continues)
The Evil Empire over Arkansas State by 37 (Southlake would be a better opponent.)
Oklahoma over North Texas by 38 (Todd Dodge an underdog?)
Texas Tech over SMU by 11 (only 11?)
Texas A&M over Montana State by ??? (I didn't see it.)

Edit: Some people pick on the Evil Empire too much. Maybe.

Edit: Aggie War Hymn on Guitar Hero?

Edit: The greatest Big 12 preview in the history of ever.

Most Confusing Movie Role Ever

This pic is from some new movie starring Rumer Willis, Bruce's daughter. I give it a Thumbs Down and I know nothing about it.

Crime Blotter

It might be odd that the Messenger found out about this. They certainly should be able to find out if someone is arrested or indicted. And if an obvious crime is committed (like a murder by firearm), it stands to reason that a story like this would be printed. I guess if the cops had gone to this house and summoned medical help for the child, it would be public knowledge. But if the parents took the kid to the hospital and the medical staff called law enforcement, that's something the paper normally wouldn't be aware of. And Jana wouldn't leak the story - that's not her style. So I'll just speculate.

Edit: I apologize for the number of "rejected" posts on this one. And although most seem to have a lot of inside information, I try not to repeat "assertions of fact" against a person unless it can be verified. But I admit that the freakin' county new about this incident before I did.

Edit #2: The Morning News has a blurb about the death, but not much information.

And note to Messenger photographer Joe Duty: Rebecca Simpson will be up at the courthouse at 1:00 to take a plea deal on an old misdemeanor case. Edit: Make that 11:00 a.m. (Sorry, Joe.)

How's That Wall Coming Along?

New figures reveal that in Harris County (Houston) only 37% of its residents are white.

Richard "Racehorse" Haynes

I was surprised to learn that this famous criminal defense lawyer from Texas is back in action at age 80. For you youngsters, he represented Fort Worth millionaire Cullen Davis in a murder case and a murder for hire case. He won both.

He is defending a 40 something year old woman named Phill Rian (hey, that name sounds phonetically familiar!!) for having sex with a teenage boy. The bad news for him is that the case is being tried in Williamson County (Georgetown) - the easiest place to prosecute in the State of Texas. (They have the most arrogant DA ever - John Bradley.)

But back to Racehorse. He was once asked by a reporter if he was the best criminal defense lawyer in Texas. He barely paused before replying, “I believe I am.” Then, he immodestly added, “I wonder why you restrict it to Texas.”

Extremists?

This isn't the best picture, but the guy on the left was jumping off a bridge near downtown Fort Worth into the Trinity River. That's not his buddy. His buddy is dead. Jumping into the Trinity River is never a good idea.

But the aforementioned "guy on the left" told Fox 4's Lari Barager that he and his buddy were "extremists" as in "sports extremists." The Star Telegram refers to the deceased as "homeless." I'm going with the Star Telegram

Crazy Wednesday

All morning in Jacksboro and now I have three pleas to take care of this afternoon. Makes a man want to be on the beach.

(And this is Jennifer Ellison who appeared in the screen version of Phantom of the Opera. `I appreciate her acting skills. Honest.)