So for starters, thank-you everybody who stopped by yesterday and took part in the discussion of Americanism in film. If you haven’t yet, do check it out as it’s turned into quite the conversation.

Speaking of American, tonight will find me soaking up one of my very favorite things – the great American pastime. Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year…right up there with Christmas and my birthday. Today marks the fifteenth year in a row that I’ve been there at The Rogers Centre to cheer on my hometown boys, and this year feels a bit different than it has in a long time since there is a youth movement afoot…one that has the potential to finally bring a winning culture back to this mid-level franchise.

King of Pain Voting Update!!
Just one more week to go to have your say in my misery folks! WHAT A GIRL WANTS is oddly still the champ but its lead has fallen back to 13%. What’s beginning to interest me is the possibility that I will need to post a run-off poll, since right now there are three films deadlocked for the final slot (CAMP CUCAMONGA, SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, and SUMMER SCHOOL). There’s only one week left to have your say people – voting will close on midnight next Friday.

I would say more, but I’m too jacked up on peanuts and Cracker Jack. For your listening and reading fulfillment, I give you…

With a lot of podcasts closing up shop lately, it has sent me on the hunt for new ones to fill the void. Enter Candice from Reel talk and her involvement with Cinema in Noir. Focusing on African-Americans in film, the conversation is engaging and intelligent…even if they do have trouble connecting with their callers form time to time. Check it out!

Simon Columb might have just taken the prize as the wittiest cat I know. His play-by-play of the SUCKER PUNCH pitch meeting is the stuff of legend.

In other Simon-related news, the other Simon, sometimes referred to as Miss Ripley, has written an open letter to fanboys this week. It’s rather witty itself!

As y’all know I love me the film festival coverage, and Marc from Go! See! Talk! is on the scene. He might not have been able to soak up SXSW a few weeks back, but this week he’s all over the Dallas International Film Festival as acredited press.

Hey, remember all the trouble Mark Ruffalo was getting into for doing screenings of Josh Fox’s doc GASLAND? Well Sebastian was at one of those screenings. (Hope Sebastian isn’t looking to leave the country and get back in hassle-free anytime soon!).

So, funny story: When someone at FilmMatic linked to my SUCKER PUNCH review, it got a bunch of fanboys bitching about how I could possibly give the film a score of zero. Well I wasn’t the only one handing out donuts this week: Aiden really loathed his dvd experience of GROWN UPS.

Rich has come up with five ways movie theatres could increase attendance, and I for one couldn’t possibly agree more. The man is a genius. Really.