Hello all. Glad to see Gerard keeping the fire lit around here. I thought I'd drop a quick line from Apalachocola, Florida, about 60 miles east of Panama City Beach. The first two weeks of my heavy-duty road trip have been splendid.

Yes, I am alive, and no, I haven't thought about Oscar...too much. The only film I've seen is "300," which was a feast and brilliant on a number of high levels while cunningly successful on a number of lower ones. The rest I'll have to catch up on here and there, but for the most part, the road is and has been my domain.

Oh, I did stop into the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin to see a flick and grab a bite. The film was "The Great Duel" ("Il Grande Duello") with Lee van Cleef being a badass. Tarantino lifted the score for the anime sequence in "Kill Bill: Vol. One." The course served was, of course - spaghetti. Great theater. It's going under renovations next month, I hear.

I'll drop a line again in the future. Mind the hall monitor in my absence...