School board updates

Go to www.sanfordherald.com for complete updates on tonight’s Lee County School Board meeting.

Update briefs (full story at the Web site)
4:04 p.m.: School board goes into closed session.
4:43 p.m.: Jim McCormick resigns as Lee County superintendent

Top 10 Cowboys Plays of 2007

Ahh, football.
Despite the playoff loss, 2007 was an amazing year for the Cowboys. It’s a great year when the botched snap and eventualy 36-yard-run by Tony Romo is only the No. 3 play of the year.

Click here for the video from ESPN.com.

Sunday’s Herald: Jim McCormick

The Herald on Sunday published a story about a meeting that will occur tonight where the Lee County Board of Education will discuss the future of Superintendent Jim McCormick.
Our story used anonymous sources, more than one, which is not something I like to do ever. But we entered the weekend with a lot of speculation and a lot of rumor about McCormick, and we knew off the record this was going to be brought up at Monday’s meeting (the school board even bumped up the meeting by an hour).
Our sources, whom I won’t reveal, are reliable in this story, and I am 100 percent certain McCormick’s job status will be the topic of conversation tonight. We’ve been asked why we didn’t write about the rumors that are swirling about McCormick (the alleged reasoning for tonight’s closed session discussion), and my answer to that is it would have been highly irresponsible of us to join the gossip mill on a story like this. We’re not the New York Post. We’re not the Enquirer. We simply reported that a meeting will occur tonight, and that alleged “immoral conduct” will be a topic. That everybody thinks they have an idea of what that conduct is does not make it truth. Our goal is not to bring this man down.
We don’t expect many details to come out in tonight’s meeting. We do expect what we reported, however — the superintendent’s future will come into question. Will he be fired? Will he be suspended? Will nothing happen at all? It’s all speculation.
For this story, it’s not our job to speculate.

Web site note: When or if a decision is made tonight on McCormick’s status, we have have the news immediately at www.sanfordherald.com. The meeting begins at 4 p.m. at the Heins Building in Downtown Sanford. We have no idea how long the closed session personnel discussion will last.

Movie Review: Wall•E

Believe the hype.
Believe in movies again.
Because when it comes to movies these days, so much out there is re-hashed. Even the movie I’m looking forward to most of all this summer is merely a sequel to a movie about a comic book … and it’s the third in a line of movie franchises about that same comic book.
In other words, it’s been done.
But Pixar — which some will say hasn’t missed yet, but I’ll argue that Monsters Inc. and Cars were merely “decent” — did something with “Wall•E” that very few studios are doing these days.
They did something new. They took a giant chance.
Wall•E is a kids movie, but it’s also very much an adult movie. It’s a Charlie Chaplin film, a 1950s musical, a science fiction drama and a love story all rolled into one.
The plot: Wall•E is one of many little robots left behind to clean up the earth after humans left on a giant ship because they polluted the planet so much. For 700 years, little Wall•E has picked up trash and compacted it … there are now towers of trash larger than city skyscrapers. But while all the other robots and living things have died off, Wall•E keeps plugging away. He, a cockroach and a tiny plant are the lone survivors.
Over his 700 years, Wall•E has developed a personality and a love for a certain musical (I won’t say which one in case anybody wants to be surprised). He also longs for companionship, and it comes one day in the form of EVE, a robot sent to search for life (which she finds in the plant).
Wall•E is completely enamored with EVE, and the scenes where he attempts to woo “her” are both hilarious and touching. When EVE is called back to the “mothership”, Wall•E hitches a ride, and we discover that the human race has “evolved” into overweight lazy men and women who are hovered around everywhere and eat all their meals in milkshake form.
It may sound like a complicated plot, and there really is a lot going in the story. Some have noted in their reviews that Wall•E tries to come off as too preachy (humans are slobs) or too Al Gore-ish (there’s definitely a global theme and even a Bush jab thrown in) … but all that is beside the point.
To me, the plot is wonderfully simple.
When it all comes down to it, Wall•E is a sweet little story about a robot who just wants somebody or something to hold hands with.
And it’s brilliant.
Beautifully made, wonderfully paced and ultimately, an incredibly pleasing experience.
Pixar’s best film, and Disney’s best effort in a long, long, long time.
I was excited to see this movie back when I saw the first teaser for it (I blogged about it more than a year ago in one of my first-ever posts).
All the hype, and all the anticipation, and I was still blown away.

My grade: 9 out of 10

Who loves ya, baby?

Gordon Anderson is going bald for a good cause on July 12.
He’s one of many participating in the annual St. Baldrick’s event, a head-shaving benefit that raises money for cancer research. Learn more about the event and how you can donate to the cause by going to Gordon’s site, here.
The above image is a rendering of what Gordon will look like bald, in the 70s and as star of a gritty crime drama.

Wall•E newspaper design

I love a good movie review design, and it wasn’t hard to turn our Wall•E review into something graphic-y. I’ll be in line Friday night to see Wall•E, the newest Pixar film, which is getting amazing reviews. Our own movie critic, Neil Morris, seemed to love it as well, giving it an A-minus.
Read his full review here.

Busy day …

Lots going on in Sanford today … I’m hoping it comes across in tomorrow’s paper.

Until then, I’d like to put in a plug for the Fourth of July event going on in Sanford next Friday. Hear the lovely Jennifer St. Clair’s commercial below. The commercial is airing on Life 103.1 FM in Sanford.

Best TV news slips

Newspapers aren’t the only ones that mess up. It’s only funnier on TV.
LANGUAGE WARNING

Episode II: The Rant

Click the “play button” above (or download at the link on the right side of the page) to hear our second episode of The Rant, hosted by Billy Liggett and co-hosted by Jonathan Owens and Gordon Anderson. Our guest was Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter, who had plenty of interesting things to say about the county budget, illegal immigrants and arresting punk high school kids like Gordon.

My review: After listening a bit today, I still came off as a little nervous in the first 10 minutes, but the three of us I felt got more comfortable when it came time to talk headlines. There were a few foul-ups (I got incredibly thirsty at one point, I incorrectly stated LSU beat UNC in baseball and I said the sentence “how do you tell tax dollars …” when I meant to say “taxpayers”), but overall, I think it was good. Most importantly, we’re having fun.

The highlight was Tracy Carter’s interview. He was a natural in front of the mic and he didn’t back down when talking about his displeasure with the county’s proposed budget.

Let us know what you think or give us ideas for future shows by e-mailing therant905@gmail.com.

The Rant: Tomorrow at 8 a.m.

Don’t forget, Episode II of The Rant will air from 8 to 9 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) morning on 90.5 FM, WDCC. Our guest will be Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter, who’ll talk to us about illegal immigration, the county budget and why sheriff is an elected position.

If you have a question you’d like us to ask:
E-mail us at therant905@gmail.com