March 5, 2004
Rained all night. Came down pretty hard. I woke up at midnite and went out to the studio. Got a leak in one of the skylights and it was dripping on several of my prized books which were stacked on the floor next to my art table for reference. Moved everything away from it and put a towel and pan under the leak. Buddy Boze Bell sleepily watched me from his chair, giving me that, “What’s-The-Big-Deal-They’re-Just-Part-of-My-Chewable-Collection?” look. Power went out about three times. Worried about losing computer files, clocks all screwed up. Listened to the rain on the roof until about 2:30, finally drifted off.

Yesterday I interviewed Alan Huffines who is a military historian from Texas (still in the army) and he was the military historical consultant on the new Alamo movie due out next month. Fascinating talk with him. According to Alan, the director (John Lee Hancock) shot over a million feet of film. The first rough cut of the movie was five hours long. After much cutting, the test audiences saw a three hour movie, and it’s since been trimmed down to something like 2 hours and 22 minutes. Alan gave several wonderful on set insights, my favorite being that Jason Patric as Jim Bowie slammed Tabasco shots before every scene he was in so that when the cameras rolled he was red-faced and gasping. Perfect for someone portraying a lunger. Shades of Val Kilmer and Dennis Quaid as Doc! Can’t wait to see that.

We are running his interview in the upcoming issue (May) which goes to press Monday. We finally got the cover honed in and I think it’s pretty strong.

Got a packet of great old Western magazines, including Wildest Westerns from October 1960 and “Laila—Queen of the Range” (a Bell novel, from England, printed in Canada in 1946), and “Tutto Tex” a great comic novel that appears to be in Italian. I’d tell you who sent it, but he guards his privacy and calls me a “blogging blogger.” Ha.

Brett sent me State Mottos I’d Like to See:
(these are my favorites)

• Kentucky: Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names

• Louisiana: We're Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos, But That's Our Tourism campaign

• Minnesota: 10,000 Lakes... 10,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes

• Mississippi: Come and Feel Better About Your Own State

• Nebraska: Ask About Our State Motto Contest

• North Carolina: Tobacco IS a Vegetable

• Oklahoma: Like The Play, Only No Singing

• South Carolina: Remember The Civil War? We Didn't Actually Surrender.

• South Dakota: Closer than North Dakota

• Tennessee: The Educashun State

• Utah: Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus!

“People say conversation is a lost art; how often I have wished it were.”
—Edward R. Murrow