One of America’s finest actors and younger brother of Sean Penn, Chris Penn, passed away yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, January 24^th, at his condominium near Santa Monica, California. Police discovered the 40-year-old actor’s body at around 4 pm yesterday after they were called by someone within the building. No foul play was suspected.

Sean Penn’s publicist, Mara Buxbaum, issued a statement saying that “the Penn family would appreciate the media’s respect of their privacy during this difficult time.” So I won’t say anything bad or mean about Mr. Penn like the disrespect that I showed Lou Rawls. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, authorities said.

I will always remember Chris Penn for his role in Reservoir Dogs, probably my favorite Quentin Tarantino film. His portrayal of Nice Guy Eddie was one of the best performances in that movie. I will also always remember him as the bumbling, bad dancer in the movie Footloose. Chris Penn’s latest film, The Darwin Awards, was scheduled to premiere Wednesday at the Sundance Film Festival. This somehow seems strangely ironic now. I pray that he was not the victim of something worthy of a Darwin Award himself.

Rude Mechanicals of Austin will be presenting a theatrical adaptation of David Rees’ Get Your War On running from January 19-February 4. Yet another reason I should put down the ’shine and get my ass down to Texas for the final drink-down.

I just got done watching the Color Of Money. Watch this movie for the pool sequences (or for the great script and Paul Newman). Pay particular attention to Cruise dropping the 5 at the end of the second act. How much film was run through the camera to get this shot? The orchestration between actor, pool skill, camera, and story is very rarely visited in cinema. It’s like Wow. If you watch only one movie this weekend, see Hostel. If you see two, watch Head. If you see three, watch the Color of Money.

A very fond farewell to Grammy-winning recording artist Lou Rawls who passed away early this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 72. His velvety-chocolate voice will be missed. Jazz historian Leonard Feather wrote in “The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties” that Rawls “has a vigorous, confident style, a strong affinity for the blues and a personal sound.” I wonder if this means Colonial Penn life insurance will have to get a new spokesman. Is Wilford Brimley still alive?

Another year without life-saving Tomacco. It’s been one year since tomacco said “Sir, I said, Sir … I challenge you to a duel!” and then left my life forever. Glove-slap, Baby.

Has anyone else noticed the correlation between the decline of independent movie theaters and the rise in the remaking of old horror films? Think about it.

I just watched Head at the downtown Alamo. Lars said it best before the show started–and I do paraphrase … “The first thing I thought after the first time I saw Head was this … ‘I will punch anyone in the face who says they don’t like the Monkees.’”

Okay … lets back up a few days. Went and saw the new horror film sensation Wolf Creek. It was playing at the Lake Creek Alamo, which is way down Research North in the middle of a concrete jungle. Before the picture, the audience was treated to a slew of “previews.” The first trailer informed me that sometime in February I’ll be invited to go back in time and revisit a movie that was bad in the first place. When A Stranger Calls is the first in line of PG-13 horror remakes to hit theaters in time for an Unrated Edition DVD by March 1st. This movie looks so bad that through the first half of the trailer I was laughing hysterically. I was waiting for the needle to jump off the record and Anna Faris to start screaming. But this isn’t Scary Movie 4. This is a Real Movie. The next preview? The Hills Have Eyes. Do I have to write to my senator to stop all these bad remakes from being made? Why won’t somebody try and remake Head with the cast of American IDLE? That would be super cool.

I’ll wait a few days to post on Head so you can rent it, watch it, and fall in love with it. Until then, Happy New Year, Bitches!

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