The first thing of major interest happened Wednesday, March 3, shortly after the Weekly was posted online by John Banks and our friends at DesertNet. For some reason, Google News (news.google.com) instantly linked to James DiGiovanna's review of The Passion of the Christ, making it the No. 1 entertainment story link for a several hours. This gave James' review unexpected worldwide exposure, resulting in a torrent of e-mails from angry, often-incoherent Christians. (I am a Christian myself, although I am neither angry or incoherent--at least I'm usually not.) Some of these supposedly pious individuals even resorted to vague threats against James and me.
And then on Friday, I got a call from a gentleman claming to be from SAHBA, otherwise known as the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. (I will refrain from naming this person, as if he was indeed who he says he was, I am going to be nice and assume he was having a bad day and/or needs his medication dosage altered.) Anyway, he was unhinged, ranting in angry tones, because we dared refer to his organization as the Sorry-Assed Home Builders Association. He also demanded that we call it by its proper name, even though the Weekly had used that monicker before. Apparently, his skin is so thin from all that sunlight he gets while out watching some (but not all) members of his organization bulldoze the Sonoran Desert with no regard for the good of our natural resources. Well, from now on, in his honor, we'll keep using the "Sorry-Assed" name in The Skinny.
Gee, this is fun. Our third decade's off to a great start.
