Brad & Angelina's Baby!

No, I didn't have anything to do with it...she didn't even call, the heartless slut! Maybe she'll auction off that little vial of Billy Bob's blood (sounds like cola for redneck vampires, doesn't it?) on eBay. Be a nice gift for my Sweetie; beats one of those boring diamonds. Well, any girl obsessed with knives can't be all bad, although if I were the Brad-ster, I might sleep with one eye open and keep checking under the bed for an icepick.

Meanwhile, I spent the day reviewing SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOY video...I am sooooooooo pleased! The editing just rocks, and the information is equally solid. I really like the opening segment of the SG Zen of the .22 episode, featuring guns from Tactical Solutions and SIGARMS, which is scheduled to air the week of February 6. I think I may have finally succeeded in offending nearly everyone.

We're also putting together some really cool COWBOYS episodes, including one where we bring SG regular Walt Rauch and legendary NYPD Stake-Out Squad member Jim Cirillo — who has been called a modern day Wyatt Earp — to Tombstone to give a serious hard-core critique of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

On the news front, here's a nice story from ESPN Outdoors from my friend James Swan, who once got an acting job on Star Trek Next Gen because he had the same size feet (small) as Patrick Stewart:

The hunting and shooting sports community does heroic work, but it tends to focus on fighting a seemingly endless stream of defensive battles.

The time is long overdue to take some pro-active steps to educate the general public about the truth surrounding people who own guns, enjoy shooting them safely and hunt.

[...]

The media is a powerful force of shaping community attitudes, and its anti-gun bias is well-documented. Outdoor channels tend to reach the choir. The battle for public opinion about guns will be won in the general media.

Preachy documentaries tend to reach "the saved." Despite the box office success of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," his candidate did not win.

People want to be entertained. Consider what the film "A River Runs Through It" did for the explosive growth of flyfishing.

You might also want to read James' excellent book, In Defense of Hunting.

I'm hoping I hit a couple of days of decent weather at home to put some rounds downrange, specifically through the Hamilton Bowen .38-40 S&W and the Cylinder & Slide 1911. I'm going to spend a little time chained to the Big Blue Machine and produce some cakewalk .38-40s. I've got a bunch of Black Hills Cowboy .38-40 and some of the hot WW .38-40 JHPs, which skate between .40 S&W and .41 Magnums (you already know that .38-40s aren't .38 caliber, right? .401 bullets), but I'd like some little puffers. I also want to start putting in some competition practice, because I'm committed to shooting — as well as filming — the Single Stack Classic and the International Revolver Championships, and I'd like to not be a complete cretin.

As I've mentioned before, Randy Lee's building me a 629 .44 revolver for the IRC; I'd like to beta-test one of the new SIG GSR Revolution 1911s — this one, except without a rail — at the Single Stack. It depends on whether they can get me one in time for Bruce Gray to dink it before the match. I loved the ones I shot up at SIG a couple of months ago...really slick 1911s, and I would have happily given money for the two-toned one I did the most shooting with (not for sale, unfortunately)! But if past is any precedent, I will need the grip safety lightened up, and I'm picky about competition triggers. If I absolutely postively can't get the SIG, I'll shoot the C&S gun, which is the one built on the Kimber Olympic gun. Still, I seriously doubt Rob Leatham has anything to worry about!