Brooklyn gets screwed again. I'm talking about the backroom political theater that is the selection of the Speaker of the City Council. Despite being the most populous borough, and despite having the largest delegation of City Council members, once again a Brooklyn person will not be elected speaker. In this case, Park Slope Councilman Bill de Blasio was unable to get the requisite amount of votes to defeat Chelsea Councilwoman Christine Quinn. It is a shame because one would hope that all of the Brooklyn councilpeople would band together to elect one of their own. This never happens though. Feuds, fights, jealousies and rivalries always get in the way. Sorry, Bill.

Yesterday, I saw "Brokeback Mountain." It was exceptionally well done with strong performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyellenhal. It will definetely rank up there in my top ten movies of 2005. Early in the movie, the two lead characters complain that they are sick of eating beans. So instead they start eating each other. But before they descended into a tragic spiral of forbidden love, all those scenes of them cooking beans by the campfire made me hungry and I went home and made myself a nice batch of baked beans last night. Mmm.