A panel discussion held at the recent Tribeca Film Festival called "What Would Jesus Direct?" helps explain an unorthodox approach that is being used to market the upcoming movie "The Da Vinci Code."

Many Christian leaders have been outspoken about Dan Brown's work - the book on which the new Tom Hanks vehicle is based - and critical of its cinematic potential as well.

In contrast, "Da Vinci" filmmakers have been tight-lipped. The movie has been shrouded in secrecy, and screenings and press events that are typically provided for the media have been missing.

Because of the secrecy surrounding "The Da Vinci Code," rumors have run rampant. There has been talk of changes in the plot and disclaimers being added in an effort to make the film more acceptable to Christians.

But at the same time, Sony seems to want to bring in the avid fans of the book as well, and it is unlikely that those folks would be pleased with the best-seller being modified.

The event at which Davis was honored was held at the United Nations, an organization that seems to be becoming more Hollywood-ized by the minute.

The prize was given out by The White House Project, a nonprofit organization that works to promote women's voting, political participation and leadership.

"So many countries have had a female head of state before us," Davis told the hundreds of predominantly female guests who were in attendance, "so it is certainly time."

Another recent national survey bolsters one of the theories that I propose in "Hollywood Nation" and confirms the suspicions of many conservatives; that the series could have an impact on the real-life political landscape.

The survey was conducted by the Kaplan Thaler Group, which helped introduce to the public the Aflac duck, the Toys-R-Us song and the Herbal Essences/orgasmic experience comparison.

The results indicate that, of the 76 percent of Americans familiar with "Commander in Chief," 58 percent are now more likely to take seriously the idea of a female presidential candidate.

69 percent of TV viewers aged 35 to 44 were shown to be most likely to take seriously the idea, followed by Baby Boomers aged 45 to 54 (58 percent). On a similar note, women appear to be more receptive to a female leader than males (65 percent compared to 49 percent).

A written statement by the Kaplan Thayer Group indicated that the most unusual outcome of the survey related to a female candidate's physical appearance.

"When asked if it is important for a female presidential candidate to be attractive and slim when compared to a male candidate, an overwhelming 60 percent of men vowed that it isn't important at all. But their female counterparts don't agree. In fact, when it comes to the importance of beauty, women straddle the fence - 49 percent agree with the men that being attractive and slim is not at all important while 40 percent admit that looks do matter at least somewhat when comparing a female candidate to a male."

The poll showed that people have the lowest expectations for a female candidate in the foreign policy arena and the most confidence in a female president when it comes to soundly handling the nation's education and health care.

Going against stereotypes, Southerners were the most receptive to a female presidential contender (62 percent). The Northeast, West and North followed closely with 59 percent, 55 percent and 51 percent respectively.

The Left Coast Report expects that the Hillary Clinton campaign shortly will be dropping copies of the poll from aircraft flying over Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Somebody's got to give a face to getting old. I'm going to try and organize other women in my profession and my friends to say no to the duck lips and getting rid of the wrinkles," the Daily Mail quoted the former fitness guru as saying.

"I've just traveled through Sweden and Finland, looking at faces that were real as opposed to in Hollywood – everybody is starting to look alike," Fonda added.

Before the season ended, news came out that the WB and UPN networks would be shut down at the end of Summer 2006. Apparently, the two will be merged into a new network, the CW, for the Fall 2006 season.

Reportedly, the series was let go because it was too successful, meaning that when a series is on for a record length of time it becomes expensive primarily because cast members negotiate for higher salaries.

Brenda Hampton, the show's executive producer, told The Associated Press that "it [the show] just costs more than they [the network] want to spend."

"We all got pretty comfortable with the idea that the show was going to be over, in November and December," Stephen Collins who plays "Eric Camden" on the series told The Associated Press.

Hampton and Collins aren't buying into the idea that "7th Heaven" was canceled because it cost too much. They point out that there are other series on the WB that have similar costs.

"I think it's because we were kind of an old shoe and they probably wanted something more glittery and new," Collins said. "TV seems to fall for that over and over again. We were very fortunate to kind of fly under the radar for 10 years."

Hampton tried everything to convince the network to keep the show alive. "We really brainstormed every possible way to continue the show and ... ran all the numbers for them," she said.

Collins' agent was apparently called by someone involved with the show to see if the actor would be available if the series were to continue in some way.

The Left Coast Report is puzzled as to how the suits at the WB could let "7th Heaven" bite the dust while making a sequel to "Beauty and the Geek."

"It's a great story, but selling a Cuban story to Hollywood wasn't easy," Garcia told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I had the first draft of this film in 1991. I had the support of Paramount back then, but the head of the studio was ousted. Then for years, I couldn't get any support."

Many of the critics have not been kind to the film. But to really appreciate this movie you have to understand the dearth of Hollywood product portraying communism with the evil that inevitably accompanies its introduction to a country.

"There's such a lack of understanding or knowledge of what happened, in that time period," Garcia told the Film Stew Web site. "Most people think the Cuban Revolution was a Marxist Revolution, but it was not. It turned into that, but that's not what people were fighting for. In fact, that was not what Fidel Castro's own manifesto stated."

"My eldest daughter plays Enrique Murciano's wife; my little boy plays their son," Garcia said. "An actress that was supposed to play the waitress in the Cuban-Chinese restaurant couldn't leave America, so my middle daughter stepped in and played the waitress."

The movie is a European inspired period piece, which begins during the last brutal days of Fulgencio Batista, the fascist dictator that ultimately led to the revolution that installed Castro as a communist dictator.

Fico's brothers, Luis (Nestor Carbonell) and Ricardo (Enrique Murciano), become involved in the revolution. During the tumult, Fico has a romantic relationship with a woman named Aurora (played by the cinema-genic Ines Sastre) who eventually becomes a symbol for the revolutionary government.

Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman have supporting roles in the film. Murray appears as a scene-stealing comedian and Hoffman as real-life mobster Meyer Lansky.

The morally degenerate reality of Batista, Che Guevara and Castro is conveyed through the tale, much to the discomfort of many Hollywood purveyors of red chic.

As one form of beast leads to another, the audience experiences the false sigh of relief that Cubans let out between the departure of Batista and the beginning of Castro's reign of terror.

Through Fico, the audience is able to encounter the thousands of little demeaning abuses of dignity that descended on Cuba as the revolutionary government took over every aspect of life.

Garcia has delivered a poignant, personal and organic work that demonstrates why people will risk shark-infested waters to escape from Castro's "paradise."  That's also the reason why 1,600 people gave Garcia a standing ovation when the film began in Miami.

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