Jack, I may be going out on a limb here, but you don't seem like a happy camper.

If there was a filmmaker that deserved a break but instead seemed hopelessly cursed it would have to by Terry Gilliam.

One of the repercussions of yesterday's untimely death of Heath Ledger was that Gilliam's latest film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" had to shut down after only one week of filming.

"The movie is produced by Samuel Hadida, Bill Vince and Amy Gilliam, and largely financed through Hadida's Paris-based Davis Film.

Ledger's involvement in the project was a key factor in raising the finance. He had a strong relationship with Gilliam from their last pic together, The Brothers Grimm.

In November 2000, Gilliam was forced to abandon his $32 million indie project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote after just a week of shooting, when his star Jean Rochefort was too ill to continue. "

An incredible filmmaker, Gilliam has pretty much refused to play by the Hollywood rules. His most commercial project to date was probably The Brothers Grimm which featured a scene in which a kitten was kicked into a ceiling fan. A ceiling fan! Try and explain that to the kiddies.

But Gilliam's films have been visionary in scope and production. His "Fisher King" included a beautiful imaginary ballroom dance scene that facilitated the shut-down of Grand Central Station in New York at the cost of millions to the production company. The scene only takes up a few minutes of screen time but is hardly integral to the plot. It was integral to Gilliam's vision of the characters.

It doesn't look to me like there's much chance that Parnassus will get made at this time, which is a real shame. It's a horrible twist of fate that someone as creative as Terry Gilliam is constantly having to confront such huge obstacles. I'm not sure I'd call it a curse but the man certainly has some bad Karma going.

Did you lose your mind all at once, or was it a slow, gradual process?

Stop. Please. I beg you.

First there was BDS or "Bush Derangement Syndrome." The right-wing shorthand for an unreasonable hatred of President Bush. (Unreasonable as defined by any sort of criticism whatsoever.) Fair enough. I'm sure all of the inmates at the asylum consider the guards and doctors deranged as well. "Can't those deranged fools see I really AM Teddy Roosevelt?"

But it struck me while reading this article by Jonah Goldberg who coins the term "Wal Mart Derangement Syndrome (WMDS)" that the whole use of "derangement syndrome" by conservatives has seriously spun out of control. A quick Google of the term confirmed my suspicion. I found "Rove Derangement Syndrome," "Christianity Derangement Syndrome" and "Israel Derangement Syndrome," all on the first page. Do I have to point out that when your primary counter-argument to political opponents is to label them deranged it really doesn't say a lot of positive things about the strength of your position to begin with?

We've seen this show a dozen times. Please, I beg you- come up with some new material or get off the stage. You're embarrassing yourself and you're boring the hell out of the audience.