Some press releases are too good not to share. From the city's Public Information Office:

City starts “Tree of the Year” contest to recognize proper tree planting, care

That tree that makes you look twice or stop and stare in awe because of its sheer size or beauty can now be nominated for the “Tree of the Year 2007” award and be recognized as a living symbol of Austin’s love and care for the environment.

Nomination forms are available at www.cityofaustin.org/treeoftheyear or by calling 505-3726. The deadline for nominations is July 31.

To be eligible to win, a tree must be an excellent example of a tree that has been properly selected, placed and cared for. For instance, the tree should be a Texas native or a tree that is adaptive to Austin’s climate and soils and be listed in the City of Austin’s Grow Green guide of appropriate plants for the Central Texas landscape.

A large tree and a small tree will be recognized each year. Large trees – such as Live Oak and Cedar Elm – should be able to provide a significant canopy to help shade structures, pavements or landscapes and to help reduce the “urban heat island” effect. Smaller trees – such as Texas Mountain Laurel and Yaupon Holly – should be able to thrive under larger trees.

In all the fuss about Matt Lauer asking England's Princes William and Harry about their favorite shoes, everyone seems to have forgotten that there's actually some real news about America's closest ally. This coming Wednesday, Tony Blair stands down as prime minister, and his successor, Gordon Brown, takes the reigns of power.

Gordo (as he is less-than-pleasantly known) was elected leader of the Labour Party, and therefore prime minister-elect, at a special party conference held in Manchester yesterday. The symbolism of the location, in the traditional Labour heartland of the industrial North of England, couldn't be clearer. The Blair era, which was often seen as pandering to Southern middle-class voters, is over.

Since 1997, the taciturn Scot has been Blair's chancellor of the exchequer, the nation's treasurer, and the second most powerful person in government. He's also been his literal neighbor, since the PM lives at No. 10 Downing Street and the chancellor at No. 11. So when Blair moves out, Brown will just have to shuffle his stuff through the side door.

Topping off a busy week of shifting job titles on Gov. Rick Perry's staff, he announced late Friday yet another personnel change. Now Director of Administration Services Donna White has stepped down.

Originally on Bob Bullock's staff when he was lieutenant governor, she shifted to Perry's staff when he took on the job and moved with him to the Governor's Office. Apparently eight years of dealing with what the press release calls "constituent services" for Perry qualifies her for her new job over at the state's ecological guardians, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

We're in Houston for Pride, so enjoy these vids until our return. After a late-night/after-parade throw down at Bartini, these about sum it all up.

Thanks to Molly Gove and Cee Kay Dub for the head's up.

At the end of each of these, YouTube will offer you more options to view. We highly recommend hazily exploring the Teletubbies-rap-mash-up genre. Yes, it seems to be its own genre.

In the This Is Getting Ridiculous Department, the Austin Lightning have once again made a last-minute venue change for their 7:30pm game this evening. Operations manager and minority owner Hugh Bender just sent us the following e-mail: "[The Lightning] are playing at Williamson County Regional Park Stadium that is up I-35. Take 1431 west to Sam Bass Road and go right to the regional park. It is only a few miles from the Vista Ridge High School."

For more on the Lightning see Joe O'Connell's feature "Weathering the Storm."

It's good to see that Texas' biggest voices on Capitol Hill have both stepped forward today to say that it's about time that people started taking energy seriously. Both John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison put out press releases this morning hammering home the concept of energy independence. Their far-from-surprising solution? Drill for more oil over here.

Hutchison parrots the administration line that the best solution would be to drill for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge – even though even some elements of the oil industry regard it as the ultimate worst-case-scenario oil reserve.

Cornyn doesn't explicitly say "let's bulldoze ANWR" but still goes for the idea of more internal drilling and exploration. He then goes on to blame the feds for the lack of refineries and rejects calls for new taxes on gas producers.

Of course, the terms global warming, climate change, efficiency standards, renewables, and pollution don't turn up once in either release.

Ennio Morricone, 78, dwarfed by a visibly bemused Clint Eastwood, nevertheless cut a monumental figure onstage at the Academy Awards in February. Receiving an honorary Oscar “for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music,” the Rome native’s public profile – practically speaking – lost out 40 years ago to a whistled refrain from Sergio Leone’s grimy West world. Getting a glimpse of Morricone felt like John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing, one of composer’s most compelling film scores: There he stood, in the flesh.

Morricone’s sonic alchemy endures in copious modern soundtracks, from Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to the epic, statuette-nominated The Mission. 2005’s Ipecac-sponsored Crime and Dissonance found avant-spazzmen John Zorn and Mike Patton on the compilation tip of the maestro’s universal ear, as one ripe example. Were that Morricone’s grand precursor, Milan-born Nino Rota, Federico Fellini’s musical wingman for nearly 30 years, was equally celebrated contemporarily. The Ultimate Best of Federico Fellini & Nino Rota: Originals recently stuck its finger in the dike.

At least not on Lake Austin and Town Lake. Relating to our previous post on the rising tides of Town Lake and Lake Austin, the city has declared boating ban this weekend on portions of our main Downtown waterway. Click on "continue reading" for the city's press release:

Forget wrangling up a win – the Austin Wranglers (4-11) hope to wrangle up a little old-fashioned euthanasia this week and put this struggling season out of its misery. Whether the Wranglers manage to pull up to the fabled five wins in a single season or not, the safest bet is that first-year coach Brian Partlow won't be taking the team out for pizza after the game.

Nothing came easy this season for Austin's AFL team, which actually made a playoff appearance last season: In addition to the new coach, they've struggled with two new quarterbacks, and Mayor Will Wynn commenting that Austin is the largest city without a professional sports team.