Author: KcM

Gollum sings the blues.

Oh what to do? I am sad and blue. If only that I knew, that he would take The Precious! He had better flee, for I am thin and mean, and my eyes have seen, that he did take The Precious! Because the world demanded it (or somebody did, I guess), 2005 will witness the opening of the Lord of the Rings stage musicial in London (flash-heavy official site here.) Oh my, this sounds grisly. Will Troy McClure be in it?

Race and the Hoop.

“For years, black ballplayers were stereotyped as not being interested in playing defense. When black players became very good at defense and began to dominate the league on the defensive end, the NBA loaded the dice. And this is precisely where the Euro players stepped in.” Dan McGraw talks about race and the foreign invasion of basketball in the Village Voice. I’m not sure I buy the zone defense conspiracy theory being promulgated, but there’s some interesting food for thought here nonetheless. And it is pretty sad to see how far the league will go to pander to white people — For example, the Frank Sinatra ad mentioned, or the ridiculous soft-focus Finals ads (“This is old school basketball.”) on ABC right now.

War between the States.

“Bipartisanship is another name for date rape.” Ah, the wit and wisdom of a GOP flak…On what planet would that not be offensive? Republican strategist Grover Norquist also revels in the increasing acrimony within state legislatures. “We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals – and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship.” I guess he’s a divider, not a uniter. (Via Medley.)

Reality Check.

“Like actors, however, humanities graduate students have to realize that – except for a few jackpot cases – there is no market for their product. When you choose a career path with no market, you have to love it enough to do it for free.” Breaching the Web passes along a rude awakening for the academy-minded. Statistics like these are always a bit disappointing…still, I think a PhD can be helpful in other career tracks besides academia, and particularly in a field like History or English that lends itself to a lot of overlap with the “real” world. The numbers are grim, but most fellow graduate students I encounter seem to know the score.

1896 it ain’t.


Resembling nothing so much as the guy who takes out a $10000 credit card advance and suddenly feels flush, the GOP contemplates an era of political dominance. (In fact, the administration is feeling so sure of itself these days that they’re bringing old Iran-Contra hacks like Elliot Abrams out of the woodwork.) Sorry, y’all, but the “young college Hipublican” vote only goes so far…most of these kids will drop you faster than a Linear Algebra class once their parents’ portfolios finish taking the Dubya tumble. As for the purported hepcats in this pic, I guess it all depends on your definition of “hip.” I can’t say I’m too plugged into the youth zeitgeist these days, but I do live and work at a university…and somehow I doubt these five Bushies are the leading lights of campus. They just look like five angry and self-satisfied white people to me, and there’s plenty of those to go around.

Phew.

Now that was a tough long weekend. I spent all of the past few days (and I do mean all of the past few days) finishing up the copy for a history textbook website. But it’s done now, so updates should get more frequent around here…

Oompa Loompa Doompadee do.

Tim Burton is tapped for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake. I’m not sure if a remake is really necessary, but, if you’re going to do one, I suppose Burton is the man to helm it. And in other directing news, Darren “Requiem for a Dream” Aronofsky wil be helming Lone Wolf and Cub. Does this mean Batman: Year One is dead?