Jason Isaacs (Black Hawk Down, The Patriot) joins The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Campion Bond.
Heirs of Toumai.
Archaeologists discover a surprising new ancestor in the Djurab desert.
Drug War Armistice.
In a burst of common sense the likes of which we’re probably not going to see Stateside for some time to come (except maybe in Nevada), Britain relaxes its cannabis laws to focus on more dangerous drugs.
Running for Cover.
“In the long run, there’s no capitalism without conscience. There is no wealth without character.” I dunno, Mr. President…you seemed to do pretty well for yourself. In his much-anticipated speech yesterday, Dubya tried to put the brakes on the Wall Street sell-off and quell the growing questions surrounding his own stock shadiness (timeline here.) Needless to say, it didn’t seem to work.
Suicide Kings.
In deciding to pay big bucks to keep emerging superstar Mike Bibby at point for the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof brothers are making a significant gamble that may end up as a lithmus test of the respective importance of basketball vs. business decisions for small-market clubs.
Swans and Toddlers.
Gillian gets a very positive review in the NYT for her performance as Odette/Odile (the lead) in Swan Lake over the weekend. No mention is made of the ridiculously bratty kid who was screaming through most of Act II, nor of the overly reactive shushs and gasps of utter disbelief made by most of the ballet cognoscenti at the child’s behavior. Gill and her partner (Jose Carreno) were real troopers through it, though, and it definitely got the crowd even more behind them for the rest of the show.
From Simon Birch to the Man Without Fear.
Entertainment Weekly gets a preview look at Daredevil, which includes an explanation of how the movie begins, in case you’re spoiler-conscious.
Sinking deeper.
As Worldcom execs take the fifth and both Congress and the Dubya administration prep for damage control (for the latter, in a Wall Street speech tomorrow,) White House strategists look desperately for a way to avoid being hoisted by their own petard. Says Dubya of his Vice-President, who’s in deep with the Halliburton scandal: “There are good actors and there are bad actors; he’s one of the good guys.” May work for terrorists, George…doesn’t work so well for executive profiteers.
Corporate Finance Reform.
Meanwhile, John McCain weighs in on the corporate scandals and calls for the resignation of SEC Chairman (Dubya flunky) Robert Pitt. (Via the swankily redesigned Medley.)
Atomic Archives.
Over the weekend, I fixed some problems with both the MT archives and the Atomz search box. Both are working now, in case you were looking for something recently and couldn’t find it.