1/8/01 - Saw Traffic this past weekend, and it was every bit as good I had hoped. In fact, although the two are basically incomparable, I thought the film held its own against the spectacular, genre-reinventing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, even though the latter is more "film-like" (sweeping, kinetic, and viscerally exciting.) Still, Traffic is a masterfully acted ensemble piece and an intricately woven social study of the War on Drugs that achieves levels of nuance which Requiem for a Dream, for all its emotional power and technical mastery, completely missed. And, even when Traffic hits speed bumps in the script that could have been contrived or hokey if played wrong (such as when Drug Czar Bob Wakefield (Michael Douglas) deviates from his prepared speech for some from-the-heart remarks, the great performances and splendid directing carried the day. I highly recommend it.

In related news, more insight into the Ashcroft nomination: Sebastian Mallaby of the Post worries that the former Senator may be addicted to the War on Drugs.

That being said, it now appears Bush's first Cabinet casualty won't be John Ashcroft, but rather Labor Secretary-designate Linda Chavez, who took in an illegal immigrant that did "chores" around the house. Somewhere, Zoe Baird is laughing.

Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter aren't the only English literary phenoms hitting the cineplex this year. Faster than you can say the British Ally McBeal (or the female Nick Hornby), the teaser poster for Bridget Jones's Diary is now up and about. And, true to Ms. Jones's example, I'm already derelict in fulfilling my New Year's resolutions.

Speaking of which, in sheer defiance of last week's expiration date on New Year's-related puff pieces, the Globe compares 1901 to 2001.

If given the opportunity, would I revisit l'affaire Lewinsky with Hil for half a mil? You betcha.

After several disappointing seasons, Pitino walks away from the Celts. I like Pitino and all, but it never seemed like he had a backup plan after losing Tim Duncan in the draft years ago. And Cyber'Toine and Paul Pierce can't do it alone - At this point, Boston is still one scorer and two veteran leaders away (no, Kenny A. doesn't count - he's Rod Strickland without the moves) from becoming a playoff team. Ah, well. I'm sure Pitino will do alright once he gets back to the college game.

1/5/01 - Mary Matalin moves on. To be honest, I'm surprised she's going to work for Cheney and not for Dubya himself.

Seinfeld 1, Costanza 0.

In music news, MTV previews the new Depeche Mode album slated for May (say what you will, I like 'em - Martin Gore may be in a horrible rut thematically, but he's always had an excellent ear for crafting atmospheric, melancholy minor-chord pop), and Madonna takes Britney Spears under her wing. No word on a Cyndi Lauper-Christina Aguilera collaboration.

Sigh. The Mir's death warrant is signed.

Pics of those damn dirty apes from Tim Burton's remake have surfaced on the web. The fanboys are up in arms about the production values, but I think the jury is still out. We are talking about Tim Burton here. If there's one thing he does well, it's production value.

E.J Dionne reviews the Bill Lann Lee confirmation battle and notes that payback'll be a bitch for John Ashcroft.

A possible silver lining in the Ashcroft cloud, though - Like fellow right-wing zealot Bob Barr, the Attorney General-designate turns out to be solidly for Internet privacy, (although it is still uncerain how he'll come down on the thornier issue of censorship.)

A new study in Science highlights the role of music as a bridge between species. So that's why all those animals bob their heads to oldies songs in the commericials.

The War on the War on Drugs has a good week. While Traffic, Steven Soderbergh's highly acclaimed indictment of the current War on Drugs, opens nationwide today (it'll definitely get my eight bucks over the weekend), a panel convened by Republican Governor Gary Johnson looks to disarm the drug warriors in his state of New Mexico. The proposals include decriminalizing marijuana for personal use and shifting more and more resources away from incarceration and toward treatment (Second link via Metafilter.)

With John McCain leading the campaign finance charge and Gov. Johnson trying to broker a truce in the Drug War, that makes two admirable, common-sense, progressive crusades currently being led by Republicans. And even Senate power-sharing seems to be on the table right now. How long can this outbreak of statesmanship last?

Life in 2001: More Star Trek than Kubrick, and that's only for the fortunate minority.

Thar she is, a hump like a snowhill...it is Moby Foop! The Great White Wittler returns, and the blog world is better for it.

Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick) gets his own Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers.) Word is Annabeth Gish will be joining The X-Files on an extended stint as one of Doggett's old love interests, now a FBI agent investigating ritualistic murders in the Big Easy.

What floods of bliss! What melting transports! What agonies of delight! The Victorian Sex Cry Generator (courtesy of Pigs and Fishes.)

Harvard drops Al Gore from consideration in the search for a new president. This news definitely restores my faith in the old alma mater. But they're still never going to extract a red cent from me, though...the place has got too much money as it is. Although I guess I could be induced to give money to the crew team.

The Knicks rally to beat the Magic 95-92 in OT last night, making it six wins in a row. Why this renaissance? Perhaps because Glen Rice is hurt, eh? Unfortunately, the Knickerbockers have proven time and time again that nothing fails like success, so I suspect a solid week of choking is in due course - beginning with the lowly Wizards on Sunday.

1/4/01 - The Spiderteam congregate for a press conference prior to the beginning of shooting on Monday. Among the interesting repartee is director Sam Raimi's take on the organic webshooter controversy and a William Hurt-esque stream of actorspeak gobbledygook from Willem DeFoe on the nature of the Green Goblin.

Will Senator Clinton be the 2004 Democratic nominee? Not a chance, according to this article, and I agree. I think Mrs. Clinton is savvy enough to know that she's carrying too much baggage right now. But 2012 or 2016...

Senators McCain and Feingold begin their campaign finance pitch at the side of Sen. Thad Cochran of MS, apparently a recent convert. This could be very exciting...to my mind, all possibility of reform must begin with reducing the money flow polluting our political process. But will Dubya play ball? If it takes "paycheck protection" to get him to sign on, then I say by all means give it to him.

In the Company of Bats: will Aaron Eckhart play the Dark Knight in Frank Miller and Darren Aronofsky's Batman: Year One?

As a matter of public safety, Daily Radar presents the Twenty Most Destructive Cartoon Monkeys of All Time. Fear them.

Roadkill removal...one of those growth industries you don't hear too much about in the New Economy.

Conversational Terrorism (via Medley and Absolute Piffle.) Given what I know about you dear readers, I am positive you will enjoy this list. If not, well, you will when you're my age. Which reminds me of a story...

Bob Novak applauds the influence of Cheney in shaping the new Bush cabinet, while Jacob Weisberg thinks he's seen this particular Cabinet stew before.

The Washington Metro ventures where the Boston T would not dare - allowing pro-marijuana decriminalization ads to appears on their stations, buses, and trains. Almost (but not quite) makes up for their earlier episode of french fry fascism.

Corona offers some Episode 2 spoilers on the subject of, among other things, (Highlight to Read) Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus (Christopher Lee)'s Jedi weapon of choice, the "flamesaber."

Somebody please tell me that Stallone won't be playing Doctor Who. Please? Update: Thank you.

The recount continues, and Bush is either up by 1 or Gore is up by 96, depending on how you count the dimples. I particularly like the breakdown of each punchcard's status - hanging, dimpled, what-have-you. Veddy interesting...

1/3/01 - Shot across the bow: Did Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan cut rates today as an alpha male move to remind Dubya who's really in charge?

Feelin' a little sorry for my man Berkeley here at the moment. The cold weather's brought on the static electricity something fierce, and, hairy little guy that he is, he keeps getting zapped every few minutes as he traverses the carpet. And he's got no thumbs to boot...poor little fella.

David Greenberg looks at the last time the GOP controlled Washington - the Eisenhower era - and discovers that all may not be rosy for Dubya and his boys on the right side of the aisle.

Happy birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien. And as a present for the rest of us, TheOneRing.Net hears word of a possible Fellowship Super Bowl commercial (the trailer will premiere in front of Thirteen Days on January 12.)

Lucas must love the French. TheForce.Net gets their hands on a second wave of Episode 2 pics from the French Star Wars Insider.

Schottenheimer to the 'Skins? That's definitely not going to work. Marty's too old-school to put up with any guff from Snyder.

In more interesting sports news, ESPN will be televising NBA minor league games, which start this fall. More basketball is always a good thing.

Lego Chef! (Courtesy of Random Walks and Kestrel's Nest.)

Has Teamster corruption led to a Hollywood blacklisting of Massachussetts?

The gang at SurvivorSucks return with a profile of the second cast. (Via What's On It For Me? and Pith and Vinegar.) Yes (sigh), I'll probably be watching.

In the unnecessary remake department, the Rollerball trailer is now online.

The New Republic argues that, contrary to prevailing (and my) opinion, the Dems might lose seats in 2002. Honestly, I don't buy it. Even if Bush is a wildly successful President, he'll have to fight his battles once again on a Democratic issue terrain. I say, it's the Dems to lose.

John McCain pledges to stick by his campaign finance guns. You go, Senator.

Feed, who sometime relatively recently underwent a much-improved redesign, examines the growing role of product placement in Hollywood films, beginning with Cast Away's two hour FedEx commercial.

Gary Kamiya throws down the gauntlet on the Ashcroft and Norton nominations.

How he wishes he were in the land of Cotton...The sordid tale of John Ashcroft and the Southern Partisan. How dumb can you be? Speaking as a South Carolinian, the fact that Lott, Ashcroft, et al go prostrate themselves before these "Confederate heritage" organizations is shameful bordering on treasonous. Could you imagine the shrill conservative outcry if a lefty Democratic Senator called Vietnam a "war of aggression" as readily as Majority Leader Lott did the Civil War? It's pathetic...craven redneck-pandering buffoons like this do a great injustice to the memory of their Republican forbears, not the least Abraham Lincoln.

On the day congressional rookies take the oath, David Broder bids farewell to some old hands.

The other shoe drops. Katherine Harris's name is in play for Special Envoy to the Americas, a position which does not require Senate confirmation. Makes sense, really. She basically commited political hara kiri for Dubya's sake, and President Clinton also used the job to buck up his buddies. Nope, can't really complain.

1/2/01 - Don't call it a comeback...Cluttered rearranges for another go. Good to have you back, PJ. And, while I'm blogwatching, a very happy blogday to BoyCaught at Caught in Between...one year and counting.

Will Paul Newman take The Road to Perdition? Hope so. Ideally, this'll be a great movie that will result in all kinds of graphic novels being greenlighted for film.

My friend Seth Stevenson sacrifices his brain to Paxil. Those "zaps" sound pretty darned unsettling.

Thanks to the good people at Atomz.com, it is now possible to search through all the old GitM entries (note search bar at left.) Improved functionality for the new millennium...booyah.

The Shotgun Rules, codified (Via Stuffed Dog.)

How'd I miss this one? The FCC slams the networks for not disclosing ONDCP involvement in their anti-drug shows. I hadn't heard a peep about the office about any FCC response until I came across the article at After Ego/MindMeld. Looks like somebody was busy around here over the holidays.

After examining the reform impulse of 2000, E.J. Dionne bids farewell to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the last true lions of the Senate. Meanwhile, David Broder offers his take on a Democratic rising star, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

Oz v. Narnia, a Salon article I wanted to blog during the holiday interregnum that has been reposted by CNN.

Many thanks to Lyn for choosing me as a Milleninial Medley Medal winner. Much appreciated. I think I might do something along similar lines in the next day or two, if I ever get around to it. Also, many thanks for the birthday wishes from Matt at Hit or Miss and Hal at Blivet.

Another bad sign for the New Economy? DotComGuy emerges from his year-long self-imposed confinement and drives off into the sunset.

Matt over at Game Six passes along this ebay auction for Wilson the Volleyball. Wonder if it's Tom Hanks leading the bids right now...

Speaking of the thespian spheroid, an Indian elephant has been exhibiting some seriously Wilsonesque behavior by dragging around the corpse of a man he killed for over two weeks. Apparently, the elephant also bathes the corpse and guards it vociferously from any interlopers. Strange.

Well, today, with eighteen days before the change in administration and all the grad school apps now behind me, joblessness anxiety has set in full force. I guess it took returning to the office to feel imminently officeless. Must...climb...on...

Cosmologists warm to the notion of "warm dark matter" as the key to the universe's missing mass.

1/1/01 - Happy New Year! The real millennium is upon us, and thankfully with less than 10% of the hype that accompanied its fake forbear. Keep an eye out for the monolith...

The Gore-Redskins connection, explored.

Alan Brinkley writes on W.E.B. DuBois.

Dubya's first blunder? Dems prepare the tale of Judge Ronnie White for public consumption at the Ashcroft hearings. Despite his spate of moderate Cabinet picks, the President-elect can ill afford anything that will further alienate America's black population right now. But the right-wing is restless too...