11/29/00 - What's that black ocean ship that banged up on that iceberg's tip? Shaftanic! You're damn right.

I am sitting in the cafe, and the man behind the counter...The Globe explores why some songs get stuck in your head, irregardless of whether or not you actually like them. One, two princes are before you, just go ahead now...

The 50-50 Senate readies for a 17-day Democratic interregnum. "'The Republicans are in the worst predicament, to be in a tie with just nominal control,' said Marshall Wittmann, a congressional analyst at the Hudson Institute. 'Daschle is in the best position,' he added, especially if Bush wins, because he will be able to promote Democratic issues with a 'Republican president who is eager to achieve results' and make good on his promises of bipartisanship (my emphasis.)" I still think that if Dubya were smart (I know, I know), he would grab a Senate Dem or two (from states with GOP Governors) for his Cabinet, thus upsetting the 50-50 balance. If Gore ekes it out, of course, he could do the same with the GOP.

Clinton gets his Nebraska on. But will he save the Arctic?

According to Garth at Dark Horizons, a German news agency is reporting Catherine Zeta-Jones as the Bond girl in the next (and last) Brosnan outing. Sounds suspect to me...perhaps they were thinking of Entrapment. Also rumored in the same story is Kevin Spacey as Bond's newest nemesis. Not that it really matters, I suppose, since I can't remember the last Bond movie I wasn't disappointed by. For Your Eyes Only, perhaps? And that's probably 'cause I saw it as a kid. In my humble opinion, the whole franchise has to move away from rinky-dink gadgeteering and more into coldblooded cloak-and-dagger intrigue.

Maureen Dowd relates the tribulations of President-Elect Mini-Me.

Bummed by the bad behavior of Bob Dole and Warren Christopher? Don't fret - A Post op-ed pokes holes in the "Wise Men" myth.

The dialect coaches of Lord of the Rings discuss the accents that will be used in the forthcoming trilogy. Fortunately, it sounds like nobody will be speaking Keanu.

The writers of American Pie are all set to screw up About a Boy, the third book by High Fidelity author Nick Hornby. To start, they want to cast Hugh Grant in the main role. Gee, I'll wonder if he'll choose to play the lead as a slouching, stuttering, faux-modest gimp. Even Adam Sandler has more range than Liz Hurley's ex.

Singer Lenny Kravitz gets mistaken for a Miami bank robber (although he's not sure it was due to racial profilng.) Meanwhile, the NYT delves deeper into the New Jersey profiling fiasco today. New Jersey officials contend that the reason racial profiling is a national problem is that it was initiated, and in many ways encouraged, by the federal government's war on drugs." Said one ACLU official, "The D.E.A. has been the great evangelizer for racial profiling on the highways."

Speaking of which, the French Premiere site has scored the new full-length trailer for Traffic. I'm definitely liking the looks of this one.

And in other related news, Salon ridicules the NIDA's stoned monkey experiment of a few months ago.

11/28/00 - Corona and Dark Horizons unveil this teaser poster for next summer's Pearl Harbor. I'm pretty averse to Michael Bay films, but the recent trailer (in front of Unbreakable) was so good that I must admit my interest is piqued.

Let a hundred lattes froth: Starbucks establishes a capitalist beachhead in the Forbidden City.

And, speaking of Capitalism making headway in formerly Communist nations, this tale is truly grotesque.

Time discovers that the UGA Greek system is an incubator of racism. Big surprise there.

Siskel replacement Richard Roeper takes time out from movie reviews to fashion the Floridian rhapsody. I know these are everywhere right now, but I thought this one was pretty funny (Via Lake Effect.)

Breaching the Web returns from hiatus. Excellent news.

Gore made his plea during Primetime last night and, man, was he awful. Basically, every grating tic in the veep's considerable arsenal was in full display last night - the hemming and hawing, the condescension, the fake, ill-timed laugh...it was pathetic. As Salon correspondent Joan Walsh noted, Gore's "condescending, singsong delivery of a bland speech Monday night was so inadequate to the gravity of the moment it was almost insulting." Ugh. And so it continues...stupid and patronizing, patronizing and stupid. Is it 2004 yet?

Racial profiling runs rampant (rampart?) in New Jersey. According to documents, blacks and hispanics comprise 80% of police pull-overs on the Turnpike in the past decade. That is so ridiculous. As Dylan noted twenty-five years ago, "In Patterson, that's just the way things go. If you're black, you might as well not show up on the street, 'less you wanna draw the heat." The Garden State should be ashamed. (Also noted at Caught in Between.)

The New Republic thinks Trent Lott is in for a rough ride the next two years, and may end up being upstaged by two Senators in his own party - John McCain and Chuck Hagel.

Well, look who finally showed up to play? Glen Rice finally plays like an All-Star in last night's drubbing of the Grizz, a game that also marked the debut of the Sprewell-Houston-Rice "Big Backcourt." The real test, however, will be tomorrow night in the first act of Knicks-Heat 2001.

Nader supporter and cantankerous Texan Jim Hightower offers his own telling Gore post-mortem.

11/27/00 - Westphal gets the axe. Looks like the Ewing era in Seattle isn't starting off as everyone hoped.

The Bird returns! (Via Cluttered, who also reminds me to wish a very happy (and very belated) blogday to Girlhacker.)

Just Keep Bill. You know you want to.

Saw Bounce over the weekend. Ho-hum. Well-acted, I suppose, but there's way too many characters from Romantic Dramedy Casting Central milling about. We've got the been-there, done-that older sister dispensing romantic advice to the female lead (a.k.a. the Bonnie Hunt role), we've got the straight-talking gay co-worker dispensing comic relief and romantic advice to the male lead, etc. etc. Plus, I just get aggravated by love-story-predicated-on-a-lie type romances, since I usually end up just sitting there trying to calculate (a) how long in screentime before the aggrieved party inadvertently stumbles on the truth and (b) how long thereafter before s/he decides it doesn't matter and s/he's still madly in love anyway. Affleck and Paltrow were both good, though, and I'm always psyched to see the Brother from Another Planet, Joe Morton, in anything. But, all in all, it's a rental.

Bush is certified the winner by 537 votes (give or take a Palm Beach County), and a public opinion watershed is reached. If you'll forgive the hoary football cliche, the Gore team's at fourth and long, and their only hope now is the legal longball. That is, unless the refs throw the flag in Seminole County.

And speaking of hoary football cliches...just when I think he's out, he keeps pulling me back in. Dr. Thompson offers a particularly good disquisition on Florida politics and the NFL in today's Page 2.

If watching all these states-rightists beg for federal (Supreme Court) intervention -- not to mention the "I trust the people" Governor siding with forty-year-old machines -- weren't enough hypocrisy for ya, just wait until these proudly strict constructionists have to finagle their way around the 12th Amendment.

Bill Safire surveys the scene: "In the House, where a narrow margin keeps Republicans in control, Democrats are certain that only a Bush presidency would ensure their triumph in 2002; the presidential opposition usually gains at midterm. With Gore as president, and a normal recession at last likely, Democrats would remain in the minority wilderness.

Sorry, Ally...Robert Downey, Jr. is in trouble again. What I want to know is, who's the asshole who placed the anonymous 911 call? And should we really care what Downey does peacefully within the confines of his hotel room?

Along with rectifying the Florida fiasco this Friday, the Supreme Court also decides to take a stand on medical marijuana.

11/24/00 - ALIEN MICROBE! Not quite definitive proof of extraterrestial life, but very, very close. Here's hoping it's not the Venusian form of ebola.

Says Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of last week's Florida Supreme Court decision, "[This] serves as a chilling reminder of the need for vigilance to ensure that the actions of unelected judges do not usurp the right of the people to govern themselves in a democracy." Man, that type of white-hot revolutionary rhetoric is so ignorant, even for a moron like Lott. I know Dems have been saying equivalently stupid things about Secretary of State Katherine Harris, but I haven't yet heard such a patently rabble-rousing remark emanate from Tom Daschle's mouth. The leader of the federal legislative branch should not be using such words to dog the state judiciary, period.

Lott is so not ready for prime time. Even Bob Dole insinuated he was an idiot, soon after giving up the Majority post in 1996. Hopefully, now that he's lost two of his main lieutenants - Connie Mack and Slade Gorton - Lott will be given a demotion by his party in favor of a more capable (and intelligent) candidate. Somehow, though, I doubt it.

Even though those in the know contend Gore's got the votes, the Democrats are ready to call the whole thing off on Sunday. Hopefully, the Gore team will get the message.

Saw Unbreakable last night, which was a slow-moving contemplative affair but ultimately very worthwhile, particularly for fellow comic book enthusiasts. The worst part of the experience, though, was the ridiculously revealing trailer for Cast Away before, which set a new low for giving away the beginning, middle, and end of a movie in just under three minutes. Take my advice: if you see this spot in the theater, close your eyes or get some popcorn or something.

I LOVE THIS JOB! NO, I REALLY DO! IT'S AWESOME! DOH, CHIPPED ANOTHER TOOTH! Professional coffee tasters at work.

11/23/00 - Bye-bye, R? Given their previous forays into rating reform, I have little doubt the MPAA will screw this one up.

The lost tale of the Popham Colony in Maine, Jamestown's forgotten sister.

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon is really sick of Democratic Nader-blamers. In the meantime, Ralph weighs in with the perfect post-electoral solution: a nationally televised, corporate-sponsored coin toss.

Suddenly, boils are looking good. Cheney suffers a mild heart attack yesterday. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. I must say, though, that if I had suffered four heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery I'd think about leaving the high-pressure job behind and retiring someplace warm and cozy. Although I doubt Dick Cheney has any desire to set foot in Florida at this point.

Cantwell defeats Gorton!...and, barring recount shenanigans, the Senate is now 50-50. And so it looks like Lieberman's hubris might end up costing the party big after all. We are now looking at a situation where, if Gore-Lieberman end up winning the Florida fiasco (despite all the Republican endgame scenarios), they'll have cost the Democrats not only the Senate in 2000, but also more than likely Congress in 2002 and the Presidency in 2004. And for what purpose? Nothing will come of such a divided government for either party. I really believe we would do better just to sit this one out.

That being said, I also believe Dubya sounds even more like an absolute moron than usual when he decries the Florida Supreme Court for using "legalistic language." What were they supposed to use, Esperanto?

When confronted with these two nimrods, America ultimately made the right decision: a tie. Nobody won. As this op-ed argues, there is not nor will there ever be a clear winner, for the current voting system is just too imprecise to deal with this kind of close contest.

A day after stunning Orlando on their home floor, the see-saw Knicks drop one to Atlanta 78-74. Sad, sad, sad.

Dark Horizons gets their hands on this teaser poster for Spielberg/Kubrick's A.I., starring Jude Law and Haley Jo Osment.

The second Dungeons and Dragons trailer is now online. Haven't seen this one yet (I'll wait 'til I get near a faster connection), but if Jeremy Irons is once again chewing the scenery as horribly as he was the first time around, there's no way I'm throwing down money for this sucker. Plus, it might be hard to take Marlon Wayans un-seriously after seeing Requiem last weekend.

Roving Slate shopper Seth Stevenson goes to the mattresses.

Do you live on the West Coast, and do you want to be in Spiderman? Here's how.

Howdy y'all, and Happy Thanksgiving. I'm writing this from a 56K line in Clemson, SC (home of the Newtons, a.k.a Elaine's folks), so once again the update will probably be brief. Hope everyone else out there is having a grand ole Turkey Day.

11/21/00 - Just what Florida needs, another controversy. Despite beating No. 2 Florida State 27-24, No 3. Miami is getting ganked by the BCS.

Carnivore gets a thumbs-up from an independent reviewer. Apparently it doesn't "overcollect," which I presume means that it only rifles through the e-mails of bad people.

More Spiderman casting hits the rumor mill - Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben? Sounds fine...after all, it should be a relatively small part. But who will be Aunt May?

Florida-weary Dems start placing the blame where it's due: squarely on the shoulders of Al Gore.

Short update today. Much to be done prior to the Thanksgiving holiday sojourn. Most importantly, I need to send out my recommendation folders for my grad school applications (due 1/3/00.) I haven't yet completely decided if getting a further degree in American History (Progressive Era) is what I want to do next fall, but it is definitely on the table. So I had best be getting these forms out.

Along similar lines, I also updated the resume this morning (although it's not yet reflected online.) It's a bit of a strange feeling to move work experience ahead of education...one of those little signs that I'm getting older.