2/16/01 - Add Bjork to the list of artists (REM, Depeche Mode) whose April-May releases I'm psyched about. Vespertine will be released on May 22 and will be followed by a tour, complete with full orchestra and choir.

Slubberdegullions! Doubleplusfun from LinkMachineGo today, particularly for those with English childhoods: Make Your Own Mr. Man/Little Miss and David's favorite Captain Haddock Curses.

And, while I'm getting great cartoon/comic links from other great blogs, Pigs and Fishes notes this interview with Cerebus mastermind Dave Sim, as he embarks on Latter Days - the final leg of the Earth-Pig-Born's 300 issue story arc.

Jennifer Jason Leigh joins the cast of Road to Perdition (as the wife of Tom Hanks.) Just don't let her sing and all will be rosy.

Oh-so-learned art critic Rudy Giuliani throws a hissy fit over a depiction of a nude black female Christ, calling it "anti-Catholic." Since, as we all know, despite being born in the Middle East 2000 years ago, Jesus is actually a skinny white guy with great abs who looks something like Ted Nugent.

This is probably news better left for the Cauldron, but nevertheless, the flash-intensive official Harry Potter site is now open. (They put me in Hufflepuff.)

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind gets axed. The Chuck Barris (Gong Show) biopic, penned by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and to be directed by Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-Men) , marks the second recent high-profile Johnny Depp project (with Terry Gilliam's The Man who Killed Don Quixote) to fall apart before filming. If Malkovich is any indication, it's our loss.

Bill Clinton, Superfly. One black writer's less-than-favorable take on a man "who feigns being our brother, yet has sent more brothers to prison than any president in the history of the United States."

An illicit love affair comes to light in the murder investigation of two Dartmouth professors. Not to be glib about the tragedy involved here, but so far this case seems to have all the makings of a great novel.

Daddy Gates (not to mention the LA Times and New York Times) fills out his argument against repealing the estate tax in a Washington Post op-ed. On the same page, E.J. Dionne takes notorious media hound Billy Tauzin (R-LA) to task for scapegoating InDecision 2000 woes on the networks when he could just as well be leading the charge for electoral reform.

Skirmishes break out in the Democratic trenches. Says Gore stooge Bill Daley of Clinton, "'It's terrible, devastating, and it's rather appalling...Bush ran on bringing dignity back, and I think the actions by Clinton of the last couple of weeks are giving him a pretty good platform." Says Gephardt of Al Gore, "In retrospect, if we had a little wind at the top of the ticket, it would have helped some of those close races." Meanwhile, as the Democrats fret, President Dubya looks on and laughs and laughs.

Not that Bush doesn't have his own problems. More Republican Senators have defected from the tax cut plan, including Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter have also expressed reservations about the plan's current incarnation.

The second trailer for Pearl Harbor, which has appeared before almost every movie out the past three months, is now finally online, and - if you can get past Jon Voight's lame reading of FDR - probably stands as the best work Michael Bay has ever done. Unfortunately, Bay is such a hack that I suspect this trailer will far outshine the Memorial Day film, even if Kate Beckinsale is in it.

Official shots of Denethor (John Noble) and Faramir (David Wenham) are added to the Lord of the Rings site.

2/15/01 - Kestrel's Nest moves.

Close, but no cigar. A man serves fifteen months in prison - 47 days shy of release -before authorities discover he's been doing the time for his dealer.

What technology taketh away, it may also giveth back. The Atlantic delves into the return of privacy. (Via Metafilter.)

It's been a daily ritual this week - More IGN coverage of ToyFair.

Astronomers consider realigning the earth's orbit in case of emergency. Among the drawbacks: "We may lose the moon."

The Anti-Zell: Republican Senator James Jeffords of Vermont announces his opposition to the Bush tax cut, bringing the Senate back into a tie (with Prime Minister Cheney the deciding vote.) Meanwhile, the Dems release their own tax plan in a hope to pry away some more moderate Republicans away from Dubya's pro-rich budget buster.

Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson, defenders of the estate tax. In related news, the LA Times is reporting that the estate tax repeal effort is losing steam in Washington.

Cop some pretendo? A Salon writer surveys ONDCP-sanctioned drug lingo.

Innocent screw-up or Freudian slip? The controversy continues in California regarding Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's inadvertent racial slur during a speech to African-Americans.

2/14/01 - Jacob Weisberg psychoanalyzes Clinton's motivations for the Rich pardon.

Part 3 of IGN's Toy Fair Coverage is now online, and the wait is almost over for the Paul Giamatti Orangutang figure you've always wanted (at left). Also mentioned this round are new knicknacks from Reservoir Dogs, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.

In a PR move, the FBI's Carnivore tool has been renamed "DCS1000." They can call it "Strawberry Shortcake" or "Happy Fun Tap" if they want to, but I'd still think it's shady. But, of course, as I mentioned here earlier, the FBI will only use it on the bad people. Suspicion Breeds Confidence and all that good stuff. (Forgive my sarcasm - it comes from being a "spineless pinko", I guess.)

Woohoo! It took over a year of pleading (three if you count the still-unlisted personal portion of the site), but Ghost in the Machine has finally been listed on Yahoo. If you're coming from there, welcome.

Welcome back to the twenty-first century. The Kansas Board of Education restores evolution to state school standards.

On the advice of my brother, I spent last night reading the first ten issues of Alan Moore's Top Ten. Great stuff, as can be expected from the aforementioned Mr. Moore. It's basically Homicide set in a world where everybody has super powers (and alter egos.) Better still, each panel is chock-filled with sight gags for avid comic readers. High recommend.

A petition of the megarich - including George Soros, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates, Sr. - aims to halt the repeal of estate taxes. "Mr. Buffett said repealing the estate tax 'would be a terrible mistake,' the equivalent of 'choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics.'"

Paul Krugman takes Alan Greenspan to task for his recent wavering on the issue of an immense tax cut.

Black Hawk Down casting fills out, with Ron Eldard, Jeremy Piven (?!), Orlando "Legolas" Bloom, and William Fichtner (who used to live in the same building as my sister and I during my brief post-college sojourn in NYC) all joining the mix. No official confirm on Ewan.

Um, you know that one about the missing silverware on Air Force One? According to Dubya (and Jake Tapper), it ain't true. You know, it's really smart of President Bush to play good cop to the Congressional bad cop...it's just a win-win situation for him, notwithstanding the diverted media attention from his Presidency. Of course, that's probably a good thing for him too.

A Bichon Frise takes best in show at Westminster. Of course, I was rooting for the herding dogs...

A day after former-President Clinton announces he'll move his office to Harlem, he discovers that the building in question is already leased...by Mayor Giuliani and the City of New York. In a related piece, Maureen Dowd contrasts Clinton's move to Harlem with the Washington coming-out of Clarence Thomas.

Love, loyalty, infidelity...it's all about chemicals. Dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin, to be specific.

Arianna Huffington scrutinizes the sordid details of the Rich pardon and discovers that, like Traffic, no one in Washington gets away clean.

Thinking about diamonds this Valentine's Day? A Globe editorial says think again - they've become a "war criminal's best friend."

2/13/01 - Is trouble brewing among Dubya's advisors? The U.K. Times reports: "Instead of shrinking into the background, like most Vice-Presidents, Mr Cheney has altered the job to become, in the words of The New York Times, 'de facto chief of staff, an über-national security adviser, a shadow Secretary of Defence and even, perhaps, a demi-president.' Citing Mr Cheney’s cardiac problems and his unparalleled power, Washington wags have taken to pointing out that Mr Bush is 'only a heartbeat away from the presidency'." Touche.

Christianity Today sings the praises of Ned Flanders. (Via Looka.)

Many congrats to Lots of Co. for his School System Teacher of the Year win. Onward and upward!

With yesterday's crash descent onto Eros (fill in any Valentine's Day metaphor you desire), Feed looks at the budding science of asteroid mining.

Jake Tapper follows the e-mail trail of the Rich case, proving once again that if you've been convicted of a major crime, it really helps to be independently wealthy and connected. The article also offers this interesting note: Bob, having Leah Rabin call [Clinton to support Rich] is not a bad idea. The problem is how do we contact her? She died last November ...

IGN has a bunch of pics up from Toyfair 2001, including this one of Mike Myers looking perturbed by the advances of Shrek the Ogre. More pics here as well.

Well, look who finally joined the party. Tim Noah reviews the new New Yorker site.

Kids' backpacks are too heavy, says a new study. I remember seeing my little sister's pack awhile back, and it did look obscenely heavy, particularly if you factor in her saxophone. Complicating the problem is the fact that locker access has become more restricted in the post-Columbine age.

The Times surveys the budding relationship between the New School and its New Prez, Bob Kerrey.

Black Harvard alumi David Wilkins reponds to the Mansfield "grade inflation" comment of last week.

Payback's a bitch - Former NYC Police Commissioner William Bratton endorses Democrat Mark Green as a snub to his former boss, Rudy Giuliani.

The Oscar contenders are announced. Some thoughts:

Best Picture: I'd be satisfied to see Crouching Tiger or Traffic come away with it. I didn't see Chocolat, but its inclusion in the top category smacks of the Miramax mafia. Requiem for a Dream could have taken its place as, despite its flaws, at least it was something new, brave, and different. But then again, look at the way Fight Club, Malkovich, and Three Kings were passed over last year for mealy fare like The Cider House Rules. At any rate, I do think CT,HD - now North America's most lucrative foreign language release ever - has a good chance of winning if the Soderbergh vote splits between Traffic and Erin Brockovich. Otherwise, it's Traffic.

Best Actor: More than a toss-up than usual, if only because none of the candidates portrayed a mentally handicapped individual. The fact that Rush and Hanks have already won might throw the award to Russell Crowe (as recompense for The Insider), but right now my money's on Tom. (In body-obsessed Hollywood, losing 50 pounds constitutes an Oscar-worthy performance.) I have no doubt that Javier Bardem is good in Before Night Falls and Ed Harris is amazing as Jackson Pollack, but my guess is both films are too low profile to have a shot at winning. I'm not sure what happened with Michael Douglas and Wonder Boys...I would have picked him.

Best Actress: Again, complicated by the fact that noone this year is playing a prostitute. I'd love to see this go to Ellen Burstyn for Requiem for a Dream, but my guess is Julia Roberts will run away with the Oscar for playing herself (and running up dough at the box office.)

Best Supporting Actor: Now, this, as always, is an interesting category, since Jeff Bridges, Willem Dafoe, and Albert Finney are all exactly the type of old hands who usually dominate this category. I'll go with Benicio Del Toro though, as aside from giving a great performance, he seems to have the biggest hype machine rolling right now. Wilson the Volleyball got snubbed.

Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench and Frances McDormand have already won Oscars, and this category is usually dominated by young up-and-comers (Angelina Jolie, Mira Sorvino, Marisa Tomei.) So, I'll go with Kate Hudson, although it would have been nice to see Ellen Burstyn in this category so she could take home a win.

Best Director: Golden Globe redux - The Soderbergh vote splits, and Ang Lee justifiably wins for Crouching Tiger.

And so on. Perhaps I'll post the rest of my picks before the big show.