3/7/02 - Woohoo! The Hubble upgrade seems to be working out.

Sorry I've been out of it for another week. Most of my time of late has been spent working on a research paper on Al Smith and the Seabury Hearings of 1932, which crippled the power of Tammany Hall in Gotham and presented some degree of political difficulty for FDR in the general election campaign of 1932. (And what free time I have remaining has mostly been spent watching and rewatching a Fellowship Oscar DVD of dubious provenance -- I'd like to thank the Academy.) Said research paper will be taking me to Albany, NY for a few days over Spring Break to delve into the State Library records, so if anyone knows anything fun to do in Albany let me know.

Fortunately, this work vacation will be mitigated by a trip out West to see old friends for a few days...in case anyone is interested NY to Cali flights right now are cheap.

Speaking of the Sunshine State, California votes. And, among the losers (besides Gary Condit and Richard Riordan) was a fellow running for State Legislature whom I went to college with, who apparently went ridiculously negative in the last week. (Looks like he learned a thing or two as a Gore speechwriter, no?) You know you're getting older when people your own age start trying to run things. Then again, Andrei was always inordinately ambitious. He's the type of guy who didn't say a word to me through four years of school, then suddenly strikes up conversations with me once I started working for Carville.

Sadly, and for obvious reasons, DC is overpopulated with this personality type. I've found you generally meet two types of young people working in electoral politics there - those who tell you right away that they have a 30-year plan to be Senator of their home state and those who tell you over drinks. My advice to anyone headed for Capital City - hang out with journalists, non-profits, webloggers, and career appointees...a much more interesting and diverse band of folk.

Did early humans embrace multiculturalism? A new study argues so.

Dubya "less principled than Bill Clinton"? "Compassionate conservatism for government-addicted corporations?" That's a harsh indictment coming from George Will.

The trailer for K-19: The Widowmaker is now up. Looks remarkably mediocre.

Speaking of which, WB has released this still of Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart in the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Well, if nothing else, the scenes with him and Alan Rickman should be fun.

It seems you can add anti-semitism to divorce, bisexuality, and out-of-wedlock children in the list of facts left out of the heartwarming romance and "true" story A Beautiful Mind. Is this film really going to win?

2/27/02 - Looking for a few good titles to burn? The Reverend Ashcroft wants your reading lists.

Y'know, if an evil cash-addicted dimwit like Mitch McConnell calls an election reform bill a "poison pill" anything, I suppose I have to be for it.

The hammer drops on Doris Kearns Goodwin for missourcing. As a friend of mine pointed out here at Columbia, what does an historian ostensibly need with three research assistants?

Move over, Britney and Mandy. Bobby Dylan to return to film?

TheForce.Net posts some screen captures from the most recent Episode II behind the scenes video.

Bono hits the cover of Time Magazine. I can't fault the guy's mission or sense of purpose, but does anyone else miss ironic vainglorious Bono?

Salon speaks with Dan Simmons, author of the excellent Hyperion books, on the current state of fiction.

Say good bye to CLECS. Tauzin-Dingell passes the House.

Are we headed for M.L. Carr territory? Even the Village Voice piles it on the Knicks.

The next Hornby book to receive the film treatment, About A Boy, now has a poster. I'd say the negative of Hugh Grant's participation is greatly mitigated by the inclusion of Rachel Weisz.

Uh-oh...Doomsday is now two minutes closer.

Carville and Begala join the Crossfire lineup, while Bill Press moves to political correspondent. Good news for my former employer, not-so-good news for my other former employer. But it should free up more time for writing...

Has the anthrax mailer been found?

Trouble in the ranks - Southern and Western Dems break on gun control.

2/26/02 - In the campaign finance wars, McConnell admits defeat...for now.

A preemptive strike by Gray Davis puts Riordan on the ropes in California.

It's gotten that bad. NBC pulls the plug on the sorry, sorry Knicks.

5 Baftas for Fellowship...veddy nice. If the Academy picks A Beautiful Mind the whole world'll know it was a sellout to Universal/Dreamworks.

Remember the tax cut letter? The GOP try to procure more free campaign advertising from the Government.

Corona, Garth, and TORN publish the B&N report from Friday (and IGN paraphrases it.) Wow, my first Internet spy report...I'm so proud.

Big-time X-Files spoilers, in case anybody out there is still watching it. As if offing CSM and Krychek weren't enough...

'Til things are brighter, I'm the man in black." Happy seventieth, Johnny Cash.

2/23/02 - With Gillian Murphy on Saturday afternoon, the specter of Odette's suffering rose with utter believability and electricity. Pauses and pliability became fear and filigreed yearning; pirouettes that started delicately and built in strength were like the quickening of hope and resolve. The LA Times likes Gill in Swan Lake.

Dems pin 2002 campaign hopes on Enron and Social Security.

From the Moulin Rouge to the Overlook, Nicole Kidman watches The Shining.

The Bob Dylan gambling game...I wonder if Dylan himself bets under an assumed name.

Hey, Harry posted yesterday's report. Now I'm embarrassed some of the pics are so blurry. Ah, well.

Berkeley turns two on Monday, and to celebrate several folks are coming over this evening to watch The Godfather. (It's ok, Berk's dyslexic, he won't notice.) Otherwise, not much going on over here. Watched Citizen Kane Friday night (and it still amazes me how ridiculously ahead of its time that film was.) Otherwise, I've been on a bit of an Avengers kick lately. Ah, Mrs. Peel, I was born too late.

2/22/02 - Hey y'all. Just got back from seeing Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, and Christopher Lee at the Union Square Barnes & Noble here in NYC. I just sent this report to a number of the fanboy sites. So at the risk of repeating myself I'm just cutting and pasting my e-mail into the weblog...

As can be expected, All of the panelists were as charming, witty, and personable as you might imagine. Here's what I thought was the most important stuff:

* [SPOILER!] Highlight to Reveal: The Scouring of the Shire IS NOT HAPPENING. There's been a bit of back and forth on this on the web, but PJ says it just didn't work for the film version. The scene in Galadriel's mirror in Fellowship is an homage to the Scouring, and that's all there'll be.

* [SPOILER!] Highlight to Reveal: Shelob WILL NOT BE in The Two Towers. Apparently, they've expanded the Frodo-Sam-Gollum-Faramir stuff quite a bit, and as such Shelob has been kicked to the beginning of ROTK. No word on how they'll end TTT. PJ wanted us to know so that "we wouldn't be disappointed." More Arwen too, they said.

* [SPOILER!] Highlight to Reveal: Fran Walsh wrote AND directed Gollum's backstory. So flashbacks of Smeagol and his birthday present will be in TTT.

* March 22 is the day the new last reel goes out to theaters. I assume that means you'll be able to see the 3.5 minutes of Two Towers footage that night.

* DVD information was repeated (August theatrical version and November alternate version.) Galadriel gift-giving and more Fellowship character development will be included. PJ doesn't like the term "director's cut" so it's an "alternate version." It's got an extra half hour and it's been completed, except...

* Howard Shore is composing new music for the 30 minutes of Fellowship footage, which they said was a first.

* PJ and Chris Lee went to great pains to kill "the Internet stuff" about a rivalry between SW and LOTR. PJ said that the Lucasfilm folks were very helpful about suggesting animatics technology, etc., and Mr. Lee (who looked tired of the question) said there is NO comparison between the two films. (As he put it, LOTR happens on Earth and SW happens in Outer Space.)

* PJ was honored to be nominated for the Oscars, but doesn't think LOTR stands much of a shot for anything but the technical awards. But, as he noted, getting nominated is basically as good as winning and "Fellowship got 13 nominations and nobody can take that from us."

There you have it. All in all, very cool. I would have loved to get my copy of the trilogy signed, but then again it would've been that much more of a madhouse if they had started signing stuff for people.

2/21/02 - With Sen. Gordon Smith's signoff, the chances of a GOP filibuster of campaign finance are broken...for now. Hold the line, people...

What every NBA fan really wants to know - the story behind Moochie's hair.

Speaking of the NBA, the trading deadline came and went today, with the Knicks missing out on the big deal. Hey, Layden, you're fired.

Where Vegas fears to tread...DC looks to pick up the Tyson fight. Kinda sad, really. Is this what it has come to for the nation's capital?

The trailer for Death to Smoochy, one of the three parts (along with One Hour Photo and the Insomnia remake) to Robin Williams's 2002 "comeback," is now up.

Fanboy casting dept. - Jon Favreau to play Foggy Nelson in Daredevil and unknown Norwegian cutie Kristanna Loken will play the Terminatrix in the desperately unneeded T3.

I forgot which weblog I saw this on recently (sorry! Update: On Stuffed Dog), but this looks like a great idea for a WTC tribute, Circle Line notwithstanding.

2/17/02 - Dems hit the campaign trail. Hmmm...Edwards, Kerrey, Daschle, Gephardt, Lieberman, and, of course, Gore II...other than the Majority Leader, I can't say I'm much enthused by any of these jokers. That being said, other than Gore or Lieberman, none of them are a dealbreaker for me yet either. Let's see how it pans out.

Dylan's Love and Theft wins the prestigious Village Voice Pazz and Jop award. Take that, you ridiculously overrated Strokes...I don't need a bunch of Exeter boys to tell me how to keep it real in New York. Maybe that's a cheap shot (after all, the Beasties are pretty close to scions of NYC bluebloods too), but, man, they get on my nerves. Since when is ripping off the right people (VU, NY dolls, Ramones, etc.) a sign of musical excellence?

Hey, 13 nods for Fellowship! Now, that's what I'm talking 'bout. I don't mind if LOTR loses out to the powerful and moving In the Bedroom, even if it is a Miramax behemoth (obviously, I like Fellowship more, but the two films are basically incomparable), but I'm going to be more than a little ticked if it gets beaten by Ron Howard's revisionist schmaltzfest A Beautiful Mind. Speaking of Bedroom, I thought Tom Wilkinson was much, much better than the one-note and slightly shrill Sissy Spacek. That being said, Spacek'll definitely win (notwithstanding another divorcee sympathy vote for Kidman) while I doubt Wilkinson has much of a chance. At any rate, I'll post full Oscar picks closer to the show.

Baby phat. Obesity catches up with malnutrition as a worldwide problem. Grape nuts for everyone!

Slate on Billy Tauzin, one of the bigger thorns in the side of a progressive FCC back in the day. Not that John Dingell was any better.

With campaign finance reform picking up steam in Congress and Dubya's hands tied by the Enron scandal (which is now happily engulfing Ralph Reed), the anti-reform crowd begs for a Supreme Court bailout (Hey, it worked for the 2000 election.)

Speaking of Enron, Lucas is ticked (Via Lotta.)

The Knicks, ah the Knicks...well, what is there to say? Total freefall. Last in the Atlantic and going nowhere - It's now definitely what optimists call a "rebuilding year." Just give me a trade by Thursday...any trade. I don't care anymore.

My apologies for neglecting the Ghost of late. Most of my free time these days goes into reading and (IM or pickup) basketball, and almost all of my computer time not devoted to my website-making job is going into online warfare, at both the micro (the all-new Day of Defeat 2.0 WWII simulation is both amazingly realistic and hopelessly addictive - look for The Escapist) and macro (Civ 3 again...as of this writing Chinese battleships are trying without luck to break the cordon around Minas Tirith) levels. Good, free fun (notwithstanding the cable connection.) So's the weblog, I suppose. Ah well, enough excuses...I promise to be more diligent.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, by the way. Definitely more enjoyable than many I can remember.

2/4/02 - All the Superbowl ads, right here.

As with The Phantom Menace, Episode II gets the Leibovitz treatment in Vanity Fair.

An axis of evil? Please. The Axis of World War II has very little in common with our current potential foes. And why lump Iran with Saddam? Potentially, a very bad call.

Bono on Bill Gates and Paul O'Neill? Just don't let the ends justify the means, friend. Otherwise, I trust ya.

Peter Beinart crys havoc on Billy Tauzin. He's not right often, but he's right about this.

John Edwards gets props in New Hampshire.

The Two Towers trailer? Booyah! I'm extremely excited, but...I must confess, the idea of Episode II is growing on me...

The MGM attempt to emasculate Goldmember is so ridiculous I can barely believe it's happening. As if Austin wasn't the best thing to happen to MGM or the Bond franchise since Never Say Never Again. Total and complete garbage.

Kimberly Peirce to direct Childhood's End? This is good news. If ever a Sci-Fi work demanded the Oscar treatment, it's this tale. (Note I didn't mention Fantasy OR Fellowship...)

Pats win! Excellent...they were due.

As non-Knicks fans might expect, Camby is toast...again. This has gotten ridiculous - is he made of play-dough? Here's hoping one of Portland's forwards - 'Sheed, Dale Davis? - come a'calling.

RIP...my CTRL-button has died. Despite tax time coming up (the bane of the self-employed), a new keyboard seems like an imperative, particularly with Day of Defeat 2.0 around the corner...

Oh, HELL NO. Tanned, rested, and ready, Gore is back, although he's still undecided about a 2004 run. Wonderful. In the immortal words of Michael Corleone, "I keep trying to get out, but they pull me back in." Sounds like it might be time to fire up the Chump...Dems can ill afford another Gore disaster.