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4/11/00 - Comic book writer Frank Miller confirms he is currently working on a 4-part sequel to The Dark Knight Returns. For those of you who didn't read comic books in the Eighties, Dark Knight, which along with Alan Moore's The Watchmen stood as arguably the preeminent comic work of the decade, chronicled the waning days in the life of Bruce Wayne in a Gotham City now run by hellacious gangs. It's a story that definitely holds up, despite the appearance of President Reagan.

She doesn't use the web much, but, nevertheless, Happy Twenty-First Birthday to my sister, Gillian!

Tom Hanks, Jr. as Anakin?! Can we cast the freakin' part already, George? In other movie news, somehow Neil Gaiman will be writing and directing his own film version of Death:the High Cost of Living. I don't think he has any directorial experience, but better he screws up his own project than some chump change like Chris Columbus, Michael Bay, or Joel Schumacher.

On Phish's advice, I picked up a Weblogs Zeldman Icon this afternoon. I wanted to go for something appropriately creepy to match the title, and I was torn between this one, Bela Lugosi, or the evil baby (I used to have the green damned on on my home page, but, alas, it had already been appropriated by Jeff's Weblog.)

The Knicks bested Indiana 83-81 last night, thanks to a strong fourth quarter by the big fella (and possibly his version of Maradona's "Hand of God."). Meanwhile, Iverson & Co. smashed Miami 96-80, meaning that, if not for Timmy's buzzer-beater hail mary on Sunday, the Knicks would be tied for top of the Atlantic.

After the Knickerbocker win, the Pacers didn't sound much like a playoff team. Reggie Miller on the officiating: "They're cheating us now...I don't know if it's being a small market, but we'll never get the benefit of the doubt like the big-market teams like New York and Los Angeles." Strong words coming from the universally regarded King of the Flop Foul. Coach Larry Bird on the Dutchman in the Paint: Rik Smits just wasn't there...He hit one jump shot in the fourth quarter and that is why I have not been playing him in the fourth quarter. It's hard to have a lot of confidence in a guy that dribbles around and loses the ball and cannot convert free throws, at least one of them, down the stretch." Ouch. Whining and interteam quibbling like this is going to get Indiana knocked out in the first round by the surprising Magic. As for Ewing's touching the 3-pointer, I'd say it may have been illegit, but the Knicks deserve this kind of karmic payback after the Miami game.

The English move ever closer to the Utopian society: 24-hour pubs. Speaking of the UK, if you're young, English, and want to be Harry Potter, here's the contact info for the film's casting search.

R.I.P. Larry Linville 1940-2000, a.k.a. Major Frank Burns of M.A.S.H.

4/10/00 - Is anybody else out there already sick of the new "Bill Gates is a human too!" campaign commercial by Microsoft? I must have seen it about twelve times yesterday between the Knicks game and Failsafe. Although I prefer Netscape, I'm of the school that Microsoft, for all its faults, is getting somewhat jacked in this whole DOJ affair, particularly given the AOL-Time Warner merger. I don't have the knowledge or eloquence to state the anti-DOJ case as effectively as Absolute Piffle did in his 4/3 entry, but I do think the Department of Justice overestimate's Microsoft's ability to quell a really good innovation. At any rate, repeated viewings of this new Gates ad may end up changing my mind on the subject. (AGH! The first commercial break of the Knicks-Pacers game in the background, and there it was again!)

The quest for Latino votes continues. Bush repudiates Prop 187 (without mentioning it by name, of course.) Meanwhile Gore waxes effusive over Elian Gonzalez and tries to pull the same race-baiting bit he used to knock Bill Bradley off-rhythm. In other Gore news, believe it or not, voters still don't think he's sincere.

China calls B.S. on our embassy bombing explanation. My brother and sister-in-law just got back from a year in Beijing, and they tell me that the average Chinese man-on-the-street believes without a doubt that the United States purposely bombed that embassy, probably because the stealth fighter downed by the Serbs - and all the ultra-secret US technology within - may have been in the embassy basement. Well, it's a conspiracy theory that makes more sense to me than does Vince Foster.

The Pulitzers are announced.

Huey Lewis gets cold feet over his inclusion on the American Psycho soundtrack. You'd think the guy would be doing anything at this point to pay the bills...must have a good investor.

The English government considers regulating the fashion industry to help stem the tide of anorexia.

According to the Post, African-American women are disproportionately strip-searched by Customs, twice as often as whites of either gender and three times as often as black men.

Ok, gang, I'm playing catch-up on all the great weblogs I've missed in the past four days, so forgive me if today's entry seems a little more mimetic than usual:

Rome has been sacked. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. According to Neale, it's time for webloggers to start looking for new work (via Mirasol), such as copying the Bible longhand. (I ended up a Discoverer.)

Two great links from Cluttered: Furious George, the web-based game whereby you lead an monkey on a cross-country crime spree (I'm pretty sure this one already made the rounds awhile back), and Fisher Price Little People costumes.

Usr/Bin/Girl previews DopeWars 2.0.

From Breaching the Web, Ralph Nader addresses the absurdity of the ban on industrial hemp.

Apropos of Nothing and Bad Hair Days have keyed in on a nasty case of web journal plagiarism. Read their summaries of the case, then please contact the Rosanne show (or 1-877-973-7000) to make your displeasure known.

Ugh. Timmy Hardaway throws up a ridiculous crackhead tre in the last seconds of overtime and Miami wins by one. Then he had the nerve in the post-game interview to act as if that was his signature shot or something (although he recanted in later interviews.) The Heat MUST NOT go to the Finals. I'd almost rather have the Pacers beat 'em. Well, maybe not.

The live broadcast remake of Failsafe made for some powerful television last night, and surprisingly Richard Dreyfuss seemed even good enough to thwart the ghost of Henry Fonda that I thought would haunt this production. To my mind, Harvey Keitel was sadly the only real weak link (and Hank Azaria had only to change his vocal pitch about a half step higher and we'd have the science professor from The Simpsons lecturing the war room), but all in all, it was an excellent version of a forgotten caveat, and it greatly restored my faith in network TV specials (and CBS, to boot!)

Slate has some choice words about the NYT testosterone piece mentioned here last week, while Salon tries to explain Al Gore through pop-culture alchemy.

4/9/00 - Come back...to Mordor we will take you... In case you missed 'em, the X-Men trailer and Tolkien Teaser are now up. The former looks to be a faithful rendition of the source material and a A-/B+ summer movie. The latter, however, looks absolutely spectacular - I was amazed at how completely Peter Jackson's visual aesthetic so far matches my mental picture of the trilogy. (Consider, for example, the shots of scared Frodo, the encroaching armies of Mordor and Sean Bean/Boromir's covetous stare at the one ring.) In my opinion, the Nazgul/Ringwraiths still need a few otherworldly touches, but that's what post-production is for.

Elaine and I returned from Deltona, Fl a few hours ago, where as previously noted we enjoyed four days with her paternal grandparents. We didn't have time to survey the Orlando scene or go to any amusement parks, but we did play grotesque amounts of Skipbo and Rummikub. We also learned that retirees LOVE Millionaire.

I also managed to down a few books on the trip: Survivor, Chuck Palanhiuk's follow-up to Fight Club, is another morbidly satirical and nihilistic send-up of modern life with an excellent first two-thirds, a decent conclusion, and a scene involving a boiled lobster that made me gag to the point where I thought I might actually use one of those flimsy paper airsickness bags. Then came The Virgin Suicides (about which the forthcoming film and current soundtrack were earlier discussed in this space), the debut novel by Jeffrey Eugenides concerning a town's morbid fascination with the five suicides of the distant, doomed Lisbon sisters. After reading this macabre take on suburban decay, I'm wondering how much of it can be transcribed into film (the moody soundtrack is definitely a step in the right direction, but since I heard it before I read the book, I'm probably already biased in that regard.)

Excellent news on the Spidey front: The powers-that-be have selected Jude Law to portray your friendly neighborhood webslinger. Hopefully, Law knows that Peter Parker is more Tom Ripley nerdy than Dickie Greenleaf suave - he definitely has the acting chops to ensure this puppy ends up better-than-average.

Well, I should write more to catch up, but the Knicks are tipping off against the Heat. Until later.

4/5/00 - Almost out the door to Deltona, FL over here, but thought I'd try to squeeze in a quick update. Hope I have something to say!

The new X-men trailer - over 2 and a half minutes long - will be posted on the website tonight at 11pm EST/8pm PST. The pic on the right is of the inimitable Sir Ian McKellen as the Mutant Master of Magnetism, which reminds me, my next DVD purchase must be his brilliant Brazil-like retelling of Richard III. What is worth dying for...is worth killing for.

Speaking of Sir McKellen, the posting of the Lord of the Rings footage is now only TWO days away.

And in even more fanboy genre news, Carrie Ann-Moss (Trinity) and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) are now signed, sealed and delivered for the sequel to The Matrix. (Neo and Morpheus are already on board.) Moreover, the brothers Wachowski may now be considering Jet Li for a part in the big show.

The Prisoner, classic British Sci-fi, may be returning...to the big screen. Alert No. 6.

4/4/00 - As it turns out, Elaine and I will be headed down to Orlando for the remainder of the week to see her grandparents, so updates may be scarce and/or nonexistent. Sorry!

Al Gore invents the phrase "national emergency." Meanwhile, Mickey Kaus of Slate reviews some of the veep's more egregious lies and exaggerations of late, and NBC underlines the fiscal impetus for Gore's shameless entry into the Elian Gonzalez fray. On a more heartening note, Bird on a Wire discovers that there may be more Nader support out there than I had originally expected. Glad to hear that we disillusioned Bradleyites could actually make a difference.

The trailer for Crouching Tiger, Leaping Dragon, the new Ang Lee film, is now online. Rumored to be some sort of martial arts project, the movie stars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh. Could be a keeper.

R.E.M. will be recording the follow-up (no pun intended) to their vastly underated Up in Vancouver, starting in May.

Before I discard it and wait for next year, I thought I'd pass along the final results of my NCAA bracket:

First Round: 26 of 32. Okay, that's a pretty good showing!

Second Round: 5 of 16. Uh-oh. Upset city.

Elite Eight: 2 of 8. (Mich. State, Ok. State) It's not looking good...

Final Four: 1 of 4. (Mich. State) Ugh. Does this mean I have to root for Mich. State?

Final: 1 of 2 (Mich. State) Come on, Florida...

Champion: 0 of 1. (I picked Duke.) Sigh. How're the Knicks doing?

All in all, pretty pathetic. At least I didn't lose any simoleons this year.

Speaking of simoleons, The Sims website has a Version 1.1 available for download.

4/3/00 - A quick recap of tonight's main stories: Microsoft loses, Michigan State wins, and the Headless Chicken finally gets his due.

50 Cups adopted this little ducky fella to the left from the Pokemon Adoption Centre and named him Murphy (the Psyduck.) He's no direct relation, but since he's also a Murphy I thought I'd give him and 50 Cups a shout-out. As a matter of fact, Murphy's a pretty good choice for him, as the name "Murphy" originated from O Murchadha , the Gaelic word for "sea warrior" or "pirate" or "water Pokemon". (If you had been on any of my crew boats through college, particularly HVL'97, you would have already heard this particular etymology about fifty times from me...I had no qualms with recycling my coxing material year after year.)

The Other Side offers his thoughts on gold dollar hoarding. I must confess that I've been a culprit myself. Of the five Sacajawea coins I got at Ben and Jerry's last week, I gave one to my sister and one to a homeless guy, but so far I have refused to use the other three as currency. My bad.

George Lucas apologizes to the world for Jar Jar Binks (courtesy of Mirasol.) It makes you wish April Fool's Day was a year-round event.

From Xeney, the sad tale of a police dog and the faulty cruiser AC unit that killed him.

Hey, Epinions: Thanks for the t-shirt.

April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. And Eliot the expat didn't even have to deal with the IRS. Twelve days and counting...all I have to do at this point is press the PRINT button and sign the forms, but, trust me, that could still take awhile.

It felt like the first Spring weekend in DC, to be sure, what with a sunny Basketball-filled Saturday and a rain-soaked, guitar-intensive Sunday. And to drive the point home, the two prevailing indicators of a Washington Spring were also much in evidence: burgeoning cherry blossoms and the sweet, small, clumsy feet of April, i.e. hundreds of elementary school children in neon-colored hats enjoying school field trips to the Capitol City. And, speaking of field trips, the Battle in Seattle protest forces are expected to begin arriving in town this coming weekend to prep for the next wave of anti-globalism demonstrations.

The Knicks folded against the Lakers 106-82 yesterday. You know you're in trouble when the highlight of the game is Chris Childs punching Kobe Bryant in the throat. In related news, the biochemical cause and effect of the aforementioned fisticuffs, as with countless other examples of aggression and bravado, were detailed by Anthony Sullivan in this week's New York Times Magazine (which, it seems, was also enjoyed by Dumbmonkey. Hey, ya big dumb monkey, ya wanna go a few rounds?)

In other Knicks news, baby-faced 2-guard and lethal jumpshooter Allan Houston makes his film debut in Black and White, the new Toback project opening this weekend. My curiosity about his performance is tempered by the possibilities for really bad improv work in this movie, not to mention the sudden media over-saturation of Bijou Phillips, who may have eclipsed Gretchen Mol's seemingly once-unbreakable speed record from untalented nobody to untalented, overexposed cover girl.

Only 4 more days until they post the Lord of the Rings footage. Booyah.

How Denzel got screwed out of the Oscar.

Weisberg on Shrub, the Molly Ivins take on the Republican nominee. I need to pick this one up sometime very soon. It sounds like a decently enjoyable polemic written about the same subject as the decently enjoyable polemic I'm collaborating on. Then again, while Shrub focuses solely on the Bush gubernatorial record, the book project I'm on is centered more on the campaign experience and the usual machinations of the hard right. So, hopefully redundancy will be minimal.

Tom Brokaw dismisses the relevance of the mediocre Bush-Gore transcripts.

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