Month: July 2006

Childhood’s End | Hard Shell.

No teens or mutant teens, take your pick: In the near future, Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, and Chiwetel Ejiofor look to save the Earth’s last pre-born in the dystopic new trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men. (Between this and The Fountain, it may be a good fall for sci-fi.) And Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and Leonardo (the turtles, not the artists) get the CGI treatment in the teaser for TMNT. (No Elias Koteas or Sam Rockwell this time around? Bleah.)

Crushed at the Stem.

As y’all probably know by now, Dubya — so eager to exploit and enlargen executive power in other arenas — vetoed his first bill in five years yesterday, when he decided to capitulate to the sad remnants of his base, set back medical science a few more years, and nip stem cell research in the bud once again. While Dubya said the bill would have forced “American taxpayers…for the first time in our history…to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos,” he made no argument for criminalizing fertility clinics, where similar embryos get tossed away unused every day. “‘If that’s murder, how come the president allows that to continue?’ asked Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). ‘Where is his outrage?’ Harkin called the veto ‘a shameful display of cruelty, hypocrisy and ignorance.‘”

Post-Borns in Poverty = Evildoers?

So, the pre-born aside, how does Dubya feel about the plight of actual, honest-to-goodness post-born American kids living in poverty these days? Well, judging from his recent statements on poverty, or complete and utter lack thereof since Katrina faded from public memory, he couldn’t care less. “Domestic poverty did not come up in his State of the Union address in January, and his most recent budget included no new initiatives directed at the poor.”

The Specter of Tyranny | King George covers his flank.

“[I]f Specter’s bill prevails, it will amount to a White House masterstroke, precisely what James Madison had in mind when he described the dangers of unchecked rule by one branch of government: ‘the very definition of tyranny.’” Having read the legislation in full, author and wiretap expert Patrick Radden Keefe discovers, perhaps not surprisingly, that Specter’s recent NSA “compromise” is a complete capitulation to executive power. And, in very related news, file this under “repeated injuries and usurpations“: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified under oath this week that it was Dubya’s personal decision to close down the Justice Department’s probe into the NSA’s warrantless wiretaps (the one, you may recall, that couldn’t get the security clearances to do its job.)

Jokebat Mountain?


Along with word of an unfortunately actioned-up Watchman script and news of some stranger-than-usual comic adaptations (The Doom Patrol? Frank Miller on Will Eisner’s Spirit? Benicio Del Toro’s Deadman?), Latino Review — the site that first announced Brandon Routh as Superman in 2004 — discloses that Heath Ledger has an offer to play the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s next Batman flick. Hmm. An interesting and slightly-out-of-left-field choice…He wouldn’t have been one of my top picks for the part (Adrien Brody, Sam Rockwell, Paul Bettany, or how ’bout Ralph Reed?…His calendar’s open), but he’s definitely better than some names that were floating around (Crispin Glover, Robin Williams, Michael Keaton, Sean Penn.)

Reed Ruined.

Stick a fork in him — As suspected, former Christian Coalition wunderkind and Casino Jack flunky Ralph Reed is politically finished after being forced to concede the Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s race, a campaign he was a mortal lock to win before his Abramoff shenanigans leaked. Almost as sweet as Reed’s comeuppance, we now know that, despite the GOP’s gamble, the Ballad of Casino Jack does in fact play at the polls this election season. Better start dancin’, Boehner…

Hulk Smash Puny Transport!

In other comic-to-film news, Transporter director Louis Leterrier has been given the reins of The Incredible Hulk, which is apparently a re-do of Ang Lee’s ill-conceived version of a few years ago. A solid choice, but given Marvel’s recent non-Spidey track record (X3, FF, Blade 3, etc.), I can’t say I’m very hopeful.

Joementum Stalls.

And is dubious Democrat Joe Lieberman finished as well? (At least in the party, that is.) A new Quinnipac poll shows him trailing challenger Ned Lamont 51-47 for the first time in the Connecticut primary, which takes place August 8. (Although, loath to make the same mistake as his former running mate, Lieberman has the one and only Bill Clinton — a man who knows how to survive an inappropriate kiss or two — coming to town on Monday to campaign for him.) Update: Clinton makes the case.

Citizen Hearst | Re-Up.


Grim [expletive deleted] tidings…With last night’s episode (and this season’s marvelously malevolent Big Bad, George Hearst [Gerald McRaney], on the verge of running riot), we’re already halfway through our last full helping of Deadwood. (You can keep up on its historicity here.) The silver lining? That puts us ever closer to Season 4 of The Wire (this year’s target: the school system), which HBO has only just begun to tease.