Is it too early to start up this train again? (Of course not.) A rare Return of the King 2003 calendar makes it online, with pics of Denethor and of Frodo in the lair of you-know-who. Mild spoilers for non-trilogy readers.
Month: January 2003
Pre-Pre-Pre-Primary.
As Al Sharpton joins the 2004 hunt (in which I suspect he’ll play the Alan Keyes role, and not just in terms of race), Adam Nagourney examines the Democratic contest so far. In related news, will Gary Hart join the fray?
They can’t handle the truth.
On his way out the door, JC Watts, the last Black Republican in Congress, reflects on race and the GOP (and compares Tom DeLay to Col. Nathan R. Jessup of A Few Good Men.)
10, 9, 8, 7…
If you couldn’t make it to Times Square on New Year’s Eve (or, like me, you were just lazy), here’s the next best thing (Via High Industrial.)
2003 Comings and Goings.
Genehack returns to his former digs, Do You Feel Loved? closes up shop, and Absolute Piffle warns of an extended break (Congrats on the adoptions.) Also, happy blogdays (belated, in CiB’s case) to Caught in Between, WebGoddess, and Dumbmonkey. Keep up the great work, y’all.
Something up their sleeve…
Citing Cheney’s energy meetings, Ashcroft’s FOIA directives, the holding of the (Iran-Contra explaining?) Reagan papers, and a host of other Dubya decisions that seem unnecessarily marked private, the NY Times (quoting Alan Brinkley) finds the Bush fils administration the most secretive in American history. But whatever would they have to hide?
Catching Up.
Speaking of cinema, making my top 20 films list the other day has encouraged me to get back in the habit of renting (the lousy weather the past four days has helped.) Over the past few days, I’ve perused Bill Paxton’s Frailty (Interesting, but I think The Rapture does this better), Guillermo Del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (I quite liked it, although the Spanish Civil War allegory gets a bit heavy), Wes Andersons’ The Royal Tenenbaums (I liked this as well. It’s a bit too self-consciously quirky, perhaps, but Gene Hackman is great, and there are sight gags aplenty. Far better than anything by the other Anderson.) and David Fincher’s Panic Room (Disappointing and strangely dull. The floating camera shots, which worked so well when used sparingly in Fight Club, seem unnecessary and distracting here. And Jared Leto seems out of his depth.) K-19: The Widowmaker will be this evening’s presentation, and if it ever comes back in I’d like to see Donnie Darko sometime this weekend as well.
Dead in the Water?
The teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill makes it online. Gotta say, this really doesn’t do much for me. In fact, I’d go as far to say that this teaser makes it look like a complete disaster. But I’m sure it’ll be a better film than it’s being made out to be here.
Eleventy-One!
Today J.R.R. Tolkien reaches the age of Bilbo’s big birthday bash, 111. Be sure to toast the professor at 9pm local time. (In other birthday news, a very happy birthday to my brother Thad yesterday.)
A Champion for Regular People?
William Saletan sizes up John Edwards’ Clintonian appeal, as does the rest of the media. If nothing else, it sounds like he’s got a winning message that he’s smart enough to stay on.