Slate‘s Clive Thompson reviews the most recent wave of MMORPGs, namely City of Heroes and World of Warcraft. The latter has already consumed several of my family members, and, frankly, I’m just afraid of it — my gaming binges are bad enough without adding an open-ended MMORPG to the mix. Sounds fun, though…
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
“Some lawmakers and senior party aides say that Mr. Lieberman remains in good standing. But they say that could change if he broke ranks and gave Mr. Bush a prominent Democratic ally on Social Security.” As feared and as usual, Senator Joe Lieberman seems to be the weak link in Democratic unity against the Dubya Social Security plan (although, to his credit, he has at least renounced private savings accounts.) Remember, Joe, once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Just look what happened to the Zell-out.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
Mark over at Nofeblog has collected some of the more compelling eulogies of Hunter S. Thompson, including ones by cartoonist Ralph Steadman and colleagues Tom Wolfe and David Halberstam.
If he only had a brain.
With the thoughts he’d be thinkin’, he could be another Lincoln…but, no, he’s turned to super-villainy. The first quality shots of Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow from Batman Begins pop up online. Word is he’ll look slightly more twisted to those under the influence.
Live from the UK.
He’s seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser gate…and he’s always made sure to post about it soon afterwards at LinkMachineGo, another excellent blog joining the ranks of recent five-year veterans. Congrats! (Somewhere, Grant Morrison is rejoicing.)
The Bombing Game.
Stephen Rea joins the Wachowskis’ take on V for Vendetta (with James Purefoy and Natalie Portman.) Unfortunately, according to Newsarama‘s Rich Johnston, the movie’s taking a few detours away from Alan Moore’s series. Given the terrorist protagonist, I’m dismayed, but not surprised. (2nd link via Ed Rants.)
Take your flunky and dangle.
After undoubtedly being read the Rove riot act for his earlier apostasy, a chastened Catkiller Frist changes his tune on Social Security reform and now says it has to happen this year. But, even with Dubya spinning otherwise, it’s starting to look ever clearer that the GOP privatization plan is going down.
Cage of Wicker.
Nicolas Cage has been cast in the Edward Woodward role in Neil LaBute’s Americanized remake of The Wicker Man. He wouldn’t be my first choice, but ok. Who’s going to be Christopher Lee?
Ghosts in the Machine.
“In order to be eligible to teach the classes, you must have: a Ph.D., experience teaching the subject matter, a good teaching record, and an intangible quality that we don’t want to define because we feel that definition would make it tangible. We will pay you roughly $4,000 a class regardless of your experience.” Some academic gallows humor courtesy of The Chronicle of Higher Education: Dear Adjunct Faculty Member. (There’s also a pretty funny piece on the psychological afflictions of grad students making the e-mail rounds, but unfortunately it’s premium content.)
Give them the $@% ball.
With Spring right around the corner, Hollywood serves up a twin helping of lousy little league coaches: First, Billy Bob Thornton turns on the Bad Santa in Richard Linklater’s Bad News Bears remake, and then Will Ferrell channels Mike Ditka (and Victory) in the full trailer for Kicking and Screaming.