Some extended footage from Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City makes it online. Got a very strange, stylized look to it, to be sure. But I’ve been underwhelmed by everything Rodriguez has done since El Mariachi, and, let’s face it, graphic novels and film are two different mediums. As one AICN talkbacker noted, this could very well end up looking a “Max Fischer Stage Production of Frank Miller’s Sin City.”
The Lion Heads East.
Sony beats out Time Warner and ends up snagging MGM Hmm…that’ll make a film version of The Hobbit considerably more complicated.
9.11.04.
“I become irritated or disgusted only when anyone attempts to enlist these now voiceless dead for their own purposes. Respectful silence would be a far better response.” So writes Slate‘s gone-to-seed Dubya apologist Christopher Hitchens about the 1000 dead soldiers in Iraq. Would that the victims of 9/11 three years ago today were given the same courtesy. R.I.P. [0, 1, 2]
Lines…
Despite what Sharon Bush is saying now, the NY Daily News declares it has spoken to “an unimpeachable source” who can confirm her earlier declaration of Dubya coking up at Camp David. As Drudge might say, developing…
…and Splines.
“Now, would the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron have extravagantly purchased typewriters that contained the th superscript key? Would the military want or require typewriters with the ‘th’, ‘nd’, and ‘rd’ characters? Hmm. Ponder, Ponder. What would the 111th need with a th character… I’ll leave that to the enterprising among you to deduce.” So, as expected, the Bushies are pushing back hard on the 60 Minutes memos, and seem to have successfully managed shifting this news cycle from Dubya’s whereabouts to questions of possible forgery. Well, first off, The Daily Kos (quoted above) has written up a pretty good blow-by-blow explaining how all this new wrangling over font-technology adds up to less than its seems.
Regarding the documents’ authenticity, I think it’s entirely possible that somebody tried to “frame a guilty man” here, particularly given the depths to which we’ve already seen the Swift Boaters stoop. But, for now, I’m still thinking the docs are legitimate, as (a) CBS is strongly standing by them, and have a corroborative witness in Maj. Gen Bobby Hodges, Col. Killian’s (Republican) commanding officer, (b) unlike the Swift Boat allegations, they conform to what we already knew and to other information in the public record, and (c) Dubya’s White House, who knows the full story, certainly didn’t act like these could be fake documents when the story broke. At any rate, remove these Killian memos from the picture and the original question still stands: Where was Dubya, and why did he skip out on a required medical exam? Update: Experts in today’s Boston Globe back up the authenticity of the documents, including one examiner, Philip Bouffard, who had earlier suggested doubts to the NY Times.
Swifting the Savior.
“‘Do not resist one who is evil, but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other.’ CAN WE TRUST JESUS TO FIGHT THE WAR ON TERROR?” Via Mad Magazine and Eschaton, If Dubya was running against Jesus. Y’know, this is just the type of tax-and-spend fringe-lefty liberalism we’ve come to expect from hippy-dippy longhairs like Christ.
Tomorrow’s Gaining Speed.
In anticipation of Around the Sun (out October 4), R.E.M. have released a free download of new song snippets on iTunes (also available here and here), which includes “Leaving New York,” Around the Sun,” “Wanderlust,” “Electron Blue,” and “I Want To Be Wrong.” That goofy voicemail intro aside, I think this is strong stuff by our boys in Athens, easily better than Reveal and definitely more confident-sounding than the intermittent greatness of Up. “Electron Blue” — R.E.M.’s best run at an synth-driven tune yet — just might be my new favorite song-of-the-moment. And with the official word that the Tribe’s Q-Tip is also on one of the tracks (“The Outsiders”), this could be the choicest R.E.M. album in a decade or more.
Four Years of Failure.
The numbers don’t lie, folks. (Via Looka.)
Coalition of the Disgusted.
Aside from the Philippines, Nigeria, and Poland, the world wants John Kerry by a landslide. Undecided voters out there, you know how you can “Ask the Audience” on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire when you’re stumped? Consider it like that.
To Steal Votes for Dubya, press 1.
“The system’s key vulnerability is that county election workers or others with access to the machines could type in a two-digit code and create a second set of results that would then be forwarded to the state as the county’s official tally, said Bev Harris, one of the activists who filed the case.” The State of California joins a lawsuit against Diebold Election Systems, the voting machine maker whose chief executive declared in 2003 that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.” Now, doesn’t that seem like a strange Easter Egg to include in your voting machine? Between this and the Omega-DoD fiasco, the GOP endgame is starting to sound shady.