Random Updatery

1) Taking the day off from Adamant today. Spending the morning on writing fiction, spending the afternoon on AC Milan vs Liverpool.

2) The brief flirtation with having balls is over. The Democrats folded, and are giving Bush his blank check. Despite the fact that 2/3rds of American citizens want this war over NOW, the weak-willed bastards are unwilling to stick to a demand for withdrawal, or even defining any consequences for failing to meet benchmarks. “Compromise” = “Giving the Dictator exactly what he wants.”

3) I’ll say it, if nobody else will: Nobody cares about your horoscope but you. For all that is good and holy, stop posting them.

4) Lawrence continues its time-honored tradition of giving the finger to the rest of Kansas by passing a Domestic Registry ordinance. I expect that this will become the subject of a right-wing evangelical political/legal smackdown over the next few months, but it’s a nice statement, while it lasts.

5) Am I the only one who was underwhelmed by the Heroes finale? It seemed like they needed one more episode to really do everything that they wanted to do….as it was, we got 45 minutes of more plot build-up and revelations, followed by a hasty, blink-and-you-miss-it final confrontation. That’s it? That’s what we waited for? I’ve also got some problems with the story logic surrounding the resolution, but given that some folks haven’t seen it yet, I’ll keep that to comments, if anybody cares to ask.

6) Got Black Books series 2 from Netflix. Watched the first half of it last night. Bernard Black continues to be my hero. “I don’t know, it’s an impossible choice… I’ll just have to hope when I flip the coin it somehow explodes and kills me.”

Grindhouse: Separate Releases in Europe….

Here’s a BBC News story about Tarantino at the Cannes film festival.

Apparently, according to the story:

“The disappointing US box office performance of Grindhouse has seen plans abandoned for the double bill’s international release.”

….So they’ll be releasing longer versions of the separate films.

executive producer Harvey Weinstein insisted that the editing of the movies to make the double bill had “removed some of the essence of the films”.

“European audiences are going to get a lot more, and a lot more enjoyment, when they see the films as intended.

“You are going to get Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino doing their thing, and it will dwarf Grindhouse.”

Tarantino said: “We didn’t cut our movies to the bone, we cut them past the bone.”

The longer version of Death Proof includes long conversational scenes involving actresses including Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan and Tracie Thoms.

Huh.

I’m really glad that I got the whole double-feature-with-trailers experience at the theatre, but I have to admit that I’m curious to see longer versions.

Here’s hoping for a collectors-edition extra-long DVD (with a direct-to-video Machete feature, although that’s probably wishful thinking, since the experiment was deemed a failure)…..

Footie Hooky

I’m playing hooky on Wednesday, if anybody would like to join me….

At 1:30 in the afternoon, the Red Lyon pub in downtown Lawrence will be showing the UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan. So, I’m taking the day off, going downtown to sit in a cool dark pub, sipping pints and watching some football.

If you’re feeling particularly naughty and wish to join me in some much-needed blowing off of responsibility for an afternoon, by all means, please do.