Monday, February 25, 2002

Stole this from Metafilter because it's just too good to leave alone: Bush's Secretary of the Army, Thomas E. White, has an extremely impressive bio, listing numerous accomplishments of which he can be rightly proud. It loses a bit of its luster, however, when you see how it looked before the Enron scandal broke.

I knew The Wayback Machine was going to come in handy someday...

Posted @ 1:52 AM

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Thursday, February 21, 2002

While Tim is excited about the following news, I'm more than a trifle dubious. McG, the man who helmed Charlie's Angels, has been signed to direct the next Superman film.

Now, I was quite underwhelmed by Charlie's Angels when I saw it on DVD late last year. Considering the extremely low expectations I had going into this film, that's not a good sign. Couple this with Warner Brothers' stated intention to churn out films based on its superhero properties like so much cotton candy, and my wariness grows exponentially.

As anyone who has read this blog for a while can tell you, I'm very picky about and protective of Superman. This is especially true regarding his translation to the big and small screens. When it's done well (Season 1 of Lois & Clark, Smallville so far, the first two films) it's spectacular. When it's done poorly (the rest of Lois & Clark, the last two films), it's almost too painful to watch. Only time will tell if this new incarnation of the big blue Boy Scout will fly (or get off the ground for that matter), but right now I wouldn't put any money on it.

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If this week's posts make you think I'm particularly cranky right now, you're right. I wish I knew why that's so, but I haven't got a clue. At least it seems to have increased my blogging, so there's your silver lining.

Posted @ 12:50 AM

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Tuesday, February 19, 2002

After hearing two separate instances of the same hackneyed phrase in the span of an hour tonight, I am forced to declare a moratorium. From this time forward, local newscasters are forbidden from introducing technology stories with the words, "It might look like science fiction, but it's true."

Fox 5 and ABC 7, consider yourselves on notice.

Posted @ 11:22 PM

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Monday, February 18, 2002

I have a confession to make: I'm an inveterate punster. I credit (some might prefer "blame") my father for my love of wordplay. He, in turn, got it from his father. Many of my best childhood memories are of the two of them, sitting in my grandfather's living room after a holiday meal, volleying puns back and forth on that session's ever-morphing topic.

In the eyes of the cognoscenti, punning is the redheaded stepchild of wit. To the world at large, puns are something to be tolerated, but never encouraged. Folks will groan good-naturedly for a little while, but if a couple of punsters really get rolling, they have to find a quiet spot somewhere away from the general populace for fear of ostracism and retribution.

I say all this to establish my bona fides on the subject. I want it made clear that I have no prejudice against puns or punsters per se. I do, however, worry when they start playing around with experimental genetics.

I was quite taken with CC, the world's first cloned cat, when word of her existence burst onto the scene a few days back. She's a cute little furball, and much more engaging than Dolly ever was. But the story took on a disturbing turn for me when I found out the name of the company that's backing the experiments: Genetic Savings & Clone

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Vindication, sweet vindication. Months after I railed against the media's inaccurate and overheated coverage of the "Summer of the Shark," the final numbers show I was right all along.

Posted @ 3:15 PM

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Thursday, February 14, 2002

Kevin Smith couldn't have scripted this one better: a woman in Pennsylvania has accepted a marriage proposal from her comic-shop owner boyfriend which he had placed in next month's issue of Wonder Woman.

(By the way, this is the first and, hopefully, only time I will ever link to the New York Post.)

Posted @ 11:28 AM

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Tuesday, February 12, 2002

This one is going to piss off a whole bunch of my friends. Word on the street is that Fox's Futurama will not be returning next season.

On some level, I'm surprised the show made as long as it did. Fox gave it virtually no support from day one, and it was often pre-empted by football (not the games themselves, mind you, just post-game analysis) or, even more frequently, for no apparent reason. Folks like myself who were interested in the show were hard-pressed to follow it, much less develop a real taste for it.

Coming as this does on the heels of The Tick's cancellation, Fox seems bound and determined to clear its boards of anything that smacks of the fantastic and funny. If it weren't for Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle and Bernie Mac, I could easily live without the entire network.

Posted @ 1:14 PM

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Monday, February 11, 2002

No Into the Woods for me. It's a little sad, but the turnout at auditions was massive and formidable, so I expect it'll be a wonderful show, even without my presence. And I have to give major kudos to the production staff for setting up one of the most enjoyable auditions I've ever been through. Anytime you can walk away from one of these sessions with a smile on your face, somebody's doing something right.

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I've got this big, major piece of news to share, but I'm awaiting confirmation before I spill the beans. It's not a job, but if all goes well I might not have to worry about work or money for a long time.

No, it's not a mob hit. Those days are long behind me.

Posted @ 8:55 PM

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Wednesday, February 06, 2002

David Gallagher, proprietor of the picture-blog lightningfield.com, was in Italy for three months on business, just returning home recently. In his first major update since getting back, he addresses the sad aftermath of neglect from last year's flag mania. If you've got time, give it a look. If you don't, here's the best line:

The message a beat-up flag sends is, "Last year I really loved my country, but lately I've been losing interest in the relationship, and we've drifted apart."

Posted @ 1:35 PM

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Wow, it's been a week since I logged in here. This may be my longest gap between blog entries, and I'm none too proud of it.

I have to claim illness. I've had the nastiest little head cold for nearly a week now, and it's really played havoc with my ability to think or focus for any period of time. Not only has the ol' House here been neglected, but I'm way behind on e-mail, too. So if you've written me in the last week or so, please accept my apologies and keep an eye on your inbox; I'll be replying shortly.

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A couple quick updates of stories from last week:

Despite my addled state, I was able to drag my sorry ass to Into the Woods auditions. Over 120 people showed up over the two days, so getting a spot in this show is going to be a struggle. As soon as I know something for sure, I'll be crowing about it here.

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My shameless groveling paid off! Just hours after metaphorically falling to my knees in supplication before the lovely and talented Jen, she wrote me with confirmation that I had indeed earned a place on her PDA's Quicklist. Jen and I enjoyed a tasty Mexican lunch yesterday in celebration of this event.

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It's virutally impossible for me to say it now and have anyone believe me, but I actually picked the Patriots to defeat the Rams in the Super Bowl. If only I'd had the foresight to place a little wager on the game, I might have been able to line my coffers and give myself a few more weeks to find a job. Ah well.

Posted @ 12:57 AM

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