I know you want this, Stephen

All the clues for NeW X MeN's revelation laid bare
Don't read it unless you want the issue spoiled.

Warren Ellis reviews the first Enterprise episode of the season

"Well... Spock. I've considered the.... situation. And. I. Think it would be best if... we turned around, went back home and got a lot of soldiers todothefightingforus."

"Dr McCoy, please observe. The Captain's entire penis has broken off at the root. Fascinating."

Basic rules of serial storytelling: don't totally fucking undermine your protagonists unless you have a damn good story-driven reason for doing so that leads to a decent conclusion without pressing the reset button.

There's more that I took from Aint It Cool. After reading this, it makes me want to subscribe to Bad Signal again.

I can't sleep
For the last 6 days I've had nothing but bad sleep. Lots of my mind. Hopefully this weekend, the tide will turn.

Chong gets 9 months for selling bongs

Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking duo in the Cheech and Chong movies, asked for leniency from a judge Thursday but was sentenced to nine months in prison for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia.

Chong's attorneys argued for no jail time, saying the actor and comedian would use his celebrity to become a role model against drugs and would dedicate his life to public service.

The 65-year-old apologized to the court and his family, saying he "got carried away" with his movie character.

More in link. When I first read the headline, I thought that Chong was selling *bombs*. Wouldn't it be wild if he was a terrorist?

Christian Bale is the new Batman
Since Noland is directing, wouldn't it be cool if they got Guy Pearce to play the Joker?

Camp Delta inmates will talk for burgers

American interrogators here have come up with a few new weapons as they try to pry loose the secrets of prisoners captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

"It could be cupcakes, it could be Twinkies, it could even be a McDonald's hamburger," says Warrant Officer James Kluck, who, as the ranking food service officer, helps supply some of the unlikely ammunition.

"Sometimes, they go up on the base and get [the prisoner] a Happy Meal."

A McDonald's Happy Meal?

"Oh, yes, from what I'm told. It's got a toy and everything."

More in link.

Maybe Ronald MacDonald should be Chief Interogation Officer.

Possible Zelda 5-pack in the works

Sources today have indicated that Nintendo may be planning a console bundle that will have gamers drooling and Nintendo loyalists wishing they didn't already own a GameCube(Rob says: No fuck! This is the best deal I've ever heard. Why didn't I hold out longer for the 'Cube?)...
The bundle is said to include:
The Legend of Zelda

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

A Zelda Documentary

More in link, if you excuse the pun.

This is what I remember about September 11th 2001
I was in the shower when Mike phoned me up about the news of September 11th. At first I didn’t believe Mike, thinking that this was a farfetched joke at my expense. After getting off the phone, and drying off, I turned on my radio (I never bothered with a television while I lived in Victoria) and listened to the news. At that point, there wasn’t that much information, only that either a bomb had exploded in the World Trade Center and that a plane might have possibly hit it. Not wanting to be late for school ( I was behind schedule as it was), I ran out and took the bus. One of the guys that I went to school was on the bus, and we started to talk about what we had heard earlier. I joked, saying that chances were that Bush had orchestrated some sort of missile attack on one of the towers so that he could get more money for the Star Wars 2 system. A woman interupted us and told us that she thought that it was terrorists and that it was the start of a new war.

There wasn’t that many people at school that day. The obvious reason being the news, but the other reason was that half the teachers didn’t get paid for the work that they were doing and decided to walk out. The teacher that taught the acting course stayed outside, in the smoking pit with a bunch of students, getting his nicoteen fix with the others. We talked about the attacks, listened for news trickling in and made plans to go to a bar later that day so that we could watch the news. Lots of paranoid thoughts were tossed back and forth, with the predominant notion that a nation, most likely a middle eastern one, would be bombed into oblivion by that time next week. It felt like a dream, and every word felt like weights.

We had two classes that day. The first one didn’t involve any work at all. Mark, our editing teacher had brought the footage of the attacks that he had taped on the television earlier. I hadn’t seen anything ip to that point and I was shocked by how surreal it was. It was blockbuster verité. All throughout the day, the BBC World service would blare in the hallways and we’d get updates during our breaks.

I don’t remember much of that day, until the evening. I suppose that we went through the motions, like we normally did. When I got home, I phoned my family, asked if they heard the news and what they had thought. My mom was understandably concerned, and she told me to pray. My dad and I discussed the possible socio-political implications. After that, I phoned up my girlfriend and I told her that I missed her and I loved her.

I went to see Moulin Rouge for the third time that evening, escaping the world for a while, with a half enthused audience. As I walked home that evening, the air was quiet, with no jets flying over, and everyone seemed a little shell shocked, like zombies. I went to bed that evening, listening to the CBC. The last thing I remember before going to bed was a pilot saying that what happened was impossible and that things like this never should have happened.


What do you remember about September 11th?

Fantagraphics to publish the complete Peanuts

Fantagraphics Books will be publishing the complete PEANUTS strips in deluxe editions designed by cartoonist Seth, it was revealed at this weekend’s SPX. A posting on the Comics Journal message board confirms the plan, although details will be announced later this week. Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth had been in negotiations with creator Charles Schulz before his death, and has been dealing with his widow, Jeannie, and syndicate United Media since.
Charles Schulz’ strip features such beloved characters as Charlie Brown and Snoopy and is among the greatest achievements in comic strip history.

Taken from the Pulse.

What happens when you overdose on Prozac

There has also been a number of well-publicized cases where patients taking Prozac “went postal” and committed murder-suicides. Increased aggression can be a side effect of Prozac but Lilly attributes these cases to poor diagnosis and follow up by psychiatrists prescribing the drug. Lilly’s stance on product liability is that as the second-most widely prescribed drug in the US Prozac is more likely to wrongly prescribed and more likely to be blamed in cases of unknown pre-existing psychoses.

Found here, because I'm oh so bored.

Pudgy Pets are Putting on Pound

The saying goes that people start to look like their pets. Turns out it's the other way around: Our pets are starting to look like us - overweight.
As many as one-fourth of cats and dogs in the Western world are overweight, according to the National Research Council in the first update since 1986 of its "Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats." While aimed at veterinarians, pet-food makers and scientists, the report also contains useful pointers for pet owners

More in link.

Ronald MacDonald promoted to Chief Happiness Officer

Commenting on Ronald's promotion, McDonald's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Cantalupo said, "Ronald has brought joy to everyone he's ever met, and this promotion is a way of saying thanks for all the great work he's done. Everything good about McDonald's is embodied in Ronald -- he is forever young -- and he's taught us there's a little bit of Ronald in all of us."

More in link.

Unknown To No One

A five-strong Iraqi boy band are aiming to become the country's second-biggest export after oil.

Unknown to No One have to rehearse in an old car - and a CD they once recorded sold less than 2,000 copies.

But they think with professional help they could make the international big time.

...""If people attack us for being in a band, that's terrorism."

More in link.

Police Call in Ghostbusters

Stumped by mysterious sights and sounds in their own headquarters, who did police call? Ghostbusters.

In the still of night, doors rattled and stairwells creaked in the city's police department. In the light of day, a secretary's desk drawer opened on its own. A city worker who toured the building late one night even reported feeling something grab her leg.

So the police took the probe to another dimension. "The way I treat it is not that there is a ghost, there's just things that I can't explain," said Officer John Wilson, who contacted the Scientific Investigative Ghost Hunting Team, based in Louisville.

The team of professional paranormal investigators gave the brick building a preliminary review and will return this fall for a thorough probe. The group will set up cameras and tape recorders as well as infrared thermometers to capture any temperature variations.

The goal is to try to prove the strange occurrences aren't caused by paranormal forces, said Kay Owen, vice president of the nonprofit ghosting hunting team, which doesn't charge for its services.

"We'll go in and try to recreate everything that they are experiencing," she said. "If they can recreate it, it's not paranormal. It can be explained. It's a process of elimination."

More in link.

Dreams
In one of the dreams that I had last night, my younger brother Simon had teamed up with a character from a popular comic strip in a newspaper that reminded me of For Better Or For Worse. The two had decided that they'd team up and attempt to defame me using nefarious methods. One of their ideas to get me incarcerated involved Simon urinating on my bed. When the cops came to take me away, I told them that I wasn't the culprit. A guy from CSI did a quick exam and found out that I was innocent. Simon was sent to jain and the comic strip was canceled.

I also had a dream about Heather last night as well. Pretty vivid.

Forced To Become a Human Bomb?

"Why is nobody trying to come get this thing off me?" Wells said.

A desperate Wells was shouting to police that someone had strapped a bomb around his neck, and that time was running out.

"He pulled a key out and started a timer. I heard the thing ticking when he did it," police said.

And before the bomb squad arrived, the bomb detonated, killing him.

More in link.

Sounds a little like Battle Royale, doesn't it? Or Swordfish.

Depp Speaks on America
"America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."

More (but not much) in link.