Turns out Jet Li is making his good movies over in France (original) these days. Bob Hoskins and Jet Li, together again! Plus Morgan Freeman, although I can’t watch Morgan Freeman these days without thinking of my friend Jamie’s blockbuster Morgan Freeman idea. He wants to make a movie in which Morgan Freeman is, you guessed it, the grizzled wise gentle cop chasing a serial killer. But Freeman turns out to be the killer in some particularly vile and sadistic fashion. ...

The cynical may enjoy being proven right by thirty-odd Fox News memos. It is blatantly clear that Fox News thinks of itself as the conservative defender of truth against the marauding liberal news media. We have good perp walk video of Eric Rudolph which we should use. We should NOT assume that anyone who supported or helped Eric Rudolph is a racist. No one’s in favor of murder or bombing of public places. But feelings in North Carolina may just be more complicated than the NY Times can conceive. ...

Just in case anyone was wondering, there have been no updates in White Wolf v. Sony since the last time I posted. In theory, depositions were done by now, but I haven’t seen any signs of progress. The last court papers were filed on 11/5/2003 and there’s been nothing since then.

Well, duh. In the throes of overwrought fandom, what else would I want to mashup but Spider-Man? No superheroes, though, that’s too easy.

The governor of Mosul, Mashaan al-Juburi, was just assassinated. This follows massive car bombings in Mosul a couple of weeks ago. Mosul is a key city because it’s a key point of friction between the Kurds and the Sunnis. Juburi’s appointment was not without controversy and violence, to say the least; his early speeches resulted in a demonstration during which US troops fired on demonstraters. The details of the event are unclear: the US claimed that the demonstrations were violent and the demonstraters claimed they weren’t, which is as you’d expect in any case for both sides of the story. ...

Warner Brothers is allowing us, the plebes, to vote on which classic movies they’ll release on DVD next (original). Kinda fun, even if there’s no information about how the voting works. Me, I liked All Fall Down, Ice Station Zebra, Kansas City Bomber, King Solomon’s Mines, and Party Girl.

If Kevin Drum can do it, I can do it. My cultural preferences follow; the preferred choice is enboldened. Sometimes I don’t answer because I don’t have enough experience, and sometimes I don’t answer because I don’t care. More the former, sadly.

The anonymous TPB, Esq. presents this compelling explanation of the proper interpretation of the word “shall” in New Jersey’s election law. It is compelling because he provides examples to support his argument; take careful note, oh pundits of all stripes. This is why I like most lawblogs.

Newsweek reports (original) that the Department of Homeland Security is looking into ways to postpone the November Presidential election in the case of an Al Qaeda attack. But the success of March’s Madrid railway bombings in influencing the Spanish elections—as well as intercepted “chatter” among Qaeda operatives—has led analysts to conclude “they want to interfere with the elections,” says one official. Forcing a delay in elections is every bit as much interference, if not more so, as an attack which causes people to change their vote. This is so obvious that I have trouble believing that it’s escaped the Bush administration. ...

Billy the Kid to Rio: “Will you keep your eyes open? Will you look right at me as I do it?” I more or less randomly watched The Outlaw today; it was on this set of Western classics (original) I picked up last weekend on Jack Gulick’s advice. Fifty movies for thirty bucks was too good a deal to pass up. When I cracked open the box, I noticed The Outlaw. I like Howard Hughes, or at least his legend, so I popped it in. I only expected a cheesy Western with a lot of Jane Russell. Imagine my surprise when I got a Billy the Kid played by a guy who looks like a fey Johnny Depp and more subtext than you can shake Lucy Lawless at. ...