Branagh's next project

According to this Variety story, Kenneth Branagh is in negotiations to direct Marvel Studio's Thor, which is set for 2010. Presumably the film will introduce the character and set him up for The Avengers, which is due out a year later.

I'm cautiously psyched about this choice. Yes, Branagh hasn't flexed his action chops in awhile, but neither had Bryan Singer before he did X-Men. Branagh has talent. How it will translate to this material is a question, but I'm feeling pretty good about my belief that he won't make a crappy movie.

Woohoo!

I've been living and dying (mostly dying) with the Twins over the past week as they try to make the playoffs. But in the fantasy baseball world the season ended yesterday, and I pulled out a 1st place finish in both of my head-to-head leagues, despite finishing 4th and 5th in the regular season. So no matter what happens in reality, and least I have those two fantasy victories. Now if I could just figure out how to win a roto league...

Newman

I like movies, but I can't claim to be a film buff. I can't walk you down Newman's imdb page and discuss point-for-point the finer aspects of his lesser-known roles. I've only seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once, I've seen most of Cool Hand Luke but not all of it (and on tv, no less), and I even haven't ever really sat down and watched Slapshot. But after hearing that he died Friday after battling cancer, I started thinking about some of the films I had seen him in. I enjoyed Butch Cassidy the one time I saw it. The Sting is awesome, and probably responsible for my love of the artfully concealed late reveal. The Hudsucker Proxy is my favorite Cohen Bros. movie, due in no small part to Sidney J. Mussburger. And Road to Perdition, his last physical movie role, is a fantastic and massively overlooked film. Newman is notable in all of these films because he stands out, because his character stays with you after the credits. He doesn't steal his scenes, either-his performance make the whole movie better. Obviously he hadn't done a film since '02, and his health made it unlikely that he'd have done any new major films. But it still sucks to lose someone that good.

Debate

I was at the Twins game on Friday night, so I didn't see any of the debate. I've read a lot of reaction to it to see how it played, but this is probably the most intelligent analysis about what exactly debates accomplish these days.

Wow.

Why do some people still think Palin for VP was a good idea?

Why Wait?

More and more, the internet is where I'm getting my TV from these days. Take the last three days. Monday I bought the season premiere of House from Amazon Unbox. Yesterday I caught up on the summer finale of Burn Notice and the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, both of which I had missed when they aired. Then today I happen upon the news that the season premiere of Chuck, which will air next Monday, is already online and ready to watch. So I did. Not only is this freaking awesome, but three of the four were free, and those had less commercials than an episode that was traditionally broadcast.

Now that's just good stuff.

Chicago Heavyweights

Here are some photos from this past weekend, which I spent in/outside of Chicago playing in a frisbee tournament. I apparently have the tendancy to have funny expressions on my face when I'm playing, which I didn't realize until I looked back at some of the shots taken of me while playing ultimate. In any case, it was an excellent time. The amazing view is courtesy of Java's aunt, who was nice enough to let five of us occupy her 18th floor condo just north of downtown. I also highly recommend Karyn's Cooked, a vegan-only (or mostly, I'm not sure) restaurant that I have now eaten at twice. It's quite good.

Why I love the Daily Show

You won't see this on any network or cable news show. But you should. Because this is what's wrong with politics. Is there any way someone can show these people a tape of this and force them to answer for their idiocy?

Daily Show in St. Paul

I didn't know the Daily Show was coming to St. Paul early enough to get tickets. Damn. At least I still get to watch it.

In any case, check out this billboard that the Daily Show set up to welcome people to the RNC. Now that's humor.