Whoa! Somehow I missed some major Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban casting news. Michael Gambon will be taking over as Dumbledore. I didn’t recognize the name either, but if you look at his picture you’ll realize you’ve seen him in lots of other stuff (most notably Sleepy Hollow). I think he’ll be pretty good. But even more amazingly… guess who’s playing Sirius Black? Gary friggin’ Oldman! I’m excited to see how that turns out. I mean, Oldman is a fine actor and in my mind he really “looks” the part. But on the other hand, he also has this tendency to play roles, like, so far over the top that it distracts from the picture. Remember his cop in The Professional? Sure, Azkaban would make you a little crazy, but not that crazy. (Link courtesy of Kevin.)

I am only 57% hip. Or something. Actually I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Based on the questions, I get the idea that hipsters = wankers. (Link courtesy of Brigita, who’s even less hip than me, even if she is a pescavore.)

Bono got nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Frickin’ Bono. Too… many… snarky… comments… to… choose…

Awww, my friend Nora wrote some nice things about me for the last Friday Five that just cheered me right up today. She also correctly recalls that she was present for my first ever night of drunkenness, when I drank a liter of crap red wine at our dorm section’s “Freshman Disorientation” party. (I was a sophomore and we were hosting.) Man, puking in a trash can is just not fun.

Ebert has added The Right Stuff to his list of “Great Movies”. I was surprised to see him almost arguing against manned space flight in his review.

The The Age ran a great interview with Dr. Atkins today entitled “Look Mum, No Carbs”. It’s an excellent introduction to the low-carb lifestyle and addresses some of the criticism that’s been written about it. It also tries to explain how the diet works, which is something that often gets lost in the usual “You can eat steaks deep-fried in butter and still lose weight!” tabloid angle.

Channel 10 just showed E.T. as counter-programming to the Cricket World Cup. Man, that movie always makes me cry. Afterwards I had to go back and read Ebert’s excellent review, which is one of my favorites. I love that he signs it “Grandpa Roger.” 🙂

Who could you take in a fight? I could take Eddie Vedder, especially since he gave such a wimpy-ass answer.

“You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But only slightly less well known is this: “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! AH HA HA HA! AH HA HA HA HA HA! AH HA HA HA—“