IU is through to the NCAA Finals. As a Hoosier, I have to say I’m pretty proud. And how cool is their new coach? He said, “In basketball, coaches get too much credit. I mean, I proved that this year. I mean, here I am, a second-year coach, no experience, and sometimes I have no idea what’s going on the court — I mean, no idea. I’m happy we’re playing for the national championship.” He sounds fun. Anyway, my cousin Jenny, who sometimes posts here, was actually at the semifinal game, so I figured I’d better provide someplace for her inevitable hysterical victory comments. Go Hoosiers! 🙂

Edited 31/03/2025: Link is dead and not archived.

Farewell to the Queen Mother. She was an amazing old lady. One of my professors in England speculated years ago that she’d consumed too much gin throughout her life to actually die, and that she’d just “ascend to heaven on her artificial hips”. She just seemed so invincible. I almost wish I was back in London to see the inevitable outpouring of national grief.

Okay, I’ve mentioned that I’m a big Roger Ebert fan before, right? He’s my favorite critic. I think a lot of “serious” moviegoers don’t think of him as legitimate, since his image is so tied up with television and the whole “thumbs” thing. But if you read some of his written reviews, you’ll find that he’s one of the smartest critics out there. You might not always agree with him, but his writing is always witty and entertaining. Often after reading some of his archives, I find myself wishing that I could know what Ebert thought about some other things: politics, music, television, etc. Fortunately, in recent years he’s actually started writing about these things as well. Now he’s taking on music piracy, God bless ‘im. I especially liked the ending. Man, am I an Ebert groupie or what?

Oh jeez. So Bono appeared as a character witness at the Peter Buck trial. Shouldn’t he be in Rome getting beatified or something? And what the hell is the point of him saying that he can’t imagine Peter Buck doing the things he’s charged with? Obviously half the people on the damn airplane can testify that he did. (Sidenote: why don’t they put cameras in airplanes to provide evidence for this kinda thing?) Is Buck just trying to say that he had a drug reaction and went mad? Because that’s a really, really weak excuse. I’d have a lot more respect for him if he just owned up to making a big mistake. (Link courtesy of Max.)

Tara D is finally back from her holiday, which sounds like it was L.A.-tastic. To celebrate she’s doing yet another lyric game. This time, you have to send her a list of all the songs you can think of with “L.A.” or Los Angeles landmarks in them. Go on, you know you’ll kick my ass.

Last night Snookums and I caught the first episode of Australia’s newest reality TV series: The Club. It’s all about an Aussie Rules Football* team that’s being put together specifically for the show. That’s right, it’s a sports team that will actually compete (albeit in Division 2) and the viewers get to make all the important decisions, like who plays, who coaches, and what the team song will be. Seriously. Last night we got to pick the team name (the “Hammerheads”) and watch the four coach candidates narrow down 1500 hopefuls to a mere 50 possible players. (The final team will probably have only fifteen or so.) And get this – three of them are female! One was a sexy black chick, one was a tearful mother-of-three, and the last was a young, tough, athletic girl. Her name was Debbie Lee, and she’s amazing. We watched her drop kick the ball through the uprights from forty yards out while running full-speed. She was better than most of the guys on the field. The show then explained that the AFL league hasn’t decided yet whether women will be allowed to play in the games. They feel it could create a dangerous precedent. Personally, I think it would be the greatest thing for them to do. If Debbie Lee plays, I’ll watch every game I can. Heck, I’ll buy a T-shirt. They’ve got a potential marketing bonanza on their hands, here. And what a fantastic idea for a show! Everybody likes to bitch about how their favorite team is run, and now you can have an actual say in things. It’s got me watching, and I don’t even understand the damn sport.

* Aussie Rules Football, in case you don’t know, is this really insane sport they play down here. It’s kinda like rugby crossed with ultimate frisbee crossed with soccer. You’re not allowed to pass the ball forwards; you have to kick it or bump it off your fist (like a serve in volleyball). And if you’re running with it, you have to tap it on the ground every 10 yards. To score you have to get it through the uprights. The players don’t wear padding, and they smash the hell out of each other. It’s huge in South Australia and Victoria. I don’t really understand it.

A prominent UK film critic has denounced the new Ali G movie as “the most obnoxious British movie ever”. I probably won’t see it. I laughed at the character the first few times I saw him, but nowadays I think his schtick is a bit tired. I’m just not a fan of “mean” humor, that works by making fun of someone who doesn’t get the joke. It makes me uncomfortable. (That said, I still think Jann’s imitation of him is hilarious beyond description.)

Edited 21/03/2025: Original link is dead and not archived, but leaving it up for the discussion.