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.)