* Huge nerd news #1: The Hobbit and its nebulous sequel are now officially going to be The Hobbit divided into two parts, according to Guillermo Del Toro. That’s as opposed to a done-in-one Hobbit followed by a possibly Gandalf-and-Aragorn-centric “bridge” film filling in the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The movies will incorporate the off-camera stuff from the books about Gandalf infiltrating Dol Guldur and rallying the White Council against the Necromancer. Here’s hoping for a Tarantino-style slow-motion walking scene involving Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, and a Radagast to be named later. (Via Kristin Thompson.)
* Huge nerd news #2: Official specs and release date–July 14th–for The State: The Complete Series. I’m seeing it…
…but I won’t believe it until I can physically dip my balls in it. (Via Shaggy.)
* The House Next Door has a review of the Caprica pilot/movie up that I’m not going to read, but you’re welcome to do so.
* I love Fantagraphics. Specifically I love Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box. If I fail to get this into Maxim I will look at it as a personal defeat.
* If I were in Chicago, I’d go to this: Anders Nilsen’s art show at Home. (Via Peggy Burns.) I’d forgotten all about this Captain America piece.
* My Bloody Valentine 3D director Patrick Lussier says Lionsgate has no interest in an MBV3D sequel. This is pretty lulzy news given how comically sequel-ready he made the end of the movie.
* This comic about Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson by Mairead Case and David Lasky is both beautiful and informative. (Via Tom Spurgeon.) Because I am an ignoramus, it wasn’t until the album’s recent rerelease (which the comic was created to promote) that I discovered in “Melody” and “Cargo Culte” the origin of the astonishing bassline from the “Portishead Experience” remix of Massive Attack’s “Karmacoma,” maybe the funkiest single track to come out of the entire trip-hop movement.
* The Midnight Meat Train: closeted text? This is Clive Barker we’re talking about, so it seems like a safe bet.
* Power Rangers magnate Haim Saban: Israeli agent? That is funny in any number of ways.
* Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in the month of March 2003 alone; Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in the month of August 2002 alone. “The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
* Also (via Andrew Sullivan) a reminder that “at least 108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently”…as of March 2005.
* Finally, rest in pieces, J.G. Ballard.
(art from The Atrocity Exhibition by Phoebe Gloeckner)
But Sean, the president has said, “This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence.”
So move forward already.
When you don’t move forward, it makes Obama cry on the inside.
We should all heed our president’s wishes on the death of Captain America.
Just the fact that he released the memos at all, despite the heated objections of Director Osborn, is worth celebrating.