A little belated coverage of the NBA draft with two of the
best sports writers on the planet. First up is the Sports
Guy, Bill Simmons, one of the funniest writers on earth
who's been sharing his draft notebook for the last six
years, and claims that this is the last time.
Second is Ralph Wiley, who tells us what the people
involved were REALLY thinking on draft night.

If you've seen Kevin Smith's Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (And
I hope you did, because it was funny, and much cleverer than
anyone who isn't familiar with Smith's films can realize), you
may remember a film news site that was featured on the site
(and, at the time, on the net). It was called Movie Poop Shoot.com,
and it was mostly a vicious parody of aint-it-cool-news.

Now, Smith has decided to make that site a reality. It's an
entertainment news, reviews, opinion and commentary site,
with heaps of potential. And with a column by Brian Lynch and
an interview with Ben Affleck, you KNOW your in Smith land.
Which, if you're a fan, and I am, is a good thing.

Neilgaiman.com has been relaunched with a new design
and layout, and it looks great. And they took the oppurtunity
to finally get Redfish's cover of Stardust right side up.
The Hebrew cover of Neverwhere, however, is gone from the site.
Oh, well. Guess they had enough different covers with the
McKean cover. And they do still have the god-awful Good Omens
cover and the wonderful 10th Dimension cover for Snow, Glass
Apples.

Everyone who knows an iota about politics knows that Israel
doesn't *really* have a left and right wings as they're defined
in most countries. However, Eric Raymond's lists of "Top Ten
Reasons I'm Not A (Left-)Liberal" and "Top Ten Reasons I'm
Not A Conservative" are still great conversation pieces anyway.
I don't agree with most of it, but as Charlie Stross says,
almost everyone finds at least one reason they agree with in
each category. Stross also answers the lists in a reasonable
and reasoned manner, which is something I'm not sure I could
do:
"But the major blooper in his analysis is this: he's buying into definitions
of conservativism and liberalism that look suspiciously like they were
designed specifically as placeholders for real ideologies".

In a move almost as ridiculous as the proposed books
based on the LOTR films, DC Comics will be publishing
a Smallville comic, based on the terrible show of the
same name.

A science fiction soap opera about cloning in the middle east
is all the rage in Brazil. Big cultural phenomenon with 20
million viewers.
Link via Kipod at the Ort sf forum.

The Coraline website is ONLINE! It's creepy and wonderful and
strange. Click anything that moves, especially the rats. Unless
you have a rat phobia, and want to avoid insomnia.

Some music I'm listening to these days is well worth your time.
Various bands headed by Stephin Merrit, including his main
band The Magnetic Fields and side projects Gothic
Archies, Future Bible Heroes and The 6ths. Merrit
specializes in melancholic synth pop with brilliant lyrics,
and his Gothic Archies are doing a song on the Coraline
audio book. The Magnetic Fields' last album, 69 Love
Songs is particularly brilliant.

Another band I listen to a lot is Ookla the Mok, a filk band
that sounds like a rock band. Their third album, Super Secret
Clubhouse, is a wonderful muse about geekdom and fandom
and comics, and my favorite Ookla song, My Secret Origin should
appeal tremendously to anyone who's childhood dreams were
shaped by sf, fantasy, and comics.

Other than those, I listen a LOT to the songs from the Buffy musical,
Once More With Feeling.

On the eve of the 30's anniversary of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas",
Hunter S. Thompson is interviewed by a Las Vegas' news and culture
weekly magazine. Interesting stuff.
Link via Boing Boing.

And another from Stross: an interesting reply to
a less interesting article about Ken Macleod and
Iain Banks.

I'm all for black humor. Really. But this Dead Pool for
the horror that's brewing between India and Pakistan
*may* be too much. Link via Charlie Stross.

Anyone who knows my views on the subject knows I'm a big
supporter of Copyright. I think it's an important part of the
artistic process in these modern times, in that it enables
artists to make a living from their art.

However, the Entertainment Corporations tactics in attempting
to control copyright have gone beyond "extreme" and well into
"deranged".

Off to Eilat for the weekend. Here's hoping the hot and dry
weather allows me to finally get well. This cold has been
going on for almost two weeks, and it's getting ridicolous.

Hey, I'm a Jedi Master. Should I change the name of this site
to DarthEstablishment.org?

I got a bit of criticism in the forum over the Star Wars
satire. Anyone who found that offensive may wish to
steer clear of SNITCH, the Strategic Network of Intelligence
on Terrorism in our Communities and Homeland. Link via
Charlie Stross.

Neil Gaiman exhibits surprise at American Gods' Mythopoetic
Award nomination. Did he not get the memo? You know, the
one that said AG MUST be nominated for ALL genre awards
this year?

Teresa Nielsen Hayden links to this wonderful footage of
water balloons being burst in Zero-G. Beautiful.

"We lost our innocence that day," reflected one mourner. "I guess we thought we
were immune from the kind of violence that happens in other galaxies. We were wrong."

"I lost hundreds of buddies that day," said one teary-eyed Stormtrooper. "Guys
whose only crime was trying make the Universe a safer place."

One sample of this timely bit of writing from Slashdot.
Link via Boing Boing.

Bruce Sterling, insightful as ever gives us his views on the
Star Wars Saga.

The Guardian sent reporters to several large bookstores,
for a little quality of service test. Here are the results.
Link via Gary Farber at Amygdala.