Karl 
STONES ROLL: Mick Jagger, fellow Lord of the Undead Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood announced their tour plans with an early-bird special at the Julliard school. The tour will begin in August, so as not to conflict with the first run of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead.
GbV-POLLARD: I don't know how I missed these tidbits: in December, there will be a Suitcase II boxed set and Pollard was in negotiations to be involved in a hush-hush soundtrack for a soft-porn film by a major Hollywood director.
THE LAST RAMONE: Pitchfork interviews Tommy Ederlyi about the genesis and influence of the Ramones. You'll have to click to find out about Paul McCartney's contribution.
M WARD is interviewed at Tiny Mix Tapes on the spirit of radio.
HELLO, CLEVELAND! The New Yorker looks at the business of touring.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Tim Burton's version looks to stick much closer to the book, including the scene in the nut room that did not appear in the Gene Wilder classic. When I first heard this, I naturally assumed that computer-generated effects would be used for the squirrels — but I was at least partially wrong. The quirky director spent millions and six months teaching around 200 squirrels to crack hazelnuts, sort them and then load them on to a conveyor belt. You can get a partial tour of the factory at Coming Soon.
REVENGE OF THE SITH: The BBC review calls it “largely satisfying,” but “imperfect, with flashes of absolute brilliance sitting side by side with shockingly naff moments.” Can Mag rounds up reviews from major fan websites. While most of the early reviews have been good, the reviewer for London's Daily Mail writes that Sith is better than Episodes I and II, but a “colossal disappointment” and that “For all the hype, I fear this is a film that only the most uncritical Star Wars fans will truly enjoy.” New York Post columnist (and five-time Jeopardy champ) John Podhoretz blogs that it is “unbelievably bad” and thinks the positive advance reviews are the result of critics being too cowardly to pan a sure-fire blockbuster.
CATS AND DOGS: The uneasy truce between cats and dogs was threatened Monday, when a Seattle woman who sued a neighbor after her cat was mauled by his dog was awarded more than $45,000. The woman's lawyer, who specializes in animal cases, said that while multimillion-dollar judgments have been awarded over thoroughbred horses, the award was the highest for a pet in the United States that he was aware of.
CATS: In Indiana, a cat survived a fire and explosion that destroyed its owners' home and injured a half-dozen firefighters by hiding in its owners' box springs. The fire was ruled accidental; no dogs were suspected in the incident.
REN-KEN: I wasn't going to revisit the Zellwesneys, but the report that the nuptuals were held in the tiny Chocolate Hole region of the west coast of St. John's appealed to my inner Beavis. Also, that Chesney wrote a song about her character in Jerry Maguire is a little creepy.
TOM AND KATIE: Cruise and Holmes get some rough treatment at Liquid Generation, set to 50 Cent's “Candy Shop.”
TORI SPELLING emerges from the “Where Are They Now?” file with an embarassingly intoxicated performance at the Kentucy Derby. I was going to write that it was so bad as to make Tara Reid seem sober by comparison, but then I found out that Reid had to be held up by Spelling.
IT'S ALMOST CARNIVAL SEASON: The manager of a roadside amusement park will stand trial for murder this week, accused in the death of a woman who plunged 60 feet from a whirling carnival ride.
NANOTECH:
Motorola’s Nano Emissive Display (NED) technology may not only revolutionize flat panel displays by dropping the price of a 40-inch screen below $400, but also may launch nanotech into the pop consciousness.
EVA LONGORIA: The Desperate Housewife tops Maxim magazine's annual Hot 100 list. Co-star Felicity Huffman says, “What's hot about Eva is her smile, her laugh, her joie de vivre … and following all of that, her (behind).” Of course, like virtually every woman in Hollywood, Longoria's list of sexy women is topped by Angelina Jolie (Maxim's No. 7). Eva is the sole Housewife on the list, preparing the ground for further catfights. Of course, as I always note about lists, they exist to start arguments…
THE PIXIES will be putting their 2005 tour on disc. You can pre-order individual shows, what the band considers the five best shows or the entire tour under the heading “Gouge Away!”
THE HISTORY OF SAMPLING is a cool Java app that allows you to pick a song and chart who sampled it.
KC, of Sunshine Band fame, took a header off the stage Saturday at the Cinco de Mayo Festival in Phoenix. He required stitches, but apparently retained his wits: “I left my shoes at the hotel and had to perform in a new pair,” he said in a statement Monday. “I picked the wrong pair of Boogie Shoes!”
GEORGE THE KING? President Bush's pro-democracy speech was a big hit in Tblisi. His dancing was described as “Elvis-like.” Generally, if you told me Bush was imitating Elvis in Georgia, I would not think he was on a foreign trip. Anyway, if you didn't see the dancing, it's linked at Gateway Pundit.
MAD PHYSICS, a site developed by two high school students provides all sorts of labs and demonstrations. I'm pretty sure Prof. King will dig it; maybe you will, too.
THE HUFFINGTON POST: James Lileks is unimpressed so far: “I really don’t care what Larry David thinks about John Bolton. I care what Larry David thinks about the itchy tags on shirts that scrape your neck, because I know that he can make a 12-part TV series that revolves around that detail, and George Will can’t.”
AL-QAEDA: At Winds of Change, Dan Darling argues that recently-captured Abu Faraj al-Libbi is not the number three guy at al-Qaeda, but still important.
CANADA: In what may be the beginning of the end, the Liberal-led government lost a vote on a controversial motion in the Canadian House of Commons Tuesday night by a vote of 153 to 150. The motion asks the Commons public accounts committee to amend a report dating back to October 28, 2004: “to recommend that the government resign because of its failure to address deficiencies in governance of the public service.” The Liberals maintain that this was technically not a vote of no confidence, apparently hoping for a showdown on the issue in connection with a budget vote, which could — if all MPs attend — result in a tie to be broken by the Speaker.
CULT OF THE iPod: Audiologists believe you should turn down that racket. iTunes is starting to sell videos. And some evil person has created Podcast Idol.
PAC-MAN celebrates his 25th birthday, making him almost as old as Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
NATIONAL I.D. CARD: Security expert Bruce Schneier says the “REAL ID Act” pending in Congress would effectively create a national ID card… and make Americans less safe in the process.
TROUBLE AT WIRED NEWS: An investigation into the sourcing and accuracy of news stories by a freelance journalist concluded that the existence of dozens of people quoted in the articles could not be confirmed. The writer has said previously she never made up sources.
AFGHANISTAN: How gone is the Taliban? Tolo TV's mix of MTV-style shows and hard-hitting news programs has turned the up-and-coming network is must-see TV, but it's also a lightning rod for critics who see the station as a threat to the country's Islamic values.
REP. BARNEY FRANK was caught blatantly fondling an up-and-coming gay politician's buttocks at a public event.
JESSICA SIMPSON was working the big guns in Iraq. And getting some firearms training.
WHAT KIND OF TRAINING? Army training, sir!
IRAQ: Hundreds of U.S. Marines pushed through a lawless region on the Syrian frontier Tuesday after battling past well-armed militants fighting from basements, rooftops and sandbag bunkers. The L.A. Times has an in-depth account of some of the fighting in Operation Matador. The Belmont Club builds on that story and others, adding maps. And Bill Roggio puts the operation in a big-picture context.
IDOL GOSSIP: Paula Abdul burst into tears hours before the appearance on Saturday Night Live she hoped would contain any damage done by the ABC News story about her alleged relationship with a contestant. Abdul also was said to have been upset with the way the sketch turned out.
GOSSIP GLUT: Paparazzi Pix Prices Plummet! And Page SixSixSix has noticed a certain sameness in tabloid coverage.
ELLE MACPHERSON claims she can't wear the tiny undergarments she did when she was 20 tears old. I'll believe that when I see it.
SEVERED GOAT HEADS twice found on a bench outside a school in nearby Chilliwack, British Columbia, were not the work of Satan. The jury is still out on Chilliwack itself.
