BEHOLD KONG: THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD!
OF COURSE I ran to the cinema opening day for Peter Jackson's incredible re-telling of the 1933 classic, which managed to meet my high expectations for it. The iconic moments from the original are enhanced (with one exception, which I won't specify, so as not to spoil anything). The action sequences are pumped up and expanded (including the “spider pit” sequence Jackson obsesses over on the extras disc to the Special Edition of the original on DVD, which I also highly recommend). Indeed, post-Jurassic Park, Jackson still manages to find new and interesting things to do with dinosaurs. Jackson also does a wonderful job of taking the parts of the original he has jettisoned and re-incorporating them back into the film in new ways — e.g., dialog from the original turns up in the movie-within-the-movie here. But most important, Jackson fleshes out the relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow to heighten the emotional resonance of this tragic tale (and make the film generally more palatable to women, I suspect). A three-hour film is a bladder-tester; everyone will have a scene or two that they would have cut to tighten it up. But I never felt uninvolved, even during the exposition at the outset.
JIMMY PAGE was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his work with poor Brazilian children.
BRENDAN BENSON talks to Uncut about the Detroit scene and The Alternative To Love. You can hear BB at his MySpace page, with even more at his website.
HOLIDAY MUSIC is surveyed — in very different ways — in the Detroit Metro Times and the Philadelphia Daily News.
SEASON OF THE LIST: Filter has new Top Tens from Beck and Adam “Doseone” Drucker of Subtle. Other Music lists its Best Rock Albums with RealAudio. The AP's Jake Coyle also has a Top Ten.
BECK: Speaking of which, PopMatters has an article examining the role — if any — Scientology plays in Beck's music.
NEIL DIAMOND: NPR has an audio piece on his Rick Rubin-produced 12 Songs. I can't recommend buying it until you can get copies without Sony's XCD scheme, but you can stream some clips at his website.
ROBERT POLLARD: Filter has a free download of “Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft,” from Pollard's upcoming album for your listening enjoyment.
A CHARLIE BROWN KWANZAA: I can't endorse it. It's a product of mostoffensivevideo.com, and whoever that is does their best to live down to the name. But if you feel compelled to see the Peanuts gang in glorious Quicktime, speaking jive, with more profanity (and use of the “n” word) per minute than Pulp Fiction, plus the music of Lee Hazelwood, don't say I didn't warn you. Really, I'm not kidding.
ONE HOUSE, 26,000 XMAS LIGHTS: Strung for charity.
THE CHURCH OF STOP-SHOPPING: The faux Rev. Bill Talen wants to “save Christmas from the shopocalypse!” Talen has published two books, a CD of anti-shopping gospel tunes and a DVD. His current pre-Christmas cross-country tour to Los Angeles is being filmed for a documentary. I'm sure it's all free.
THE MORNING NEWS examines what your Christmas tree says about you.
SEASONAL QUIZ: Which of Santa's Reindeer are You?
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise was scheduled to make a rare personal appearance Wednesday night to raise money for a Scientology program that claims to be healing firefighters and rescue workers who breathed toxic smoke on 9/11. Doctors say the “purification rundown” dreamed up by science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is worthless quackery consisting of sauna sweating, ingestion of cooking oil and large doses of niacin. ALSO: The teaser trailer for Mission Impossible 3 is online.
MADONNA: Apparently, there's a good reason why “Super Pop” was left off Madge's new album.
NARNIA: Rumor has it that Prince Caspian, the second story in the Chronicles of Narnia, has been greenlit for a December 2007 theatrical release.
THE DA VINCI CODE teaser trailer is online.
VAUGHNISTON: Jennifer Aniston sleeps with her dog — in his basket — when she's lonely: “I know that sounds insane,” she admits. There's a reason it sounds insane, Jen.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT is not officially canceled by Fox, but ABC and Showtime have shown interest in nabbing the show for their nets.
GOLDEN GLOBES nominations are inevitably followed by the ritual declarations of shock or ignorance by the nominees. But there should be a special category of awards for folks like Alanis Morissette — who claimed that she thought the sudden cascade of phone calls meant that a loved one had been injured — and Keira Knightley — who claims that her joy at being nominated was immediately punctured when her mom told her she wouldn't win.
JESSICA ALBA was allegedly behaving badly at an NYC bash last weekend.
THE JACKO FAMILY cycle may repeat, this time as a reality TV farce.
ANNIE LENNOX reportedly snubbed Orlando Bloom, mistaking him for “just another fan.”
HAL 2000 will soon be greenlighting projects for movie studios.
QUENTIN TARANTINO has agreed to help Tyra Banks find America's Next Top Foot Model. In light of his meditation of sensual foot massage in Pulp Fiction, the lingering shots of Uma Thurman's feet in Kill Bill, Vol. I, and so on, I think the pattern is pretty clear.
PETRA NEMCOVA: Did Bruce Willis really pay 50K to get the tsnunami-surviving supermodel's phone number? The man has a rep as a horndog, but really…
IRAQ: A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll has a rise in approval for sending troops to Iraq, creating a rough 50/50 split on the issue and the question of whether the US will win there. Maj. Ben Connable, who is headed for his third tour of duty, has an op-ed in the Washington Post explaining why 64 percent of US military officers think they will succeed if they are allowed to continue their work. Margaret Friedenauer, a reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, now embedded with the 172nd Stryker Brigade in Mosul, writes: “Everything I thought I knew was wrong… Maybe not wrong, but certainly different than the picture in my head.”
IRAQI ELECTION DAY: Quite apart from US troops, citizens and media, Iraqis were preparing to express their own opinions. Iraqi blogger Mohammed and his friends “found that our ambitions are way bigger than the mere idea of voting or practicing our right to elect, now we feel that our votes are a responsibility and a heavy one.” And homegrown Iraqi insurgent groups are trying to open contacts with the US in the hope of launching a dialogue that would draw them into the political process.
PRES. BUSH on IRAQ INTELL: The AP, CNN. London's Times, and scores of others seem to think it's news that Pres. Bush admitted the prewar intell on Iraq was wrong and took responsibility for the decision to invade Iraq based on that intell. The Carpetbagger Report, a blog long critical of Bush, notes that “Bush has acknowledged the problems with pre-war intelligence many times before.” I don't know how many is “many,” but it took me only a few minutes to find Bush saying the same things on Meet the Press in February 2004.
PANDA DOG: An Awwww…some photo gallery is up at Sky News.
DEER SUFFERS DOUBLY: After being struck by a car, the occupants stuff the still-living animal into the trunk.
DONKEYS are forced into jihad in Afghanistan.
UDDER MADNESS: PETA may have creepy plans for the Super Bowl.