Screenings

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow--Brilliant visuals, not so brilliant writing. Many plot devices (which I won't give away here) culled from Empire Strikes Back. Love the Art Deco stylings, though!

Link Dump!

Beer has same benefits as wine, but wine is healthier than gin.

La bière belge s'adoucit, accusent les amateurs.

Drinking beer seems to reduce incidence of bladder cancer.

Men with sweet tooth more prone to alcoholism.

Green tea halves ovarian cancer fatalities.

Russian General Kalashnikov, the inventor of the famous AK-47 rifle, has launched a namesake vodka.

France aims to improve café service to stem the loss of patrons. "'Customers are right to complain of a poor or non-existent welcome... and a lack of basic courtesy and reactivity,' an industry spokesman said."

A film version of the Gilgamesh epic to be shot in Turkey.

French film director, fed up with persistently derogatory criticism, takes his case to the public by offering free tickets to his latest film at over 400 theaters. (Intervue en français.)

Looks like Paz Vega, eye candy in a number of Spanish art-house films, is joining compatriot Penelope Cruz in Tinseltown, making her American debut in a sappy James L. Brooks dramedy.

Lebanon Bans Da Vinci Code After Catholics Object.

Librarian Charged With Attempted Murder. (In Gary, IN, if that makes it more plausible.)

Nearly a century of beardless presidents. "But there is second trend, one that makes the first one all the more telling: in this near-century's worth of beardless presidential leadership, who has led the enemies of the United States? Think about it. Pancho Villa. A guy with a mustache. Kaiser Wilhelm II. A guy with pointy mustache. Hitler. Stupid little mustache. Emperor Hirohito. Mustache. Hideki Tojo. Mustache. Stalin. Big mustache. Fidel Castro. Big bushy beard. Che Guevara. Beard. Ho Chi Minh. Wispy Fu Manchu. Yasir Arafat. Scraggly beard. Ayatollah Khomeini. Big long beard. Osama bin Laden. Long beard. Saddam Hussein. Bushy mustache."