Looking into that crystal ball that is the Diamond Shipping List, it looks like tomorrow I'll be getting

BATGIRL YEAR ONE #4 (Of 9)
FABLES #11
FILTH #9
GOTHAM CENTRAL #5
HELLBLAZER SPECIAL LADY CONSTANTINE #4 (Of 4)
HERO #2
JSA #46
KILLRAVEN #6
ULTIMATES #9

A couple of series that I've been underwhelmed by, and in fact am delighted to see end, are Killraven and Lady Constantine. Fables is a fill-in and doesn't look promising. Looking forward to the new Ultimates (I'll believe it when I see it), Batgirl Year 1, and H.E.R.O. 2. I wish I had been on the ball when #1 came out, I didn't pick it up and now it's sold out, as is #2 already. Looks like another "hot" book, which means at least that maybe it will get collected. Fortunately, I read an online preview so I at least have a small clue about what looks like an excellent comic. We shall see. Gotta go– Futurama's on!

About the only movie of note that I've watched lately is Peter Bogdanovich's 2001 film The Cat's Meow, an interesting little speculative fiction about the events on communications mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht back in the Twenties. Nobody, or at least nobody alive today, really knows what exactly transpired, and all that is known is that producer Thomas Ince died shortly after he sailed with Hearst and Company. While foul play was suspected, nobody important was even questioned, let alone arrested for anything! As the narrator says at the beginning, "There were many whispers about what happened, and this is the whisper heard most often".

But Bogdanovich doesn't seem to be all that interested in doing a JFK-style film and getting to the bottom of the seven-decades-old mystery; he seems to be more inclined to use the events and characters as props to get in some digs at Hollywood and the society it represents. Still, there is an interesting story here, and it's told very well. The ship almost becomes like one of those "old dark houses" of yore, and there are several characters, all with their own agendas, all maneuvering to acheive this goal or that. I saw a review which called this film "Gosford Yacht", and I think it's a very apt description.

He's helped a lot by a great ensemble cast: Ed Herrmann as Hearst-goofy one scene, malevolent the next; Eddie Izzard as Charlie Chaplin, and especially Kirsten Dunst as Marion Davies. She brings a lot of depth to the role of Hearst's mistress; in fact, she's as good if not better than Dorothy Comingore was in essentially the same role in Citizen Kane. Other cast standouts include Cary Elwes (who's becoming quite the character actor) as Ince, Jennifer (sigh) Tilly as the young and ambitious gossip columnist Louella Parsons, squealing like Betty Boop...and Joanna Lumley as Brit wit Elinor Glyn, all dry humor and sarcasm.

It was my interest in Citizen Kane, perhaps my favorite film, that steered me towards this one. I'm also a fan of Izzard, so I wanted to see it for him– and Jennifer Tilly– ah, Jennifer Tilly. Where was I? Oh. Never mind all that, you say, should I see it or not? I say you should– but don't expect a thrilling whodunit. It's deliberately paced and low-key. If this doesn't bother you, then by all means drop a fiver to rent it, or try to catch it on cable like I did.

What the hell, it's This-or That Tuesday again!

1. Married or single? Sorry, girls, he's married!
2. Knit or crochet? Neither
3. Homebody or world traveller? Homebody, sad to say
4. "Star Search" or "American Idol"? Jesus, what kind of questions are these? Is "poke in the eye with a sharp stick" an alternative option?
5. Dancing or karaoke? Again, I prefer to decline...but hold a gun to my head or get me very drunk and I'll do some kick-ass karaoke.
6. Elvis Presley or Elvis Costello? These are hard this time! Gotta go with the King, although I like Mr. McManus too.
7. Bus or train? Depends on where I'm going. I've never taken a train anywhere, and I hate buses, so TRAIN!
8. Batman or Superman? Finally, an easy one. BATMAN. No doubt about it.
9. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate. But vanilla's OK too.
10. Which came first...the chicken or the egg? I hate trick questions. Offhand, I'd say the rooster came first.

Our Bacardi Show Political Correspondent, the right honorable Dr. Chris Tabor, should (I think) start his own weblog. He keeps sending me thought-provoking links and I keep feeling obligated to pass them on. Here's the latest.

The Bacardi Show Political Correspondent wishes me to relay to all of you out there that it is also the birthday today of German chanteuse Nina Hagen, whose name is not unfamiliar to me but whose music is. Glücklicher Geburtstag, Nina.

JBS birthday greetings go out to the lovely Miss Thora Birch, who was so great in Ghost World. She turns the big old 21 today. Now she can buy beer when she's in Kentucky! And yes, I know I'm old enough to be her father. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Here's a page from one of my favorite children's books: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. You may be quite familiar with it already, but if not here's a nutshell synopsis with spoilers: It's a quite touching story about a little house, duh, located in a idyllic countryside who is home to several generations of a family until the city, far off in the distance at first but gradually getting closer, builds itself all around it until its occupants move away and it becomes run-down, deserted, neglected and lonely...but fortunately one of the descendants of the original family sees it, remembers it, and has it moved to another far-off spot, where it is repaired and lived in once again.

I'm tellin' ya, when I was a kid that story really choked me up. Still does today, as a matter of fact. I would feel so sorry for the old house, all alone and sad in the gray, dingy city, and then feel so happy that it turned out OK for it/her. Guess I was just an old softie, even when I was a shortie. Anyway, besides being effectively written it is also drawn and designed beautifully. Burton's style seemed to be based on circular or ovoid shapes, with all the action being arranged along those lines, giving it a wonderful continuity. Reminds me a little of those medieval-era calendar pages. She was also a deft hand with colored pencils (or perhaps chalks, I'm not sure).

It occurred to me to write about this when I ran across a catalog entry for a biography of Burton entitled Virginia Lee Burton-A Life In Art by Barbara Elliman.

I hope this doesn't ruin my manly man image, but I wanted to share this with you all. Now, I gotta go get me some whiskey and snuff, go huntin', then go watch some NASCAR.

From Bacardi Show Political Correspondent Chris Tabor comes the following links:

PropagandaMatrix.com, and Counterpunch.org.

As always, the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Show management.

Here's something interesting, as profiled at Newsarama: Footnote Comics.com. It discusses events in selected comics stories and dissects them in a "could it happen or couldn't it" fashion. Some of the books profiled thusly include Bendis and Maleev's Daredevil, The Truth, and The Ultimates.

Just as inevitable as death and taxes are bubble-headed 100 best of whatever lists, and here's the latest to come to my attention: NME's 100 greatest albums of all time. With their #1 choice, I think they are (as they say over there) taking the piss.

What's Welsh for happy birthday? Belated Bacardi Show Birthday greetings go out, one day late, to Mr. John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground and prolific solo artist, author and great session musician as well...his aching viola has added new dimensions to songs by artists as diverse as Nick Drake and Paul Westerberg. I'm especially fond of the run of albums he did in the early-to-mid 70's with Eno and Phil Manzanera such as Paris 1919, Fear, and Slow Dazzle. I've not been so crazy about his recent output– the Lou Reed collaboration Songs For Drella had some good stuff, and his album with Eno, Wrong Way Up, remains a favorite, but that's about all that I've heard that I've liked–but I'm glad he's still hanging around, doing what he does.

I guess if you stop by here out of curiosity or boredom or whetever that you've noticed the lack of relevant political commentary, like you can find at oh, I'd say, 3/4 of the blogs out there in the blogiverse, it's because, frankly, I've never been much of a political debator and have a tendency to focus on Planet Dave rather than the rest of the world, taking each thing as it comes. I also know more about music, comics, etc. than I do politics and world affairs, so that way I minimize how much of an idiot I sound like. Also, it looks like Dubya's bound and determined to root out Saddam and get payback for his daddy, regardless of the cost both at home and abroad. so I've resigned myself to the inevitable. Maybe it will be best that George gets this out of his system. Then he (or his advisors) perhaps concentrate on something else. I don't know. Anyway, I was over at the Stupid Evil Bastard's place this morning and read his excellent piece on his reason for not writing more about current politics, and it echoes a lot of my feelings as well. Y'all should go check it out.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when greeted with the news that the Atlanta Falcons had traded their first round draft pick this year for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Peerless Price. The Falcons lacked an explosive, playmaking wideout last year and Price, while far from a veteran (I think the upcoming season will be his fourth in the NFL), gives them just that. I'm liking what I'm seeing from the Arthur Blank regime so far...there's no way that deal would have been done by the previous braintrust. Hopefully there will be more additions to come!

Just wanted to note that today would have been my father, Hulen Jones', 76th birthday. He died in 1990 from pnuemonia caused by complications from chemotherapy. Happy birthday, Dad, wherever you may be.

Found: The official Orgazmo website!

That movie cracks me up.

Not content with doing This-And-That Tuesday, I now bring you the Friday Five!

1. What was the last song you heard? Alex Chilton, by the Replacements

2. What were the last two movies you saw? Minority Report and XXX

3. What were the last three things you purchased? three comics: Harley Quinn: Our Worlds At War 1 (several pages of Paul Grist art, found it in the 50 cent box, and Batman: Gotham Adventures 24 & 29 for my grandson Nevan. Gonna get him started early.)

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend? Balance my checkbook. Go through my comics collection and pull some for selling. Attend the fantasy baseball draft on Sunday. Go to the grocery. I'll probably acheive two of these things.

5. Who are the last five people you talked to? My wife Theresa, daughter Abby, her college roommate Jessica, Mike Cary, and Ruth Loiacano.

That's it!

Over the last few weeks my co-workers Mike, Ruth and I have been collaborating on a best of the 80s set of CDs. I didn't think I would be much help, since (as longtime readers know) I'm not really all that enamored of the music of that decade...or so I thought! As we tossed song suggestions back and forth, we came up with enough tracks to fill NINE CDs! The main criteria were that these should be songs that defined the artist in that decade, be it a hit single or a video that received a fair amount of airplay. Problem is, I tend to be a contrary sort and there were frankly a lot of songs I really didn't want in the final tracklist...so I just went rogue and made my own, leaner, meaner four disk set. I tried to stay with the single/video thing, but I got away from the "artist-defining" thing. I thought I'd share it with you. And yes, some of these have been downloaded on the 'Net, but the majority of them I/we paid for years ago so don't think too harshly of me (and us). Here's the track list for disc 1, the only one I've burned so far:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-Jammin' Me
U2-Angel of Harlem
Eurythmics-Missionary Man*
Smithereens-Behind The Wall of Sleep*
Los Lobos-Shakin Shakin Shakes
Dead Milkmen-Punk Rock Girl*
Steve Wynn-Carolyn
Waterboys-The Whole of the Moon
Bruce Springsteen-Brilliant Disguise
World Party-Ship of Fools
the Clash-Rock The Casbah*
John Cougar Mellencamp-Check It Out
Camper Van Beethoven-Take the Skinheads Bowling*
Dave Edmunds-Information
R.E.M.-Fall On Me
Tanita Tikaram-Twist in My Sobriety*
Bourgeois Tagg-I Don't Mind At All*
Lindsey Buckingham-Trouble
the Replacements-Alex Chilton
Lenny Kravitz-Let Love Rule

*-indicates songs on the "official" box set

So, what do you think? I'm pretty happy with it, and I've got several more to go. Got to get some disks, though.

BEST OF THE WEEK

COMICS REVIEWS!
What I bought and what I thought, week of March 5!

1. PROMETHEA 25 For those of us who have been keeping the faith while Alan Moore delved into the mystic, this issue is our reward, as Moore explores the ramifications of what happened back on "our" plane of existence while the "true" Promethea was away in smashing fashion. Besides the excellent dramatics and unpredictable events, this is also an amazing tour de force for the J.H. Williams III/Mick Gray art team, surely one of the best in comics these days. A+

2. POWERS 29 Brian Michael Bendis veers from familiar territory this time out and creates, with a lot of help from Mike Avon Oeming, a feeling of shock and dread. While this arc is still superficially reminiscent of other storylines in this series (and a few others), and in particular is beginning to remind me of Kingdom Come, one has to give BMB total credit for upping the ante so successfully. A

3. 100 BULLETS 42 It's kinda difficult sometimes to keep coming up with ways to praise Brian Azzurello and Eduardo Rizzo. This is just the latest strand in a huge tapestry, and it's just as excellent as the last one. I hope they don't take too long to resolve the backstory of Wiley Tymes. A

4. HELLBOY: WEIRD TALES 1 I broke down and bought this, even though I'm still kinda expecting to get this in the mail one of these days, when someone gets through bitchslapping Ted Rall...anyway, I couldn't wait. Nice start for this anthology series, with John Cassiday's wonderfully drawn and moody lead story taking a reluctant back seat to Andi Watson's great follow-up, about HB's birthday and a rare look at him during down time. It's lots of fun and Watson's idiosyncratic style works very well. Story three, essentially a teaser for an upcoming non-Hellboy related Dark Horse comic, was confusingly written and poorly drawn, often resembling those grubby old Tony DeZuniga-inked four-pagers that used to appear in DC's supernatural books of the 70s. Cassaday's serialized Lobster Johnson strip, drawn in a deliberately 40's style with imitation yellowed pages to match, is agreeable but brings none of the nutball fun that Mignola would have. So 2 yea, 2 nay, and a big "not bad" for an anthology series. B+

5. SPIDER-MAN: BLUE 6 I'm glad this disappointing nostalgia exercise is over. Hard to put a finger on why this left me so cold, especially since I enjoyed the previous Loeb/Sale effort Daredevil:Yellow a lot...guess I can chalk it up to over-familiarity with the source material. Someone who's new to comics might feel differently, I don't know, but the Peter/Mary Jane/Gwen Stacy triangle was old hat back in 1974. Here's hoping the previously golden pair mine a fresher vein next time out. B

6. CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHAT PRICE GLORY 1 Since I only had 4 books to buy this week, I decided to take a shot on something I hadn't planned on picking up...and I chose this because I just love Steve Rude's art. Rude does his best Kirby imitation here (but still looks, to my eyes, like Russ Manning inked by Dick Ayers), aided by longtime Kirby inker and letterer Mike Royer (which really brings back those memories of 1972) but it's wasted on a convoluted, senseless script which never establishes a clear tone and often reads like a page or two has been edited out, which I suppose is entirely possible. I know Bruce Jones is a fine writer, but he really isn't on his game. Still, he has two issues left to get himself out of the corner he's apparently painted himself into. B-

Just remembered a site I used to read a year or two ago, but isn't updated anymore for some reason: That Cavortin' Bastard. Like the Bastard himself would say, "This be some funny shit, yo." Warning: not for those easily offended by racal humor or profanity. I don't think I've got too many of you among my readers, but ya never know. Peace out.

Well, here it is, 10:46 PM CST and I got nothin. I've found a few things here and there, but nothing I'm moved to write about without resorting to political commentary, which is pretty much first and foremost in most people's minds right now...so I'll call it a night and try again tomorrow.

I haven't done this for a while, so here's what I've listened to the last couple of days:
Chris Robinson-New Earth Mud (a couple of songs are beginning to sink in, but this is still a disappointment), The Dukes of Stratosphear-Chips From The Chocolate Fireball (An Anthology) (I absolutely love "Vanishing Girl") , The Beatles Anthology 1 (not my favorite of the three, but still occasionally interesting, especially the Sullivan Show excerpts. I liked "Free As A Bird", personally, despite the wan Lennon vocal track), Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians-Perspex Island (this was a bit of a compromised, overproduced flop for Robyn, but it has two excellent songs-"So You Think You're In Love" and "She Doesn't Exist"), Lenny Kravitz-Let Love Rule (love the Beatles '69 title track and "Mr. Cab Driver", everything else is cringe-inducing...pretty much the story of Lenny's often imitating, rarely duplicating career–at least to me), and John Cougar Mellencamp-Lonesome Jubilee (the first album I ever really liked by ol' John. "Check It Out" is a great song, and "Cherry Bomb" is almost as good).

Back tomorrow with comics reviews (had some real good ones this week), and hopefully more stuff, as Chuckie Barris used to say. Interesting stuff. Hopefully.