News today that there may in the ether be a forthcoming Bill Hicks biopic movie delight me in the same way as mint choc chip ice cream, but the rumours that erstwhile Aussie nutbar Russell Crowe is sketched in as the lead worry me.  Sure, he looks the part, as Empire rightly point out, and he has a brooding intensity that goes well with Bill’s stage persona, but I just worry that he doesn’t have the necessary lightness of touch that Hicks coloured his life and his act with.

Ho hum, at the very least this will bring a bit more attention to the man who I can clearly state has been more of an influence on my way of thinking than any of the mish mash of pop culture that formed my personality.  I am a product of tv, music and radio, like many of my generation, but it wasn’t until Bill came along that I saw the fallacy of these teachings and looked at them with eyes anew.  A true original, the greatest stand up ever, and ever since my first year of Uni, when a friend whose name I can’t even remember now lent me a copy of ‘Rant In E Minor’ more of a God than a man to me.

Today I started reading ‘The Liar’ by Stephen Fry.  I have never read any of this books, and find I am already quite taken.  Yesterday I finished Cormac Macarthy’s ‘No Country For Old Men,’ which was majestic and depressing, with an even more downbeat ending than the film, if that’s even possible.

Current Pages Written: 11 (Still on target)

As well as continuing as I mean to go on, tonight I’ve also been working at finally finishing the compilation I’ve been promising Jonic for so long it’s no longer funny. Suffice to say though, at three cd’s in length, it’s going to be the best thing ever. I shall shortly reward such dedication and perspiration by watching the most recent episode of Heroes, so I shall be caught up with American television.

My bank have finally deemed me worthy to receive a cash card that I can use to actually buy things in shops, my last one being so useless that the lack of a nearby cashpoint rendered me as useless as Chris O’Donnell playing Robin.

I man really, isn’t that just the campest attempt at being a superhero ever? He looks like he’s trying to cower from some unseen foe. And look how shiny that suit is! Look at the attempt at emotion on his face! And is he farting?

I’d like to thank the kind marketing firms that cook up such interminable delights as Valentine’s Day for reminding me of the fact that I am single. I really needed that. Without such a reminder I may have actually enjoyed my day off. Wouldn’t want that, would we?

A small question for anyone reading this: What do you do when you’re round a friend’s house and they put Miss Congeniality on? What is the correct protocol for such an event?

I think it’s very encouraging that the American media seem to have lifted the veil of partisanship that’s cloaked them throughout the Bush presidency. One example would be this excellent interview with Dick Cheney from CNN, in which Dick Cheney is basically made to bend over and apologise for being a naughty boy in Iraq. Well, maybe not quite that bad…

I didn’t see much of the State of the Union last night, but Greg Palast has a pretty insightful take on some of the minutiae of the speech, which is well worth checking out if you’re into that sort of thing. Which I am. The whole thing just makes me miss having the West Wing to watch.

I would comment on the Oscar nominations but to be honest, as interested as I am, I really haven’t seen enough of the films to comment, and I am slightly narked that because I don’t have Sky, I don’t get to watch them. By combining these two topics into one friendly post though, I do get to post this picture:

Right, i’m off to go and watch the last few ever episodes of Lois and Clark on DVD. Be truthful, you envy me don’t you?

If Bob Shaye, the man who runs New Line, the company who made, let’s not forget, billions of dolllars out of Peter Jackson and the LOTR films were ever to write a book, I’m sure he will have to call it “How to shoot yourself royally in the foot, destroy your company’s reputation and murder your golden goose.” his shareholders must be going mental right now. In other film type news, Scifi.com is reporting that Bill Shatner will be featuring in the new JJ Abrams Trek film in some way. Nice to see Paramount still throwing the old fella a bone.

It is ridiculously windy outside, to the point that the entirety of the neighbour’s back fence has disintegrated. And I have to cycle from Haxby to Holgate in the wind, which to be fair I’m not entirely looking forward to.