Hugo in "V"

Hugo Weaving has joined the Wachowski Brothers' and Joel Silver's production of action-thriller "V for Vendetta," starring opposite Natalie Portman. He'll play the title vigilante character known as V. Weaving replaces James Purefoy, who left the production for undisclosed reasons.

It's official. Must see this film.

Also it's a disturbing reminder how Variety style just makes me ill. Not in the cited text above, just in general.

File under frightening: the "Watchmen" movie website. Gulp. This is really going to happen, then? Please don't cop out the ending....

Ëvënts øccür ïn rëäl tïmë

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (Reuters) - Dutch police arrested six activists on Sunday who said they wanted to enter President Bush's Netherlands hotel and look for the suitcase which allows him to activate nuclear weapons.

"We heard Bush carries a nuclear suitcase and can push the red button at any time to set off atomic weapons. We find this extremely shocking," said Leo de Groot, a spokesman for the activist group.

The activists, carrying binoculars and wearing signs that identified them as "citizen's inspectors," mimicking the International Atomic Energy Agency's weapons inspectors, were caught by Dutch soldiers as they approached Bush's hotel.

Hey, I've been trying to sleep since I got a quick course on nuclear war in the 80's. I'm paranoid enough as it is. But if I can live with it, so can you. (Says the man who got his first night of uninterrupted, unmedicated sleep in months last night....)

Apparently not too liberal arts

Mononucleosis, the class was told, is a disease that "whores" get.

Former students at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School say that was part of a lesson given by a teacher who disclosed a student's case of mono and explained it was spread by "sexually active girls."

Now, the target of those comments -- 2004 graduate Rebecca Alvarado -- has filed suit against two teachers, the dean and principal at the all-girls Chicago Catholic school, claiming her privacy was violated and her reputation damaged.

My high school years? Sucked. But not that bad.

Media onslaught continues....

Thank you, LA Times:

CLAY CENTER, Kan. — In this rural swath of northern Kansas, where the grass rolls thick and green to the horizon, a white cross dominates the landscape.

Kathy Martin, a member of the state board of education, and her family built it on their farm this spring, gathering weathered chunks of limestone from the horse pasture and laying them on a hillside.

The cross is a proud expression of Martin's faith. And as hearings challenging the role of evolution in the state's school science curriculum began Thursday, that cross left little doubt about where she stood in the debate.

"Evolution is a great theory, but it is flawed," said Martin, 59, a retired science and elementary school teacher who is presiding over the hearings. "There are alternatives. Children need to hear them…. We can't ignore that our nation is based on Christianity — not science."

And this is the point where my head just drops to my desk and I'm glad I'm out of the school system now because if I'd had to put up with these people being the gatekeepers of my education I would've cried myself to sleep every night of my life.