Insomniac news (NOT Dave Attell)

Can't sleep. I have this weird sleep thing, where if I nod off for even 5 minutes, I can't sleep for several hours. Well, nodded off during the tail end of the Monty Brown vs. Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash match from Final Resolution 2005 (and really, can you blame me?), and I haven't looked back since.

I'm perusing some news items, coming attractions, upcoming releases of many things, so here's just a running commentary ... story segment to come later today.

- CD release(s) of note this week:
Dilated Peoples - "20/20" (I hope I don't have to explain what a fan I am of Dilated Peoples. The last album, while not their best, was at least commercially viable enough to get this extremely talented group of MCs some recognition to keep them recording quality hip-hop)

Nick Cave/Warren Ellis - "The Proposition Soundtrack" (Emo rock god Cave & comic book/sci-fi writer extraordinaire Ellis, teaming up for a soundtrack of a film/play/something that I can find no info on? At least the samples on Amazon sound intriguing.)

- DVD release(s) of note this week:
"Ultimate Avengers" ... actually, ain't shit coming out on DVD, apparently.

- Recent movie review(s):
"Date Movie" looks like shit ... no surprises there.

"Pink Panther" was #1 for the weekend, despite a 30 min. scene where Steve Martin can't pronounce the word "hamburger."

- Good TV: Check out VH1's "Goes Inside Yo! MTV Raps!" Very enjoyable ... except for the really sad (read: embarrassing) rapper send-off at the end. They talk about Yo! never getting the proper send-off, yet the last episode (with the all MC open-mic passaround) was a lot better than Treach, DMC, KRS-One, and Salt & Pepa freestyling a half-hearted and decade-old farewell. Plus, VH1 can't get enough of raping Flavor Flav.

- Great sale on ROH: 15-20% off total purchase ... which means that, given that the three recent TNA DVDs are available on the internet only, you'll get a better deal on "No Surrender," "Slammiversary," and "Hard Justice" on rohwrestling.com than you will on TNA's own website. Sale expires on the 22nd, but they run this sale a lot, so you'll definitely catch it again.

- Did you know there was WWF PPV on last night? I didn't either, but here's the results: He beat all eight of them to retain his title; he won against the rookie; he won with the mystery partner, but apparently it was non-title; he lost because he was still injured; he won the other one's title shot, which gave us yet ANOTHER reference to the dead one; and, he won, retaining the title in what looks like a pretty good match between the two.

- Shit, I missed NBA All-Star Weekend! STUPID FUCKING PAPERWORK~!!!

- All political stuff aside, that whole thing about blaming the victim of Cheney's hunting trip shooting was just completely bullshit. In other news, provocative clothing worn by women causes them to be raped ... more news at 11.

- Google continues to rock the house by its ongoing refusal to submit web-search records to the California US District Court. With all this spying & invasion of privacy shit going on, I'm glad that Google continues to have principles ... until they roll over eventually, of course. Which I hope won't happen. I mean, hell, if I want to look at a random picture of some adult female showing her chooch because she was paid grand sums of money for it, I should be able to. I, for one, am confident in the fact that I never, and will never, knowingly hold an online search for an underage itty-bitty titty committee, so I'm quite comfortable in placing my trust in Google.

- Are math and science 'too hard' for U.S. students? In related news, Mike Judge's new film, Idiocracy, is slated for summer 2006.

- Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell are teaming to prodcuce a remake (ugh) Evil Dead. Here's a crazy idea; bite the bullet, make Evil Dead 4 instead & tie up that future dystopia original ending of Army Of Darkness. Hell, sign that kid that played Xander from "Buffy" to play Ash's great-great-great-great grandson, 'cause if that kid ain't a spitting image for Campbell, I don't know who the fuck is.

- "Super Size Me" is apparently going up for an Oscar this year, despite being made in 2004. And here I thought that the Oscars were this annual thing that honored movies from the year before, not the 1.5 years before.

- Scientists have reversed diabetes in monkeys using pig cells, in the hopes that this will cause some great leap forward in human health sciences. Ah, THAT's what Bush meant when he spoke of the fear of "human-animal hybrids." We'll soon evolve into a species of human-pig monkeys that apparently fear math and science.

- I wonder, if you never saw another drug or drunk-driving public service announcement, would it impact drug abuse or drunk-driving fatalities in the slightest? A related question: Do the "Truth" commercials have any impact on smoking cessation? Another semi-related question: Which is worse, reality TV or infomercials? Ah, speaking of ...

- Best thing on TV at 4am: the Wild Party Girls sorority sleepover commercial ... I swear, I'm just tired enough to order this thing. Hell, I got that "Hip Hop Honeys" DVD I used to keep posting on the board many years ago. Beats the hell out of "Girls Gone Wild," for real.