Bloody Good

I've been keeping fairly vampiric hours lately, as we hurtle toward the start of a new semester, my mind caught between an unhealthy obsession with the ongoing primaries and all the prep work I still need to do before Monday. This means I'm not posting nearly as much as I've meant to, and have delayed those posts kicking around the back of my head, on stuff like Juno, Jack Kirby, and the architecture of romantic comedies (and yeesh-- the Oscars are coming up! Luckily, I know Jonathan has that one covered). But before I disappear into an Acathlian statue, I thought I'd alert you to some interesting posts around the blogosphere:

1) The excellent Edward Copeland has been gearing up for the awards season by conducting a poll on the best and worst "Best Actor" winners in Academy Awards history. Sadly, I'm too late to alert you to voting opportunities, but Copeland will be posting the results on Monday, and it promises to be a great start to thinking about the triumphs and absurdities of this year's winners (as well as a good excuse to refill your Netflix queue). And for an example of how to fill out said ballot with style, wit, and cinephiliac grace, one need look no further than the always-superb Self-Styled Siren.


2) Speaking of absurdities, the tireless Glenn Greenwald continues to be alert to the questionable legal tactics of the Bush administration, a sobering reminder that these jokers still have a year or so left to cause damage, even if we're all obsessed with who will replace them. Today's post is about DOJ's attempt to silence New York Times reporters, and it's a must-read.

3) Speaking of the primaries, an interesting and important conversation is going on in the comments thread of Feministing (h/t to Boolise for the heads-up) about NOW-NY State's remarkable press release condemning Ted Kennedy for his Obama endorsement. I go back and forth about who to vote for in Ohio's primary, but the thread raises a bunch of interesting points about politics, identity, passion, strategic voting, and the past-future of progressive politics, and it's worth checking out.

4) Since this post uses a Buffy image, I would be remiss if I didn't alert you to the ongoing pleasures of Jane Espenson's blog. Espenson was one of Buffy's best writers, and she's also worked on Gilmore Girls, The OC, Ellen and Star Trek (she's currently on the writing staff of Battlestar Galactica). She's also a Jane Austen enthusiast, and a former grad student in linguistics, which means she brings a fascinatingly varied perspective to issues of writing, Hollywood, and television. She also has fun "what I had for lunch" updates. Right now, she's blogging a lot about the writers strike, and brings to the picket line a wonderfully Austenian eye for the funny anecdote (I especially like her description of the wind "snapping Joss Whedon's picket stick and sending the sign whipping backwards where it narrowly missed taking out 20 plus or minus 5 percent of the staff of Numb3rs").

5) Finally, make like the Bandit and get thee to Welcome to L.A., where Larry Aydlette has kicked off a month-long "Burt Reynolds Blog-a-Thon" that promises to be a lot of fun. I maintain an affection for Reynolds, despite lots of bad choices in a 40-year career, and I can't wait to see how Larry and other posters add to my understanding of this icon.