Ashcroft and the Bush administration's totalitarian attempts to overturn Oregon's assisted suicide law, the only one of its kind in the nation, gets slapped down by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 vote. If you want to see me get opinionated, read my editorial applauding the decision here. The issue of assisted suicide is a grim one, but it's one I'm quite passionately for. I simply don't think it's anything the government should step in and tell a horribly ill cancer-ridden patient they can't choose their own fate. Funny how the Bush-ites claim to be for "state's rights" and keeping the government "off your backs," but only when it comes to issues that dovetail with their own philosophy...

MOVIES: 2006 Movie Preview

MOVIES: 2006 Movie Preview

Forget "King Kong" and "Brokeback Mountain." That's all so 2005. What's coming up in 2006 at your local movie theater? Here's an alphabetical look at the dozen movies I'm most interested in announced for 2006 so far:

Art School Confidential. It's another movie combining the talents of one of the great comic artists of our time, Daniel Clowes, and director Terry Swigoff. Their last movie, "Ghost World," was fantastic, and this one takes on the scary world of art school, loosely adapting one of Dan's strips. April 28

Clerks 2: Passion of the Clerks. Catch up with Dante and Randall ten years on, still mired in dead-end jobs. This is either a really great idea or a really bad one. Will it catch the unique vibe of 1994's "Clerks"? It's in color, for one thing... Either way, it's got to be better than Kevin Smith's very so-so "Jersey Girl." August.

The Da Vinci Code. The gazillion-selling novel isn't the best thing I ever read, but it is a catchy page-turner. With Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen and many more on board, it should make for a decent thrill ride of a movie -- heck, half the time the book felt like a screenplay, anyway. May 19.

For Your Consideration. Writer-director Christopher Guest, co-writer Eugene Levy and the rest of their wacky ensemble turn their satiric attention to Hollywood's award season. Another film from the minds behind "A Mighty Wind" and "Waiting for Guffman"? I'm there. Sept. 22

The Fountain. Hugh Jackman plays a time traveler who struggles for 1,000 years as a Spanish conquistador, a scientist and an astronaut to save the woman he loves. Directed by Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream"), it has a very promising mind-bending story. Opening TBA.

Marie Antoinette. Sofia Coppola follows up "Lost in Translation" with something completely different — a take on the legendary Antoinette, played by Kirsten Dunst, in historic France. A really mesmerizing trailer with a fascinating choice of music has me quite looking forward to this. Oct. 13.

Mission: Impossible III. Yeah, yeah, everyone's sick of Tom Cruise, and the first two M:I movies were brain-dead, disposable but still solid high-octane entertainment. Extra points for casting the great Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. Worth seeing if it's more like Part 2 and less like Part 1. May 5

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest. Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack is back. The first was surprising fun. The sequel could either be another blast or a bloated over-hyped mess. But Depp is back, so I'm hoping for the former. July 7

Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. The origins of Jack Black and Kyle Gass' frenetic rockin' duo are finally revealed. If you don't want to see this, you do not rock. September.

Superman Returns. This year's "Hulk" or this year's "Spider-Man"? I really don't know what to expect from this production. I've read some interesting press on it, and worry about the potential for letdown. But director Bryan Singer helmed the first two "X-Men" movies, so I'll be at the head of the line to see what he's done with the Man of Steel. June 30

X-Men 3. Despite losing director Singer to "Superman," the first trailer for this is quite entertaining, and the first two movies were excellent. Plus, "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer is blue as the Beast. Cautious because director Brett Ratner doesn't come with a great reputation, but big fan of the series, so I'll give it a shot. May 26

V For Vendetta. Yeah, Alan Moore has a terrible track record with movie adaptations of his graphic novels ("League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "From Hell"), and it does sound like this movie about a totalitarian future terrorist has taken some liberties. But it's starting to build some interesting buzz, and Natalie Portman is great whenever she's not in a George Lucas movie. March 16.

Least looking forward to: At least two big-budget 9/11 themed movies are planned for next year, "Flight 93" by Paul Greengrass and Oliver Stone's as-yet-untitled World Trade Center movie with Nicolas Cage. I have to admit I have zero interest in seeing what happened that day reenacted by actors on the big screen. I only wonder that anybody could. The events of that day inevitably will lead to great art (I personally loved Jonathan Safran Foer's novel "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"), but Hollywood all too often cheapens reality. I suspect these movies will be seen as too much, too soon.

LIFE: In memory of Dan Phillips

LIFE: In memory of Dan Phillips

Working on a fairly slow Saturday night here and doing some aimless Internet surfing, I just belatedly discovered that one of my old bosses — really, one of my first bosses – died suddenly one month ago.

Dan Phillips was assistant publisher at The Oxford Eagle in Oxford, Mississippi, and he died Dec. 12 at age 47 due to complications after a kidney transplant. His brother, Tim, who I also worked with, had donated a kidney to try and save Dan's life in the face of failing health. I am just heartbroken and sick over this, and discovering it I felt like I'd been punched hard in the throat in the way that only truly awful news can do you.

The Eagle and its "alternative entertainment weekly," Oxford Town, was where I got my "training wheels" in journalism, the first real paper I ever worked for after my college days. I was hired as Oxford Town's assistant editor a month before graduation in 1994, and later, Dan hired me to take over as editor of that publication. He had faith in me, and always encouraged my education and inspirations, tolerated my flights of fancy and occasional blasphemy.

I always appreciated Dan giving me that chance, and that time I served as editor of Oxford Town, up until 1997, was both the hardest work of my journalism career and the most fun I've ever had at a paper. There were lots of 10-, 12-, even 15-hour nights, but there was a freewheeling kind of creativity and what-the-hell spirit at Oxford Town I've rarely recaptured quite the same way in my career. We were the "wacky younger sibling" of the more staid and respectable Oxford Eagle, our task to get the college-age readers and cover Oxford's surprisingly booming entertainment scene. It was an awesome job.

The Eagle is a pretty small paper - around 6,000, five days a week, but Dan was a player on the national newspaper scene regardless. He was the president of the National Newspaper Association in 1999, the first Mississippian in 50 years to head up the 3,600-member group. People who knew Dan liked Dan, simple as that, and the tributes flowed in after his death. The dean of Mississippi columnists, Sid Salter, wrote a fine ode to him.

Dan was the kind of person I've discovered is kind of rare in journalism — a fundamentally decent man, relaxed and rarely ruffled by the chaos of daily deadlines. He and his father, Jesse, and brother Tim helped shape my impression of journalism as a calling that can be harrowing, but one that's also humane. Dan left far too early and in far too tragic a fashion, and his passing is deeply unfair to everyone who ever knew him.

LIFE: The Big Announcement

LIFE: The Big Announcement

So, I have to admit I've been a bit secretive the last six months or so about some major stuff going on in our lives, mainly because we didn't want to let the cat out of the bag to everyone just yet, and also because our plans weren't real far along. Anyway, to cut to the chase -- we're moving later this year.

To New Zealand.

Some of you know about this already, but this is the big migration that kiwi wife Avril and I have talked about ever since we first met in 1993, moved in together in 1998, got married in 1999 (you get the picture). She's been the foreign sidekick in this marriage for a while now, but we've long thought it would only be fair if we moved to New Zealand at some point in the future so I could be the wacky foreign spouse. With baby Peter's arrival, that became an even more important notion -- we really want P to grow up knowing about both sides of his half-Kiwi, half-Yank heritage. Free state health care and being closer to my wife's family are also nice bonuses. Plus, it's real purty there. So anyway, last year we finally decided, how about now?

So. We're moving. Our trip next month is actually a trial run for the final migration sometime around October or early November. We'll be laying some groundwork, hauling a bunch of our stuff over, etc. We'll be staying with my lovely in-laws in Auckland for the immediate future until we get on our feet.

It's a huge, major change in our lives, no doubt about it, and I'll likely be babbling on about the ins and outs of it all a fair amount here before we go. Now you know what's up with us, and the glamorous and chaotic months ahead.

Questions, ask if you want below... cheers, mates!

ETC.: Gossip and self-promotion

ETC.: Gossip and self-promotion

Alas, I have little actual to post about today. It is wet. It is Oregon. So it goes. However, some random celebrity thoughts: So, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are having a baby. Thus begins the perpetuation of the ultra-hottie master race that will soon overtake us all.

This may be the coolest movie plan I've seen in a long time: Maurice Sendak's classic "Where The Wild Things Are" children's book to become live-action movie. From a script written by Dave Eggers whom I dig. Directed by SPIKE JONZE ("Adaptation," "Being John Malkovich"), who in my book can do no wrong. I'm already in the theater, waiting in line, and it's cold outside.

Want to read more by this humble scribe? Go over to my other online haunt BlogCritics, and read other stuff by me that I haven't gotten around to posting here:
• The latest CD by cool Seattle-based band The Minus 5, featuring guest appearances by members of Wilco and R.E.M.
• That nifty book I mentioned recently, "Strange Red Cow: And Other Curious Classified Ads From The Past" by Sara Bader.
Also, thanks to the kind folks at BC for naming me one of their Picks of the Week recently. I am humbled.

Coming Friday: big news.

TECH: One Apple to rule them all

TECH: One Apple to rule them all

Ahhhh. Mac geeks the world over are slobbering at the latest MacWorld presentation in San Francisco today by Apple guru Steve Jobs. Lots and lots of interesting stuff announced, which I paid a closer eye to than normal.

We're definitely in the market to replace our creaky 1999-era home iMac sometime this year. I'm not one of those people who has to have the newest and shiniest toys, but our iMac is definitely falling behind the curve, especially when I compare it to the groovy flatpanel 2005 iMac I've got here at work. When we use our iPhoto program at home, the whole computer slowwwwws down to a crawl, and don't even get me started on importing music on that thing. It's amazing how fast the field changes. My iPod, smaller than my fist, can store 30 gigabytes on it, while our home iMac barely fits 6. This Mac at work has something around 150 GB of space!

Anyway, I was hoping to get a new laptop computer, but am a bit dismayed to see they will start at a cringe-inducing $1999 for the new MacBook Pro line. Anyone know if their lower-end laptops will also be updated with the new Intel chips? Whatever I do end up getting (probably this spring or summer), it'll be a Mac. I've been using the beasts since high school (pretty much every paper I've worked at uses Macs, it's the quirk of the journalism industry it seems) and adore them unconditionally. You may pay a little more, but I'd take one iMac over 10 Dells or other PCs any day.

Don't look at me like that. I swear I didn't mean to forget that yesterday was David Bowie's 59th birthday. But it was Sunday, and I was y'know, hanging out with toddlers and lying on the couch and such. I hereby abdicate my title of dedicated BowieGeek and dedicate myself to having a thoroughly boring life. ...Anyway, sorry, Dave, hope it was a good one...

And yes, I'm a tremendous nerd.

MOVIES: "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall of Jack Johnson"

MOVIES: "Unforgivable Blackness:
The Rise And Fall of Jack Johnson"

He was bigger than Eminem, Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan put together. His name was Jack Johnson, and he was the first black heavyweight boxing champion of the world, nearly a century ago. Yet few people today even remember his name. Shown last year on PBS and now out on DVD, Ken Burns' grand documentary, "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson," reintroduces Johnson's fascinating story to a world he helped pave the way for.

It's got that high-prestige, sepia-toned feel of most Burns documentaries, and the formula -- rare film footage, stills, recreations and a variety of bow-tied experts interviewed for the camera -- can get old in some of Burns' other work. But "Unforgivable Blackness" is fresh and compelling, largely because few Americans know much about this mysterious, pivotal figure.

"For more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous, and the most notorious, African-American on Earth," Burns says. Burns shows us that Johnson was post-Civil War white America's worst nightmare — big and tough, headstrong, eloquent, a fine dresser, an inventor, given to mocking his white opponents in the ring, and without a doubt worst of all to people then, he loved white women. Johnson was married three times to white women and dated countless others. Given the tenor of the times, it's amazing he wasn't assassinated.

Born in 1878 to ex-slaves, Jack Johnson knew how to fight. He become a professional boxer around the turn of the century, developing a powerful reputation. Johnson was proud, refused to be deferent to whites, and wanted to become the first black heavyweight champion. But no white would fight him for the title, even though his skills were clearly worthy, not wanting to "sully" it. After years of trying to get a shot, Johnson finally took on the champion, Tommy Burns – and beat him decisively, winning the title he longed for. "The press reacted [to Johnson's victory] as if Armageddon was here," recalls one of Johnson's biographers.

The white ruling class was determined to find "the great white hope" and win back the title. After numerous easy wins for Johnson, the former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries was persuaded to take him on in a hugely hyped battle in Reno in 1910. Johnson knocked Jeffries out in the 15th round. The fight and win by the "savage" spawned fatal race riots throughout America.

They couldn't bring Johnson down in the ring. So they went after him in the courts, using the Mann Act -- an anti-prostitution law -- to go after him for his relationships with white women. Though the act wasn't aimed at consenting adults, no matter. Johnson was convicted, but fled the country to avoid prison. Even after, at age 37, he was finally beaten in Cuba by a white contender and lost the title, Johnson wouldn't "play nice." Ultimately, he did come back to America to face "justice." Ten years after being champion of the world, he was in prison for a year-long stay. But even then, he persevered, and lived to age 68, when the speed-loving Johnson died in a car wreck.

The deeply ingrained, utterly unapologetic mass racism of the era shown in "Unforgivable Blackness" is more than disturbing -- it's disgusting and will turn your stomach. Johnson seems impossibly heroic, in an era where lynchings were commonplace, standing alone in the ring battling a white man before a gigantic crowd of jeering whites, many of whom would love to see him dead. While we're a long way from perfect today, American has certainly come a long way since the ugly public white superiority of Johnson's time.

"Unforgivable Blackness" is given life by a treasure trove of rare, nearly 100-year-old films and photos. Johnson leaps off the screen; if he were alive today, he'd be a media star. The amazing fight footage is mesmerizing, like watching gladiators from the inky past come to life. And who else could voice Johnson here (in excerpts read from his autobiography) other than Samuel L. Jackson?

Even if you're not a big fan of boxing, the broader struggle of Johnson's life makes for compelling viewing. Burns really evokes the pre-World War I American society, where most blacks were facing conditions not all that different from slavery. We see excerpts of the 1915 hit movie "Birth of a Nation," the appallingly racist pro-Ku Klux Klan PR film, and countless examples of Johnson being condescended to, ignored and berated by the media of the time. While at four hours (over two DVDs), "Unforgivable Blackness" isn't a short film, the time speeds by. It's a fine ode to a remarkable life.

ETC.: Five for Friday

ETC.: Five for Friday

Five things this week that make life interesting:
1. "Grizzly Man." This heartbreaking, amazing documentary is perhaps the best movie I've seen about the strange line between man and nature. It's the tale of Timothy Treadwell, a peculiar combination of Mr. Rogers and Grizzly Adams who devoted years of his life to studying and "protecting" Alaska's grizzly bear population — until he met an awful end. Director Werner Herzog has crafted this documentary using the hours and hours of footage Treadwell shot of himself in the woods, and it's utterly fascinating, voyeuristic and sometimes horrifying stuff. Treadwell is a kind of holy fool, who managed to convince himself he was the savior of the bears. His monologues are strangely hypnotic, and Herzog does a masterful job of reassembling Treadwell's life and looking at how a bear lover ended up bear food. Despite his many flaws, I ended up admiring this poor doomed guy anyway. We are truly in a golden age of the documentary right now, and "Grizzly Man" is one of the best of them.

2. The return of "Scrubs"! Finally, one of TV's best comedies is back on the air after a lengthy fall hiatus. Even better, right now they're airing two original episodes back-to-back on Tuesday nights. While it's not as madly innovative as "Arrested Development," it's still better written than 90% of TV's sitcoms.

3. Wallace and Gromit! Peter has entered that endearing phase when he fixates on one thing over and over and over again. In Oregon's rainy winter weather, he's not able to play outside so much, so TV sometimes steps in as a playmate. His absolute favorite thing in the world right now is watching our Adventures of Wallace & Gromit DVD multiple times. He often gets very sad (well, OK, throws a mini-tantrum) if he's deprived of watching his "dog," as he calls it. Oh well. At least it's the great, quiet humor and British claymation of Wallace and Gromit and not McDonald's ads he's watching. These quirky, veddy British short features hold up to even the amount of repeated views a toddler demands.

4. Getting a huge box o' graphic novels from the fine folks at DCBS today. I will spend the weekend geeking out with:
• Demo Collection by Brian Wood - At last!
• Showcase Presents Justice League of America Vol. 1 - 500 pages of silver age goodness!
• Omega The Unknown Classic - Ultra-quirky 1970s Marvel Comics madness!
• Fantastic Four Visionaries John Byrne Vol. 5 - So glad they're continuing this reprint series. Great stuff.
• Fables Volume 6 - Who is the Adversary? How have I avoided the spoilers?
• Superman "True Brit" softcover - Remember when DC Comics made a big deal about John Cleese "writing" a Superman comic? Then it came out (with apparently pretty minimal contributions from Cleese) and I pretty much never heard another word about it. Nevertheless, for a 50% discount it seemed like it'd be worth checking out, and I always like John Byrne's art on Superman.

MUSIC: The Perfect Songs, Part III

MUSIC: The Perfect Songs, Part III

Still more songs that make the world a finer place! You can find part one here and part two there. These are the songs that I will take with me in my space capsule when I go out and fly beyond the stars. Here are three more of my Perfect Songs for the countdown, in no particular order --

7. "Down Under" by Men at Work. I've loved this song since I was 11 years old and "Business As Usual" was the very first album (OK, cassette) I bought with my own money. This kooky hit single may be oddball (a flute solo? Come on!), but it also evokes for me the mysteries of the sea, foreign lands and strange customs not your own. Colin Hay's amiable, jargon-filled patter amused and confused me ("chunder"? "vegemite"? huh?). Perhaps stretching the coincidence too far, in 1999 I married a woman from "Down Under." (OK, New Zealand, not Australia, but still...) One of the songs I never get tired to listening to, and it always makes me smile. "Lying in a den in Bombay / With a slack jaw, and not much to say."

8. "Without Me," by Eminem. I tell you, when I'm in the right mood I do dig the Eminem, and this song is the perfect distillation of his essence — all rampaging id, quick quippery, profane and boastful, yet with undeniable humor. Eminem is like a rage-addicted Weird Al Yankovic with Tourette's syndrome, and the hooks that drive this song will move you unless you're a stone. A lewd, crude manifesto, but rapped with just the slightest suggestion of a wink, which makes it all go down smooth. The song to listen to to decide if you like or hate the man. "Now this looks like a job for me / So everybody, just follow me / 'Cause we need a little, controversy."

9. "My Sexual Life" by Everclear. For about six months in 1996 or so, I listened to Everclear's "Sparkle and Fade" CD so many times I wore it out and had to buy a new copy. Power-chord rock with razor-edged lyrics, Everclear hit their peak with their second album, an ode to being down-and-out and trying to find the way back up, closely based on lead singer/songwriter Art Alexakis' own addiction past. One of the few post-grunge rock bands to make a dent in the ugly late 1990s, and the song "Santa Monica" from off this album was their biggest hit. But the one I listened to the most on this so sad, so gorgeous and angry album was the final track, "My Sexual Life," where all the hurt and frustration of the album boils over into a brokenhearted kind of lullaby. It's a song where the relationship is all but over, you're going through the motions and resentment is pretty much all that's left, but you just can't quite accept that yet. Alexakis went back to the same well a few times too often with his pain, as later albums started showing ever-diminishing returns to the Everclear "sound." But for an album or two, they were the best band in the world to me. "You always say you want a simple life / You and me both know that You are a liar."