ABC News reconstructs Kennedy assassination, confirms Warren Commission conclusion. This would be something I'd be interested in watching. The sticking point for me is, can an average gunman (not a sharpshooter) make the shot from that book depository window.
Oliver Stone's movie made a lot of the "back and to the left" of Kennedy's head, but a person's head isn't like a watermelon. There's muscles in the neck, there is good reason to argue that his head could push back after being shot forward.
Whatever.
No one will ever come up with a clear enough answer that everyone will be satisfied. Still, I would like to see a well done documentary that really tries to come up with the simplest, most likely answer -- be it a guy on the grassy knoll or Oswald himself.

Random House has a nice animation of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" using the comic adaption by Peter Kuper. It mostly reminded me that I should reread the story. Also, the music is cool.

There are so many good links at Fortean Times today that I'm just going to refer you to them. Just listen to these headlines: "Unexplained Boulders Found In Treetops", "Perfectly formed egg found inside egg", "Living on Butt Hole Road not as much fun as it sounds." And those are just the top ones. The Times is on its game today. Check it out.

Here's a great little article on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (I found it after reading their article on Kill Bill, also worth a look.) It seems to me the author understands the appeal of the series very well. And he also doesn't fall for the "the movie is the perfect introduction to the series" thing that many other people have said. It's not. It's really just another episode (and not the best episode either.)
But the best thing about this article: there's a link to download the theme song "Tank!" Even if you have no interest in the show, download this song (you'll need WinZip). It's such a cool mix of big band jazz, '70s TV theme song and rock rhythms. It's awesome and I love that it's on my computer now.

A professor is researching earworms, those annoying ditties that get stuck in your head. You know, like the theme of the "Andy Griffith Show." Go ahead, start whistling it, I dare you.

Find out about how Google exploits animals. (Link via Neil Gaiman's journal.)

NASA has released documents about a crash in Kecksburg, Pa., that some believe was a UFO crash. The SciFi Channel put its weight behind the request, which actually got the documents to move, so it can a "documentary" called "The New Roswell."

Apparently Will Ferrell will play Ignatius in a film version of "Confederacy of Dunces." The dialogue from the event seems perfect for Ignatius, but Ferrell seems completely wrong physically for Ignatius. He's a fat, sloppy guy (I can't remember if he's tall though.) At the very least, Ferrell could capture the humor. I just think Philip Seymour Hoffman or Jack Black or Michael Knight or somebody would be a better physical match (and they're all good actors).

I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre last night. It was good. It was gruesome without showing a lot of gore (like the original.) It was definitely created by people who had a lot of respect for the original movie, and they show it through various visual homages to the original.
They do some things better. You get to know these characters better than the original. You care about Jessica Biel's character. And when people are in pain, you feel it. They're not just hacked away like all those nameless slasher movie victims (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
And they retained the deep, black humor of the original, which is probably my favorite thing about that movie. R. Lee Ermey was fantastic. If you like horror movies, check it out.

There's a pretty common belief that what you write or post on the Internet can always come back to haunt you. (This is usually noted about naked pictures of people.) But, it also seems to be true of governmental bureacracy.
When I owned my last house, I was a slacker. I didn't pay bills on time -- or at all -- I let things go to pot. I was basically a bad owner. I've improved since then. I paid off those bills and moved out. But they keep coming back to haunt me.
A year or two ago, the IRS started bugging me about a quitclaim that said I'd made a gift of my house when I gave it to my sister. I hadn't. I'd sold my half. But it wasn't recorded that way. So we went back and forth for quite a while until I finally got it straightened out and ended up paying $600 in taxes. This took place 4 years after I was out of that house.
Here we are, 6 1/2 years since I lived there. And it's haunting me again. We're trying to remortgage my current house. Up pops something about me still having a $1,500 lien. 6 1/2 years later! This mysterious lien hasn't turned up on credit reports before this, the town's tax collector says I don't owe anything. What the hell?
Was I that bad a person that I need to pay for these previous sins over and over and over again? Nothing depresses you quicker than the fear you will have to pay money you don't have.

There's a Star Wars fan film called Art of the Saber that is really neat. It's just a light saber fight with some nice music and a monologue based on a Civil War letter. Considering the budget they must have had, it's very well done.

"The Iceman" kills a shark: "Peturrson, 55 and a muscle-packed 12st, grabbed the 14ft shark’s tail, pulled it to shore and killed it with a knife. " But another report says: "This sounds like a human attack on a shark, not the other way around," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File. "The shark was coming in for a free meal, and this guy decided to kill it."
This is like the famed "man bites dog" journalism dictum amped up a few hundred notches.

Here is a great Web site: The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency. The Web site creates a whole history for an imaginary federal agency. It never lets up on the fiction. Make sure you check out the movie reviews where Dr. Hugo Pecos writes about films, detailing both their educational and entertainment value. He had me going for a second with a listing for "Vampires" by Ken Burns, which Pecos calls an excellent documentary and not boring in the least.

Look, somebody has created Giant Monster Monopoly! Don't how well it will work, but it sure looks cool. (Link found via As Above, which is the blog of the guy that created the Zombie Infection Simulator.)

Who dares to fight the awful monster known as Brian? Hmm? Do you dare?

Well thank goodness someone has finally written it: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. The book seems to sum up all your survival needs in case of a zombie plague. He even has a links page for finding out more about zombies (including another version of the Zombie infection simulator which gives the humans the ability to fight back, hurrah!). Also, the music on the sight is great and spooky. Check it out.

Scientists conduct first-ever fish census. It must be difficult counting all those fish with the way they move about and all. (Thanks Aimee for the link.)

And thanks to rockcritics daily, I've found The Rock and Roll Report, which immediately endeared itself to me by praising Rush. (Which all the critics are supposed to hate, it's required by law or something.)

At rockcritics daily, an article in Slate about "School of Rock" leads the writer to think about the punk/hard rock divide and if it still exists. He doesn't come to much of a conclusion, but the history of his high school years is fun.

We just passed "Summer of the Lake Monsters." Did you know that?