Was it me, or did last night's Nuveen Investments Super Bowl commercial with Christopher Reeve walking (via special effects) seem more sad and creepy, rather than inspiring and uplifting?

Well, this is still my favorite commercial running right now. Then there's the "call waiting" version of the ad. Or, if you're really sick, you can waste hours playing with the flash version (don't forget to move your mouse around quickly for interesting sound effects.) Oh, and don't forget the Super Bowl version.

Well it's Super Bowl Sunday... The biggest game of the year... for advertisers. You can keep up with the "Did you see that commercial during the game where..." watercooler talk tomorrow by tuning into the Ad Critic's Super Bowl Ad Portal (love that name).

My favorite band, RUSH, has been in limbo since the tragic deaths of drummer Neil Peart's wife and daughter. Now word comes that lead singer/bassist Geddy Lee is pondering a solo album project.

...and I really need to keep my headlines under control with the bad puns/cliches/etc. But then again, I do sometimes write copy lines for the movie posters I design...

Anyway, Steven Spielberg now says he'll direct Minority Report with Tom Cruise first, then Harry Potter to follow.

Pierce to do four more Bonds? Apparently he wants that "magic seven" number to match Connery and Moore's number of Bond films. (And the last to be released in 2007... Seven films, ending in year 007 - oh, that's pretty clever...)

As a movie poster designer, I'm glad I've never been asked to translate a movie poster into several languages, keeping the same look/feel with completely different character sets/styles of various dialects. A tough job...

The news/net was buzzing yesterday that Steven Spielberg had chosen the film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as his next film project. But according to Mr. Showbiz, that may be a bit premature, as his company Amblin spent today denying the story. Looks like Tom Cruise might still get his chance before Speilberg's camera in the oft-mentioned Minority Report.

I was sorry to hear that Michael J. Fox announced that he was leaving his show, Spin City at the end of this season. Apparently he wants to concentrate on his family and dealing with his Parkinsons illness.

We needed another awards ceremony... but the Golden Satellites? Sounds more like an award that should be given out to DirecTV for their outstanding customer service. [Cough] Turns out that they're given out to film/TV winners from a splinter group of the rather shady Hollywood Foreign Press (that's the Golden Globes organization to you and me). The Golden Sattellite award statue itself is really... interesting. Wonder if she can pick up High Definition HBO and watch THE SOPRANOS on that thing. They really ran with the idea that they're an offshoot of the Golden Globes - a "satellite" group in every possible way...

Personally, I've been fascinated by the troubled course of the film SUPERNOVA. The film studio even created a new director's name pseudonym in place of beloved "Alan Smithee". Smithee is the alias used when a director's name is removed from a film, whatever the reason may be. In the case of SUPERNOVA, the fictional "Thomas Lee" steps in for Smithee, making him the 4th director associated with the film. This has got to be the first case where Alan Smithee was replaced as director, rather than the other way around.

When I was in college at Auburn University, the most interesting class I took was Psychological Aspects of Sexual Behavior. Why couldn't I take a course like this?

Steve Martin (in the movie Grand Canyon) said it best: "The problem is that people don't watch enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in movies."

Living here in LA, everyone I know has commented on how embarassing our New Year's "celebration" was - most notably the um... lighting (or something) of the Hollywood sign. This article offers a listing of who and what is to blame... I think the whole matter demonstrates why Los Angeles will never truly rise to such occasions, especially when local government is involved.

Well, after scoring the second highest rating ever with the appearance of the First Lady, David Letterman continues to make news. He revealed during yesterday's taping of THE LATE SHOW (the show tapes Friday's episode on Thursdays) that he is checking into a hospital for heart tests. UPDATE: Well, it seems that he was right to get a heart test, as it mandated immediate surgery.

Here's an interesting snapshot of a few Jedi Knights... I still say Yoda look more convincing in Empire.

David Letterman has been talking on-air about getting Hillary Clinton to appear on his LATE SHOW for the past month. Usually, when Dave hounds a celebrity on-air for an appearance, it doesn't work. (Oprah comes to mind.) But tonight, Wednesday, she'll actually appear. Who would have thought that? Just the other day he called her husband (for the millionth time) "tubby".

Here's a better list (than what I posted yesterday) of what AOL just bought. Thanks to the Now This blog for the link.

Reviving an old rumor from a few months ago, Dark Horizons is reporting a "non-denial" from Gillian Anderson with regards to the rumor she'll play a Jedi Knight in Episode II. Would much rather see her in that than in HANNIBAL.

Universal is keeping the hopes alive - Cate Blanchett is at the top of the list to replace Jodie Foster in the troubled HANNIBAL.

George Clooney just signed to appear in a remake of the Rat Pack film of record, OCEAN'S 11. I don't know if the film would be the same, seeing George and his "11" robbing the MGM Grand, New York New York, and Tresaure Island... (As opposed Frank, Dean, and Sammy at the SANDS and the rest of the "old strip" in Vegas.)

Apple to release a PalmOS device? I know people who still lovingly cling to their Newtons. Maybe this will improve MacOS compatiblity with the PalmOS in the future.

Harrison Ford, for the first time, is thinking about joining a talent agency. In the past, he hasn't really needed anyone other than his long-time manager... Now I know why he was in town and appearing at the PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS last night - he was in LA getting pitches from agencies all weekend. I guess it only takes a few SABRINAs and RANDOM HEARTS to make one re-think things. Maybe this will speed up his return to the roles of Jack Ryan and then Indy.

A lot of Marvel Comics news today. First, it looks like Sam Rami will direct the SPIDER-MAN film. (Which could be a good thing.) On the flip side of the good news for Marvel, a recent court case involving the creator of the character BLADE could raise some doubts about Marvel's true ownership to some of it's beloved characters - especially with regards to the countless TV and film projects. As a freelance designer, I can appreciate how much trouble Marvel may have given itself by not keeping records of freelance artists (and characters they created) it used in the 70s.

Most all of you have heard that AOL is buying Time Warner - making it the biggest merger this century (or any, for that matter)... The properities involved is staggering: HBO, SI, Time, Warner Bros. (TV/Film/Music), New Line Cinema, Turner (CNN, TCM, TNT, TBS, etc.), and so on... (And that's just Time Warner's stake.) One company can now literally control everything in your life with regards to the media. (The Disney and ABC merger came close, but is nothing compared to this.) Imagine this: You buy a ticket through AOL's MovieFone, for a film produced by Warner Bros., hyped online via AOL (and in print via Time magazine, and on TV via CNN's Showbiz Today and the syndicated show EXTRA), with the soundtrack appearing on WEA records, which then makes a pay-TV appearance on HBO, then broadcast premiere on TBS, then produced as a spin-off TV series by Warner Bros Television... All one company.

Web style banner ads on TV? This is a really scary idea.

I don't know why, but this commercial really makes me laugh. And before the glut of "dot-com" advertising, this commercial was already a favorite. Good stuff...

TiVo and DirecTV announced at today's CES they will be producing the ultimate set-top box - combining a DirecTV DSS satellite receiver AND a TiVo "Personal Television" receiver in one unit. For those unfamilar with TiVo - it's what we geeks call "ridiculously cool". Basically it's a "smart digital" recorder (using an internal Linux operating system and a hard drive) that records programming in a variety of ways to the point where you simply stop watching "Live TV" altogether. (Then again, TiVo lets you pause, rewind and fast forward "Live TV".) You really should stop staring at that blinking 12:00 on your VCR and read more about TiVo. Speaking of TiVo and CES, they also announced a lot of new features that will be added to the TiVo service in the coming year. Gotta love those "automatic updates" to the TiVo software...

By the way, has anyone noticed I use too many "quotes" in my posts? (Picture me making the quotes symbol with my fingers in the air as you read this.)

Various sources are publishing that Universal may scrap the film HANNIBAL if Jodie Foster (as she has said she would) opts out to direct her own film instead. A smart move, as the project is already looking less attractive - far too expensive, and missing a key star. They may try to reschedule the film to accomidate Foster - but you have to wonder how successful the film will be when it has so many problems so early.

At today's MacWorld, Steve Jobs pointed out that Apple sells a Mac every six seconds. They're doing fairly well for a company so many PC-centrics wrote off a year or two ago.

Jar-Jar got you down? Miss Luke do you? ("But I wanted to go into Tosche Station to pick up some power convertors!") You can find all Luke Skywalker, all the time, on Just Luke. Highlight: sound clip of Mark Hamill singing "Luke, be a Jedi tonight..." on The Simpsons.

Charles Schultz published his last PEANUTS comic strip today. Health problems forced his retirement from penning the daily strips. Newspapers will begin rerunning older PEANUTS.

Now that we have crossed into the 21st century, I think back to the marvels of the past - and one question remains... How exactly did David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear back in 1983? Did he palm it? Or did he fake out the audience?

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year/millenium/century/etc. One question: Now that it is the year 2000 - what are we going to call it?