Coen Brothers, Charlie Kaufman Direct Radio Dramas
Last month Ain’t It Cool News had a report about a pair of radio plays written and directed by none other than The Coen Brothers and Charlie Kaufman. They were being performed on stage in London and New York as part of something called “Theater Of The New Ear”, and starred such respected names as Meryl Streep, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marcia Gay Harden. The Coens’ play was called “Sawbones” and Kaufman’s was entitled “Hope Leaves The Theater”. I’ve been sifting through the web looking for additional info, and found that Sirius Satellite Radio apparently recorded one of the shows and plans to broadcast it this summer. Hopefully someone out there in internet land will be able to record it and MP3 it up. In the meantime, check out some detailed descriptions of the plays over at the Coen Brothers fan site, “You Know, For Kids”. In other Charlie Kaufman news, apparently Bob Saget was rumoured to be taking part in the new horror flick he’s doing with Spike Jonze. Interesting…
Well if you waited it out and avoided purchasing the Turf and Sanctuary maps for Halo 2 via X-Box Live over the last few months, the wait has paid off because these two maps (dubbed the “Killtacular” Map Pack) are now available as free downloads. So what are you waiting for? Load up Halo 2, log in to Live and select “Content Download” from the menu. Of course, the reason they are now free is because 5 more new maps are coming out next week as part of the “Maptacular” Map Pack: Gemini, Relic, Terminal, Backwash, and Elongation (the latter of which is a reworked version of “Longest” from Halo 1). These can be purchased for $11.99 over X-Box Live on July 5th, but will be free by the end of the summer. The retail version of the 
You’ve heard of 
The trailer for Jim Carrey’s next movie, “Fun With Dick And Jane” is now playing over at Moviefone. Co-starring Tea Leoni and Alec Baldwin, the movie is a remake of the 1977 comedy of the same name that starred George Segal and Jane Fonda. The screenplay was written by Judd Apatow (once again, of Freaks & Geeks fame) who also recently finished writing and directing “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”. Dean Parisot is in the director’s chair, who previously directed Galaxy Quest as well as episodes of such TV shows as Monk, The Tick, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Get A Life! Fun With Dick And Jane is slated for a December 21st release.
In case you haven’t been keeping up with this whole debacle, basically Nike Skateboarding ripped off the album cover of Minor Threat’s classic self-titled album as part of a marketing campaign for their East Coast Transworld Skateboarding tour. Dubbed the “Major Threat” tour, Nike never asked permission from Dischord Records for the use of the image or name on their posters and other ads. Minor Threat/Dischord Records frontman Ian MacKaye was reportedly quite angered by the corporation’s blatant appropriation of the indie/D.I.Y. culture. Blogs exploded with the news across the internet, and now, a few days later, Nike has issued an apology and confirmed that they will remove all traces of the ads, both print and digital. Read the full apology 
Yeah, it’s a pretty slow week unless you like seeing Vin Diesel babysit kids. You can also indulge in more Ren & Stimpy, or a TV mini-series that will no doubt launch Fred Durst’s acting career into the stratosphere. The one thing I am interested in is Gunner Palace, the documentary about soldiers in Iraq. I think it might not come out until next week in Canada though.
The NPR (National Public Radio in the U.S. … duh!) had an interview with graphic novelist Daniel Clowes this week. Clowes is best known for Ghost World, which was also turned into a movie by Terry Zwigoff that he co-wrote the script for. He has a new graphic novel called “Ice Haven”, based on the Leopold and Loeb, notorious Chicago murderers from 1924. He also has a new movie in the works, again being directed by Terry Zwigoff. The movie is “
Apple has finally released the new version of iTunes, version 4.9, and it is now available to download for free from their website. The main reason why a lot of people are excited about this new version is the fact that it now gives listeners the ability to subscribe to, download and manage podcasts (like 
The trailer for Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong has finally hit the web, and it looks like… Lord of the Rings meets Jurassic Park? It’s nice of Jackson to keep WETA in business but did I just see orcs in this flick? Set in the 30’s like the original, this movie stars Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and Andy Serkis. Click below for a direct link to the trailer. For some reason it’s premiering on the Volkswagen website and you’ll have to sit through a brief VW ad otherwise. Who knows, maybe some Peter Jackson fans will decide to buy a car on impulse. For more info visit the official site at 
IGN has a first look at the North American trailer for The Transporter 2, starring Jason Statham. The sequel is once again directed by French filmmaker Louis Leterrier (Unleashed), with Luc Besson writing and producing. I thought the first Transporter was a fun mindless action movie, and this looks like more of the same. However, there also seems to be a kid in this one… I’m not sure what that’s all about, but we all know adding a kid in a sequel is not a good thing. Click below to see the trailer in Windows Media or Quicktime. The Transporter 2 will be out on September 2nd, 2005.
