The full-weekend box-office estimates are out (don’t ask me how they release these figures on Sunday mornings; I have no idea), and it seems Fahrenheit 9/11 really will defeat White Chicks, despite playing on less than a third of the number of theater screens, $21.8 million to $19.6 million.

It’s also making all sorts of history: it’s already the highest-grossing documentary ever, it had the best-ever opening weekend for a Cannes Film Festival winner, and the biggest opening ever for a movie playing on less than 1,000 screens (beating Rocky III).

It’s official: Ahnold’s in prime time for the Republican convention. So is John McCain. Let’s the deception of the public begin. “Look, pa, they’re a ‘moderate’ party!”

The only hope for a glimpse at the real GOP may be the veep:

Cheney will get a prime-time spot too, of course, but insiders say he’s unlikely to join in the gentler approach. “Cheney soften?” says a Bush official. “Don’t bet on it.”

I won’t. But even if Cheney uses his speech to tell every single Democratic senator to “F*** off,” I still think the Republican convention will be ten times more palatable to the public than the Democratic one. The Dems, alas, are so self-deluded, I don’t think they realize how badly their hard-liners will turn off the public. (Witness the commenter who said, “What’s wrong with Nancy [Pelosi]? She strikes me as delightful.”)

Tim has posted his hopes for Connecticut’s new governor, Jodi Rell. Goat-worship is involved.

Rell, of course, is replacing the greatest goat of all, John G. Rowland. (The “G” stands for “Graft.”) Won’t be long now…

(days, hours, minutes, seconds)

Dick Cheney is now defending his use of the F-word against Pat Leahy, saying it was “long overdue”:

“I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it,” Cheney told Neil Cavuto of Fox News. The vice president said those who heard the putdown agreed with him. “I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue.” …

Cheney said yesterday he was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with Leahy because Leahy had “challenged my integrity” by making charges of cronyism between Cheney and his former firm, Halliburton Co. Leahy on Monday had a conference call to kick off the Democratic National Committee’s “Halliburton Week” focusing on Cheney, the company, “and the millions of dollars they’ve cost taxpayers,” the party said.

“I didn’t like the fact that after he had done so, then he wanted to act like, you know, everything’s peaches and cream,” Cheney said. “And I informed him of my view of his conduct in no uncertain terms. And as I say, I felt better afterwards.”

This would be a defensible sentiment if it weren’t completely and utterly hypocritical for an administration that vowed to “change the tone in Washington” and that criticized John Kerry’s use of the F-word to describe Bush’s Iraq policy as “beneath John Kerry” and “very disappoint[ing].” I mean, I’m sure Kerry probably believed that saying Bush “f***ed up” in Iraq was “long overdue,” and he probably “felt better” after saying it. But using vile profanities (in public!) to attack your political opponents is either wrong, or it isn’t. It isn’t OK for Republicans if they feel it’s justified, but wrong for Democrats regardless of the context. That level of hypocrisy is, well, f***ed up.

UPDATE: Becky points out that Cheney’s defense of his F-bomb is hypocritical on another level, in light of the administration’s crusade against profanity/indecency/obscenity over the airwaves. Indeed.

I could very easily forgive Cheney for using the F-word in the heat of the moment during a passionate, angry exchange, especially given that his personal integrity had been attacked. Leahy’s initial (rather diplomatic) explanation that Cheney was probably “having a bad day” seemed plausible enough. Had Cheney just kept kept his mouth shut for a day or two, then quietly apologized for the outburst, then as far as I’m concerned, all would be forgiven. But to actually go on TV and defend his profanity — suddenly an amusing but insignificant story becomes another outrageous example of this administration’s arrogance.

Heads must roll. On Nov. 2.

In a major upset, Fahrenheit 9/11 was #1 at the box office on Friday, beating White Chicks by $1.5 million.

It will be interesting to see if Moore’s movie can maintain this pace, or if his core audience (you know, liberal hippie America-haters* :) rushed out to see it on the first day, and now the momentum will slow.

*deliberate exaggeration; please don’t kill me :)

Here’s a photo from this evening’s trip to the dog park showing me with my newest friend, Pugsley:

Hehe. Isn’t he cute? I love Pugsley. :)

For those who may be looking for other dog-park pictures, click here and here.

UPDATE: Here’s another, arguably better picture of me and Pugsley, which for some reason I didn’t see when I uploaded the one above:

As usual, click for a larger version of the image. (That dog in the background is Boscoe, another greyhound with whom Robbie sometimes plays.)

Another member of the Newington High School Class of 1999 has passed away. Barely a month after Chris Kotch was killed in a motorcycle accident, Joe Michalski died Sunday at age 23.

You can read his obituary here, and his memorial guestbook here. The obituary does not specify how he died.

Joe was voted “Most Optimistic” in our class’s “senior superlatives” balloting.

After high school, according to his obituary, Joe went to the University of New Haven, graduating in 2003 with a degree in Arson Investigation and Fire Sciences. He was a licensed EMT and a firefighter with the Newington Volunteer Fire Department. His funeral, which was today, included a procession past the station with a firefighters’ guard of honor.

Joe and I were not close friends, but I knew him. He was a funny kid. We had a running joke throughout high school revolving around the nonsensical phrase “wild omelette.” By the time we graduated, I don’t think either of us remembered what it meant or how the joke had started, but I think it may have originated in Mrs. Norby’s freshman English class, which, if I remember correctly, we were both in. Anyway, whenever we would see each other, we would almost always say something about wild omelettes. The joke, whatever the heck it means, was immortalized when he signed my yearbook:

That was another thing: we almost always, as I recall, referred to each other by last names only: “Mr. Loy,” “Mr. Michalski.” It was just… a random, funny thing. I guess you had to be there. But like I said, he was a funny kid.

Melissa White, who was a freshman at NHS when Joe and I were seniors, recalled on the guestbook a prank that I either was unaware of or had forgotten about, but it fits Joe perfectly: “I will never forget when… he wore his mother’s night gown into school which was for a senior prank and got kicked out but it was just hilarious!”

His senior quote was: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow” (Mark Twain).

Rest in peace, Joe.

(I can’t believe we’ve lost two members of our class in the spring/summer before our fifth-year reunion.)

I just finished watching my dad’s Transit of Venus video footage. He got some very good shots! The best part is, thanks to the thin clouds that at times covered the Sun during the morning of the transit in Connecticut, he was able to capture some excellent unfiltered images of the Sun that clearly show Venus:

Woohoo!

Again: more to come. (Eventually, I hope to post some video highlights. I’ll be working on that during the weekend on iMovie.)

My camcorder arrived via UPS today, and with it my dad’s videos of the Transit of Venus from earlier this month. I haven’t watched all the footage yet, but already I’ve seen some good shots, including this image where Venus is clearly visible near the Sun’s right limb, even as some wispy clouds pass overhead:

More to come.

My rescheduling hopes have come true: John Kerry is coming to Phoenix on Tuesday, to speak at the National Council of La Raza’s annual conference at the Phoenix Civic Plaza, which is 1.1 miles away from my office… at lunchtime!

Sweet!

UPDATE: Hmm… well, now I’m not sure about the “lunchtime” part. The e-mail I got from the local Kerry listserv said that the “doors open” at 11:00 AM, but it sounds like Kerry won’t be speaking till 3:00 PM or later. Well, I’ll just have to take a… very… late lunch break that day. :)

Thursday: Al Gore declares, “The Administration works closely with a network of ‘rapid response’ digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for ‘undermining support for our troops.’”

Friday: Conservative warbloggers create the Alliance of the Digital Brownshirts.

Methinks Andrew should join. :)

BoiFromTroy posts the obvious disclaimer: “Al Gore was the person who made the Nazi reference…this post is a satirical response to his over-the-top statements.”

In a related story, the Bush campaign has released a new Internet ad called “Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-Eyed” which shows, among other things, two clips from a MoveOn.org ad comparing Bush to Hitler.

In response to all of this, a Fark commenter announces, “I declare Godwin on the November elections! The race is over.” Heh. (Explanation for the uninitiated.)

UPDATE: I just got an e-mail from the Kerry campaign stating:

Yesterday, the Bush-Cheney campaign, losing any last sense of decency, placed a disgusting ad called “The Faces of John Kerry’s Democratic Party” as the main feature on its website. Bizarrely, and without explanation, the ad places Adolf Hitler among those faces.

The Bush-Cheney campaign must pull this ad off of its website. The use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong.

Hmm. The use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong. Indeed. So I assume Kerry’s campaign will be condemning Al “Digital Brownshirt” Gore any second now…

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