I asked this question of a few friends, in relation to something that I’m writing about fatherhood, and I’ve been getting some fun answers, so I thought it might be entertaining to ask the wider blog audience:

What female celebrity or celebrities do you consider to have "good morals," in the sense that you might say of your (real or hypothetical) daughter, "I hope she grows up to have good morals like _______"? (The implicit, unspoken end to that sentence, of course, being "…and not like Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan," etc. etc.) And why?

No questioning the premise of the question, please. :) I know all individuals are unique, and I cherish my daughter’s uniqueness; and further, I know that celebrity hero-worship can be toxic, especially for girls, and I’m not actually hoping Loyette grows up to be just like some celebrity or other. I’m simply trying, for analogical purposes really, to come up with a list of celebrities who people consider to be "moral," whatever that means to each of you.

P.S. Feel free to define the term "celebrity" however you like.

Academy Award nominations were announced early this morning.  Since I will obviously be losing Brendan’s annual Academy Awards pool (a little history on the curse here), this information is pretty useless to me, but some of you might be interested. ;)

Best Motion Picture:

Best Actress/Actor nominations after the jump.

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The first three episodes of Season 2 of Jericho have been leaked onto the Interwebs.

Jericho, you may recall, was cancelled after Season 1, then resurrected thanks to a nutty Internet fan campaign.

The seven-episode second season, which has two possible endings — one for if CBS renews it again, one for it they don’t — officially debuts on February 12 at 10:00 PM on CBS.

I’m sure a lot of you have had a look at the Star Trek XI teaser that is running before Cloverfield, but as it’s now available online in HD (and because the movie’s release is marked in Brendan’s Upcoming Events), I thought I’d post a link to it here.  Enjoy!

What do you think about the new look Enterprise? Are you excited about JJ Abram’s re-imagining of the franchise?  Sylar as Spock?!? You must have thoughts, so share ‘em! :) 

And, if you want to talk about Cloverfield, please feel free to do so here, since it’s all part of one big happy Bad Robot family.

*If you want to check out the first of what I’m sure will be many viral sites for Star Trek XI, go to NCC-1701.

Wow, I can’t believe I beat Brendan to this.

The newest book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle (to follow Eragon and Eldest, for the uninitiated) will be entitled Brisingr.  The book will go on sale at 12:01 AM on September 20, 2008.  (Brendan: I expect a countdown in the "Upcoming Events" section of this blog…)

Now that my Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? segment — or rather, Diane’s segment featuring me — has aired everywhere it’s going to air (most recently in St. Louis, ending moments ago), I think I’m safe re-posting the original blog entry that I published, then quickly yanked offline at ABC’s request, in the immediate aftermath of the taping back in September.

Here’s what I wrote, in a post originally titled "Millionaire update" and timestamped 4:47 PM EST on 9/11/07:

I just helped Diane get the $16,000 question right on Who Wants to be a Millionaire!

Well, really, Google and Wikipedia helped her get the $16,000 question right. But my fast typing skills helped. :)

The question was, "What does a mycologist study?" (Well, it was
worded more verbosely than that, but that was the gist.) I forget what
the first three choices were, but the fourth choice — "d" — was
"fungi."

I was already on the Wikipedia page, and ready to blurt out "fungi," by the time she was done reading choice "b" (whatever it was).

They don’t actually let you stay on the line long enough to hear
whether they got it right (though I did stay connected just long enough
to hear Meredith Viera make a bad pun about me being a "fun guy"), but
she sounded like she was going to confidently go with my answer, which
would mean that unless the collective tubular wisdom of the Internets is wrong, she did indeed get it right. (I sure hope the Internets aren’t wrong, because I told her I was 100% sure!)

P.S. I hope there isn’t anything wrong with me revealing this
information. Certainly, I never signed any confidentiality agreement,
nor was I asked orally or otherwise not to say what happened, so I
don’t see how I can be violating anything by posting this…

Heh. As I explained later that day in a 5:53 PM post, the above-quoted 4:47 PM post was a problem — though I still maintain that I wasn’t violating anything — and I voluntarily removed it. Now, more than three months later, I’m finally re-posting it. (I briefly re-posted it earlier today, but then it occurred to me that the show hadn’t yet aired everywhere, so I yanked it offline again.)

By languishing unseen behind an iron curtain of self-censorship for more than three months, the post shatters the record previously held by this post, which was embargoed for just under a month at Professor Bill Kelley’s request. ;)

Anyway, the $16,000 question was the last one for today’s show. Diane will be a "holdover" contestant on tomorrow’s show, starting with the $25,000 question. Tune in to see what happens! (Check your local listings to find out when it airs.) Again I say: Goooo Diane, Beeeeat Meredith Viera!

The RIAA, apparently determined to make itself into a self-caricature, is now arguing in court that it’s illegal to copy CDs you legally bought onto your computer for your own personal use.

P.S. Moe Lane: “I guess that I won’t be buying that iPod, then.” (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

Britney Spears’s 16-year-old sister is pregnant… with John Edwards’s baby!!

Okay, I made that last part up. Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant, though.

All I want for Christmas is Ma Spears’s parenting book…

Mike Huckabee was right: There is a God!

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.”

Jackson, who directed “Rings,” will serve as executive producer for “The Hobbit.” A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after “Rings,” despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting “The Hobbit” 50/50, spokesmen for both studios said Tuesday.

“I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line,” Jackson said in a statement. “We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth.”

Two “Hobbit” films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three “Lord of the Rings” films were made. Production is set to begin in 2009 with a released planned for 2010, with the sequel scheduled for a 2011 release.

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!

(Hat tip: yea.)

P.S. If I recall correctly from previous rumors, the first prequel will chronicle the events of “The Hobbit” (including, I imagine, considerably more detail about the White Council driving Sauron out of Dol Guldur than is featured in the book), while the second movie will deal with what occurred in the 60 years between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

A lot of important stuff happens in that 60-year period, but to be honest, I’m not sure how you make a coherent movie out of it. However, with Peter Jackson involved (albeit not in the director’s chair), I have faith that it won’t suck. Anyway, after the jump, I’ve copy-and-pasted Wikipedia’s list of the events that occurred in that time period.

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The shameless blog plugs worked! Julie Moffitt, the former SoCal VoCals phenom, is now a "FameCast Fenom" and winner of a cool $10,000! She won first place in the Internet competition’s Singer/Songwriter category, thanks to a furious rally in the final day of voting. (She was in third place as late as Wednesday evening; the polls closed at noon Thursday.) That rally is probably due mostly to Julie’s own network of fans, but hey, you never know — maybe it was support from the Irish Trojan crowd that pushed her over the top. :)

There’s been no reaction yet on Julie’s blog or her Facebook group — probably because she’s been busy celebrating, and deservedly so — but I’m sure there will be eventually. Anyway, congrats, Julie!! (Hat tip: Mike.)

UPDATE: Julie — who, incidentally, was also named the "Critics’ Choice," as seen in this video — just sent an e-mail to her fans titled "WE DID IT!!!" The full thing is reproduced after the jump, but here’s the money quote:

Whether I had won or not, this has been a life-changing experience.  It’s like the VH1 "Best Week Ever" – I won $10,000, was chosen as an industry favorite in my genre, and I got a puppy!!  I’m really excited for next year – more touring, a new album (HOORAY!) and time to take advantage of all these new industry connections I’ve been making.  :)  My 10-year high school reunion is about a year and a half away…is that enough time to get a Top 10 single on the radio?

Like I said, the whole thing is after the jump.

P.S. By the way, Julie’s 2006 debut album is available on iTunes. And one of its songs has already gotten a positive review in comments on this post!

P.P.S. I say "debut album," but of course, Julie is also prominently featured on the SoCal VoCals’ best album to date IMHO, V3: Previously Unreleased, including in particular Track #12, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," her signature solo.

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Former SoCal VoCal Julie Moffitt (previous posts here and here) has risen to the #2 spot in the FameCast Singer-Songwriter Finals, which puts her achingly close to the $10,000 prize — but she still needs your support! In an e-mail to her fans last night, Julie wrote that she "think[s] an extra 15 or 20 votes will put me over the top at this point." The polls close at noon today. So, with apologies for the excessive shilling :) … one last time … vote for Julie!

(You must be registered to vote. Registration is free. One vote is allowed per account per day, so if you voted yesterday, you can vote again today.)

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution yesterday honoring Tommy Makem and declaring him “one of the greatest Irish-Americans of the 20th century.” The resolution was co-sponsored by, among others, John Larson of my parents’ district, John Larson — pandering to the Hartford Irish :) — and Joe Courtney, also of Connecticut.

As regular readers will recall, I posted a ton of stuff about Makem when he passed away back in August. You can read of all of it here, in reverse chronological order. If you only want to read one post, make it this one: “Tommy Makem, 1932-2007 … and what he means to me.”

Anyway, after the jump, the full text of H. Res. 768 honoring Makem.

P.S. As you’ll notice if you read the resolution, it is now an officially recognized fact, according to the U.S. House of Representatives, that when Tommy Makem split up with the Clancy Brothers, he “left the band amicably.” Heh. Not so sure about that, but hey, if the House says it, it must be true! ;)

P.P.S. I meant to post these back in August, but never got around to it: two videos from New Hampshire news media covering Makem’s funeral.

UPDATE: Video clips from the House discussion on the resolution can be found here and here.

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Seen on Main Street, Knoxville. Alas, Megan Fox is nowhere to be found.

Julie Moffitt, of SoCal VoCals/Total Eclipse of the Heart fame (previous post here), still needs your help! It’s crunch time in the FameCast Singer-Songwriter Finals, and Julie’s in the running for the $10,000 prize… but she needs votes. Lots of votes! The polls close at noon EST tomorrow, so now’s the time to vote for Julie!

(You must be registered to vote. Registration is free. One vote is allowed per account per day.)

Here, by the way, is what Rolling Stone reviewer Gary Graff had to say about Julie’s performances on the linked page:

The smartest thing you do here is give us a real
sense of range with two very different songs played, no less, on two different
instruments. It’s great to hear a piano song, and "Bound to Fail" is an
exceptional song — even though there are things you can, and should, do to it
when it’s recorded, like speeding it up a bit, particularly in the bridge. But
it’s a song that will definitely benefit from a full band arrangement, and your
vocal here is well nuanced, mixing pathos and playfulness. "Oh Hell" is a lot of
fun and lets you sing in a completely different way — and show some
instrumental chops, too, since it’s hard to do those barre chords on a 12-string
acoustic. You are ready for prime time, so let’s hope others cotton on to that
real soon.

Also, she has a new puppy. Which means she needs that $10,000 for dog food. So get out the vote already! :)

Apparently I’m not the only one who thought it wasn’t that good. New Line’s $250 million adaptation of The Golden Compass is a box-office flop, making just $26.1 million in its opening weekend, a "dismally low figure" that "almost certainly means no sequel for
the proposed trilogy," according to MTV.

Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke says, "This flop should sink New Line Cinema chairman Bob Shaye’s chances to stay on when his contract expires in 2008." Cinema Blend’s Josh Tyler says we should just "pray New Line can remain solvent long enough to get The Hobbit made." As for Compass, Tyler writes:

I’m sure the religious right will declare the failure of The Golden Compass at the box office this weekend as some sort of victory for Jeebus, but the truth is the movie failed because it wasn’t that good, and audiences are getting sick of these second-rate fantasy adaptations.

I think that’s about right. Personally, I don’t care what, if any, religious messages my movies preach. But I do generally prefer films that actually take the time to develop their characters in some semi-meaningful way. And if the plot makes at least a modicum of sense, all’s the better.