The madness.... THE MADNESS IS UPON US!

Yes, it's that time of the year. In four days, I will be locking the dog in a closet, taking the phone off the hook, evicting my roomates, and settling in for the beginning of March Madness. This is the reason big screens were invented - to spend countless hours watching drama and life unfold on the college basketball courts across the States.
The Super Bowl? Nope. The Stanley Cup? Uh-uh. World Cup? Nada, senor. It's the Tournament that is the most popular TV event in North America. I'm stocking up on hoagies, chicken wings and beer, and settling in for the long haul. Don't call. I won't answer. And if you do, I'll see your number on my caller ID, and put you on the (with a nod to Stephen Colbert) Dead To Me List.
A quick breakdown for you who are too lazy to pick up a paper...
- Florida, North Carolina, Ohio State and Kansas got No. 1 seeds after winning their conferences.
- A note to Robin Gary, my cuz down south, who is waffling between going to Duke or North Carolina: DUKE LOST. THEY SUCK. DON'T BE PART OF THE EVIL EMPIRE. BEING A YANKEES FAN IS BAD ENOUGH. PLUS, THE TARHEELS WON - SO WEAR BABY BLUE.
- Player to watch: Ohio State's Greg Oden, who is destined to be the next Shaq. Minus the golden quotes, of course. Mr. O'Neal on his recent rampage though the NBA, which surprised a lot of people who thought he was too old: "It's all up here in my medula oblongata." (Taps his head).
- Player to watch Kevin Durrant, Texas. The Longhorn freshman went for 37 and 10 in Sunday's three-point loss to Kansas in the Big 12 final. He's smooth.. reminiscent of a young Smooth J.
- You can get your NCAA Bracket HERE. Thanks, Will...
- You want a good reason to watch college basketball? Lewis Black put it quite succinctly...



There hasn't been much going on here, lately. My boy Jumbo plagarised my blog and wrote about my visit to Victoria HERE, then had karma catch up to him in the form of a sprained shoulder. You getting old, son...
I have my first Big Brother outing tomorrow. It's still getting dark early, so I thought we'd rent some video games and veg out, and get a chance to know each other. Report to come ...

Soccer season is around the corner, though I'm sure to have the same fate as Jumbo if we were to start playing now. Two twisted and still unhealed ankles, not to mention a month away from the gym while they've quote-unquote "healed" would add up to an ugly start. So it's physio and rehab for me until then. But for all you soccer heads out there, a couple vids...


The top-20 greatest soccer celebrations.
I can guarantee I'm breaking these ALL out this year...
I love the Liverpool guys - there's always controversy involved. Like Robbie Fowler snorting the touch line after being accused of cocaine use, and Craig Bellamy's golf swing the week after he attacked his teammate with a golf club - because he wouldn't sing a karaoke song. Peter Crouch's "robot" dance is classic, too.



And the top-20 greatest comedic moments in soccer. It's a great one from the first clip.... Gaawwdamn south american fakers...



And one last thing.... Because he was the reason I became a reporter. (Along with Spiderman and Superman). Thanks to Miceail for spotting this...

Spielberg’s DreamWorks to bring cartoon hero Tintin to the big screen

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — It was a quarter-century in the making but, then again, nothing is easy for cartoon heroes such as Tintin.
Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, a division of Viacom Inc., has committed to produce at least one movie about the adventures of the intrepid Belgian reporter, Nick Rodwell, head of Moulinsart NV, Tintin’s commercial studio, said Thursday.
“After 25 years, they finally said, 'OK, let’s go,’” Rodwell said of the protracted talks with Spielberg. In an interview, Rodwell said the Hollywood company will go into preproduction for a movie, which should appear in theatres in about two years.
It wasn’t clear whether the film would be cartoon animation, computer animation or a movie with actors, or which of the 24 cartoon books of Tintin’s adventures would be picked.
“If movie No. 1 works, we will continue,” Rodwell said.
Talks about a Hollywood movie on Tintin, who saves the lives of countless people and makes sure criminals end up behind bars, have long stalled on financial issues and production questions.
The first plan surfaced just before Tintin’s creator, Georges Remi, aka Herge, died in 1983. Even at that time, Remi, one of the world’s foremost cartoon strip authors, delighted in Hollywood’s interest.
“If Steven Spielberg wants to make a Tintin film I cannot imagine anything better,” Rodwell said of Remi’s thoughts, and he fully realized that a movie adaptation might well change the way Tintin looks.
“Let’s see what he comes up with,” Rodwell said.
Tintin books have sold 220 million copies worldwide and have been translated in 77 languages.
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On the Net: http://www.tintin.com/