Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow's new book has been printed and should be available from bookstores soon. I've always enjoyed the cartoons (archive here) and I suspect this book will be a very good read. Pre-order The Great Big Book of Tomorrow now from Amazon.

The Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC opens an exhibit today called The American Effect that I really want to check out.

The American Effect explores a wide range of global perceptions of the United States. With forty-seven artists and filmmakers and three collaboratives selected from thirty countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South and North America, the show surveys works made since 1990 in a wide variety of media, including drawing, photography, film, installation, painting, sculpture, video, and Internet art.

It runs until October 12, 2003 in the Emily Fisher Landau Galleries, Floor 4.

There's a very nice interview with my friend (and hopefully yours) John Hodgman over at mediabistro.com. Lots of funny stuff and insight, as you'd expect from the Hodg-man. I'm looking forward to the revival of his Little Gray Books Lectures this fall so I can attend. Even if it is in Brooklyn. 😉

The third annual Media That Matters Film Festival is now online and all the films are available for view. The Festival, "celebrates films, videos, and new media that inspire people to speak out and take action for social change." I had the honor of serving on the jury for this year's Festival and it was a pleasure to view all the films.

The ones that have been selected are really amazing and eye-opening works of art, and I highly recommend you take the time to not only view them, but to do something about the issues that move you. The Festival site makes it easy for you by highlighting actions you can take related to the films you're viewing (e.g. send a letter to congress, donate to organizations, etc.)

The Festival will be online for the next year and will also be traveling around the US to various cities, beginning this weekend with an installation at the Walter Reade Theatre at NYC's Lincoln Center from June 13 – 15. Enjoy the films and be sure to check out one called "Vision Test" which was awared the Jury Award.

If so, stop everything you're doing right now and go get How The West Was Won. It's 3 CDs worth of live recordings from 1972 shows in Long Beach and Los Angeles, CA. Don't be turned off by past live horrors like the Song Remains the Same, this is outstanding. I've been listening non-stop and it's so good, filled with crazy improvisations and bluesy rocking. "Whole Lotta Love" goes for more than 20 minutes and at this writing it has 141 reviews at Amazon with an average of five (out of five) stars. We've got it on repeat here at the office and we're rocking out so much listening to it that we're contemplating exchanging the desks for bean bag chairs, covering the large warehouse windows with tapestries, hanging the beads, and packing the bong. From now on, we'll be coding by the light of the lava lamp. [muchas gracias a Jake]

People will tell you the key to any successful relationship is compromise. Without the ability to compromise, long-term love affairs don't make it beyond short-term trysts. Compromise done well is like any negotiation, the trick is to give so that in return you get something you want. In that vein, I'm going to see The Matrix: Reloaded tonight. I didn't like the first Matrix. But I also don't want to go alone to the premiere of Seabiscuit this summer. No wonder people say relationships are hard!

Drat, series creator and frequent script writer Aaron Sorkin is leaving the West Wing at the end of this season. The West Wing is one of my favorite TV shows, though I've been a little behind this season after missing some episodes while in France and when I was TiVoless in NY. The article says there were "reports of tension between Sorkin and the studio that produces the show, Warner Bros. Television." The supposed tensions relate to production delays and budget overruns.

The conspiracist in me wonders if there isn't some political pressure as well. Warner Bros. Television is of course owned by media juggernaut AOL/Time Warner. But in looking up their campaign contributions for 2000 (as AOL and Time Warner) and 2002 (now merged), I find that they contribute more to Democrats. I guess the conspiracist in me is wrong.

Bend it Like Beckham, the wonderful movie I mentioned recently, is getting a wider release across this US this weekend. So if it wasn't playing in your neighborhood, check again, it might be now.

I went to see Bend it like Beckham last night and haven't enjoyed a movie that much in a long time. Though the plot is nothing new (teenage girl rebels against traditional parents, falls for guy, etc.) it's well acted, fun, and refreshing because of the details. The girl is rebelling because she wants to play soccer (called 'football' in the movie because it takes place in the UK). Finally, a movie about girls and sports, featuring strong, healthy, active girls playing soccer and having fun together. I can't even think of another movie that features girls and sports. There are no make-up crises, or prom crises, instead it's whether Jess, the protagonist, can go with her team to a match in Germany. Yippee! Plus it has fun music and confronts the stereotype that girls who are into sports are lesbians. Highly recommended for everyone, but especially if you played sports when you were younger. Also recommended for teen and pre-teen girls looking for a coming-of-age story where a young woman learns who she is (and wants to be) through athletics and family, as opposed to the mall and Vogue. Yippee again!

Via email, two more sports + girls movie suggestions: Blue Crush, about surfer girls in Maui and based on a Susan Orlean article and Girlfight, about a girl who takes up boxing in NYC. I've been wanting to see both and forgot, so I appreciate the reminders. Thanks folks!

What would Baudrillard or Lacan say about an empty DVD case? Kieran Healy's spot-on speculation. [via mamamusings]