Wes Phillips

On the eve of the release of a new DVD edition of <I>Empire of the Sun</I>, J.G. Ballard muses on how strange it can be when Hollywood options your life&mdash;or something like it.

No, you aren't reading an old newsdesk article that has inadvertently been published a second (or third) time. On March 2, congressional representative Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) introduced House Resolution 4861, "the audio broadcast licensing act of 2006." Ferguson's co-sponsors were Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Mary Bono (R-CA), Bart Gordon (D-TN), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

In an article published in <I>The Wall Street Journal</I> on <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114117951081886103.html?mod=toda… 1</A>, Ethan Smith suggested that consumer electronics companies need to recapture music lovers who have sacrificed audio quality in search of convenience by embracing portable devices such as the iPod.

Lovely essay on Greene's friendship with a genuine Foreign Office undercover agent. Peter Edmund James Leslie was an ex-Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism, owned shares in a diamond mine, worked as an arms salesman, and served as a Vice-Consul&mdash;in others words, he was the very template of a Graham Greene protagonist.

German scholars think they have deciphered the 3600 year-old sky disc of Nebra. I'll believe almost anything, so long as James Spader doesn't smack himself in the forehead and say, "I just remembered&mdash;I <I>do</I> speak ancient Egyptian!"

"These things used to be roomier," Huckleberry grouses.

Need I say more? I think not.