greybean.com

Three quick bits of info:

1. A day after I picked him up for the ‘Bugs, Anaheim relief pitcher Francisco Rodríguez gave up more runs (3) than he had the entire season to date (2) while blowing both the hold and the save and earning the loss against the Indians tonight. Incredible.

2. Have you guys seen the new cover art for Kill Bill Volume 2? Well, here’s the old art:

Now, I was pretty disappointed by this cover. It totally abandoned the simple, elegant design of Volume 1 on video for the look of the theatrical poster (which I frankly hadn’t been into anyway). The trichrome color scheme, the flat sans serif font (replaced by this ugly woodcut thing)… With Volume 1’s art Buena Vista found a way to deal with the whole we-have-to-have-a-famous-face-on-every-box theory of cover design without compromising the style of the film. That cover was basically a typographic design with a picture of a chick stuck in for good measure. Well, it looks like BV has gone back to the drawing board and come up with what, in tandem with Vol. 1, will make one of the better sets of cover art design in recent years. I’ll present them to you side-by-side so you can really see how it works:

That really is an excellent, sleek design. Entirely true to both films and the design parameters set out by Volume 1, Volume 2’s new art is a variation on a theme. Reverse the colors and the axis and you’ve got an entirely new design that makes perfect sense next to the original. My only problem with it is Uma’s jeans. But, she does wear them in the movie and I don’t remember her wearing the black leather pants that would’ve really fit the design.

Okay, here’s #3. Read this, from michaelmoore.com:

Friday, June 4th, 2004
Fahrenheit 9/11 Opens June 25

Hey Everyone…

As you may have heard by now, we finally have a distributor in America for Fahrenheit 9/11. Actually, two of them! Lions Gate Films and IFC Films have agreed to aggressively distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11" in theaters all across the country beginning three weeks from today on Friday, June 25th. We are, needless to say, extremely grateful for their courage (trust me, no matter what the potential box office may be, anyone who has considered taking on this distribution job has also met with a lot of pressure NOT to do it in the past month).

They will open it on a record number of screens for a documentary. There is no stopping it now!

These are great distributors. Jon Feltheimer, the man who runs Lions Gate, was the executive in charge of the company that produced my television series, "TV Nation." And the people at IFC (which owned Bravo) were the same people responsible for funding and broadcasting my other series, "The Awful Truth." So we are in very good hands.

(And, as an added bonus, Lions Gate is a Canadian company. Once again, the Canadians to the rescue! It was also a Canadian company, Salter Street Films, that produced "Bowling for Columbine." I know, it’s kinda sad we have to keep depending on our good neighbors to the north. But maybe this is the year we give ‘em their Stanley Cup back.)

There’s a lot more to tell you — and I will write to you again over the next few days. I’m in the mood to spill some beans, much to the consternation of certain people. Oh well!

Also, I have posted the trailer for "Fahrenheit 9/11" so that you can get your first glimpse at scenes from the movie–you can check it out at www.fahrenheit911.com.

Thanks for all your wonderful letters of support — they have meant a great deal to us.

Save the date — June 25! It’s the first summer film where the special effects will be real…

Yours truly,
M-I-C (see ya real soon!)
K-E-Y (why? because they can’t kill this
friggin’ movie!)
M-O-O-R-E

P.S. For our fans in the rest of the world, don’t worry — you already have distributors. And most of you will also be able to see it this summer! Thanks.