"Leatherheads" *** (out of four): George Clooney's goofy ode to the origins of professional football is nothing short of an old-fashioned screwball comedy. And a pretty good one at that.

George Clooney likes to make 'em like they used to. Whether he's recreating McCarthy-era paranoia with 2005's brilliant "Good Night, and Good Luck", knocking off classic noir with his buddy Steven Soderbergh in 2006's "The Good German", remaking a cold war classic with the 2000 TV-movie "Fail Safe" or harking back to 70s anti-hero thrillers with "Michael Clayton", Mr. Clooney has proven himself time and again to have a discerning cinematic palette. With "Leatherheads", a goofy ode to the origins of professional football, Mr. Clooney directs, produces and stars in what is essentially an old-fashioned screwball comedy. And it's a pretty good one at that.

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First Shoeless Joe came to Iowa. Now this....In Johnson County Iowa officials have given their informal OK for ghost hunters to check out a one-time insane asylum to see if any spirits are lurking about.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors (that's them in the picture below) took the initial action on the request from the Johnson County Historical Society, which gives tours of the 153-year-old building.

While there have never been reports of ghosts or bizarre happenings at the building the idea is to bring in a paranormal team as a "pre-emptive approach."

How will they do this you ask? Well, they're hiring an Iowa-based paranormal investigative team to come in for one night to investigate and put to rest any speculation about ghosts. A four-person Carroll Area Paranormal Team will use thermal imaging equipment and voice recording systems as a way to prove no paranormal funky business is afoot.

A date for an investigation wasn't set but I hope they call Geraldo to do a special on it.

Michael Surtees, Canadian designer and part-time superhero, has created a New York City Colour Study. (As mentioned before, he's Canadian hence the gross misspelling of "color".) The premise is that each morning he takes a photo of roughly the same square of sky above New York outside his apartment. The results, when placed next to each other, are beautiful and intriguing. And it pisses me off that I didn't think of it first.

More info here.

A few months ago, we talked about some reasons why a woman might want to pee standing up and the gadgets she can use to do it. (Then there's the Wii Super Pii Pii Brothers. Haha.) Here's another one, the best reason of all! WhizBiz wasn't included in the original list, but it deserves a shoutout, if only for this wonderful ad.

(via Dropkick Monkey)

- Coming to HBO in 2009...The Sopranos - The Irish Version.
- I'm really looking forward to the Johnny Depp Dillinger flick
- Now you can post two YouTube clips next to each other...ok.
- Jon Stewart has some fun with the idiot press and bowling.
- And the Murakami retrospective opens Saturday in Brooklyn.

It was only a matter of time before someone did this.