AND THE WINNER IS...

For those of you who, like me, enjoy carefully examining every minor pebble on the road to the Oscars, I'd encourage you to check out this recently-leaked, Spanish-dubbed trailer of the David Fincher film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/19, Paramount), which was adapted from a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story and stars Brad Pitt, as a man who inexpicably begins aging backwards, as well as Oscar winners Cate Blanchett (who played his wife in Babel) and Tilda Swinton (who will next appear opposite him and George Clooney in the Coens' Burn After Reading, a September release). I'd get on this pronto because someone—presumably at Paramount or maybe at Warner Brothers, which is handling the film's international distribution—is pushing hard to have this taken down. I'm not as big on Fincher or Pitt as most people, but I will certainly grant that their two previous collaborations, Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999), were pretty damn good, and this next one has really got me revved up...

A buddy of mine is graduating tommorow from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. As you've probably heard, Wesleyan's commencement speaker was scheduled to be Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), but the "Liberal Lion of the Senate," whose step-daughter is a member of the graduating class, was diagnosed with brain cancer this week and did not feel up to the task... so he asked his good friend Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to fill in, and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee (who Kennedy recently endorsed) gladly accepted. Upon hearing this, I shot my friend a text message to congratulate him on his graduation and to tell him how "jealous" I was that he had such a cool speaker. Lo-and-behold, he responded moments later with thanks... and the offer of an extra ticket! I don't think I've ever typed a quicker text message than the one I sent saying "YES!!!"

I've been lucky enough to hear Obama speak in-person before, at a rally on Boston Common in October 2007, and it wasn't long before I decided he was my guy. We all know that—in addition to his great message—he can give a hell of a speech, and I can tell you he is even more impressive in person than he is on television, which is saying a lot, and which is also why I'm so excited to see him again. (For the record, I'm an equal-opportunity kind of Democrat: I've also managed to see former Pres. Jimmy Carter, former Pres. Bill Clinton, and Sen. Hillary Clinton speak at different events this year.) Both Wesleyan and Obama have stressed that Obama will not be campaigning in his speech, but rather discussing bigger picture kind of stuff—probably along the lines of what he wrote about so effectively in his best-selling memoirs.

Historically, Wesleyan has opened their commencements to the public, but this year they have decided to limit attendance to no more than ten people per graduate, which makes this an especially cool opportunity. The ceremony tomorrow begins at 10:45am, but people are being encouraged to arrive hours earlier in order to pass through security and find a decent seat, so it will be an early morning! I'll report back later...