Season's Greetings from all of us at Crazed Fanboy dotcom and Nolan's Pop Culture Review to you, our loyal readers

PLUS --
• "We Got 'im!"
•  LOTR: Return of the King opens nationwide
•  Attention: All PCR writers--end of the year issue at hand
•  It was 20 years ago today...

"Ladies and Gentlemen....we got 'im" said US Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer to thundrous applause during a press conference early Sunday morning as he related that the big bad mo'-fo' of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, had been taken quietly into custody. Found cringing at the bottom of a "spider-hole" (Oh I want one of those now), the old and shaggy, tired and beat former Iraqi leader surrendered to the military sometime Saturday, but it was kept secret for nearly a whole day before the news was released world-wide. The pictures and video show Saddam with a long, shaggy beard, and quite disheveld, like an Iraqi version of Howard Hughes, during his medical examination and "clean-up" where the beard was shaved off. Unlike his two sons who died in gun battle before him, Saddam did not resist when arrested.

OK, fine, so what's this mean now? Do the troops come home, is it all over? Nope, there is still "the mission". What mission? To weed out the remaining insurrgents and rebuild Iraq. Fine.

I keep asking the same two questions: One-- What happened to all the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" we went to war over in the first place? and Two--Anybody still interested is Osama Bin Laden, you remember, the guy who organized the attack on US soil?

I got 5 bucks that says Osama Bin Laden will be found and arrested sometime next summer, just in time for the next election. Think he's dead? That's what they said about Saddam to keep the heat off. But it looks like great Christmas timing, kind of like a follow-up to the photo-op of George Bush serving Thanksgiving turkey to the troops.

OK, whoopee, we got 'im, whatever. I'm hoping this will be the major turn the stock market needs to inspire activity (altho early reports have been somewhat discouraging), and we can concentrate on the business of getting a less war-mongering and obssessive individual in the White House.

WAIT, I GOT IT, tell you what, let's go all the way with this: Make Iraq the 51st American State! That way we'll never, ever, ever have to worry about oil again!! (Oops...did I let that slip?)

LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING
No, as of this writing, I haven't seen it yet, but my god christ almighty it IS on my calendar, don't you worry! To say it's getting rave reviews everywhere would be an understatement, but it is accurate. Only our own Drew Reiber seems to have a problem with it. If I'm REAL lucky, I'll get him to write in and describe what's ailing him about the final part of the (arguably?) greatest fantasy trilogy ever filmed.

Anyway, that it's the hit of the season is a foregone conclusion, likely it'll wind up one of the top money-makers of all time.

Attention all PCR writers (including Lettercol regulars)
Notice to all staff and lettercol writers of Nolan's Pop Culture Review: The end of the year issue is next week! That is, issue #196 that would normally be dated December 22--28, in real life, will actually stay up and "current" until Wednesday, December 31st, New Year's Eve, and will be dated that way (Dec 22--31). Because of the way the calendar runs this year, the "uptime" (before Archiving) is being extended by one day. That makes it the last issue of the year, No. 52. The first issue of 2004 year will come out on Thursday, January 1, Volume 5, Number 1. It's "uptime", therefore, will be shortened by one day the following week. Thereafter, issues will come out as usual.

It's important to know because this is our last chance to remark upon the year that was, best of, worst of, cite acknowledgments, and make any thank-you lists. Mine won't be changing all that much.

I know this is rather awkward in that it's also Christmas week, so any and all Christmas Greetings should be included. Next week will be busy for all of us, please get it all in ASAP to be included.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. ---Nolan

I'm sorry to get this in so late, but my workload causes me to forget important dates sometimes. I couldn't let another week go by without mentioning the 20-year anniversary of BLADE, my primordial heavy metal band, was December 5th, 2003. We were a jamming band for many years before 1983, but that was when we went "pro"...or attempted to anyway. That line-up consisted of John Lewis, Scott van Sickle, Corey Castellano, and myself. The earlier effort, christened The HATS by "Rant" writer Mike Smith and referenced frequently by him, was a progenitor of sorts and featured a similar line-up adding Matt Drinnenberg (The Rail) as vocalist with Mike on guitar. (We're threatening a reunion for next year.) Through various permutations (name and personnel changes), my very basic rock band survived through the '80s. (And most of us are writing books about it--LOL!) Like all other local rock/metal acts, it teetered on the brink during a mass of club closings, finally succumbing when classic Heavy Metal was considered extinct with the release of Nirvana's Nevermind.