Most fans tend to favour Williams’ score to The Empire Strikes Back over the score for Star Wars (just as they tend to prefer the former movie to the latter, too). All agree, however, that the score for Star Wars is bloody good.

The AFI has decided that the score for Star Wars is not just the best of the series, nor has it claimed it’s the best in Williams career; no, it’s made the top position in the list of 25 best scores of American cinema. Ever.

It’s certainly one of my favourite scores, but being the Star Wars fanboy that I am, that’s not much of a surprise. I must say, however, that the Empire Strikes Back score benefits, perhaps unfairly, from recalling themes first developed in Star Wars. While The Empire Strikes Back introduces The Imperial March, Yoda’s Theme and the Han and Leia Love Theme, Star Wars laid the groundwork, giving us Luke Skywalker’s Theme (Main Title theme), Ben Kenobi’s Theme (The Force theme), and the haunting, evocative Princess Leia’s Theme (possibly my favourite theme from all six Star Wars scores). All up, while perhaps The Empire Strikes Back is more listenable, Star Wars deserves its place at #1. No other score features a theme as instantly recognisable as Star Wars.

Now 50 years since Jim Henson debuted Kermit the Frog on TV, the Muppets are finally getting the recognition they deserve. That’s right — they’re being immortalised on stamps.

The post pack does look very nice, and my favourite muppet as an adult (Sam the Eagle) is prominently featured, but where is my childhood favourite, Crazy Harry? (I was an odd child…)

I shall say no more, lest I start imitating Larry Groznic too closely.

Just when you thought the news couldn’t possibly get worse, it turns out that the US Navy may have armed and trained dolphins let loose by Hurricane Katrina. Oops!

From The Observer:

“My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire, [accident investigator Leo Sheridan] said. “The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?”

In May I warned of an impending war between humans and animals. Who’s the “fucking psycho” now?!

Coming to the web direct from the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International is a series of four lectures on “The Modern Science of Mental Health”.

The lectures, designed to inform the public of the evils of psychiatry as well as further inflate Cruise’s ego, have great titles such as “Diagnosis and Treatment of So-Called Clinical Depression with the Hubbard Mark Super VII Quantum Electropsychometer”.

I propose a fifth lecture: “Non-Corporeal Freedom: Junk Philosophy and Pseudo-Science for Celebrities who are Out of their Gourds”.

UPDATE: According to Defamer, it’s a hoax.

Alluring young actress Jessica Alba (in lo-def right) has been judged to be the best looking person in high definition. On the other hand, yesterday’s “spectacular” sexpot Teri Hatcher is apparently the worst looking person on HDTV. Sorry, Teri, but Hi-Def obviously demands a level of nubility that you’re just not cut out to achieve — return to your bell tower.

Also on the outs are Donald Trump, Ray Liotta and Sandra Bullock, while Ben Affleck, Ashton Kutcher and Australia’s own Nicole Kidman (who admittedly looks great now that she’s had that unsightly growth removed…) are as youthful as ever.

It seems some US troops over in Iraq are snapping pictures of dead Iraqis in order to gain free access to a members-only area of a porn site. (You can find a more detailed report here.)

Imagine: your country’s been invaded, your husband’s now dead, and now the invaders are taking photos of his body (or what remains) to share with fellow gawkers in exchange for free porn.

On the actual site are two forums for Iraq war shots; the “gory” section has this message from the owner:

This section is for the gory ones so that people who do not wish to see that kind of stuff can just not go in here. I also do not want already published pictures that were taken by news people. This is supposed to be an area where we can see pictures posted by the solders themselves.

Just post your pics like you normally would and when I see them I will approve you for free access to the wife and g/f area. There have only been a few people cheat from this but I do now know what kind of pics to expect from the guys over there. So please do not waste my time if you are not a military person by just posting iraq pics you found on CNN or something.

This is truly outrageous.

According to the BBC, the first face transplant may soon be a reality.

It’s always struck me as being grossly unfair that some supervillains (such as Two-Face) have an extra face, whereas others, like The Blank, have no face at all. Let’s hope advances in medicine allow greater equality in this area.

(False Face either had many faces or no face — I’m not quite sure. The greed of Man-E-Faces from He-Man, however, is obvious.)

Cartoon Network in Australia has been running He-Man recently, so I’ve been enjoying a real nostalgia trip. (Nostalgia will only get you so far, however, and beyond that, everything else about the show is pretty ordinary. Except JMS. And Paul Dini. And Skeletor.)

What’s most amusing is how blatant the recycling of animation is on the show. They seem to have had a handful of standard poses and movements which would be used at any given opportunity. He-Man is the perfect show for a Sealab 2021-style makeover.

The makeover hasn’t happened yet, but someone’s done the next best thing. Here’s Adam, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull, discussing his “fabulous secret powers”…

Fan of the Surrealism art movement? Always prefered your art to be more like dreams than reality? Dropped acid but can’t draw to save your life?

Then SurrealPainter is for you!

Here’s my own modest attempt.

(P.S. Don’t install Microsoft Max — I did, and it screwed up my automatic DNS configuration, so who knows what it’ll do to other machines. Google Picasa is the better option.)

Plastic pop princess Britney Spears (airbrushed right) has ushered in the final horrific chapter in Mankind’s struggle against the eternal forces of Evil by giving birth to a bouncing baby boy (a.k.a. the Anti-Christ).

Some people are worried about how Spears and husband-cum-moocher Kevin Federline will raise the child when they seem personally incapable of even forging a well-respected and artistically meaningful career in the performing arts, but I think their fears are misplaced. No, I think people should be more concerned for the fate of all our souls when we meet our terrifying conclusion as our planet is engulfed in a fiery Hell of everlasting torment.

A photographer working for Reuters has snapped George W. Bush (not to be confused with a chimpanzee) writing a note to Condi Rice during a UN Security Council meeting.

The note reads, “I think I MAY NEED A BATHROOM break?” which I suppose is better than “Do you think she likes me? Can you ask her?” But I’m just being silly. Donald Rumsfeld handles those other duties.

Below is an enhanced image of the message:

Wolfram has a fun new web app called WolframTones which lets you generate and manipulate ringtones mathematically. It’s like Bach meets King Crimson!

Here are some I prepared earlier.