LETTERMAN IS THE BETTERMAN
Late Show host makes rare appearance in the headlines

One of my favourite guys of all time is suddenly everywhere today.

David Letterman is about to appear on the cover of the Rolling Stone this Friday, and has hit the headlines in the lead up to the magazine's publication date.

In all the time I've been a fan of Letterman, today is the very first time I've seen his name everywhere. Have you noticed that too? It looks like "everybody" has picked up on the story out earlier today from the Associated Press.

CNN is running several quotes of his opinion of the impending late night departure of Jay Leno and re-shuffle of Conan O'Brien.

CTV's eTalk has also included David Letterman in their coverage today, along with the cover from the upcoming Rolling Stone which also happens to include the fabulously & brilliantly hilarious Tina Fey AND Chris Rock ... I love it! 3 of my faves all together. I think this is just a great photograph:

Luckily, it looks like the folks over at Rolling Stone also released some additional tidbits to Reuters and, as a result, we get some more comments from Dave Letterman on how he actually feels a bit bad about poking fun at U.S. Presidential candidate John McCain:

"John McCain looks like the kinda guy who brags that his new denture adhesive allows him to eat corn on the cob," Letterman once said on his CBS talk show.

LOL! Love that. There's more of his McCain-related words on the MSNBC website.

Ah, Letterman. I do fret a bit at the thought of him leaving the airwaves sometime after 2010. That's just too soon, even though I've been watching his show since his early days on NBC.

The only thing I can think of that would be a *good* result of Letterman's departure is that it seems likely that Craig Ferguson, host of the Letterman-produced "Late Late Show", would fill the post. And that would be T-riffic - sometimes I laugh more at the bizarrely-hilarious Ferguson than I do at the self-deprecating and folksy Letterman. But, no question, Dave is still the man. The man for me, tee hee hee.

So, yeah ... it's good to see David Letterman in the headlines today. I'm definitely looking forward to reading his full interview in the new issue of Rolling Stone.

What say we harken back to a classic Letterman episode, "co-starring" another of my all-time faves... Madonna (who I FINALLY will get to see live here in Vancouver on October 30!):

JUDE LAW'S ROAD TO PEACE
British actor promotes peace in Afghanistan

With so much political focus in North America on the Republican National Convention (now delayed by Hurricane Gustav ) and on the seemingly inevitable Canadian federal election, there's one guy out there who is still trying to bring some additional focus to Afghanistan.

And that guy is Jude Law. Today he met reporters in the city of Kabul to promote the upcoming annual Peace Day (September 21) in support of non-violence and a global cease-fire. Here's the details from the Associated Press:

(Getty Images)

KABUL, Afghanistan - Jude Law is visiting Afghanistan to promote peace in the war-ravaged country.

Together with director Jeremy Gilley, the Oscar-nominated Law has returned to Afghanistan to help maintain momentum for Peace Day — an annual day on Sept. 21 urging a global cease-fire and nonviolence.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted Peace Day in 2001, following a lobbying campaign by Gilley which he documented in the film “Peace One Day.”

“When I left Kabul last year, I was hugely moved not by the conflict that I have read so much about, but by the people’s courage and the people’s sense of hope,” Law told reporters in Kabul on Monday.

“It seemed that they really want to make this day, the Peace Day, work. And they did,” Law said. “People recognize the day, because they recognize that lives could be saved.”

Noted for his roles in movies such as “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain,” Law helped Gilley produce his second documentary film, called “The Day After Peace.”

The documentary, which also features former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Angelina Jolie, Annie Lennox and Jonny Lee Miller, charts the way Peace Day can be used as a focus for lifesaving activity, Gilley said.

Law said the movie “was the most important film I have been part of.”

Law and Gilley, who arrived in Kabul on Sunday, are to meet President Hamid Karzai, top NATO and U.N. officials, and members of the aid community.

Last year, they traveled and filmed in treacherous areas of eastern Afghanistan to help promote the day, on which they hope weapons will fall silent, allowing help to reach those most in need.

Gilley said in Afghanistan over 1.4 million children were able to be vaccinated against polio on Peace Day as a result.

“The world celebrates so many days that often separate and segregate us ... and yet there is none that ties us all together,” Law said.

He said ordinary Afghans, who marched and prayed as they marked Peace Day last year, are among the film’s stars.

“It is Peace Day’s commitment to take this film as a message from people of Afghanistan to the rest of the world,” he said.

The visit coincides with one of Afghanistan’s most violent periods since the ouster of the Taliban from power in 2001. More than 3,700 people — mostly militants — have died as a result of the war this year.

Law said that even as Kabul has become more dangerous, hope among its people has remained surprisingly high.

If “it is possible here, it is possible everywhere,” Gilley said.

And how... those seem like pretty good words to hear on this Labour Day, n'est-ce pas?

93 Canadian soldiers have died since the 2002 start of Canada's Afghan mission.

You can get in touch with the Canadian troops on the national defence department's website.