On Saturday, Lana Wachowski was honored with the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award at the organization's annual gala in San Fransciso. The resulting 25-minute acceptance speech is a highlight (if not the highlight) of her public output thus far.

This week's New Yorker has a lengthy profile on reclusive director siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski and their collaboration with Tom Tykwer to turn David Mitchell's seemingly unfilmable 2004 novel Cloud Atlas into a movie.

Yesterday was Sienna Miller's birthday, and now it's Jude Law's turn: The actor, playboy, and NYU foe turns 37 today. Actress Mary Tyler Moore is turning 73. Ted Danson is 62. Paramount chief Brad Grey is 52. Actress Patricia Clarkson is 50. Matrix director/writer Andy Wachowski is 42. Cable news staple Ashleigh Banfield is also turning 42. Real estate marketer Michael Shvo is turning 37. Writer Paul Rudnick turns 52. Mekhi Phifer is 35. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 63. And actor (and father of Angelina) Jon Voight turns 71 today.

Real estate marketer (and housing bubble emblem) Michael Shvo turns 36 today. Jude Law is 36 today, too. Paramount CEO Brad Grey is turning 51. Ted Danson is 61. Matrix director/writer Andy Wachowski is 41. Mary Tyler Moore is 72. Writer Paul Rudnick is 51. And actor Mekhi Phifer turns 34 today.

Click to viewFor all its confectionery imagery, Christina Ricci scene-stealing and the few other things Speed Racer gets right, it still faces a box-office false start that could make Leatherheads look like a hit in comparison. We sketched a few of the hurdles here yesterday (number one being its own studio's resignation to its underachievement), but at this point there's only one that counts: Larry and Andy Wachowski need to climb out of their hole.