POP CULTURE PYRAMID: Sienna Miller, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, Avril Lavigne, Shia Labeouf.

ETA: Oooooh. I'm sorry. We were looking for "Celebrities Perez Hilton Hates."

CAREFUL, MAN, THERE'S A BEVERAGE HERE: US Airways, always a favorite on this blog, is now charging passengers $2 for soft drinks and $1 for coffee on domestic flights ... unless you complain loudly enough about it.

NEXT, THE CYLONS DANCE TO SESAME STREET CLASSICS: The contest for "geekiest video on YouTube" is a tough one, but managing to mash up former PBS favorites Square One Television and Dr. Who into a music video about the Doctor's fear of commitment has got to be up there. (If there's interest, feel free to use this as a spoiler thread for the Who finale--I haven't watched part 2 yet, but this was a darn fine season, with Steven Moffat's trippy take on Time-Traveler's Wife, the interesting "Turn Left" exploration of alternate history, the Agatha Christie angle, and the crossover-palooza of the finale.)

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition).

HAMLET POSTED AN EVENT: "A PLAY THAT'S TOTALLY FICTIONAL AND IN NO WAY ABOUT MY FAMILY": Shakespeare's Danish tragedy, as told via Facebook news feed updates.

WE ARE NOT A DUMP TRUCK: Due to a problem with the Google and clogs in the series of tubes, ALOTT5MA was briefly dubbed as a spam blog by Blogger and none of us could post. Blogger defines a "spam blog" as one that contains "irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links." Perhaps we shouldn't be blogging about Neil Patrick Harris quite so much. We're back now.

Black Crowes Sue Gretchen Wilson Over “Saving Grace” Commercial : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

DANI CALIFORNIA'S LAST DANCE, PART TWO: Via 3under5, we return to the ALOTT5MA Cultural Studies of the American Heartland Department once more this week to ask a simple question: did Gretchen Wilson rip off the Black Crowes' "Jealous Again" in crafting her new song "Work Hard Play Harder"? It's being used now as a Saving Grace promo, and the Crowes have sued for copyright infringement. Go listen -- verses sound similar, chorus doesn't. Hmm.

(Petty v. RHCP here.)

MANNY BEING MANNY (SOMEWHERE ELSE): Breaking! Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers; Jason Bay to the Red Sox; Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen; Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to Pittsburgh. As part of the deal, the Red Sox will pay the $7 million remaining on Ramirez's 2008 contract, and the Dodgers have waived $20-million team options on Ramirez for 2009 and 2010, allowing him to become a free agent this winter.

NATTERING NABOBS OF NEGATIVITY, TAKE NOTE: We've doled out extra helpings of outrage around here lately, with posters and commenters alike alternating whacks at nations, athletes, writers, rental car companies, Disney, commercial homages to 1980s teen movies, and science-lite museums. So warm up your curmudgengines, friends, because it will take advanced hater skills to find fault in the story of the golden retriever who adopted abandoned baby white tiger cubs at the Kansas City Zoo. Let me try: oh, please, dogs laying down with cats, what is this world coming OH DEAR GOD LOOK AT THEIR TAILS WAGGING nope, can't do it.

YOUR DRESS MADE HER LOOK LIKE SHE WAS READY TO CUT SOMEBODY, IN A GOOD WAY: Sandra Bernhardt isn't the Tony Bourdain of fashion, but she'll do. Oh yes, she'll do. And overall it's shaping up to be a promising season of Project Runway.

The quality of the work is even interfering with the adolescent reflex to heap derision on competitors getting the "hate me" edit.

Bronzer Boy is getting a less homicide-inspiring edit, but it's too late. He's dead to me and I don't like his clothes. The designs from he who cannot be named because his name is fake and irritating and besides which he's already used up every available instance of it speaking of himself in the third person have been really impressive. (He's good. I admit it. Now shut him up.) Other than those two, if somebody would help Lady Jeffrey Sibelia with her eye makeup I'd be all out of complaints about this season's cast.

Also, I thought last night's winner had designed a dress for pheasant smugglers --- bad pheasant smugglers trying to sneak out of an early episode of Miami Vice or Manimal. That's not a complaint. I'm sure it was "good" if you're the sort who knows stuff about such things. As previously and frequently stated, I do not, so I just stand in the pit and laugh and laugh with the rest of the rabble.

I WAS A LYCRA-CLAD FLIPPING PIRATE: As ALOTT5MA Friend Joanna Weiss put it in her post on last night's SYTYCD, this is a show that makes us all happy. Chief Happiness Officer Cat Deeley outdid herself last night when she demanded that Twitch hand over his gold grille for Cat to try on, "spit and all." The fact that Heidi Klum -- Heidi Klum! -- was nominated for best reality host for her countless identical line readings of "see you on the runway" while Cat was not is absurd.

Oh, wait, this is a show about dancing, so let's talk about dancing.

Last week I was apparently the only person in America who thought that Joshua had an off week. Clearly he felt he had something to prove to me and me alone, because he did in fact dance his ass off this week. (I do think it's a smidgeon unfair to the other dancers that he and Katee got partnered up again this week, but, then again, Twitch manages to magically draw hip-hop out of the sorting hat week after week.) Also, can someone explain to me how Nigel managed to restrain the urge to comment upon Joshua's shirtlessness during the paso doble? He's never been able to restrain it before -- why now? And despite my total failure as prognosticator last week, I will nonetheless state my belief that I just can't imagine either Katee or Joshua not appearing in next week's finale, particularly after their excellent contemporarary and paso doble performances.

This week's eliminations are shaping up to be interesting, because Mark had quite a strong week. I hate those sideless 80s muscle shirts, but Mark was a beautiful waltzer and his performance during that Sonya Tayeh jazz routine was spectacular. (If Sonya happens to be in the market for a muse, she should welcome a resume from Mark with open arms.) Twitch, on the other hand, lost a deeply one-sided fight for attention versus Chelsie's hips. The hip hop number was a lot of fun, and Twitch's solo's are always memorable, but I don't think it's totally insane to posit that there's a chance that Mark edges him out for the final four. (But then again,, given that Twitch was in the bottom two last week, there's that possible slingshot fan-galvanization effect that I love to point out at every possible opportunity.)

Mr. Cosmo raised an interesting question last night when I was commenting on how strong last night's choreography was across the board. He asked whether there was a choreography vetting process that made sure that big weeks got the best routines -- for example, did Jason Gilkinson's unusually appealing Viennese Waltz and paso dobles get specifically slated for the week of six, or did they just get lucky?

That's it for me . . . what'd you think?

UPGRADE/DOWNGRADE: Most of the time, an "upgrade" when you check in is a good thing, but am I the only one often annoyed by rental car "upgrades?" In a city I don't know at all, I'd far rather be driving something small that I know I'm going to be able to deal with rather than an SUV or a big honkin' Cadillac (or, as once actually happened to me, the "upgrade" to a pickup truck). Yes, the built-in Satellite Radio is nice, but I'll take the smaller car.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Luke Russert has been subbing in for "Stat Boy" Tony Reali on PTI this week. He's doing a fine job.

e.t.a. Thursday afternoon: And just like that, Luke Russert has been hired to serve as a roving correspondent for NBC News.

LOUISIANA 2009: The first trailer for Disney's upcoming musical The Princess and the Frog is now online. Set in 1920s New Orleans, it's the company's first animated feature with an African-American lead.

THE ALOTT5MA REPRESSIVE REGIMES DESK IS OPEN: This blog is not equipped to catalog all the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese government, nor does our governing No Politics ethos suggest that we should. All of us who write for the site, however, believe that we should not be silent as to the political aspects of the Games, and when we feel like it we're going to talk about it.

Like today, when we learn that the IOC has been complicit with the Chinese government in censoring international journalists' ability to use the Internet while reporting on the Games:

Since the Olympic Village press center opened on Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages — among them those that discuss Tibetan succession, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the sites of Amnesty International, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.

A government spokesman initially suggested the problems originated with the site hosts, but on Wednesday, he acknowledged that journalists would not have unfettered Internet use during the Games, which begin Aug. 8.

“It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet,” said Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. “I believe our policy will not affect reporters’ coverage of the Olympic Games.”

"Sufficient." How about, "so repressive that they're even blocking Fire Joe Morgan," as the Rocky Mountain News reports. FJM (via Mose Schrute) responds: "What's the matter, China? Can't handle EqA? Big fans of bunting over there? Love Livan Hernandez, hate Johan Santana?We will not stop blogging until every Chinese citizen has the right to read curse-filled nonsense about Dusty Baker."

These Games were awarded to Beijing with the promise that China would improve its record regarding human rights and the environment, vowing to "be open in every aspect to the rest of the country and the whole world." "We are confident," claimed the head of Beijing's Olympic bid committee in 2001, "that the Games coming to China not only promotes our economy, but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health and human rights."

They lied.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING: My real name is not Martin Rosenberg. Just bizarre.

[And someone did the same thing on the NYT site last night too, as evidenced by this editor's note responding to comments on a since-deleted faux-"Adam B." reposting of that essay of mine. WTF? As to the underlying article, I really don't have much to say -- I spoke to the reporter for the piece, and my memories are consistent with the students quoted and with the slightly-earlier course syllabus unearthed. Also, don't hire Dan Fischel as your campaign strategist.]

GRAVITY, YO, IT'S WEAKER THAN WEAK: Further evidence that rappers and physicists may stand in a particle / anti-particle relationship has been uncovered this week by the folks at the Large Hadron Collider (and posted for your enjoyment at Cosmic Variance). Data for the linked experiment indicates that, on contact, annihilation yields intermittent bursts of eye-rolling, surprising scientific detail, and a few stray chuckles.

Readers may recall the initial experiments in this area -- some of which had compelling results -- perpetrated by MC Hawking.

A BRAIN, A BASKET CASE, AN ATHLETE, A PRINCESS, AND A CRIMINAL: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing mild outrage and 10 representing the white-hot fury of a thousand suns, how outraged are you by JC Penney's co-option of The Breakfast Club for pitching back-to-school clothes?

NICE MARMOT: In honor of the impending release of The Pineapple Express, Carrie Rickey ranks the top ten stoner flicks and adds her thoughts on "implied-stoner comedies" and "stoner-endorsed" films. (However: this warning.)

STEP ONE -- THE POINT GUARDS; STEP TWO -- PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS: Card-carrying members of the ACLU like me are generally not the ones to start branding others as unpatriotic, but my hackles were severely raised by learning that 2007 WNBA star and Rapid City, SD native Becky Hammon will be suiting up for the Russian women's basketball team in this year's Olympics.

The 2007 league MVP runner-up was initially left off the list of 23 players invited to try out for the USA squad, but since she has a lucrative contract with a Russian team during the off-season, obtaining dual citizenship was easy despite having no family ties to Russia:

"I didn't say no to USA Basketball," Hammon recently told the Houston Chronicle. "The option for me to play for USA Basketball really wasn't an option. ... I don't think people would be as upset if I was playing for Switzerland. God loves Russia just as much as God loves America."

Says USA coach Anne Donovan, "If you play in this country, live in this country and you grow up in the heartland and you put on a Russian uniform, you are not a patriotic person in my mind."

Meanwhile, the Clippers' Chris Kaman is playing for Germany -- but at least he has German great-grandparents (and was never going to make the USA squad.) And, yes, Nigeria's Hakeem Olajuwon suited up for the 1996 USA men's team, and yes the Olympics are supposed to be about international understanding, but nationalism is the fuel that drives the Games (other than commerce), and suiting up for the Rooskies -- of all people -- just seems wrong.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, John Cho, ... | Perfect Casting: 23 Stars On Screen As Themselves | Photos | EW.com

WHAT'VE I BEEN TELLING YOU? YOU GOTTA DO THE SAFE PICTURE. THEN YOU CAN DO THE ART PICTURE. BUT THEN SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA DO THE PAYBACK PICTURE BECAUSE YOUR FRIEND SAYS YOU OWE HIM: As part of this blog's Neil Patrick Harris full-linkage policy, EW features 23 actors who've done meritorious service playing "themselves" on screen.

(That said, I see their David Duchovny on The Larry Sanders Show and raise with Jon Stewart on same as Larry's replacement-in-waiting, a kick-ass self-parody even before Stewart had a public self to parody, and the late Warren Zevon desperate to playing something on Larry's show other than "Werewolves of London".)

IT CAN'T BE WORSE THAN WINGS: Well, after Amy Winehouse was otherwise engaged, Alicia Keys and Jack White doing a duet on the next James Bond theme is an interesting choice. I'm just dismayed it won't be titled "Quantum of Solace," which I always pictured as being sung to the tune that ends this classic with some random rhymes--"A quantum of solace, a feeling of allness, like Telly Savalas, or Alberto Gonzales."

THE INCREASE IN COST FOR FLAIR DID THEM IN: Such was my immediate thought upon hearing that Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and are closing most (if not all) of their restaurants.

YOUR EYES ARE EARNING A DECENT STERLING & COOPER SALARY: So were you a first time viewer of Mad Men this week? If so, AMC paid $25 for your eyeballs this week. Good bang for the buck? You decide.

POTATO, POTATOE, LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF: Does the idea of J. Danforth Quayle Dancing With the Stars make you even remotely interested in watching it? Are there other politicians who you'd like see if they get the pain when they do the mambo?

IF I'M THE BALDWIN 60000, I'M POLISHING MY RESUME AND TALKING TO HEADHUNTERS TODAY: There is no Philadelphia institution with which I have a longer or deeper history than the Franklin Institute Science Museum, from monthly school trips growing up to frequent weekends there with my family to serving on the student advisory committee back when they were developing the Futures Center in the late 1980s to serving as a volunteer floor explainer during college breaks.

And so while I didn't complain when they closed the Fourth Floor (with the Mathematics exhibit and the dot and the line movie), or when they scrapped the whole "Futures Center" concept in place of generic exhibit space, or when they junked the mammoth Hall of Mechanics and the Liquid Air show or got rid of the walkthrough Boeing 707 they had out back (and, okay, no one misses Shipbuilding Along The Delaware), but by gum I'm going to speak out now. Karen Heller reports today that changing the museum's name to "The Franklin" is indicative of even worse things are afoot, as the current Whydah exhibit is indicative of how much science has been removed from the building:

"Pirates" is the latest in the Franklin's succession of tantalizing blockbusters, following "Body Worlds," and shows on the Titanic, Star Wars, and King Tut, the equivalent of a casino floor show, there to draw in folks who might find science sort of yucky. What "Pirates" doesn't teach is science; instead it dumbs down learning to a theme-park level. ... "Sports Challenge" is more Dave and Buster's than lessons in physiology, a homage to hyperactivity where kids run around without ever stopping to learn.

"Sir Isaac's Loft" contains one of those George Rhoads kinetic sculptures found in airports. "Sometimes you just can't avoid science," the caption reads, almost as an apology. "My intention is not to exemplify scientific principles," Rhoads states on the plaque. Oh, great.

Frequently, the Franklin seems as scared of learning as it does of science. Lopping off the "Institute" is an indication. What I watched was kids dashing madly, going from one pit stop to the other, without absorbing much. There was so much insistent fun (!) and no, this-isn't-really-science stuff that the place is transformed into just another consumer palace.

Oh, yeah: there's also a Narnia exhibit. Because that movie was all about scientific fact.

ALL OF US HERE, MIND YOU, WILL BE MANNING THE ALOTT5MA REPRESSIVE REGIMES DESK: As we're gearing up for the Olympics, if there's anyone out there with expertise in a particular Summer Games discipline who can provide comprehensive previewing and coverage like what Gretchen has done for figure skating here, let us know either in the Comments or via email at throwingthingsblog (at) hotmail (dot) com. The more obscure the sport, the better. We may well want to rely on you.

[FYI, NBC's talent roster for the Games is here. Wow: this is Jim Lampley's 14th Games. Also, I did not realize that there's now a 10K open water swimming event. Cool.]

CHARME THE SENSES, OTHERS OVERCOME: As we get out our paint-grade respirators and prepare to brave the sludge that beginning on August 8 is going to choke the world's greatest athletes to death (incidentally, China has asked spectators not to smoke, on account of the risk that the atmosphere might catch fire), it might be time to start dishing our favorite Summer Olympic memories.

For my money, the greatest feat in Olympic history was Bob Beamon's 29'2.5" long jump in 1968 -- 21.75" longer than the previous world record, and a record that stood for an unbelievable 23 years -- but I was still two years from being born so I can hardly call that a memory. My favorite memory involved watching Ben Johnson's short-lived 1988 100-meter victory in my freshman dorm room, when he just muscled his way to a then-unreal 9.79 while slowing down before the finish line, forcing the Americans in the room to hand cash to the Canadians (which we would get back a few days later). I don't care that Johnson was hopped up on stanozolol (though, if you care, Carl Lewis, Linford Christie, and Dennis Mitchell all tested positive for steroids at different times in their careers, so it's not entirely clear that Johnson's use made it an unfair race). Johnson looked like the Incredible Hulk and ran like the Roadrunner, his turnover seemingly too fast for the TV cameras, or SI's cameras, to capture. Dirty or not, Johnson embarrassing the field in what was then probably the greatest collection of fast people ever -- while soon embarrassing Canada to boot -- was something to behold.

So that's my most indelible memory. Yours?

AN ONTOLOGY OF ONTOLOGY: I've been reading way too much of the Fire Joe Morgan archives lately, so I have to fight off a powerful urge to do a FJM-lite response to Peter King's latest column (I also don't care to wade back into the Brett Favre debate because my feelings haven't changed one bit). Still, I can't stop myself from making the following observations:

1. In a column so long it took five Internet pages (standard word capacity for an Internet page: ∞), the most important thing (judged by placement in the story) that King has to say is that Brett Favre has a nice house.
2. King apparently makes a distinction between "things I think I think" and "things I think I know," limiting this latest column to the latter. Try to come up with an explanation of that distinction that doesn't yield the result "Peter King usually is a crappy journalist."
3. "[A] statue of Gandhi in Jackson seems about as in-the-right place as a statue of Ward Cleaver at the Playboy Mansion." You hear that, Jackson, Missisippi? As the world's most recognizable locus of sexual depravity is to a mostly-forgotten tame-seeming guy from a 50-year-old fictional TV show, so are you, in your illimitable thirst for violence and wanton oppression, to the man who represents the ideal of nonviolent resistance.
4. King has no qualms about a three-beer working dinner, even if the guy he's interviewing is conspicuously drinking iced tea.

THEY GOT THE APPLICATION THAT YOU JUST SENT IN: Not only will there be a Chapter IV of Dr. Horrible, but there will also be an opportunity to submit your own personal application to the Evil League of Evil (3 minutes, video), with the ten best applications appearing on the DVD. Check out the recap from IO9, which also reveals Whedon's love for new school Doctor Who, the musicals loved by various cast members, and that Nathan Fillion is unsurprisingly a good sport.

HALF AN AVOCADO STUFFED WITH CRABMEAT: We here at ALOTT5MA are new to this whole Mad Men phenomenon -- and I am rather curious as to what the marketing expense per new viewer will turn out to have been -- but having watched all of Season One in the span of about a week, I am officially up to date and ready to dip a pinky toe into the new stuff for the first time.

For the actual analysis, I'll refer you to Alan Sepinwall's thoughts on the season premiere. For me, the fun of the premiere was noticing all of the interesting tidbits that were tucked into the episode without explanation or comment. There were little ones, like the quick shot way at the beginning of a lock being installed on Don's office door and the kid showing up in a sweater for his interview (it just goes to show you that Gen Y isn't the first generation receiving complaints about inappropriate office attire). And there were bigger ones, like Salvatore's new living arrangements (all that in just the 15 months since his dinner with the Belle Jolie guy?) and Don's lack of surprise upon arriving home to find no dinner awaiting him.


Relatedly but unrelatedly: you always hear about the finishing school accent that Jacqueline Bouvier brought to her marriage to Jack Kennedy -- and how. Can you imagine that going over like anything but a lead balloon today?

WHERE DOES HE STAND ON THE HAWLEY-SMOOT ACT? Most of what Ben Stein has to say in his CNN interview is politically oriented and somewhat bizarre (despite his well-known conservatism, he's a firm backer of Franken for Senate), but for our purposes, his statement that Ferris Bueller's Day Off is "the most life-affirming movie possibly of the entire post-war period" strikes me as worth discussion.

"WE CANNOT CHANGE THE CARDS WE ARE DEALT, JUST HOW WE PLAY THE HAND.” – RANDY PAUSCH 1960-2008: Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor renowned for his powerful "last lecture" in which he shared his thoughts as he faced terminal cancer, died on Friday at the age of 47.

The lecture Professor Pausch delivered—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"—was not about dying. It was about the value of surmounting obstacles, of making possible the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything he had come to believe. It was about living. For many of us, his words became a reminder that our own futures are all too brief and that we should make the most of every precious moment we have.

A few highlights from the lecture:

• the power of enthusiasm,
• the importance of childhood dreams (“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”),
• the fortitude needed to overcome setbacks, ("Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things."),
• the value of being patient with others. ("Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you."), and
• the joy of mentoring others.

The lecture is available here (76 minutes long). A transcript of the lecture is here. You can get a copy of the book here (I've read the book and recommend it). This WSJ article by the co-author of the book (Jeffrey Zaslow) is quite good. The official "last lecture" website is here.

OR WILL THIS PHRASE JUST WATCH FONZ FLY OVERHEAD? The Times wonders if "nuked the fridge" is the new "jumped the shark", using that much-reviled Indiana Jones IV scene as a universal signifier that a film or tv show has chosen "to introduce a wildly implausible element to a once-respected franchise, or more generally, to signal the abandonment of past standards of quality."

THE BEST OF THE 1980'S: A couple of weeks ago or so, frequent commenter Jenn asked for help putting together an 80s mixed CD for her brother. She received so many helpful suggestions that (1) it took her a while to work through them all and (2) she ended up with the mix being two CDs long. Here are her selections:

Part 1:

1. Fight for Your Right—Beastie Boys
2. Our House—Madness
3. West End Girls—Pet Shop Boys
4. Walk Like an Egyptian—Bangles
5. Walking On Sunshine—Katrina & The Waves
6. Jump—Van Halen
7. Material Girl—Madonna
8. Thriller—Michael Jackson
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic—The Police
10. Hold Me Now—Thompson Twins
11. Down Under—Men at Work
12. Everybody Wants to Rule the World—Tears for Fears
13. The Reflex—Duran Duran
14. 99 Luftballons—Nena
15. Girls Just Want To Have Fun—Cyndi Lauper
16. Venus—Bananarama
17. Rock Me Amadeus—Falco
18. Land of Confusion—Genesis

Part 2:

19. American Music—Violent Femmes
20. Take On Me—a-ha
21. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)—Eurythmics
22. Need You Tonight—INXS
23. Don't You (Forget About Me)—Simple Minds
24. Faith—George Michael
25. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free—Sting
26. Don't Dream It's Over—Crowded House
27. Never Surrender—Corey Hart
28. When Doves Cry—Prince
29. Where The Streets Have No Name—U2
30. No One Is to Blame—Howard Jones
31. In Your Eyes—Peter Gabriel
32. Cuyahoga—REM
33. Shattered Dreams—Johnny Hates Jazz
34. Tempted—Squeeze
35. Love Shack—B-52s
36. Addicted to Love—Robert Palmer

GOOD NIGHT: Is it me, or is Nina from the Goodnight Show impossibly hot?

DOES THIS MEAN THE JONAS BROTHERS ARE IN? As part of our continuing efforts to explore strange things in the NYT wedding section, we have another answer to the question of what backgrounds will get you into those august pages--former Nickelodeon performer.

IT'S BREATHTAKING -- I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU TRY IT: Please tell me I'm mishearing two of the last words in this True North Nuts ad.

THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK: Sam Raimi says that yes, he's getting back together with Bruce Campbell to make Evil Dead IV. This makes me want to say Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Neckturn... Nickel...? It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word!

LIVE EVERY WEEK LIKE IT'S SHARK WEEK 2008!