THE GREAT WORK BEGINS: Well, if it were a sporting event, you'd be hearing it at the start, so now that Jen's labor has begun, why not listen to American Idol's Clay Aiken sing our National Anthem?

And send Jen and the Bun some good thoughts, 'k?

APROPOS OF NOTHING: Well, apropos of a conversation with a group of friends over dinner last night: does Sandy Duncan, star of stage and screen, have a glass eye? I hadn't heard this rumor, but others asserted it as proven fact.

If you know definitively, email me.

WAS "DYNASTY" EVER THAT GOOD? Tim Goodman has a nice appreciation of Survivor: The Amazon in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Key graf:

[G]ive "Survivor" its due. Here's a franchise that continues to rake in viewers while remaining the gold standard for entertainment. In a genre with no long-distance runners, Mark Burnett and crew are the Borstal boys gone mad in the TV industry. "Survivor" is, plain and simple, brilliantly constructed. The format has ensured that if the casting is right -- and it's been right all but once -- human behavior will bring in all the turmoil, intrigue, humor, deviousness and thrills you could ever want.

Read on via this link.

It's too late now for newbies to hook onto all that's been great about this season, the best since the original show, but those of us who've been fortunate to follow it from sixteen castaways down to five know how special this mix of "good, bad, devious, inept and sometimes insane people" has been.

PLAY TRACK SIX, TRACK SEVEN, AGAIN AND AGAIN: In a news sure to delight less than 2% of my readership, but thrill that 2%, Superchunk (a/k/a The Gratist Band Evir) has announced the track listing for Cup of Sand, its third compilation of Superchunk singles, b-sides and rarities. Read all about it here.

For those who are new to the blog, y'all should know that its name is indeed derived from an early Superchunk song.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR IN THE LIFE? Congratulations to American Idol evictee Frenchie Davis, who will be making her Broadway debut in Rent beginning May 16. Details here. Thanks to the reader who sent me the heads-up.

Speaking of the show, say what you will -- say what you will about the order of evictions, and whether Vanessa or Trenyce were axed prematurely or whether Josh and Goat Girl remained too long -- but the fact remains that the best three singers from among the twelve finalists are the three remaining performers, and there's something awfully nice about that.

DAMN: Tom Nord of the Louisville Courier-Journal hits the nail on the head of the Bob Ryan/Joumana Kidd scandal as square as a hammer can go:

One question: If Bob Ryan has been suspended for saying he'd like to smack Joumana Kidd, why wasn't Jason Kidd suspended for actually smacking her?

Via MediaNews Letters.

HOOSIER DADDY? Alabama head football coach Mike Price has already lost his job over his excessive desire to "admire beautiful women".

But if you don't kick a man when he's already down, he's got a better chance of getting out of your way. So, with that in mind, I've got to share this detail from Sports Illustrated's coverage of the scandal:

Price, witnesses told SI, left Arety's around midnight and eventually met with two women he had reportedly earlier propositioned for sex at the Crowne Plaza. One of the women, who agreed to speak to SI on the condition of anonymity, told the magazine that the threesome engaged "in some pretty aggressive sex." According to the woman's account, "We started screaming, 'Roll Tide!' and he was yelling back, 'It's rolling, baby, it's rolling!'"

At least he wasn't the coach for Oklahoma. "Sooner, baby, Sooner!"