TEN TIMES AS BIG AS A MAN: If you live in the Chicagoland area or the greater Midwest, pick up a copy of the Sunday's Chicago Tribune and turn to page 5 of the "Arts & Entertainment" section, where you will find a story by this blogger on "All Things Kong."

edited to add: here's the link.

LORELAI THINKS HE'S TOTALLY SPONGE-WORTHY: In yet another "before they were as well-known as they are now" moment, in the (in)famous Seinfeld episode in which Elaine attempts to find her preferred form of birth control, the boyfriend who provokes the question of whether he's "sponge-worthy" or not is played by an almost unrecognizably clean-shaven Scott Patterson, now better known as avuncular diner owner Luke on Gilmore Girls.

KILL THE PIGS: Albert Hofmann, the man who invented LSD, drops his 100th year on Wednesday. Groovy.

SCOOBA, SCOOBA DEE DOO: If you always dreamed of owning a Roomba except for the fact that your floors at home weren't carpeted, you're in luck -- meet Scooba, which sweeps up dirt and then washes, scrubs and dries floors.

Not to be confused with Woomba.

I HAVE MADE A DECISION, AND IT IS MINE ALONE: There is much to be said about Steven Spielberg's Munich (and much to recommend in it), and I may well have more to say about it tomorrow, after I've slept on it, but two immediate thoughts:

• I haven't seen a movie with this many endings since Return of the King. Yes, I understand the desire for the final 10 or so minutes set back in Brooklyn, but I think a much more powerful ending could have been had just by ending with the closeup on Avner's daughter's face, and we would have been spared the awkward sex scene intercut with flashback. Spielberg knows how to shoot many, many things (and a sequence in the aftermath of a bomb blast in this ranks among his best work), but this is almost painful.
• Is it just me, or does Munich share one of its major themes with Serenity? Namely, the following question--"In order for civilization to survive, do we require the existence of people who commit uncivilized/merciless acts?" Interestingly, I think Serenity's decontextualization/recontextualization of that question is, in many ways, more effective than the historical docudrama of Munich.

PLEASE ASK GOD TO LOVE HIM: The Sports Guy has the final word on what was one of the, if not the, greatest college football games ever played, including this great, great line about USC running back and Heisman-winner Reggie Bush:

"[Bush is] so close to Gale Sayers in so many ways, I would almost be afraid to be a white fullback on his NFL team next year."

FRANKLY, I THOUGHT JUDE LAW DESERVED IT. OTHER THAN ACING DICKIE GREENLEAF, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? Sure we're excited, but the Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil is crapping all over the idea of Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars:

Stewart has the potential of being a catastrophe of Cecil B. DeMille-sized epic proportions when he holds forth on the stage of the Kodak Theatre on March 5. Sure, he's edgy and full of the kind of defiant 'tude that attracts young hip TV viewers, but he's a comic assassin. When Stewart aims his jokes, he goes in for the kill.

That's what Chris Rock did last year when his potshot at Jude Law backfired, causing Sean Penn to rally to Jude's defense by going off script during the ceremony to insist that Jude is "one of our finest actors!" It was a snafu that's still talked about today and one that threatens to haunt Rock for eons. . . .

Comedians like Jon Stewart exult in their own cockiness, not humility. . . .

Oscar's chief gag writer Bruce Vilanch once described the perfect host: "It's best to have an insider who the live audience is comfortable with. You don't want them to feel like this is a person you jobbed in."

But that's what Oscar bosses have done this year by jobbing in another cocky New Yorker — much like David Letterman — who has never been chummy with the California film crowd.

Are they crazy?

"Oh, what could Jon Stewart possibly do wrong?" you ask.

Stewart, let's face it, is famous for insulting his hosts — and without an affectionate follow up.

Remember what he said to Tucker Carlson when he appeared as a guest on "Crossfire"? . . .

Keep reading. It'll anger up the blood.