WHAT WAS WRONG WITH DOGFISH HEAD'S RPI? The Washington Post twists open a 32-brew Beer Madness competition (though a weak Lager bracket), while ArtsJournal is running its Greatest Living American Abstract Painter Tourney-ish, with a rather nasty Jasper Johns-Cy Twombly matchup still to be voted on in the opening round.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING: Given that Fox fills 3 of its 15 hours of primetime already with musical shows, the idea of doing an all-musical week keyed to the return of Glee, is easier for them than it might otherwise be. Details on Fringe: The Musical are already leaking, and the idea of a musical episode of House is either intriguing or frightening, depending on how it's executed. (Since we all know Laurie can sing, and RSL played Harold Hill on Broadway a few years back, they have at least some chops in the area.)

BANDS START UP EACH AND EVERY DAY: Continuing our non-stop completely stoppable coverage of the Pavement reunion tour, today comes word of the must-read Chuck Klosterman piece on the band in the current GQ. (Yes, same issue with the interview with America's favorite new-agey campaign documentarian.)

Among other notes, Klosterman learns (as we knew in June 2005) that Stephen Malkmus is a fantasy sports junkie, Malkmus answers Isaac's December 2007 question on what the hell's up with his lyrics ("Even though we don't have classic, Bob Dylan lyrics, I think they have a tone that holds up better and is less cringeworthy than most other lyric writing. I don't think any of my lyrics are literal. The way somebody's voice sounds is much more important than how meaningful the words are."), and discusses whether having Slanted and Enchanted called "brilliant" changed the way he thought of it:

"Of course it does, in a way. But no matter how much positive feedback you get, it's never enough," Malkmus says. "I'm not a particularly needy person, but it always seems like every review could be better. With a record like Slanted and Enchanted, that was so much a timing thing, along with the fact that its flaws are a big part of what makes it good. It's not like some Radiohead record, where the whole thing is good. Our records aren't good in that way. Our records are more attitude and style, sort of in a punk way. We're good in the same way the Strokes are good. I think Slanted and Enchanted probably is the best record we made, only because it's less self-conscious and has an unrepeatable energy about it."

Below the fold, watch vintage footage of Pavement on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1994, and decide for yourself: "Was Malkmus acting consciously weird given the clash between his band's indie aesthetic and the surroundings, or was he just completely high?" Also, Pavement meets Beavis and Butthead:

EVER HEARD OF IT? Congratulations to the Cornell Big Red, the first Ivy League men's basketball team to win in the NCAA Tournament since the Goodrich/Lewullis/Earl-led Princeton Tigers entered the tournament as a #5 seed in 1998.

Complaints about your busted brackets may be lodged here.

added: The Gus Johnson Soundboard.

AND IT'S NOT EVEN THAT BIG OF A DEAL, SOMETHING LIKE 8 PERCENT OF KIDS DO IT: On a scale of 1 to 10 where '10' indicates "much more likely" and '1' indicates 'there is no chance in hell I will see this now,' how do you respond to the news that Jonah Hill will appear fully nude in Get Him To The Greek, his spinoff-not-a-sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall with America's Favorite Satyr Russell Brand hitting screens this June?

THAT'S MY NAME: The AV Club's Scott Tobias inducts Glengarry Glen Ross into The New Cult Canon:

The genius of Mamet’s play is that it’s about honor without honor. It follows beleaguered salesmen who by trade have to manipulate people and lie to them in order to get through the day. And it’s a credit to Mamet that they have our sympathy from the start, so much so that we’re rooting for them to pull one over on their innocent clients just to get their names on the sales board. In fact, I’m guessing it may not be until the play or movie is over that viewers become conscious of how much time their heroes spend lying in the name of business. That’s because we know the rules of capitalism, too: Get them to sign on the line which is dotted. Whatever small measure of honor can be extracted from this life—and the men in Glengarry Glen Ross do have codes, and are essentially decent, thieves though they may be—is precious but transcendent, because it’s all that separates them from the executive despots and their sadistic sales contests.

Favorite line/scene/aspect other than the Baldwin speech? I'll always remember this film fondly for being the first to make me aware of Kevin Spacey, being so impressed by how he held his own against some pretty titanic actors.

That only Pacino was even nominated for an Oscar (Supporting) can be attributed to how tough a year it was in the categories -- Hackman (Unforgiven), Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game) and Nicholson (A Few Good Men) in supporting along with, um, David Paymer (Mr. Saturday Night); with Pacino himself winning for lead (Scent of a Woman, sigh) over Denzel Washington (Malcolm X), Steven Rea (The Crying Game), Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven) and Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin).

ROTISSERIE - IT'S NOT JUST FOR KENNY ROGERS ANYMORE: All twelve league owners from last year's A League With Thrown Baseballs II have opted to return, but in the interests of increased competition and bonhomie we've decided to expand it anyway to include up to 16 teams in our 5x5, head to head format. Details are as follows:

Draft: ESPN, live, Thursday April 1, 2010, 9pm EDT
Format: Weekly head-to-head matchups, one point for win in each category.
Scoring Categories: 5x5 -- OBP, HR, RBI, R, SB // W, K, SV, ERA, WHIP. Owners must have a minimum 5 GS weekly to qualify for points.

Please let us know if you're interested and we will arbitrarily decide who we can accommodate.

Previous champions: Dan Fienberg (2008), J. Bowman (2009).