WHAT ARE THEY GONNA SAY ABOUT HIM? WHAT ARE THEY GONNA SAY? THAT HE WAS A KIND MAN? THAT HE WAS A WISE MAN? THAT HE HAD PLANS, MAN? THAT HE HAD WISDOM?  Top pick for this year's Oscar Necrology include Dennis Hopper, Lynn Redgrave, Tony Curtis, Jill Clayburgh, Pete Postlethwaite, Leslie Nielsen, Patricia Neal, Blake Edwards and Gloria Stuart. (Lena Horne is receiving a separate tribute.)  Place your bets, and we'll see you here tomorrow night for the live chat.

ALOTT5MA FRIDAY GRAMMAR RODEO:  A simple question -- is a preposition an awful word to end a sentence with?  Or is it never the proper word with which to end a sentence?  We start, again, with the Chicago Manual of Style:

That old rule was long ago abandoned by most usage manuals and grammar police. In my own writing, I no longer try to avoid ending with a preposition. That said, when I am editing a manuscript and come across a sentence that clearly has been structured to avoid the ending preposition, I do try to leave it alone. It is possible that the author is elderly or conservative, probably is meticulous, and would be upset by the interference. Only if the result is very awkward do I suggest ending with a preposition.

The Guardian and Observer style guide calls such a rule a "fallacy" promoted by "English teachers unduly influenced by Latin."  The Oxford Dictionaries concur, insisting that "Ending a sentence with a preposition is a perfectly natural part of the structure of modern English," and providing examples of when it's appropriate:

in some passive expressions:
√ The dress had not even been paid for.
X Paid for the dress had not even been.

√ The match was rained off.
X Rained off was the match.

in relative clauses and questions that include verbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:
√ What did you put that there for?
X For what [reason] did you put that there?

√ They must be convinced of the commitment they are taking on.
X Of the commitment they are taking on they must be convinced.

The Jack Lynch guide from Rutgers suggests that "if you want to keep the crusty old-timers happy, try to avoid ending written sentences (and clauses) with prepositions," but that "if a sentence is more graceful with a final preposition, let it stand" -- suggesting “He gave the public what it longed for” as an example. Lynch argues that He gave the public that for which it longed "doesn't look like English," and "A sentence becomes unnecessarily obscure when it's filled with from whoms and with whiches."

And yet I must object. Yes, it's cool to end a sentence with eight prepositions in a row ("Mom, why did you bring that book I don't like to be read to out of about Down Under up for?"), but I learned my grammar by diagramming sentences.  Prepositions connect some object to the rest of the sentence, and they can't do that if the object is someplace other than following it.  So let's be clear: I am one of the crusty old-timers who you're writing for ... err,  for whom you're writing.  So get it right.

Poll Results:  Sentences can end with a preposition sparingly (52%), whenever you feel like it (39%), or never (7%).

BELVEDERED:  Yes, there are places that tonight's 30 Rock went that few television shows will go, a close runner-up to the season two explanation that you can't have a Lemon party without Old Dick. "Bagel-y" as an adjective? In a week in which the ability of women to be hired as writers is very much in the air, this episode was firing on all cylinders and gave Jack Donaghy yet another worthy adversary.  Kick. Ass.

IT WAS HARD TO SAY WHERE THE MOUNTAIN DEW COMMERCIAL ENDED AND THE MOVIE BEGAN: Matt Zoller Seitz and Andrew O'Hehir discuss the performances nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. Find out what nominated film was "like the best movie James L. Brooks never made" and which performance was described by O'Hehir as being like a "gargoyle." Below the fold, both men on Colin Firth:

ALSO, YES, TWILIGHT AND I AM NUMBER FOUR ARE LARGELY THE SAME THING, THOUGH THE LATTER HAS BETTER SPECIAL EFFECTS: The AV Club has an interesting (and surprisingly persuasive) piece today asking a question I hadn't thought to ask--aren't Community and Glee pretty much the same show? Admittedly, we haven't been subjected to Annie Edison singing "Don't Rain on My Parade," nor do I expect we're going to see the Sue Sylvester paintball game in the near future, but both shows certainly share a central premise (mismatched "losers" as surrogate family) and an exceedingly elastic standard of reality.

SET PHASERS TO LOVE ME: If Adam is going to claim ALOTT5MA Fave status by fiat for Cameron Diaz, I think we need to take a cue from the good folks of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya and ask: Isn't there a better way? So let's convene a convention, put the parliament to parlaying, and duma this up for Mister Donald Glover. His resume:

• Took his miscast role as stunted jock Troy Barnes and steered it right into absurd enthusiastically nerdy man-child-man Troy Barnes
• Wrote for 30 Rock's great first season, where Wiki tells us he came up with most of Tracy Jordan's lines ("That's racist. I'm not on crack. I'm straight up mentally ill"). (Caveat: Wiki also used to say repeatedly that Glover's dad was Danny Glover, so it may be lying to us.)
• Mounted a campaign to be the new Spider-Man that was both funny and intriguing without ever being annoying
• Raps under the name Childish Gambino, which is funny no matter how good or bad the rapping is
• Last night held an impromptu open bar for his Twitter followers while trying to get one of them a date
• Is the first auto-complete option Google gives you when you type "Donald," meaning that the Internets love him more than they love Trump, Sutherland, Sterling, and Driver

Look, I think we use the word "fave" far too often, and perhaps the bar is set too low. I don't really need your validation to love Donald Glover. I'm just curious, though -- isn't he among that small group of people (NPH, Heather Morris, James Franco) who lack detractors in these parts?

PLEASE DON'T BURP ON ME, FART ON ME OR FLICK A BOOGER ON ME:  Last night's Top Chef: All Stars raises the eternal question -- should elimination judging incorporate some consideration of a chef's previous output, or should it be based solely on the food prepared for that challenge? It was a slow-motion meltdown, crushing at the end, and I'm not that happy about it today.