ALLIUM VERITE: Jersey Shore's Snooki received $32K to appear at Rutgers. Toni Morrison received $30K.

ALOTT5MA FRIDAY GRAMMAR RODEO: Well, its a surprising one today.  The Guardian (UK) web site today (with the concurrence of The Economist) has heard the masses and is going to grudgingly yield:

The Guardian has revised it's style guide to reflect the necessary consistency of adding apostrophe-s to create the possessive form of the pronoun "it."

I'm a bit taken aback with where this is going to.  But, this is an historic change which makes sense.  The descriptivist in me is ready to yield to the culture for two reasons: first, because in this case it's consistent with possessives generally, and also this might disincent people from unnecessary apostrophes for pluralization.

To be sure, none of the United States' guides have adopted this formally yet, but such a significant shift from across the pond suggests the question as to when it will occur in it's leading guides like the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Style Guide. Still, our language has been evolving since Moses's time, and we must accept it's continual change. Some things are inevitable.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE: If you're an hourlong show not named Glee, it can be a pretty risky move to try a musical episode, but I thought Grey's pulled it off admirably tonight. The concept of music being how Callie processes brain trauma was a clever way into doing the episode, and even those in the cast without a musical theatre background turned in some credible performances (Kevin McKidd and Chyler Leigh in particular). It's been a really solid season for both Grey's and Private Practice this year, and even seemingly soapy plotlines (Callie/Arizona/Sloan) have turned out to be rich sources of drama. Props to our friend Shonda and her team.

I GUESS YOU WEREN'T READY FOR THAT YET. BUT YOUR KIDS ARE GONNA LOVE IT:  On the bright side, I'm a big fan of the reworked performance segments on the Idol results show. No more hokey medleys; instead interesting duo and small group performances scattered throughout the hour. On the other side, damn ...

THERE IS NO FRESH START! LIVES CARRY ON!   Matthew Weiner has completed a deal with AMC to keep Mad Men on the air for at least two more seasons and possibly three. Sepinwall has the details.

BLAIS OF GLORY:  Tom Colicchio explains why what happened, happened, including the equipment you really need to perfect your own foie gras ice cream. A satisfying finale, and Top Chef "Masters" returns next week.  (Yes, I'm putting the word in quotes, because it's such a step down from having Hubert Keller, Wylie Dufresne and Rick Bayless compete.  C'mon. Also, no Jay Rayner?) (Also starting soon? Top Chef Canada.)

THE GOOD THING ABOUT OPENING DAY -- AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT COUNTS. IT'S IN THE RECORD: East Coast weather forecasts be damned; today is the first day of spring.

For Phillies fans, a winter that grew infinitely warmer with the late-night Cliff Lee news felt increasingly chilly as Chase Utley, Domonic Brown, Brad Lidge and others have been taken from the active ranks due to injury, and what was hoped to be a 100+ win romp now looks to be a season-long dogfight with the improved, chipper Braves.

Still, at 1:05 pm EDT (insert: tomorrow!), my office radio (yes, they still exist) will be on, Roy Halladay will take the mound, and whatever will begin, begins.  Welcome back, baseball.