"I HAVE TO TRAIN LIKE AN OLYMPIAN NOW": The new nation of South Sudan (anthem here) does not yet have a National Olympic Committee, but it does have an Olympian. Native son (and Florida-based Green Card holder) Guor Marial will be allowed to compete under the Olympic flag, along with three athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles, and they will march in the Opening Ceremonies on that basis.

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW: A taxonomy of occupations for main characters, through the eyes of writers:

• Writer: a main character; also a reader surrogate; also occasionally heroic
• Magazine writer:  a quirky single writer
• Newspaper writer: a disheveled writer
• TV writer: a backstabbing, status-obsessed writer
• Editor: the profession held by a character whose author's last book was about a writer
• Professor: a kind of writer who has to spend 50 minutes with aspiring writers three times a week
• Blogger: a writer who is 22
• Teen: a person who keeps a journal
• Lawyer: a failed writer who failed at writing before 2007
• Bartender: a failed writer who failed at writing in or after 2007
• Policeman: an investigative journalist who did not go to college
• Musician: an inarticulate writer who is less responsible than other writers
• Architect: a writer who writes pictures to tell stories that people live in

HE CAN FIRE THEM ALL AT THE END OF EVERY WEEK--IT'S IN HIS CONTRACT: With the early renewal, writing is underway for the second season of The Newsroom, and Aaron Sorkin has apparently fired pretty much all of the writer's room.  Not sure how much this will help, since only episode 3 had a co-writing credit (former MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago), but it at least indicates that there are going to be some changes in season 2.

DRINKING ICY COLD, BOHEMIA-STYLE BEER: Yes, I am interested in a movie described as The Hangover + Old People starring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline as four friends going to a bachelor party in Las Vegas. Script by Dan Fogelman, who did Tangled, Cars, Fred Claus, and Crazy, Stupid, Love, as well as the December 2012 release The Guilt Trip featuring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen on a mother-son road trip. 

(Since this is a comedy, that means the return of the Kline-stache, right?)

LIGHTEN UP, YOU'RE TOO PRICE-SENSITIVE: If you're looking for Colbert or The Real World or SpongeBob or WWE:Raw or People Getting Maimed Plus Racism Point O or late-night Friends reruns, don't come looking at my house. DirecTV and Viacom can't decide on the price for Viacom's basic cable channels, so subscribers like me are back to getting our news from the news instead of from The Daily Show. Leading up to the blackout, the trenches of this war were in the crawl, where the content shriveled to maybe 70% of its size, and there were an insane three tiers of argumentative scroll: DirecTV's point at the top; Viacom's counterpoint in the middle; DirecTV's rebuttal at the bottom. And apparently getting the first and last word worked, because DirecTV is winning the P.R. battle.

In fights like this, there isn't a moral high ground.  It's just a business negotiation about how to divide up a customer dollar.  I don't blame either company for trying to make the best deal possible.  But I do hate being spun, and the point that DirecTV is pressing, apparently successfully, is this:  By bundling its popular channels with unpopular ones and charging high prices for the whole package, Viacom is increasing the consumer's satellite bill. 

Which leads this consumer to ask:  then is DirecTV going to reduce my satellite bill for the the duration of the blackout, when nobody is paying for or getting Viacom channels at all? 

Didn't think so.  Thanks, liars. 

APPARENTLY, THEY ARE NOT AS BIG A FAN OF MUSICALS AS WE'D THOUGHT:  A few thoughts about this morning's Emmy nominations:

• For the first time ever, no network show is nominated for Best Drama Series (Good Wife did not make the cut), though PBS gets in with Downton Abbey.  (Other nominees are Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, and Homeland.)
• Likewise, HBO has 3 of 6 nominees for Best Comedy--Girls, Veep, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Modern Family, 30 Rock, and Big Bang Theory filling out the category (no nomination for Parks and Rec? ).  Modern Family goes 6 for 6, with every adult in the cast getting an acting nomination.
• Notable snubs--Glee (Dot-Marie Jones is the only major nominee), Smash (Uma Thurman is the only major nominee, though it gets choreography, score, and an original song nod for "Let Me Be Your Star"), Parks and Rec (no love for any of the cast beyond Poehler).
• Notable surprises--Don Cheadle, lead actor in a comedy for House of Lies, Mayim Bialik, Merritt Wever,  Community getting nominated for writing for "Remedial Chaos Theory," Downton Abbey getting 6 acting nominations and not merely Maggie Smith, much love for Breaking Bad beyond Cranston/Paul. Jason Ritter being the first and only person from Parenthood to get a nomination.

I'm sure there's more, but that's just a quick read.  Share your thoughts in the comments.

IKE AND MINDY? Worse for the legacy of Dwight David Eisenhower--the ongoing argument over what his memorial in DC should look like or the news that Robin Williams will be playing him in an upcoming movie?