WE (STILL) HAVE READERS, AND TAKE REQUESTS:  A regular reader asks, "Here's a general question: can we get a thread going on the blog for suggestions of baby books that won't make me insane with boredom? What are the fun ones that he will like hearing/looking at and I won't mind (too much) reading 100 times?"

One hippo, all alone ...

BLACK HOLE SUN, WON'T YOU COME?  Chris Cornell, dead at 52.  While Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the big names of grunge, Cornell might've been the strongest singer, at least technically.  One of my favorites?  A solo track from the soundtrack of Alfonso Cuaron's modernized Great Expectations.

WHO ARE YOU, WHAT HAVE YOU SACRIFICED?  Next Spring, NBC will present Jesus Christ Superstar: LIVE!  Who ya got for the key roles?  

EGOT WATCH:  Michael Moore is bringing a one-man play to Broadway this summer.  He already has an Oscar and an Emmy (for TV Nation), so warrants the watch notice.

OOOOO......EEEEEE!  As Kenan Thompson approaches Darrell Hammond's record-setting SNL tenure, what's up with that?

“What Up With That” gave Thompson confidence, and it gave SNL writers an understanding of his greatest strength: his ability to act as an on-stage director, calmly and selflessly pulling the most out of the people around him amid confusion. 

“He’d make me look funny,” said Hader, who would return as the always-silent Buckingham many more times. It was a generosity multiple cast members mentioned. 

But Thompson, Hader said, had another weapon. Unlike most of the show’s actors who might have pre-performance jitters, Thompson was never nervous. Instead he’d mess with other actors seconds before they went on air, sending them onstage with a laugh and an air of confidence. He watched sketches when he had free time, offering words of encouragement when something fell flat. And onstage, Thompson didn’t compete. He facilitated.

DWAYNE JOHNSON INCREASES THE NUMBER OF GRATUITOUS BICEP FLEXES LESS THAN YOU MIGHT EXPECT:  In preparation for today's eighth installment, Bloomberg goes all Nate Silver on the Fast and Furious franchise.

FOR WANT OF A COMMA, WE HAVE THIS CASE:  And it's a doozy, as the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit endeavors to construe this Oxford comma-free statute, in which overtime protection does not apply to ...

The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.

[2011 grammar rodeo.]