AND YOU THOUGHT ROGER EBERT WAS OPINIONATED: Who knew Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit was such a movie buff? His IMDB comments profile is here (hat tip to A3G for the link). Perhaps the true surprise are what Kozinski likes and dislikes. "Signs" is "a major disappointment," "Garden State" is deemed "the worst movie of the year," and he assails "The Godfather Part II" as "confusing, unfocused, repetitive, predictable and most of all interminable." On the other hand, "Cabaret" is "perhaps the best movie ever made," and the 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" remake is deemed "a masterpiece."

THE BEST OF THE BEST: As the "List" guy in the what was once a temporary but is now beloved mouthful of a blog title, you (and here I put the obligatory joke about "you" being the five or so regular readers of this blog and not the poor saps who arrive here looking for this kind of information) may be wondering how I will be handling the coming onslaught of "Best of 2004" lists. Last year, when I was solo blogging, I set up a sidebar to handle all the best of lists, but ended up discovering a blog that was doing it much better. Happily, Fimoculous is once again taking care of the "Best of 2004" list heavy lifting, leaving me to cherry pick the lists that pique my (an hopefully your) interest.

TO PARAPHRASE WEIRD AL, "KEN LOST ON JEOPARDY": More specifically, Ken Jennings will "eat it" tomorrow on Jeopardy and Kottke even has the audio to prove it.

HUCKASCOOP: Daniel Radosh turns his unhealthy obsession with the tarted-up teens of Huckapoo into a feature story in this week's New York magazine. The details and your chance to pester Daniel for more poop on Huckapoo is here.

NEXT YEAR, GET READY FOR "FALLUJAH:" Well, since there's apparently not a Holocaust movie in contention for the Best Documentary prize at the 2005 Oscars, we must have the obligatory fictional film to serve as Oscar bait. But this year's contender scores with what I submit is the worst title ever. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Aryan Couple, which, honestly, sounds more like racist propaganda than a sensitive and moving film about the Holocaust. Here's the synopsis. It opens in New York on Friday, Los Angeles next Friday, and (I expect) video stores nationwide a few weeks after that.

AW GEEZ: I watched the first installment of Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters last week, and perhaps put off by the what seemed to be a 10-minute tribute to No. 81, the cast of Will & Grace, I wrote it off as a subtle NBC infomercial and forgot to tune in or Tivo the rest of the countdown. The whole list is now online and No. 1 is Archie Bunker, a deserving pick. And I'm sure the whole thing will be replayed VH1 style for months to come. I'm disappointed none of the Bradys made the cut.

FO' SHIZZLE, I'M GOING TO GET HELLA CRUNK TONIGHT: Noted lamestain cob nobbler Bill Safire went swingin' on the flippety-flop yesterday in pursuit of the latest dope slang.