MOVE YOUR ASS, YOU ASS: This week, The Amazing Race returned to its normal status as being the best hour you can spend in front of a television.

Whether it was learning about the difference between poverty and "refreshing poverty", the dangers of Ethiopian mud or simply revelling in the difference between one donkey and two, this episode had just about everything you could hope for -- except, I guess, for the sight of a competitor whose shirtlessness made you wish Gus was still in the race. But between the truly moving experience of a 12th-century Ethiopian church and the spiritual joy which followed, this was a darn satisfying episode.

Kudos to the producers for great site selection and a heck of a roadblock, plus a Yield placement that was outcome-influencing but, thankfully, not determinative. Shall we discuss?

SURVIVOR: FEDERAL PRISON: Often-nude "Survivor: Borneo" winner Richard Hatch has made a little boo-boo. Though CBS reported his income from winning the first installment of the series to the IRS, Hatch apparently "forgot" to do so, and a criminal complaint has been filed against him by the government. Interestingly, based on my personal experience, those giving prizes don't withhold taxes at all--you get a lump sum check and it's your job to figure out what's owed, regardless of how much you win. A tip--when you win a large sum of money on national TV, you're probably going to want to report that to the IRS and pay your taxes in a timely fashion.

BABY NEEDS BACK: While booty seems to be so 2004, that isn't stopping Bubbles, the first ever comfortable and sexy butt booster, from compiling its list of the Top Ten Tush-Challenged Celebrities, including Mischa Barton's bum, Penelope Cruz's can, and Uma Thurman's tuchas.

YOU DON'T NEED A RASTAMAN TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS: According to this New York Observer review of Curtis Sittenfeld's "big-buzz debut novel, Prep," the book's narrator, a 14-year-old "fresh from Nowhere Indiana, trying desperately to blend into the woodwork of her exclusive Massachusetts boarding school," is "inexperienced with taxis, can't pronounce Greenwich, doesn't know Bob Dylan from Bob Marley."

Now normally that kind of cheap, pop culture shorthand drives me nuts. C'mon, she doesn't know Dylan from Marley. You can play her "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Get Up, Stand Up" back-to-back and she just gives you a vacant look? And wouldn't it be more relevant, though less symmetrical, if, say, she didn't know the Strokes from the White Stripes? Or Dylan from Bright Eyes? Or even Bob Marley from Ziggy Marley, the latter whose infectious theme to "Arthur," no doubt invaded her childhood even in the hinterlands of rural Indiana.

But then I stumbled upon this Washington Post correction at Regret the Error, a newspaper correction blog that has picked up where Frank Sennett's late Slipup.com left off.

In the Jan. 9 Sunday Source entertainment listings for Prince George's County, the "Highlight" on guitarist Derek Trucks incorrectly said that he is 23 years old and has toured with Bob Marley. Trucks is 25 and has toured with Bob Dylan.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, GOAT GIRL? Tuesday evening, American Idol returns for a fourth season.

Figure we've got a month of embarrassing auditions from those too clueless to realize what's in store for them, a month of occasionally interesting semifinals where much of the Whitney Houston repetoire is sung, a week or two of finals so we can all figure out who the final 2-3 singers will be, followed by two months of stalling punctuated only by obtrusive product placement and the annual unwarranted elimination of a talented African American in place of some mediocre white singer.

During the process, we will learn, once again, that Simon is blunt (and usually right), that Paula is flighty, and that singing Stevie Wonder is hard, yo. And it will all end with a show that's 2h 58m of filler and 2m of result.

Will you care? Can you get excited for another season of this? Or is the thrill gone, America?

P.S. Wonder what happened to the girl who sang that atrocious "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" in the AI2 semis? Well, her road to stardom is now paved with elephant poo.

SHED A LITTLE LIGHT: In happy news particularly suitable to this day, Wilbert Rideau has been freed. (Full disclosure: my clinical program in law school did work connected to the case.) For those who have doubts about a rehabilitative model of incarceration, Rideau, who went from an impulsive 19 year-old bank robber to an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker and acclaimed journalist while in prison proves rehabilitation is possible.

And on the title--read the lyrics and buy the damn song. (And if anyone knows if Aimee Mann's version of the song is publicly available, that'd be great).

IT'S FOLLOWING UP "S IS FOR SHOTGUN: A TEXAS ALPHABET:" My friends and family aren't currently at the point where I'm giving baby books as gifts, but maybe if I were, I'd be giving "G is for Garden State: A New Jersey Alphabet," or perhaps I would be if it were more accurate. Entries excluded that probably shouldn't have been?

"B" is for Bribery
"G" is for "Gay American"
"L" is for "Legitimate Businessman"
"T" is for Toxic Waste