RAISE YOUR HOPEFUL VOICE, YOU HAVE A CHOICE: The analysts at What Not To Sing have classified all 700+ songs ever performed on American Idol based on how familiar the audience was with each prior to performance and confirmed that singing an obscure instead of well-known song doesn't make any difference in terms of your likelihood of being eliminated, but you shouldn't sing something that someone else already has performed in the show's history. Tonight: The Songs of Shania Twain.

I ASSUME FAMOUS ORIGINAL RAY'S WAS #101: As we did two years ago, we today herald the release of Restaurant magazine's annual list of the world's fifty best restaurants (and #51-100) with a mix of awe, wonder, checklisting and a dash of "hey, where are all the Asian restaurants?". Dethroning El Bulli, your new number one is Copenhagen's Noma, which describes its philosophy as "a personal rendition of Nordic gourmet cuisine, where typical methods of cooking, fine Nordic produce and the legacy of our common food culture are all being subjected to an innovative gastronomic approach."

WHAT? ALAN WATCHING: Congratulations to our very good friend Alan Sepinwall, who is exiting the land of ink and paper to occupy a digital perch at HitFix.com. There, he'll join his podcasting partner and friend of fifteen years Dan Fienberg, who offers his own welcoming remarks.

We live in a new era when it comes to the places in which cultural criticism is practiced, and we will follow Alan to his new home eagerly.

I AIN'T GONNA HAVE NO MONEY TO BUY MY SON THE G.I. JOE WITH THE KUNG-FU GRIP: Eddie Murphy talks to New York magazine about a career and life in transition:

"[N]ow I'm kind of like a single dad for a week, then my wife gets the kids, then I'm like a bachelor for a week. It goes back and forth.” So which half of him seems to be winning out — the bachelor or the single dad? “I’ve lost a lot of my cool and edge, I think,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I think my cool and edge are gone.” But fans of challenging, adult humor want to know: Where did it go? “You know, I think I’m onto some other place. Whatever my edge or cool was back then, I’m onto some other area. I don't know what it is.” Is there any hope? “You know, I'm thinking about getting into stand-up, to see what comes up!”

How about this, Eddie: start by returning to 30 Rock. You've skipped all the reunions, the specials, participation in the Shales/Miller oral history ... it's time to try to make comedy for grown-ups again.

CAN WE GET SOME SHOOTING? KICK A DOOR IN? CHASE A CRACKHEAD? It's been a month (at least) since I've written about The Amazing Race, and my relative lack of having anything to say after this week's well-constructed Shanghai leg just leads me to wonder whether, unlike Survivor, we've just hit a point where we already have seen it all when it comes to the Race.

To be clear, structurally this was a good leg. Loved the noodle challenge (RIP He Pingping), the fashion needle-in-a-haystack, the Survivor-level puzzle roadblock with added wind terror. (Questions: (1) did any rule stop a team from solving the puzzle on the reverse side? (2) given the wind, why not stack each row once completed rather than leave them all subject to the gusts?) But even with three relatively likable teams left, I just don't care that much. Should I?

WATCH OUT, MICHAEL PHELPS: Leading Team USA to a gold medal in gymnastics certainly can get you a lot of doors, but it doesn't guarantee you top position in the NYT wedding announcements, as Kerri Strug learned today. Her announcement was #2, behind this couple.

A TRIBUTE TO THE GREATEST PHOTO BACKGROUND THERE EVER WAS: Lots and lots of laser portraits.