WILL BANKSY SHOW UP?   A nice NYT piece on the film competing for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, a topic some of you have been clamoring to discuss.  (I've seen about twenty minutes of Restrepo on tv, but that's it so far.)

ALSO, THE 76ERS NEED TO SAW OFF THEIR RIGHT ARM (IGUODALA) TO SAVE THEIR FUTURE:  He has more titles than Shaquille O'Neal, but can Kobe Bryant surpass the Big Aristotle's record for most interesting film metaphor applied to basketball teammates, achieved in 2005 with his comparison of Penny Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and Bryant to the Corleone brothers?  Perhaps he has, in discussing Pau Gasol last night:

When I'm out there being aggressive and doing my thing, he needs to follow suit and just be just as aggressive which is hard for him because it's kind of against his nature. But I think tonight was a good step. Even when he was in Memphis and he was the go-to guy, he was always very nice. Very white swan. I need him to be black swan.

DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN, DUN (REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT):  The White Stripes are no more.  From Meg & Jack's [properly apostrophed? it's not "Meg's and Jack's," is it?] statement:

The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.

It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.

OKAY, CAMPERS, RISE AND SHINE, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR BOOTIES 'CAUSE IT'S COOOOOOLD OUT THERE TODAY: It's February 2, so it's time to talk about the movie again. Do you buy the whole Buddhist thing, or should we just quote lines for a while and generally discuss its awesomeness?

Participate in this thread, or it's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.

added: So, how long did Phil Connors spend in Punxsutawney?  We only see 38 days, but learning every skill he mastered takes a very, very long time.

ICE STORM 2011 -- KEY PARTY HARDER:  Your winter weather reports are welcome.  (2h late here, but I don't see any ice, really.)

added:  Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, wow.

SPEAKING OF HOT STOVES:  A journalistic transition we failed to cover last week -- Mark Bittman has ended his The Minimalist column after 13 years and nearly 700 columns, and will be shifting his writing for the Times to its opinion pages and elsewhere in advocacy for "good, sound eating and traditional farming."

He has listed 25 of his favorite recipes; the rest are all here, including a duck recipe about which I'll have more to say later this year.

HOT STOVE MOVEMENT: Rob Neyer -- the entry point for so many of us to full sabermetric immersion (both on account of quality and his being on the Web basically from the start of "espnet.sportszone.com") -- has left the Mouse to become national baseball editor for SBNation.com.