CAREFUL THE THINGS YOU SAY, CHILDREN WILL LISTEN: While wandering through the airport newsstand at LAX the other day, I happened to notice the cover of this month's Seventeen, which features Vanessa Anne Hudgens discussing "the scandal that made her sorry--and grateful." Was the Sondheim reference intentional or unintentional, you think? Personally, I'm waiting for "Not Getting Married" with the next celebrity breakup or maybe US paying appropriate tribute to "The Ladies Who Lunch?"

GOODBYE, BOB: Suzanne Pleshette has died.

ANYONE WHO HAD A HEART: A week from Tuesday Shelby Lynne will release a new album entitled Just a Little Loving featuring covers of songs popularized by Dusty Springfield. The album has received regular airplay on WXPN in Philadelphia.

My initial reaction to the songs I've heard so far was negative. Lynne's "readings" of these classic songs are generally contemplative and a little dark. The originals, many of which you can find on the incomparable Dusty in Memphis, have a soulfulness that I find deeply moving. Springfield infuses the songs with a buoyant joy. See also The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection.

Then I started to read a little bit more about Lynne. I'd known, of course, that her sister was the alt-country singer Allison Moorer (who is married to Steve Earle). I had not known, though, that when Lynne was just 17 years old Lynne's father, an abusive alcoholic, shot and killed her mother and then turned the gun on himself while his daughters looked on. Shortly after she turned 18, Lynne began supporting herself and her sister by playing music in local clubs. Over the ensuing 20 years, she's had some successes (notably, her 2000 release I Am Shelby Lynne, which led to her being awarded the 2001 Grammy for best new artist) but perhaps more than her share of disappointments in the music business.

Looking back over her career, I find that I prefer Lynne's darker songs: her Aretha Franklin-esque "Thought It Would Be Easier", the bitter "Your Lies", and her profound cover of "A Rainy Night in Georgia." Given what life has dished out to Shelby Lynne, maybe there's a reason for her focus on the dark side. Sometimes it feels like it's raining all over the world.

LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD: The classic French film Last Year at Marienbad is being shown at the Film Forum in New York through Jan. 31st. The 1962 film has inspired uncommonly strong reviews and is part of Roger Ebert's Great Movies series. From the Film Forum's description:

Perhaps the ultimate puzzle film, with dizzying time shifts and flashbacks, real or imagined—or are they shifts into the subjunctive? Possible solutions have included the Orpheus-Eurydice myth; a visualization of the process of psychoanalysis; or the whole as a kind of stream-of-consciousness of a single mind, encompassing truth, lies, and visualized whatifs.

You can see the trailer here.

I TRIED TO POST THIS ON LEMONLYMAN.COM: Though the Broadway revival of 60s sex farce Boeing-Boeing bears little inherent interest to me, a cast that's now reported as including Bradley Whitford, Christine Baranski, and Mary McCormack (with Sarah Jessica Parker offered a part as well) certainly could generate some excitement around here.

GUTS, AND GLORY: To the extent that past season finales of the Race have been "fly from Asia to Hawaii or Alaska, do a bunch of tasks there that lead to a bunching into the final city," this one can be commended for its relative efficiency. And I did like the detour, and the number of intra-city navigational tasks.

But, my lord, that final Roadblock? You know, there's a reason they don't broadcast the logic games section of the LSAT on primetime tv. I always like a final task that involves remembering things which had happened during the race, but this was ridiculous. Bring back the ordering of the flags!

The other thing I missed this time around was any sense of final leg desperation/super-crazy-we-gots-to-win hijinks -- shipping the backpacks home to not have to carry them, renting a local, exorbitant bribes to cabbies, etc. ... just Ron's killer sweet move at the Taipei Airport.

Overall? Very good, but not great season, which still made it much better than a bunch which proceeded it.

A COLD DAY IN HELL: Unfortunately, San Diego isn't playing New England in Green Bay today, because the conditions are right there for a win.

Who you want? Who you got?

(Want: GB, SD. Will Get: GB, NE).