I'M WAITING FOR THE "FOR GOOD" MONTAGE ON GREY'S: We previously explored whether two things this blog loves--the Muppets and R.E.M.--were, in fact, two great tastes that taste great together. Now, let's ask that question with two different things--"Defying Gravity" from Wicked and Joss Whedon's Firefly--which an enterprising viewer has mashed up for our viewing pleasure. Also, am I the only one who's watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: This Time Not Sucky largely because of the guarantee of more ass-kicking from River Tam?

Hat tip to a correspondent who pointed this out to us.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, OPERA GIRL? A new season of American Idol kicks off Tuesday night, which means it's time for several weeks of auditions. So be honest: are you watching to see how bad this year's nutters are, to find the few diamonds in the rough, for the human interest stories, or some other reason? Or are you one of those folks who'll boycott until we get to Hollywood Week?

ELEPHANT! PIGGIE! The American Library Association announced its annual awards for outstanding children's books today. For a recap, we turn to an expert, guest-blogger and regular commenter Christy:

The 2008 ALA literary award winners were announced today, the most famous of which being the John Newbery Medal, followed closely by the Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King awards, among many others.

Last year, while the Printz broke new ground by giving the gold to a graphic novel for the first time, the Newbery list was arguably underwhelming in that it consisted solely of quiet books with passive female protatgonists. What about boy readers? This year, the buzz has been relatively low in the kidlit world overall, but when it comes to the books people have been talking about, it's definitely been The Year of the Boy. The National Book Award for Young People's Literature went to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie back in November. Though that title was (as tends to be tradition) shut out of this morning's awards, we also saw recognition of The Wednesday Wars (my favorite this year) by Gary Schmidt, Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, all middle grade novels with boy protagonists. Taking everything into account, though, it was a bit of an oddball list this year. A few particulars (and forgive me the formality, but nothing I've written here reflects the opinion of my employer):

John Newbery Medal: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, which was very popular among the librarian bloggers this year. It's both a very unusual choice--a mix of poetry and history and illustration which strives to teach and evoke the organization and feel of a medieval village--and a bit predictable, in that it's the kind of book that would appeal to librarians more than anyone. But it's cool to see this award go to a non-fiction title, especially an unconventional one.

Michael L. Printz Award: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean. Last year, all but one of the honorees of this award were male. This year, it's all female authors, with the possible exception of A. M. Jenkins, who seems to go out of their way to avoid revealing their gender. I must admit that none of the books on this list were on my radar. And I read a lot of YA last year.

Randolph Caldecott Medal: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This unusual book, told partly in prose and partly in cinematic black and white illustrations, was probably the most talked-about kids' book of the year. Many bloggers worried that it wouldn't be considered quite right for either the Newbery (which doesn't take illustration into account) or the Caldecott (which traditionally goes to a picture book). So Hugo's fans breathed a sigh of relief when this committee also decided to do something a little different this year.

Coretta Scott King Award: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (author) and Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan (illustrator). Elijah of Buxton also got a Newbery Honor.

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award: There is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems. An ALOTT5MA favorite, Mr. Willems also got his third Caldecott honor this morning for Knuffle Bunny Too. The relatively new Geisel award, for a distinguished book for beginning readers, is quickly becoming an interesting award that takes both text and illustration into account. Last year's winner, Not a Box by Antoinette Portis, is decidedly not a beginning reader, but is still a really interesting offering that wouldn't have been given a second look for Newbery or Caldecott awards.

I know we have many kids' book connoisseurs reading this, as well as parents of kids' book connoisseurs; thoughts on these choices? What were your favorites this year?

THAI FOOD IN TAIPEI? Our penultimate leg of this season of The Amazing Race is an object lesson in the importance of small distinctions -- a fifteen minute gap in flight departure time, a moment's hesitation in choosing a mode of transportation, some brief insight from a local as to the best way to purchase train tickets. And I don't know that anyone could have predicted this final three.

Two questions about this leg: (1) Could you have purchased tickets for a later train and snuck onto an earlier one? (2) What was the purpose of that first task, anyway?

LIVE, FROM A PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM: We probably need a thread to discuss the relatively hype-free Golden Globe results and how they might change the Oscar race. Does the somewhat surprising complete shutout of Juno bode poorly for its chances with the Academy? Do the two (big) awards for Diving Bell and the Butterfly help it capture a Best Picture slot? Do the wins for Sweeney Todd and Atonement help them regain some of their (arguably) lost momentum? What was being smoked in giving David Duchovny his award, as well as Piven over Danson?

MANNING LEADS TEAM TO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: It is hard for me to become excited during an NFL playoffs in which the Eagles do not appear, and I am going to miss not having the league's equivalent of Yanks v Sawks next weekend -- or, for that matter, the other expected rematch.

Still, one has to be rooting for The Ageless Gunslinger v. The Unstoppable Force as the Super Bowl matchup, even though two weeks of that hype should turn unendurable by about Wednesday of the first week. Thoughts?

A VISION CAPACIOUS AND CONVINCING: Given the demographic of this site, we probably ought to note that Prof. Laurence Tribe, arguably America's leading scholar on Constitutional Law, has apparently been diagnosed with a (benign) brain tumor. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his views, Tribe's work has unquestionably been deeply significant. Among his contributions (according to Wikipedia):

• Invention of the "flow" system for note-taking/argument construction in competitive debate.
• 34 Supreme Court arguments, 27 Circuit arguments--memorable cases include Bowers v. Hardwick, Rust v. Sullivan, Bush v. Gore, and Times v. Tasini.
• His monumental treatise American Constitutional Law, important enough for Justice Breyer to inquire about when the next revision is coming out.

I'm sure all of us here join in wishing Prof. Tribe a speedy and full recovery.