(The red was described as "like being whipped with licorice," and it really sort of is. But nicer, I imagine.)

The wonderful Mercedes McCambridge passes on. (Via Pullquote.) Very sad, and I never realized she'd written a memoir. Must track down.

An odd piece on memory in movies, which is really about THE ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, on CNN.COM, which starts out with a pretty obvious series of quotes from the "Memory" section of any quote book. (We will be seeing SUNSHINE this weekend, despite neither of us quite buying Jim Carrey The Actor.)

Union hijinx manages to exile Real World from Philadelphia. (A tip: when you're trying to sell your city as young and hip BEGGING an MTV show that passed its prime a loooong time ago to save you, please stay and save you, isn't good public relations strategy.)

Pluto may finally be just a dog and not a planet.

Great NYT piece on women's basketball kicking men's basketball's ass. Very much so, even if you can only see WNBA games on Oxygen.

The most laid back cult in world history tried to build an island in Florida, but when they got busted they just left. And aren't a "cult," because it's no longer PC to call things cults, as you'll learn in that article. I want to build an island! Better yet, I want people in Ralph Lauren sweaters provided by my giantly rich largesse to build them for me, one stone at a time. Or not.

Is it wrong to laugh at Joe Eszterhas's immigrant father? (Harpoon?) Probably not.

worm: "Linda Blair Was Born Innocent," The Mountain Goats

today's fave post: Or rather, favorite link from a post today -- World's Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction via Twinkle, Twinkle, Blah, Blah, Blah, etc.

namecheck: Ron "Small World" Hogan