Thursday night, how I love you.

* Jason Zengerle at the Plank undertakes a much more full-throated defense of Letterman than the one I offered last night, reminding us about Bristol Palin's recent publicity tour (which I guess I'd blocked out) and questioning the logic of the Palins making their own joke about their daughter being assaulted. For what it's worth, I still think the joke was borderline and shouldn't have been told, but it was plainly not about the fourteen-year-old.

* The headline reads: 'Tiny chance' of planet collision.

* Game theory and Batman villains. Isn't it well-established by now that the Joker would never kill Batman?

* New element added to the periodic table. Canavanium?

On Guantánamo: Matt Yglesias has a great post summing up the various absurd turns the Guantánamo debate has taken since Obama has taken office. For me it begins and ends with the new 'supervillain' line, the notion that the people currently imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay are so cunning and all-powerful that we dare not trust them to any domestic prison for fear that they will somehow escape, Joker-like, and run amuck.



I think it's time to start bringing that "reality-based community" line back.

Monday, Monday.

* The Criterion Collection Bottle Rocket is out tomorrow. Here's the Amazon link.

* Nate Silver projects Al Franken will win by 27 votes.

* The World's Best Colleges and Universities. Duke clocks in at #13, but more important, longtime domestic loser Case Western (#90) beats Tufts (#156) in the far more important world rankings, finally giving Neil the humiliation he deserves.

* Amanda Marcotte had the bright idea of reading Mad Men alongside some of the literary texts it makes allusions to, most notably the Frank O'Hara poem that bookends the season, "Meditations in an Emergency."

* Longtime reader Eli Glasner has a great new film blog.

* 10 Stories Behind Dr. Seuss stories. Thanks, Lindsay!

* "Who Stole My Volcano? Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dematerialisation of Supervillain Architecture." Via Neilalien.

* A school in New York has already been renamed for Barack Obama. Students initiated the renaming.

* The things you learn from Poli-Sci-Fi Radio: Val Kilmer is mulling a run for governor of New Mexico. Kilmer's only the second-worst Batman, but the one I think I'd want least in elected office.

* Top 25 Comic Book Battles. #1: Batman vs. Superman from The Dark Knight Returns.

* Heroes creator Tim Kring has apologized for calling his fans dipshits. Remember, a gaffe is when you accidentally tell the truth...

I thought for sure that the Joss Whedon Web project Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was doomed to absolute unfunny failure—but then I watched the teaser and now I don't know what to think. Oh Doogie, you devil.