James Wolcott profiles Alec Baldwin. It’s a good read, but nothing new, though I’m interested because Baldwin’s career is so interesting. He’s absolutely killing TV right now on 30 Rock, after killing Saturday Night Live all those years. He’s been great in a couple good movies (as Wolcott notes), but doesn’t have a big role in an important movie. How will we think about him in 20 years?

Oh, by the way, he’s talking about retiring after 30 Rock…

So perhaps the smoke signals he’s sending up about retiring aren’t a bluff. But I can’t help but think that if he gets the chance to work with Meryl Streep again he won’t say no. That would be like turning down dessert, and he’s a cat who can’t resist cream.

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I’ve been ambivalent about a TV show before, so I know how ambivalence feels. This is not ambivalence. This is disdain. I’m probably going to miss the show next week and I don’t care. I may or may not watch it later in the week. Who knows? I hope 24 is better tonight, but I bet it won’t be.

This 24 Tag will take you to ALL of the ‘24′ related content on Unlikelywords.

We’ll get going below the fold at 9PM EST.
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I spent 15 minutes looking for this scene from ‘Groundhog Day’ so that we could all enjoy Ned Ryerson together! Now I’m gonna have to go watch it again. “Don’t drive angry” is another classic scene, amirite?

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Last week was a snoozer, hopefully we’ll get something better tonight. Actually, I have little faith I’ll be at all interested this season. The story arc is set (4 more hours until a showdown at the pier, where disaster will be narrowly averted, at which point a bigger threat will be identified). Remember a couple seasons ago when they set off the nuke in California? That’s the last time 24 surprised me, though I suppose the attack on the White House was unexpected. But only because it was so far out of the realm of possibility as to be absurd.

This 24 Tag will take you to ALL of the ‘24′ related content on Unlikelywords.

We’ll get going below the fold at 9PM EST.
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I watched this entire season hours after having all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth removed. I remember enjoying it, but can’t remember any plot specifics at all. So much so, that when I watched the premier of season 7, I went back to see if I had actually watched season 5 instead of 6.

I watched this entire season hours after having all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth removed. I remember enjoying it, but can’t remember any plot specifics at all. So much so, that when I watched the premier of season 7, I went back to see if I had actually watched season 5 instead of 6.

Let’s give this another shot, shall we? I wasn’t wowed by 24 last night, and the 24 Live Blog ran into some technical difficulties and was largely unavailable during the first hour. Hopefully we can avoid that tonight and just have some fun. Ugh. As if watching 24 is fun.

This 24 Tag will take you to ALL of the ‘24′ related content on Unlikelywords. I count the number of people Jack Bauer knocks down (JBKCs), and this year, I’ll also be counting the number of times someone says, damn it. (If I remember.) As always, let me know what you think in the comments!

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We’ll get going below the fold at 9PM EST.
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It’s time again for the 24 Live Blog. I’ve been pretty ambivalent about whether or not to do it again this year as the quality of the show keeps deteriorating. And yet, there’s something that won’t let me quit. I’m going to give it a go tonight and tomorrow to see if I’ve still got it, and we’ll see.

In case you’re new, this 24 Tag will take you to ALL of the ‘24′ related content on Unlikelywords. I count the number of people Jack Bauer knocks down (JBKCs), and this year, I’ll also be counting the number of times someone says, damn it. (If I remember.) As always, let me know what you think in the comments!

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We’ll get going below the fold at 9PM EST.
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The Omnivoracious blog on Amazon compared their year end top 100 books list, with the New York Times 100 Notable Books and Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2009 to get a composite of the best books of 2009. There were 11 books that were on all 3 lists this year, plus 2 that were not on the Notable 100, but were on other NY Times lists. For what it’s worth, there were 13 last year and 11 in 2007. No women authors made the cut, only 2 novels, and 2 graphic novels.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
Born Round by Frank Bruni
Cheever by Blake Bailey
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Fordlandia by Greg Grandin
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford
Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan (not in NYT’s 100 Notable, but in their best cookbooks list)
The Jazz Loft Project by Sam Stephenson (not in NYT’s 100 Notable, but in their Gift Books list)

The Onion says the ‘The Office’ Ends As Documentary Crew Gets All The Footage It Needs and a day later, Fimoculous had the following idea:

It’s a good idea, I’d watch that movie.

(Onion article via Title Case)