American Idol should be thanking their lucky stars. Here they are turning the corner and there are no super hot chicks, no super fantastic singers - except for maybe LaKisha Jones - and the only remaining dudes are boyband rejects. If it wasn't for Sanjaya this would be the worst American Idol ever. And Simon can smirk and squirm every time the 17 year old doesn't suck, but the truth is Fox fucked up......

One of our favorite LA photographers, Malingering, went to the Dodger game last night. She has a great eye for both fashion and sports. We wonder if she would ever be an LAist contributer? Hmmmm. One can dream. Last night, of course, was Jackie Robinson Day all around the country, including Chavez Ravine, where Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson and even Jennifer Hudson showed up to honor an American hero. Way more pictures after......

A Word Or 62: I hope to get a hold of at least a couple pints of this new Ben & Jerry's flavor. I am perennially pissed that I can never make it to the local B&J store to get the Pumpkin flavor so I know that this is all a conspiracy. Hopefully this will make red staters boycott B&J which just means - more for me!!! [Note that a lot of late night......

Most vanilla Oscars ever. Ellen DeGeneres wasn't a bad host. But she wasn't a good one. Her mildly funny jokes and conversational good nature made it feel like we were watching a daytime talk show host wallowing in the oversized britches of a big-time awards ceremony. Oh wait, we were. Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, for proving that queers can be as bland and conventional as breeders. Jerry Seinfeld's presentation of the feature documentary award was......

The Oscars are right around the corner, everyone's an expert, so let's see what ya got. After the jump we have ten big categories for Sunday's award show. To enter out your picks in the comments and leave your real email address so we can contact you. Please follow this format: 1. Penelope Cruz 2. Jennifer Hudson 3. Forest Whitaker etc... Here are the AMAZING prizes we have for the winners The Grand Prize Winner......

What if... Jennifer Hudson doesn't win? Sometimes the one sure thing turns out not to be the one sure thing. Then who wins? The ten year-old. None of the others are in the running, and I say that thinking that Rinko Kikuchi should win, even though I had tons of problems with Babel. Everyone likes the ten year-old. Don't count out the ten year-old. What if... Eddie Murphy doesn't win? Then the theory that......

A Word or 108: Superbowl Redux: I found myself wandering over to the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet a couple times yesterday, and that isn't a bad thing -- the kitten halftime show was excellent. Almost all the Superbowl commercials had been leaked onto the web a week ago so there was nothing new there. I still can't understand why, with all those professionals there, that it would take almost Prince's entire (fantastic) set......

A Word or 39-ish: So whadyathinkof "the Apprentice: LA"? Was it LA-flavored enough for you or did it perpetuate the idiotic stereotypes all over again? It might have been better if they had manage to quarantine that thing to the East coast. Tonight - Monday - January 8th, 2007 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. the Florida Gators (FOX, 5:30 p.m.) This is it, the "BCS National Championship" football game Oilers @ Kings (Fox Sports, 7:30......

Tonight - Tuesday Lakers @ Bulls (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) (What In) Sam Houston State @ UCLA (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) College Basketball Flames @ Kings (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) This is the only non-repeat thing on at 8 pm. "Big Day" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Back-to-back new episodes, yip..... pee.... "Independent Lens" (PBS, 10:00 p.m.) Profile of 5 Cuban photographers - flickr, go eat your jeart out. "The Little Girl Who Lives Down......