THE INCREDIBLES: It seems like a big hit, but its PG rating may have kept it from living up to Wall Street's lofty expectations. Since I didn't mention it in my review, I'll note that it's a little scarier than past Pixar flicks, but only really little kids will be too scared. One of my co-workers took her two and four year olds -- they were a little scared, but not too scared. The second weekend will tell the tale here; I'm waiting until next week to see The Polar Express as a show of support for The Incredibles.

YOU'RE FIRED, but you can still ask out Trump's hottie receptionist.

JON PRATT lives near DC, so I thought I would note that he can get traffic cam images on a cellphone.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT was aptly named, apparently.

AND WHY NOT POST A COMIC?

PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ? Donald Trump is thinking about buying the Ritz Hotel in Paris for his fiancee, Melania Knauss. Gaudy, and it will never fit on her finger, Don.

SLATE reports on a New York Times memo regarding the use of anonymous sources, which Slate got from...

TOM BROKAW thinks blogs are "big" and "a fixed part of the universe." Golly, it seems like it was just a few weeks ago that Brokaw was accusing them of waging political jihad.

U2 is inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Bono's reaction? "I want to go and kill myself now."

DOES SIZE MATTER in the magazine world?

QOTD: "To be a newspaper reporter, you need two things: You need to know how to type. And you need a job at a newspaper."

THE SMOKING GUN: Bill Maher Hit With Palimony Suit; Ex accuses HBO star of physical abuse, "degrading racial comments." I thought he was done with Politically Incorrect.

PHIL SPECTOR: Not only is he facing a murder rap, the L.A. D.A. argues that the release of grand jury testimony wouldn't bias potential jurors against the rock innovator on account of nobody remembers who he is anyway. Ouch.

MORE BUZZ THAT BRITNEY SPEARS IS PREGNANT. If you have an office pool running, I'd bet on it being a boy named Damien.

VETERANS DAY: Armed Liberal salutes the troops at Winds Of Change; The Smithsonian Museum of American History opens The Price of Freedon: Americans at War.

WOI-TV, among other ABC affiliates, declines to air Saving Private Ryan tonight, citing fear of FCC indecency charges. Also airing tonight: Last Letters Home, a documentary in which people who've lost a son, daughter, sibling or spouse in Iraq remember their loved ones and read from their letters home. It's on HBO, but most cable systems will be offering it for free.

COL. SIMON WEST has a Basic Instinct moment sitting next to the Queen.

FUN WITH LIGHTERS: How to modify an ordinary cigarette lighter to produce a giant ball of flaming molten death.

BARBARA BUSH (the younger): Friend Of Will?

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, examining the unique effect of music on the brain, wants you to listen to the music playing in your head. Is it "Lady Madonna?"

LIZA MINELLI is sued for sexual harassment; Liza counter-sues for breach of contract.

NEVER COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU spotlights worthy films that just didn't get much attention the first time around. For those who don't bother to click through, note that High Fidelity and Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey make the cut.

THE ORGASMATRON: How could I have forgotten to link to it?

KIRSTEN DUNST AND KATE BOSWORTH: hopeless addicts, or just plain tacky?

RED BANK, TENNESSEE: Someone missed the whole Clarence Thomas thing.

ON THE PITCHFORK: FIRST AVENUE CLOSES! It's the end of an era...

THE NEW YORKER on drugs. Prescription drugs, that is.

SOMETHING AWFUL reviews music magazines. And rightly so.

MARK A. R. KLEIMAN is writing about "test-doping," the practice of taking stimulants to improve one's scores on standardized tests like the SAT.

ABBA: displaying more integrity than most old bands.

QOTD:"Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are." -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (courtesy of Pejman)

SCRAMJET: NASA shoots for an engine capable of propelling a craft at Mach 10; it could carry an airplane from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in about 20 minutes.

I HAVE THAT ON VINYL has just debuted, but seems like it has potential.

ZELL MILLER TAKES ON MAUREEN DOWD: I'm reminded of one of my favorite Craig O'Neill stories. In this context, the question is: "If I called you some highbrow hussy from New York City, and you could only deny one of those, which would it be?"

We now have some info about Sylvia's lucky fiancee. He's 32 years old and, like Sylvia, previously married. Indeed, marriage will make Sylvia a step-mom to a four year old daughter!

The couple met during Sylvia's six-week sabbatical from work, at B.B. King's Blues Club in Memphis, which is located right o­n Beale Street.

When might the ceremony take place? The current thinking seems to center around late 2006, perhaps o­n the anniversary of their first meeting [and the women all say "awwww..."]. That's plenty of time to save up for a wedding gift. I wonder whether a couple can register here... or even here?

OKAY, SO LANCE TOOK ONE OF MY BAD JOKES AND RAN WITH IT... Guess I'll have to find a picture of myself where I look less like a shrimpy Scientologist... or should I just claim I look much better without the eyeglasses?

SIX FEET UNDER has only one season to live.

PROFESSORS DAN DREZNER AND HARRY FARRELL study the impact of blogs on politics and policy around the world.

SIR ELTON: Now with enough profanity for The Sopranos.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES bags almost 26 million viewers last Sunday. And the NFL delayed the FOX premieres enough that Arrested Development was up against it.

HALO 2 will have first-day sales of about $75 million, "graphic testimony that the billion U.S. video game industry outsells the domestic movie box office..."

LARGEST KNOWN WHO COLLECTION is up on eBay.

LILEKS shares my view of Steely Dan.

"The first rule of Election Club is: DO NOT TALK ABOUT ELECTION CLUB."

MY LAW SCHOOL CLASSMATE TIM KNIGHT continues to clean house at Newsday.

LOU REED, the shins,The Flaming Lips and more on the Queen Mary. But the quintet that used to play The Love Boat would still sound like more musicians.

'TIS THE SEASON for Turkey and Gravy soda!