Time for some wordplay

UPDATE: Tyler Hinman wins his fifth consecutive ACPT, defeating Trip Payne and Francis Heaney in the finals. In the past five years, Hinman has NEVER made a mistake on a tournament puzzle. 

The 32nd Annual Crossword Puzzle Tournament is taking place in Brooklyn, NY this weekend. Those of you who've seen Wordplay will recognize some of the names at the top of the leaderboard: Trip Payne, Tyler Hinman, and Al Sanders are in third through fifth place, respectively. A champion will be crowned sometime on Sunday. You can follow the action here.

25 Most Influential Books of the Last 25 Years

An intriguing list from Mental Floss magazine. And since March is National Reading Month, there's no time like now to read one or more of them. Current Lit Loungers will find most of the 25 in Larsen's personal library.

Please Read to Us!

Read Across America Day is this Monday, March 2. Do your part - read to a child. And if you have time, drop by the Lit Lounge and share a story with these forlorn souls.

One of Electric Light Orchestra's lights has gone out

Kelly Grouchutt, bass player for ELO, died earlier this month in England. For those not familiar with the ELO sound, I recommend Out of the Blue, their masterpiece. 

"Clean" Coal, Coen Brothers' Style

Column of the Day - Op-Ed Cartoon Edition

Stimulus package. Heh. Pat Oliphant is still the best.

Demetri Martin - Palindrome Poet

His new show, Important Things, is a blast, and Demetri Martin's 224-word palindrome poem is one more example of his incredible wit. It's the same front to back, and you can find it here.

Movie roles to die for

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to my fiancee how much fun it would be to snag a walk-on role as a corpse on Law & Order while we're in NYC this summer. Leave it to the AV Club to put together a list of the best movie corpses to get me in the mood. 

Geek 101

If you've ever wanted to graduate from dork to geek, the AV Club is ready to help. This week, the hipper-than-thou types begin a weekly "Gateways to Geekery" series. Your first lesson: The French New Wave. Enjoy.

Oscar wrap-up

Slumdog Millionaire wins! And in other news, the sun came up today. Best Picture may not have been a surprise, but there were a few upsets. And, as usual, the post-Oscar commentary makes for enjoyable reading. Here are two opinions of the same broadcast. One snarky:

Each acting category was announced not by one, not by two, not by three, not by four, but by five (five!) presenters. And they weren't just any presenters, but old winners in each category, some of whom seemingly haven't been seen in public for decades. So for Best Supporting Actress, we were treated to appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Eva Marie Saint and Anjelica Huston. Having such different, and differently dressed, actresses all onstage at the same time eulogizing—because that's really what it felt like—the nominees was so distracting

And one classy, mature, and balanced:

The new design also made possible a crucial new camera shot, looking directly at the nominees from behind the presenters on stage. The looks in the eyes of Viola Davis, Marisa Tomei and Amy Adams as they were praised by Oscar legends was dramatic--infinitely better and less sadistic than the the traditional practice of framing the nominees in little boxes so we could see the instant reactions of the losers