AND THE CROWS STARE UNAMAZED: Turns out that crows (and other members of the corvid family -- jays, ravens, etc.) may be as smart as chimpanzees and gorillas.

GOLDEN GLOBES: Given that I haven't seen all of the nominated pictures and shows (The Aviator isn't in general release yet), I will say in the spirit of Bill Murray that, looking over the list of noms, I'd say that the Foreign Press did a half-decent job.

Sure, it's bizzare that The Incredibles has to compete with Sideways, Ray, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Phantom of the Opera, but The Incredibles was really good (and probably better than another retelling of Phantom), so this may be a case where it really is an honor to be nominated. Natalie Portman probably will not (and probably should not) win for her supporting role in Closer, but if it encourages her to take more roles as a stripper, all the better. [Note: Do I have a link or two for that Portman comment? You betcha, but that wouldn't be family-friendly, now would it?]

For screenplay, I'd be torn between Eternal Sunshine and Sideways, and would guess it will go to the writer(s) least honored in past Globes.

For TV Drama, 24 didn't hold me this year and Lost may be too new (though the FP may pull a Jenny Garner here). Nip/Tuck was good, but maybe not as good as the first season. The Sopranos marked a return to form. If Nip/Tuck didn't win last year, it could this year; otherwise, I'd pick the mob.

Finally, in Best TV Supporting Actor, I must note that William Shatner was nominated for Boston Legal. He might just win; as Ann Althouse discovered, you don't cross the Shat.

L.A. TIMES: People blamed incoming DCI Porter Goss and his staff for the resignations of some top CIA officials, but the same thing is happening at the FBI.

MY KIND OF TOWN: Chicago police evict a man from the home he built in the underside of the Lake Shore Drive drawbridge -- a lair that boasted a space heater, television, PlayStation video game and microwave. Meanwhile, the Sun-Times continues to report on Mayor Daley's towing program, under which the city of Chicago sells about 70,000 cars each year to an allegedly politically-connected company for no more than the going scrap-metal price, regardless of the car's age or condition.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S CELEBRITY WAX CRECHE, mentioned here a few days ago, has been attacked -- literally.

HOWARD WOLFSON, one of Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign managers, delivers his Top Ten Albums of 2004!

MARC RICH, the fugitive Swiss-based billionaire commodities trader who received a controversial pardon from President Bill Clinton in January 2001, has emerged as a central figure in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal and is under investigation for brokering deals in which scores of international politicians and businessmen cashed in on sweetheart oil deals with Saddam Hussein, according to the New York Post.

SWARMSTREAMING: Hollywood is already freaking about BitTorrent's ability to ease movie file-sharing; swarmstreaming may turn out to be more powerful and robust.

FILE-SHARERS have already begun to hijack the second-generation version of the internet.

WHAT IS LIFE? "Astrobiologists will tell you honestly that this question has no simple or generally accepted answer." But at least George Harrison wasn't sued over that one.

GARY WEBB, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter whose controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles were largely discredited, has died at age 49. Conspiracy theorists are undoubtedly on red alert.

KOBE BRYANT accuses Karl Malone of hitting on his wife. Too. Many. Glass. House. Jokes.

GOIN' MOBILE: Mozilla is readying the next version of Minimo, its browser for PDAs and set-top boxes.

iTUNES now accepts PayPal.

JERRY SCOGGINS, who sang The Ballad of Jed Clampett, has died at 93.

PAGE SIX harshes on the Pixies reunion.

MICHAEL CRICHTON: His new book, State of Fear, questions global warming, which is an unexpected stance from the author of The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park.