• Via Uncle Vinny, Werner Herzog Inspirationals. Brilliant idea, nice execution.  
• Last Sunday I came across this American Masters documentary on Johnny Carson, and started to watch. I wound up watching the whole thing. I still remember what it meant as a kid to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson. It meant you were growing up. It meant you were a little hip, too. The first time I did it, I believe, my friend Mark was sleeping over, and the next day, in the backyard, we performed a skit Johnny had done about kids selling “gape dink” and “lenomade” and then charging outrageous prices. We thought it was a scream. 
• What's interesting about this Hollywood Reporter roundtable of potential 2014 best actor candidates is how engaged Michael Keaton is. With everyone. It's really lovely. I particularly like what he says after Channing Tatum says that he went to college and failed at it miserably and left. “Not a failure. A success.” Again, lovely.
• Jeff Wells suggests pro-bono Oscar noms. I.e., movies and actors not campaigned for, not advertised up the wazoo, just the ones everyone thinks should get nom'ed. I.e., the way it should be anyway.
• David Denby lists his top 10 movies of 2014 but only talks about his favorite: “Ida.” Don't get his love for “Get On Up” and “Snowpiercer.”
• Holy crap, Tony Olivia came within one vote of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame!
• Via Slate, a statistical analysis of 29 years of David Letterman's Top 10 lists. Eat your heart out, Nate Silver! Seriously, this guy goes in-depth.
• Joe Posnanski lists off his “Top 25 MLB Players not in the Hall.” Meaning current players (Pujols, Ichiro), recently retired players (Jeter), and all the usual PED suspects (McGwire, Clemens, Bonds). Oh, and three of the top 7 once played for the Seattle Mariners—at the same time. And yet they couldn't make the World Series? Not one? When they do a Hall of Shame, 1990s M's front office, I'll nominate you. 
• Sad poll of the week: More Americans now favor gun rights over gun control. The numbers have gone way up since 2012. Because we're inured to school shootings now? 
• I don't know if the Senate Torture Report has been beaten to death yet (sorrty), but this is one of the must-reads out of it: a report from one of the torturers.
• Ward Sutton's “Where Race Relations Stand in America.” Spot on. And Minneapolis in the house!
• Apparently the NFL—or the Buffalo Bills—treat its cheerleaders like whores. Via The New York Times. 
• Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is a major asshole but you knew that. But did you know he doesn't get along with Sen. John Boehner? (R-OH)

One of the Werner Herzog inspirationals.