• Olivier Assayas directed my favorite movie of 2009, and now he lets us know his Criterion Top 10—although for him it's more Top 22. Don't get the “Frances Ha” love and I've never been a Wong Kar-wai guy, but I'm a fan of the following on his list: “Dazed and Confused,” “Yi Yi,” “Nashville,” “Rififi” and “Thief.”
• Who was the greatest racehorse of all time—Secretariat or Man O' War? Joey Poz makes the case for Man O' War. 
• Meanwhile, American Pharoah wins the Belmont to become the first horse to capture the Triple Crown in 37 years. Beautiful footage, but the play-by-play man makes me long for Chic Anderson.
• Confession: When I'm feeling down I sometimes watch Secretariat at Belmont. Cheers me up. No one was close to him in that race, and no one has come within two seconds of his record time at that track. Love Joey Poz but I love Secretariat more. 
• Six books Bill Gates recommends. And none of them are his. Do I get the first business book or is it too late for that?
• My favorite bookstore in Seattle is closing. The UW Daily says good-bye to Cinema Books. Get down there while you still can.
• PBS airs a four-hour documentary on Walt Disney. From the trailer it appears to be: he took risks but he was also ruthless in power. Hope it gets deeper than that.
• Speaking of Disney and ruthless: Here's a recent NY Times article on Disney employees who were let go because cheaper, foreign replacements were found. But that's not the awful news. The awful news is they had to train their replacements. 
• I saw this via Rick Perlstein's FB page: Every Question in Every Q&A Ever. I hear No. 1 all the time. My own Q&A with Rick Perlstein went a little better. I think. 
• Jerry Seinfeld is the latest guy to push back against the PC police. I'm with him.
• At the same time, he's turning into quite the curmudgeon. He's got a good sense of entitlement going on. And he's not that funny anymore. 
• Jon Stewart is leaving us soon but he's hardly lame-ducking it on the way out. His recent bit/tirade, “The Middle East: Learning Curves are for Pussies,” is effin' brilliant. 
• My nephew Jordy, nearly 14 now, who got his movie-reviewing start here, has struck out on his own. Weebly? What will the kids think of next?

Secretariat at Belmont: by a nose.