BRAIN TERMINAL MEETS SUPERSIZE LEFTY: Fledgling right wing documentarian Evan Coyne Maloney stakes out his lefty counterpart Michael Moore (yes I know Maloney is a small fry next to Moore -- literally and figuratively), and it makes for some interesting viewing. Moore, who usually comes across as a bombastic, unhealthy jerk actually seems amicable and kind.

GOOD WOOD? The first review I've read of Woody's new flick sounds very promising.

HAS WOODY GONE LIMP? Woody Allen may well be my favorite filmmaker, but recent years have not been good to the man. Although Woody has made his share of mediocre films, HOLLYWOOD ENDING (his last effort) was an unmitigated disaster, a film so inept and unfunny that I actually felt sad after watching it. Brian Bellmont's MSNBC essay delivers a message many Woody fans are feeling: This next one, ANYTHING ELSE (which opens tomorrow), had better be good.

GOOGLE OF THE MONTH: "Free nude camel toes." Oh, man. Of all the ways to search for porn!

UH, HI: An ongoing job search, a sick 17-month old son, and a Cubs pennant race. These are the things that have conspired to keep me from blogging of late. Thankfully the job search may have borne fruit, the kid is feeling much better, and the Cubs' season is winding down, so chances are I may be blogging more in the days and weeks to come.

Just a second ago I refreshed my My Yahoo! page to see that the Rockies have taken a 5-2 lead over the Astros! I did an all-by-myself fistpump followed by a very quiet whoop (wife and kid are both asleep). That my evenings have been reduced to refreshing web pages in an effort to follow the Cubs' pennant chase does not bother me one bit. Life is all about these shrunken moments of charged insignificance.

MORE MOURNING: Motor City sports scribe Mitch Albom writes a brilliant memorial to Warren here. (Thanks to my brother Eric for the pointer.)

CHECK OUT: A wonderful profile of the late Warren Zevon on MSNBC today.

READ REILLY: Add the Washington Post's Reilly Capps to my list of must-read journalists (alongside the NYT's Charlie LeDuff). His recent piece on the Pepsified NFL kickoff party is so full of verve I found myself tapping my toes and smiling while I read it.

EASING BACK INTO IT: So I take off on y'all, my loyal readership, for like ten days. And then I lollygag around once I return, only posting one lazy GOOGLE OF THE DAY. Sucks, right?

Sorry.

Let's say I'm easing back into the blogging. What with my job search, my sick sixteen-month-old son (tongue twister!), and my incredibly demanding wife, well, who has time to pour their heart out to strangers?

Me.

I heard (the acclaimed young writer) Jhumpa Lahiri on FRESH AIR yesterday, and she gave a really solid explanation for why writers write. She said something like, "Writing is hard, but when I don't write I don't really feel like I'm living a complete life." Amen.

Of course when blogging takes the place of more substantive, goal-oriented, literary writing...

Hey, where's the crime?

GOOGLE OF THE DAY: Today's hilarious signpost to the Camel? A search on "Ohio laws on topless beaches." Come one, come all.