· Weekend Update commentator Roger A. Trivanti offered some compelling rhetoric on behalf of his fellow producers, but none quite crystallized the dispute so much as his closing wishes that "all you writers get ass cancer and die."
· This seems fitting for the first day of the strike: Remember the Saddest Bear in Los Angeles, bike-chained to a chair outside a cookie store in the Glendale Galleria? Well, Metroblogging LA found his Sad Bear Soulmate in Hollywood. Sigh.
· We can only hope legions of idle writers don't pick up a nasty fermented-poo-huffing habit.
· But wait! All hope is not lost: The birth of an octobaby in India—possibly the living embodiment of Vishnu—has got to be a good sign, right?
· A palate cleanser: Extra employs cutting-edge aging software to add 25 years to Britney Spears's face. (We think the "after" picture is the one on the right.)