Tracy Morgan brought his own unique brand of lunacy to Letterman's show last night, where he spoke at length on what he plans to do to avoid the "Whitney Houston syndrome" in the event he wins an Emmy this year.

Mark Penn, failed campaign strategist and head of one of the world's most ostentatiously amoral PR firms, has used polling and research to ferret out a new microtrend: People are pessimistic, these days. That will be one million dollars. [WSJ]

Sure, Tracy Morgan might barely be the fourth-tier mascot for plugging 30 Rock, but put yourself in NBC's shoes while watching his haphazard run through reader-submitted questions at the network's Web site: If Tina Fey is teetering at the cusp of overexposure, Alec Baldwin is flaking on the Washington Post's own readers, and Jane Krakowski remains shellshocked from her time in Rosie O'Donnell's product-placement infantry, then who else is there? "President Obama of the Crayons" just wouldn't sound the same from Jack McBrayer. Or maybe it's just that there is such a thing as a stupid question. Find out either/or/both after the jump.

The MacArthur Foundation announced its annual Genius Grants today—those no-strings-attached, five year, $500,000 awards that let the best among us pursue their science or art or writing free from the cares of the working world. And look who got one: Alex Ross, the classical music critic for the New Yorker! Ross is certainly deserving when it comes to smarts, if not to finance (he won't be quitting the NYer for a mere 100K per year). But genius knows no financial criteria, despite the jealousy of the poors! Ross says he'll use the cash to help him write his next book, upgrade his website, and "launch some home improvements." God, geniuses are the luckiest people ever. [FBNY]

Here are the details on the upcoming book by zeitgeist-seizer Malcolm Gladwell, America's Favorite Wacky-Haired Pop Scientician: it will be called Outliers and it's about people who are better than you. Why they're better than you, how they're better than you, and what circumstances led them to being so extraordinary. "Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band." There will be visits to eccentric geniuses doing eccentric things and lots of anecdotes about the peculiarities of the famously successful. It will end up on the desk of every goddamn corporate exec in the nation. We won't read it but we'll complain about it relentlessly. [Kottke] UPDATE: Gladwell's thesis, revealed below!