I like love NYT film critic Manohla "#RealTalk" Dargis' work. Which is why it hurts to (predictably) point out how cringeworthy it is that even the Times still uses The Big Lebowski as the headline-worthy reference point for Jeff Bridges.

Did you see Synecdoche, New York? Was the Charlie Kaufman film weird and brilliant, or just too wannabe-weird and unfathomable? The New York Times' Manohla Dargis is heavily in the former camp. Like, heavily.

The totally accidental mystery of the angry critic who stormed out of a crowded Cannes screening of Two Lovers rather than "wait an hour for fucking [director] James Gray" was put to rest this afternoon at Entertainment Weekly, where critic Lisa Schwarzbaum copped to the outburst we once guessed came from Manohla Dargis. "And since I'm giving PopWatch readers a spectacular scoop, let me tell you what happened next," Schwarzbaum wrote. "I extricated myself from the angry mob at 9:30 p.m., took myself out to dinner, had a nice bowl of pasta and a glass of wine, and returned an hour later to a crowd, albeit smaller, still waiting for f——-g James Gray. ... As they say in beer ads, read blog items responsibly!" The catch? Schwarzbaum outed herself on a blog! We're not falling for that one; we'll believe it when it's in the magazine. [EW]

Mr. Williams, who these days is better heard than seen . . .

This Janus-like actor has long presented two faces for the camera, the jester called Jack and the actor named Nicholson. He has worn both faces for some of his famous roles, but over time he has grown fond of the outsize persona called Jack, with his shades and master-of-ceremonies sneer, and it's hard not to think that the man has become his mask.

We've finally figured out Manohla Dargis: She's running a post-modern contest! We're no strangers to prolixity ourselves, but if you can wend your way through the convoluted structure she erects in today's review of How to Eat Fried Worms, consider yourself granted an honorary M.F.A. in comparative literature.

As is the case with more and more movies these days, Snakes on a Plane declined to hold advance screenings for critics. Not one to be dissuaded, Manohla Dargis took in the flick with the commoners and issued her review a shockingly short time after. Which is probably how she slipped this one past Sifton's standards police: "Naughty by nature or perhaps more by design, these snakes don't just dart out of toilets; they also slide up bare legs and under dresses, moving in and out of more bodily orifices than the adult-film star Ron Jeremy did in his prime."

Let's take a moment to look at the fascinating crew that makes up the Big Three Times flick describers. There's Stephen Holden, who, when not busy starting beefs with Disney Channel talent, can be found working out his issues in public. There's Tony Scott, who does whatever the hell it is he does. And then, of course, there's Manohla. Ms. Dargis, brought in when Elvis Mitchell decided that spending time with Cambridge co-eds was preferable to drawing the short straw that forces you to share space in the screening room with Lou Lumenick, takes a look at new Jack Black vehicle Nacho Libre. The film, already noted elsewhere for its "implicit racism," inspires Dargis to ascend to this apogee of critical assessment:

• New York to anoint hot young editors; those photographed rumored to include TNR's Franklin Foer, The Atlantic's James Bennet, Roger Hodge of Harper's, and the Paris Review's Philip Gourevitch, who, at 44, calls the whole conceit into question. [Media Mob/NYO]
• The Times nominated Dargis for a Pulitzer, and no one there understands why; New York is pitching a Look Book book. [WWD]
• The Washington Post gets 88 New York Timeses every day, costing $18K annually. At least it's nice to know someone other than us isn't getting free papers. [WCP]
• Cargo was confused, and nobody will miss it. Um, yeah. [Slate]
• Bob Woodruff, the ABC anchor badly wounded in Iraq, last night received the Radio and Television Correspondents Association's David Bloom award, named for the NBC correspondent who died while covering the early days of the Iraq war. [B&C]