...For The Ride Home: Spencer is now a director, Pippen enters the Hall this weekend and Snooki wants to own Snooki

We send off the nice, round number of Week 20 with a cool, calm and collected Jack Johnson and a performance of the fabulous "Flake." And it's even on the now-obscurely-old-and-longtime-canceled talk show hosted by now-annoyingly-famous Zack Galifianakis, to boot! I watched "The Kite Runner" last night, and after a midnight run and rewrites on stories I'm working on, it was a nice way to wind down my evening, or, well, my late-night. I cried twice. Again, much like my reaction to "Outsourced," it delights me tremendously to find that I bought a movie I actually enjoy. That's two for two now in the "buying movies I've never known anything about that turn out not bad" category. Word is this was a book. Can anyone out there either confirm or deny such an allegation? If so, is the book any good? Tonight seems to be a "Crazy Heart" kind of night, though we shall see how that works out. As for the rest of the weekend, well there a few things bolstered down, though it seems as though it may rain through the days. Rain, something I love. What are your plans? Going to see a movie? Maybe be by a beach? Date nights? Come on, now. There ought to be something wonderful in your sights. If not, I suggest sitting in front of a television that won't be consumed with football for one of the last times the next six months will allow. Still don't like that? OK. How about you check out the Premier League's kickoff weekend. That's sure to not disappoint, though you admittedly would have to wake in the early hours of the morning on a Saturday. Promise it would be worth it, though. Honestly. Before you find yourself encompassed in any of that, we offer the below links for you to ponder before diving into a middle-of-August weekend. Treat others well, and please don't forget my dear, dear friends, love you, miss you.

Woke up to find Bob Bradley out as the U.S. men’s soccer coach (I believe I had that one). Only to find that he’s not out and talks are on-going. The saga continues. (Washington Post)

Spencer from “The Hills” is directing a movie. Insert “reality television isn’t real” comment here. (Twitter)

How great is this? PBS ombudsman wants to “grab a beer and hit the escape chute” after seeing some PBS programming. (PBS)

“Warning: Medical claims in this article have not been confirmed by peer-review research.” You NEED to check these out. Funny with a capital "Unny." (Tom Scott)

Thirty-five percent less was spent on press travel for White House coverage this year. That just seems like so much, doesn’t it? What were they doing before? Bringing entire families on the road with them? (Media Matters)

Ellen is going to be on “So You Think You Can Dance.” Well, that’s good. (Dimewars)

In the wake of Scottie Pippen entering the basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, here are 10 current day players who would most likely be Mike’s sidekick these days. (Bleacher Report)

Ut oh. The “Twilight” kids are at it again. (People)

Snooki wants “Snooki” trademarked. In it’s response, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said no. And your show sucks. (USA Today)