lemonwade

Movies: “The Grey” is finally opening. I’m not sure I want to spend a cold weekend night watching a movie set in a cold weekend night. For chills and thrills, I’d rather “Man on a Ledge.” Television: Sunday night on TBS, I plan on watching the SAG awards. For those suckers who pay for premium cable, there are premieres of “Luck” on HBO and a second “Spartacus” season on Starz. Music: Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” is getting more airplay on my Spotify account than I’d like to admit. Jessye Norman’s rendition of Schubert’s “Der Winterabend” fits the mood for this time of year. Books: Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is more satisfying than the new movie version of it. William Gass’s collection: “Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts” is a reminder that erudite men of letters still walk among us. Sports: The Pro Bowl is only interesting if you’re in Hawaii watching it live. Meanwhile, 50 Cent threatening to get naked is a reason to root for the Patriots. Finally: My current motto: “Be yourself. Everybody else is taken.”

Her new CD, “Born To Die,” is officially released on Monday in the U.S., and I keep hearing complaints that it’s not on Spotify. I understand the complaints. I’ve listed to the CD, and it’s good in a Portishead-y, trip-hoppy kind of way: it’s eerie mood music, though I must say that I’m not usually in that should-I-cut-myself kind of mood. Because “Born to Die” is selling well, Del Rey told the BBC that she has purchased the rights to the record she made in 2010 when she was still performing under the not as alluring name of Lizzie Grant, a record that has proved fairly tricky to find on the Internet. Read more »

Here’s my Financial Times review of “Wit,” a Broadway revival of Margaret Edson’s play, starring Cynthia Nixon (pictured, with Carra Patterson). This story about a woman struggling with ovarian cancer, on average, received very strong reviews — stronger than the production, in my opinion, deserved.

Well, it’s not an interview as rare as one with Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” but this conversation with Mary Badham, who played Scout in the movie version of the classic, which turns 50 this year, is still pretty revealing. Mary does the chat with Cecilia Peck, whose father, Gregory Peck, played Badham’s father in the movie. But you already knew that. If you didn’t, please go back to school.

It’s too bad that the Cesar awards — France’s version of the Oscars — don’t have any effect on the Oscar race. (Unlike Britain’s top honors, the BAFTAs, which do have a teeny effect.) Because the Cesar noms have just been announced and “The Artist” (whose star, Jean Dujardin, is pictured) only got the third highest number of noms, behind “Poliss” and “The Minister.” On the other hand, you no longer have to have the most noms to take home the top prize — at the Oscars or the Cesars. Nothing’s going to stop “The Artist.”

The First Lady of “ladies” and fierce hostess of the breakout reality hit “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — whose fourth season premieres Monday, Jan. 30, at 9 p.m. on Logo — shares the songs that shaped him. All praise to him for saying that drag queens should retire “I Will Survive” once and for all from their repertoire.

Police in a Siberian city ask prosecutors to investigate the legality of a protest involving a display of toy figures holding miniature placards. Is this an art form that Occupy Wall Street should investigate?