Genius outfit. (Photo: Associated Press)

First he gets his greedy, literate hands on an advance copy of Jonathan Franzen's D.C.-dissing new novel Freedom, causing panic in an industry that has been in an extended state of self-pitying panic since the dawn of television. Now Barack Obama has somehow arranged an advance screening of local filmmaker Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for "Superman". Obama told Politico he watched the education documentary in the White House screening room recently and found it "heartbreaking" and "powerful." Referring to the children in the film who pin their hopes on winning a lottery for charter-school admittance, he said their educational future "shouldn't depend on the bounce of a ball," and that:

When you see these parents in the film, you are reminded [of]...their stake in their kids, their wanting desperately to make sure their kids are able to succeed.

I've seen the film, too, and while I respect the president's critical faculties, I must disagree with his opinion of the film. I'll hold my comments until Friday, but suffice it to say the film is heartbreaking but not particularly powerful, and even oftentimes manipulative to a Michael Moore degree. Then again, I don't have kids, and thus don't have to feel the immense guilt of being able to send them to Sidwell Friends while many of D.C.'s schoolchildren receive a subpar public education.

Baltimore native David Simon, the creator of lighthearted suburban sitcoms The Wire and Treme, has finally received official recognition of what he, and many of us, have long suspected: He's a genius. Simon has received a $500,000, no-strings-attached MacArthur award, known coloquially as a "genius grant." He told the Baltimore Sun, "The great value of this award is that it will make it easier for all of us to argue for stories that might not otherwise be perceived as popular television." Or, the great value is that it will pay for a nice addition to his home.

Because a nearly 19-hour documentary about baseball wasn't enough, PBS documentarian Ken Burns has made a four-hour sequel called The Tenth Inning. "No one frames still photographs like Ken Burns," writes the Sun's David Zuwarik. Actually, anyone with iMovie can frame photographs like Ken Burns now — even kids! Someone needs to sit Burns down and catch him up on the films of Errol Morris (Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control) and Stacy Peralta (Riding Giants).

In the scariest news of the week, Jennifer Lopez is now armed and dangerous, and no, that's not a metaphor: She can legally carry a gun, as can Robert De Niro, Donald Trump, and Howard Stern. In videos, Yogi Bear continues his Rodney Dangerfield schtick. Jason Schwartzman is so hip he even showers with his iPad. Someone made a touching short film about a meteor. And now a trailer for the Coen Brothers' return to Westerns with a remake of the "classic" John Wayne flick True Grit, with Jeff Bridges in the starring role, which undoubtedly will be better than the original.