Gives Essential Springsteen an 8.6 out of 10. This ranking is higher than the marks they gave the latest from Ryan Adams (2.9), the White Stripes (6.9), Fountains of Wayne (7.5), Jay-Z (8.0), OutKast (8.0), The Darkness (8.4), and Missy Elliott (8.5).

The remastering job is terrific on the Bruce discs, but we're talking about a greatest hits collection here. One should give The River an 8.6, not a Springsteen compilation. Where's the Pitchfork elitism I've come to know and not understand?

Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and early '90s, is in serious discussions with the team about returning to be its head coach, sources with connections to Gibbs through his auto-racing interests and other ventures said last night. Gibbs! Joe freakin' Gibbs! Read more.

We've possibly crossed a new bridge in drug advertising. On TV this weekend, as an asthmatic man encountered a pug dog in amusing situatons, a hushed woman's voice informed viewers of the side effects for Advair asthma medication.

She was talking and"“

No way. She couldn't have. She didn't. No way. Couldn't have said that word. Had to have said something else.

But no. The Advair Web site offered about exactly the same wording.

"ADVAIR should not be taken more than twice daily. Rare but serious asthma episodes and asthma-related fatalities occurred in a study with SEREVENT®, one of the components of ADVAIR."

Fatalities!

Did Advair break new ground here? Or have all these other drug ads had fatality talk, just even quieter? After watching Sandra Bullock's Love Potion No. 9 last night, I have my suspicions about the medical community.

I'd like to mention I enjoy Gifford's milkshakes. They have to charge too, but I'll always pay top dollar for a good milkshake. (Full disclosure: My brother worked there in high school, but my interest came before his employment.) Honorable mentions include: Clarke's, Serendipity 3 (frozen hot chocolate) and Dairy Queen.

Given their typically horrific spelling, I always figured using a dictionary would help spammers. And, oh, how it has.

One spam burst I received a few weeks ago included the following senders:

"¢ Groomed I. Cadge

"¢ Airings L. Arching

"¢ Secludes A. Comet

"¢ Berlitz E. Ventricles

"¢ Dolly T. Hut

"¢ Karin B. Tardiest

"¢ Latecomers B. Faints

"¢ Navels L. Magnums

and my favorite:

"¢ Refuge Q. Waffle.

Remember when George Costanza met George Wendt? Costanza pitched him new ideas for Cheers. "But, really," Costanza said, "it's enough with the bar already…"

Memory of that exchange was the first thought that came to mind yesterday while reading the Intelligence Report column in Parade magazine.

This week, anomalonymous columnist Lyric Wallwork Winik "asked fashion experts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of TLC's popular cable-TV show 'What Not To Wear' to give us their top 'redo' picks among celebrities for 2004."

Among the stars London and Kelly chose for fashion adjustments was talk show host Larry King. "The CNN star has a commanding presence," Kelly said, "but the suspenders make him look hunched."

Thanks to Rob for stopping the remote briefly on VH1 yesterday afternoon. In a history of rap special, he found Fat Joe discussing Russell Simmons: "He's everybody's silent partner. He's like the IRS."

Rob Walker looks at the rising trend of right-hand rings in today's New York Times Magazine.

How do we know this trend is rising? USA Today wrote about it Wednesday. The Gannett News Service wrote about it more than a week ago. The Scripps Howard News Service was there nearly a month ago.

But despite being late to the party, Walker and the NYT bring perhaps the best dish: a name for the trend. When analyzing the right-hand ring's popularity, he notes its market positioning as "liberation" from society's persistent marriage demands on women. Then comes the kicker. "And if the woman's disposable income is high enough," Walker writes, "maybe this is the birth of the bling finger."

Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times recently reviewed the Mini Cooper. Not just any Mini Cooper, mind you. Neil drove and subsequently stood aghast at the supercharged 2004 Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works edition.

At 200 horses, he explained, this car was "a righteous piece, a snubbed-down, amped-up, hot rod Hobbit that turns the most galling stop-and-go errand into an occasion for joyous gear-jamming and games of Diss the SUV."

The piece was high on hyperbole but undeniably tasty. In the charge of the phrase brigade, topping all was his description of the car's tiny turning radius.

To wit: "With its 97.1-inch wheelbase, 143.9-inch overall length and turning radius of a mere 34.2 feet, the Mini is brought to you by the letter U, as in U-turn. See a parking place on the other side of the street? You are on it like Snoop on a fatty."

Read the full story here. Free Tribune Co. registration required.

Thanks to all who've visited, purposefully or mistakenly. Especially the ones who I e-mailed because they thought I was someone else. You make my day.