As the longtime editor for Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker says she hasn't been warped by all the violence she has seen in her work. "It's not as if we're living it over and over," says Schoonmaker, an Oscar nominee for the more family-friendly "Hugo." We're constantly changing it and refining it and deciding how much to use. Like, say, that notorious head-in-a-vise scene from "Casino"? "After we had one screening," she recalls, "we said, "Oh, my gosh, we'd better cut down on that." " Lionel Messi was recently voted the world's best male player; Homare Sawa, best female. If there were an award for top transgender player, it would go to Johnny Saelua, a faafafine (a biological male who embodies female traits), which is a recognized third sex in Polynesia. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that soccer helps him "put aside the fact that I'm a girl, or a boy, or whatever, and just concentrate on representing my country." You may be wondering, "Why the controversy over Frank Gehry's new Eisenhower Memorial?" Or maybe, like me, you're asking, "An Eisenhower Memorial?" I mean, Ike was a terrific general, but was he really one of our greatest presidents? Apparently a nostalgic generation is going to keep building monuments to the 20th century until the mall looks like a zombie garden of calcified presidents. Except for Taft, because, you know, there's just no room for that. The Foo Fighters I'm eating for two The A-10 Conference Landlines Shredded Wheat Santorum jokes Converse nonshoe apparel H. L. Mencken knew a man who offended his English host by saying, when insects flew through the window during a billiards game, that he had "killed a bug with his cue." According to Mencken's "American Language," the word was used at that time in England to refer solely to the "common bedbug" and hence had connotations of filth. With Cimex lectularius on the rise, tourists may want to practice saying "insect." Lloyd Blankfein, the Goldman Sachs C.E.O. who once said that he and his colleagues were "doing God's work," is again flexing his celestial muscles. Two days after he appeared in a video advocating marriage equality, a three-judge panel ruled that California's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. According to Fred Sainz, a vice president of Human Rights Campaign, which produced the video, "Blankfein helped us get to the point where a judge could say, "Proposition 8 serves no purpose." " Michael Daley, who runs the conservation watchdog Artwatch U.K., says that the Louvre's recent controversial restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin and Child With St. Anne" is "simply the most extreme painting restoration" since World War II. The intense refurbishment, he says, reflects a museum world "in the age of blockbusters and P.R.": bright, dazzling colors are in; signs of age are not. Now he fears for the future of the masterworks. "Every restorer wants to have a go at ones no one has touched yet," he says. Virtually everyone wants the Mona Lisa. Does Draper, Utah, have a disproportionate number of hot grannies? Unclear. But wary, in part, of offending older women with a penchant for younger men, the local school board recently passed on the cougar as a potential mascot for Corner Canyon High. It chose the charger instead. Jeffrey Haney, a spokesman for the Canyons School District, said there were other factors, too: "The charger, a war horse, also presents an image of strength." [DREA will design chart with the groups: NWA, LMFAO, AC/DC, TLC, R.E.M.) To call someone by sitting on your phone. Kelly was mystified by the distant peal of Sandra's laughter until she realized her friend had bumerang her. See also: Subtlebutt (a conversation you must move to the edge of your chair in order to hear). ANDY WRITES: My wife says that taking the kids to see "Star Wars Episode 1" is a guaranteed way for them to enjoy all of the movies. I say you should start with Episodes 4-6. Who's right? The prequels are only enjoyable if you already know what is to come; and the "originals" are best appreciated in the absence of what you learn in 1-3, which is that everyone is everybody's father. If the numbering is confusing to your children, tell them that it's like Matthew Barney's "Cremaster" cycle. Wait - they haven't seen that yet? What slang term for a certain type of criminal sounds like two consecutive Greek letters of the alphabet? Hint: Neither D, S nor K are Greek letters. Buckley, by Carl T. Bogus: How liberals should write about conservatives. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, by Stephen R. Platt: The Taiping rebellion and chaos in Chinese history. Develop your passions, your talents, your strengths. That's the foundation for becoming an expert in your field, which is how you build value. You are then able to define yourself based on what you do well. Brain Twister answer:Pyro (pi, rho) The Road to J. Crew Ubiquity By Adam Leff and Richard Rushfield Annie Hall" + "Delta House"= "The Preppy Handbook" + Eleanor Mondale = "The Facts of Life" + Luke and Laura's wedding = The Rob Lowe sex tape + Michael Jackson jackets = The Brandi Chastain bra moment + J.F.K. Jr."s death + Hogwarts School = MySpace + Carla Bruni = Michelle Obama + Your friends become jewelry designers = J. Crew ubiquity