Wednesday Odds & Ends: Star Wars comedians, P.T. Barnum and the endless shelf-life of Smallville

+ Sorry for the late post, but I've been trying to recover after the soul-crushing announcement that Paula Abdul is leaving "Idol." This is almost as devastating as finding out that those two people with the half-dozen kids on that show I don't watch broke up.

+ Honestly, I think I've had this particular anxiety dream -- a comedian bombs at Jabba the Hut's place. I kind of love it:

Star Wars Stand Up Comic - watch more funny videos

+ Here's a fascinating story about how Netflix ships its movies. I'd always just assumed it was done through magic but the reality's just as cool.

+ The CW is now saying that "Smallville" and "Supernatural" may live on past this coming season. I recall reading a story on how the makers of "Supernatural" didn't want it to go on past a certain point so I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. As for "Smallville," holy cow, how long can that thing last? It's like a lingering cough that's lasted 20 years.

+ It's being reported that Hugh Jackman will star in an original movie musical about the life of P.T. Barnum. I am excited about this one, because someone is apparently making an original movie and two, I love the circus!

News of the Day

+ We have a winner in the ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Contest: Stan Friedman of New York, who lounged competitively for 29 hours. The lone female contestant dropped out after a disappointing 15 hours. Friedman's mark, while impressive, was well short of the Guiness Book of World Records mark for watching competitive sports, which was 69 hours and 48 minutes. I think we'll all be using that bit of knowledge at our next cocktail party. [New York Daily News]

+ Netflix soon will be delivering movies directly to your TV set via some sort of magical box that I believe uses fairies and pixie dust to transmit film from the internets, if I'm understanding my science correctly. This is an awesome development. I used to like Netflix because it meant I didn't have to go outside to the video store. Now I like Netflix because it means I don't even have to go outside to my mailbox. Yay, sloth!

+ Comic Book Resources did a year-end wrap-up of best and worst comics, writers and artists. Joss Whedon snuck in there as one of 2007's best writers for his Buffy season 8 work among other things. [Comic Book Resources]

+ And for all you political nerds out there, don't forget that C-SPAN is providing live coverage of the Iowa caucuses beginning at 7 p.m. EST tonight. I'm so curious to see how a caucus works, I'm actually going to watch this. Go, candidates I feel least unappealing! I'm totally rooting for you! [C-SPAN]