***Former GOP leader Tom DeLay issued a serious smackdown against Michael Moore yesterday, after the directer backed out of a TV debate opposite DeLay scheduled for this Sunday. In a message on his personal website, DeLay wrote: “Guess he didn’t expect anyone to seriously take him on. Had I known he was this chicken, I would have accepted on the spot, but at least I can spare myself the agony of watching one of his mockumentaries. Bottom line: his movies, his politics, and his incessant bullying are all an act.” For his part Moore said he backed out of the booking because he didn’t want to provide a copy of Sicko to someone who “has nothing to do with the specific issues raised in the film.”

***UPDATE: Not only did I misread the HR item, but I unintentionally made the same opening joke as NIkki Finke. So: Woody Allen is going to direct an opera in Los Angeles. Let’s move on, shall we? In other mind-blowing news, what’s more of a surprise: the news that Woody Allen is going to star in a Puccini opera, directed by William “The Exorcist” Friedkin? Or the fact that he’s going to do it in Los Angeles? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Allen said he has “no idea what I am doing, but incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.