Precious sure sounds like one very gut-wrenching film. The heartbreaking thing is that it provides a glimpse into a life that far too many people are being forced to live.

The other flicks on this list are old hat.

Top Five Television Shows (according to Nielsen TV ratings, week of November 9)
1. Sunday Night Football (Patriots vs. Colts), NBC
2. NCIS, CBS
3. Dancing with the Stars, ABC
4. CSI, CBS
5. CMA Awards, ABC

Notables: That was quite a game Sunday night. Even with the Colts down big early, you had a feeling they were going to come back. And they did. But did anyone guess it would end the way it did? With one big gamble on fourth down by Patriots coach Bill Belichick? I've heard countless theories about why Belichick did what he did: He's arrogant. He doesn't trust his team enough to get it done. He thinks the rules of history don't apply to him. If you think that's the case—and if you know Belichick at all, you know that all of those theories are valid—I'd say you could do something with this story (pride, Lone Ranger living, ignoring wisdom based on history). But consider also what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pointed out in a post-game press conference: if they had made the play, it's possible that everyone would be calling Belichick a gutsy genius. Ahhhh, the fine line between hero and goat.

Top Five Books (according to USA Today research)
1. Under the Dome, by Stephen King
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, by Jeff Kinney
3. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
4. Push, by Sapphire
5. Open: An Autobiography, by Andre Agassi

Notables: I confess that I used to read Stephen King all the time in high school. Not much interest since. But his newest (Under the Dome) sounds awfully intriguing. In his words it's "a look at how people behave when they are cut off from the society [to which] they've always belonged." Think Lord of the Flies. (According to this review from USA Today, King continues his habit of making somewhat religious folks the craziest and evilest of all.)

Push is the novel on which the movie Precious is based.

As for #5, I pointed out last week that tennis great Andre Agassi was interviewed on 60 Minutes about his new book, Open. And I pointed out just how "open" he is in the book. Once again, you can view part one of that 60 Minutes interview by clicking here, and part two can be seen by clicking here.

Top Five Web Searches (based on the Google Trends report for Thursday)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. uga vii
2. uga 7
3. stefanie spielman
4.
5. daul kim

Notables: Uga VII, a bulldog who served as the mascot for the University of Georgia, died unexpectedly yesterday.

Stefanie Spielman also passed away on Thursday (scroll down a bit) after a long battle with breast cancer. She was the wife of NFL and Ohio State star Chris Spielman. Over the couse of her battle, she raised over $6 million for breast cancer research. Look, I might take some heat for this—I know dogs are cute and mean the world to us all—but you have to admit that it’s terribly awkward to see we were a bit more touched by Uga VII than the death of a mother of four. Yeah, you can read too much into these search results. I get it. But on ESPN and other sports sites and radio shows, both stories would have been given press, and we can see what most folks felt led to Google. To me, it’s awkward.

I’m skipping four, because it wades into the waters of human depravity a little too much.

Daul Kim is a South Korean model. She was found dead yesterday in her apartment of an apparent suicide. This makes the whole Uga thing even more awkward.