• $39M the amount former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has spent out of her own personal fortune, which is just insane, BTW
• $19M the amount her Republican primary competitor, Steve Poizner, has spent out of his personal fortune
• $370k the amount presumptive Democratic candidate Jerry Brown – who hasn’t declared – has spent so far source

• 46% rise in need at a leading hunger-relief charity source

• nine number of nominations for “Avatar,” the James Cameron megahit that’s already in record territory
• nine number of nominations for “The Hurt Locker,” the war film directed by his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow

Other major nominees

• eight nominations for Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi-killin’ “Inglorious Basterds”
• six nominations for “Up In The Air,” the George Clooney airline flick
• six nominations for “Precious,” including one for the usually-funny Mo’Nique

Best Picture changes

• This year is a weird year for the Best Picture nominees. Rather than the usual five nominations, the Academy has switched to ten, widening the field to the point that the types of movies that never get nominated somehow did this time around, including:

• pixar “Up” got a nomination, finally validating the consistent levels of commendation the 3D animators get.
• sci-fi “District 9” got four nominations, including one for Best Picture – not bad for a director’s first movie.
• popular “The Blind Side,” which had garnered praise for Sandra Bullock’s performance, got one too. Wow. Surprising.

Who got burned this time?

• » The well-reviewed Jeff Bridges/Maggie Gyllenhaal flick “Crazy Heart” got nominations for the stars (and for best song – we called it!), but not for Best Picture.
• » Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” got just one nomination (for Colin Firth’s performance), despite the crazy level of arthouse hype it got. The Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man,” however, did get a Best Picture nomination, which (despite their recent Best Picture win) is somewhat surprising.
• » “The Lovely Bones” scored just one acting nomination – that’s to be expected, as it wasn’t a critical hit – but it didn’t get anything for its fairly solid visual effects, which really sold the film. Peter Jackson did produce “District 9,” however. source

• This is not Obama’s seat, it’s the people’s seat!
• Republican Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk • Regarding Obama’s old Senate seat in Illinois, which he’s likely to win the primary for today. … Anyway, back up. This line is a total rip-off of Scott Brown’s effective campaign line during the Massachusetts Senate campaign. Obama held this seat for one term. A term he didn’t even finish because he was elected president. Ted Kennedy held his seat for two generations. How is this the same thing? Seriously, this line is beyond stupid. Obama didn’t even get the seat warm! source

• yes Punxsutawney Phil saw his freaking shadow this morning
• yes that could mean more winter if you trust his shade source

• good The military plans to no longer pursue the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gays in the military.
• better The military also plans on taking steps with Congress to get the act repealed completely.
• meh Military officials note that it may take years to fully integrate gays in the military. source