Last-word lounge

R.I.P. Heath Ledger: \nThe death of Heath Ledger means the end to a promising and, in the end, unfulfilled career, one that never reached the potential shown in "Brokeback Mountain" and "Monster's Ball." Amid the press coverage, though, the greatest tragedy is personal and familial, so we feel a bit callous mourning a man's career instead of his life. But for Ledger, his career very much represented his life's work, and we remember him for it.\nRing, ring, ring, ring: Hamburger phone: \nWith the success of "Juno," the once-derided hamburger phone has found new commercial life. Sales have jumped 759%, which some math majors told us is a really big percentage. In a few years, everyone will be hoping to dump their hamburger phones like a bag of Beanie Babies.\nThe winner for Best Mustache goes to ... :\nThe Academy has decided to honor the most maligned grooming choice in America today: the mustache, from the mighty Western walrus of Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" to the shifty Chevron of Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War." Stubble of all genres has made a splash at the Oscars.\nThe WGA strike rolls on: \nAs individual studios start making deals with the WGA, the negotiations with major studios continue to drag onward. It will be hard for the studios to allow smaller groups to start making movies and TV shows again, but writers have to start reaching for compromise as well. Informal talks have started again. We're all crossing our fingers.\nThe FCC sucks: \nProving once again that the federal government sucks at regulating art, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed that ABC be fined $1.43 million for an episode of "NYPD Blue" for showing a naked woman taking a shower. Hmm, so promoting death and destruction on TV is OK, but not a naked human being? Yeah, that \nseems fair.