1. It's amusing to learn that Faber and Faber editor T. S. Eliot rejected George Orwell's Animal Farm, explaining to Orwell that he sided with the pigs. Since Eliot was a deeply committed political elitist, this position is at least consistent. But I wish George Orwell could have taken a few shots back at Eliot for going on to give the world Rum Tum Tugger and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

I'm in the Brooklyn home of Danny Simmons, artist, novelist, poet and creator of HBO's groundbreaking Def Poetry.

Def Poetry is coming back! The sixth season of this underrated cable TV show begins midnight Friday, featuring a guest appearance by DMX.

1. PBS is launching a new blog, Remotely Connected, and I'm proud to be one of the contributing writers, along with Alice Bradley of FinSlippy, David Gutowski of LargeHearted Boy, Kyle MacDonald of One Red Paperclip and Merlin Mann of 43 Folders. An eclectic group indeed.

The fifth season of Def Poetry is over, and here are our summary awards:

Three Best Performers of the Season: First, Sista Queen, an unknown young poet from Atlanta who won't be unknown much longer after tearing up the stage in episode 7. Second, Big Poppa E, who illustrated his poignant and personal words with a deft physical performance that was a pleasure to watch; and Mike McGhee, who was just plain freaky, funny and real.

After a few good episodes of Def Poetry in a row, last night's show was pretty mundane.

There were some good points. Denizen Kane's chant for unknown soldiers was evocative, and Sekou Sundiata's thoughtful piece on modern life was moving and well-performed.

What I liked about last night's Def Poetry show:

I appreciated Suhier Hammid's opener, "Mike Check", about an airport security guard named Mike and the dumb things he says as he goes through the poet's bags. Hammid is a solid performer and she knows how to construct a piece that really gets a point across (I also get racially profiled every time I go anywhere near an airplane, for some reason, so I know what she's talking about).

First, just a couple of things that annoyed me about Friday night's Def Poetry ... and then I'm going to mention a couple of things I really liked.

A quick note to let you know that Levi will be posting his weekly review of the latest Def Poetry Jam episode as usual, however it may be delayed a bit. We invite you to watch along tonight on HBO at 11:30pm ET (check your local listings for other air times) and share your thoughts on the show, its performers and what you think of the review. We'll compare notes, it'll be fun.

Def Poetry usually saves its guest stars for the closing spots, but Wyclef Jean opened up the July 15 episode. He got the half hour off to a good start with a pounding tribute to his much-misunderstood native country, Haiti. Wyclef spoke well, somehow managing to fit a backwards somersault into his piece, and proved that he can do spoken word a hell of a lot better than his fellow Fugee Lauryn Hill, who'd appeared to little effect on an earlier show this season.

Nayeli Adorador-Knudsen followed with a fast riff on fashion commercialism, delivered in a Twista-like speed patter that was pleasing to listen to. Spoken word is often about vocal texture, and one of my biggest complaints about this show is that it sometimes slips into a deadening monotony of tone. This piece was a nice departure from that syndrome.

I'm not sure about Michael Cirelli's paean to Kelis, Nas's wife, who he compared to every great female vocalist from Sarah Vaughan on. I know Nas must think a lot of Kelis and I know her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, but it seemed an odd choice for a Def Poetry poem, and it didn't bring me to the yard.