Will Ferrell has made his Truman Show.  For those who don't know what I mean because you haven't seen Jim Carey's 2nd best film of all time — why?  Rent it now, this instant.  Then come back here and we'll continue.

After years of coming up with bizarre situations to catch the audience off-guard and make them fall out of their seats laughing, there comes a point when the limits of talent are being pushed and the territory of repetitiveness expands.

And the Comi-tragedy is the perfect vehicle of choice for a middle-aged comic looking to stay fresh. A tricky genre to master, the payoff is great when done right.  Who better to tug at our hearts than a really nice guy in despair?  He's someone we can relate to, someone who makes us laugh and with whom we've perhaps shared a few embarrassing moments.

Harold Crick is one such man and between Ferrell's acting, the writing of Zach Helm and Marc Forster's directing he has had life breathed into him on the silver screen.  You will laugh, you will cry — it's not a promise, it's a threat.  This movie works hard to earn the chuckles and tears, it deserves them so pony up.  There are none of the cheap tear-jerking moments you may have come to expect from other films, nor is the humor entirely infantile.  It is, in the words of Harold, pretty straightforward.

Dustin Hoffman, as usual, does his job well although beyond that there isn't much to say.  Conversely, both Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emma Thompson give brilliant performances.  Ms. Thompson in particular has really run the gamut through her very diverse roles these past few years and although Harry Potter fans may disagree, the character of Karen Eiffel is a lot more three-dimensional than Rowling's Trelawney and allows Thompson to really show her stuff.

All-in-all, this is the must-see movie of the year.  It's not controversial, it's not the best comedy, the best drama or even the best story.  It's simply the best all-around.  There is something in it for everyone and it is an instant classic.  A far cry from yet-another comedy or action movie, Stranger Than Fiction has earned a place in my DVD collection when it's released because it's the kind of movie you'll want to see again and again.

- one 

The recent death of a former KGB agent reminded me once again that the Russians just can't seem to quit their Soviet lifestyle.  Or perhaps the cultural roots go deeper and further back.

You may recall that Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the opponent to the candidate backed by Russia (aka Vladmir Putin), ran into a little trouble after having dinner with some folks who worked for the Russian government.  Somehow he managed to ingest a whole lot of Dioxin, best known as the active ingredient in "Agent Orange".  Let's throw up a before and after picture of him just so what was done can really hit home.

There we go. You see? Some diets really can delivery dramatic results overnight. Well the most recent poisoning actually succeeded in killing the victim (although Viktor is pretty much assured of a painful death by cancer eventually) so Kudos to the Soviets.  I mean, the Russians.  Why westernize when you can consolidate power and form a new oppressive, elitist government that tramples on the common man?

Most intriguing is this latest development: Traces of Polonium 210, the radioactive element which apparently caused the horribly painful death of Alexander Litvinenko, were found in a Sushi bar where he had met with both former and current Russian agents.  That's right Putin, Dioxin doesn't directly kill people and radioactive elements are only slightly more difficult to detect than a Concorde flying nearby given the proper tools and somewhere to look.  Oops, your agents are almost as incompetant as ours.

I'm all-for innocent-until-proven guilty, but I think at the very least we've got enough to go to trial with here. Two people, both opposed to Putin, poisoned.  Not to mention jailing the richest man in Russia, coincidentally also a potential political opponent, on what many consider to be bogus charges.  Throw in some removal of democracy at the local levels and central consolidation of power and I think we've got something to worry about.

Not only is the all quite WRONG but also potentially a national security threat.  I mean, do we really want a large nation run by Machiavellian ethics on the loose?  There is no "rule of law" so much as there is "rule of Putin" or at least, of party.  Imagine how dangerous the United States would be to the rest of the world if George W. could just have his way all the time, and if someone criticized him they would either be thrown in prison or have an unfortunate encounter with unnaturally large doses of a subtance uncommon in nature.

I have no idea what, if anything can be done.  I must say I think protesting is particularly wasteful because not only does it accomplish nothing, it also has the side-effect of making the participants feel like they accomplished something.  Sorry about that feeling of despair creeping up in your stomach, but don't fool yourself.  This world we live in is royally screwed up a million different ways.  Let's keep an eye on a few of the more dangerous ones.

- one 

I understand the craze over the PS3.  No, really.  I get it.  Seriously though, people, calm down.  First let's look at the benefits of owning a Sony Playstation 3.  You get a Blu Ray DVD player, so you can watch movies in Sony's new high definition disc format, and you get the most advanced graphics engine to-date.

Sounds pretty sweet, right?  Of course it should sell for $600.  Or $6000 for those that forgot to pre-order, pre-ordered too late, or just plain like getting ripped-off on eBay.   It's really worth that much because it's the top of the line, super-duper, best console-in-class.  Right?

Wrong.

Let's focus on the Blu Ray first.  This is a format that has yet to be endorsed by all the major companies, and in fact looks like a decade from now it could be the next Betamax.  If the Blu Ray player in any way influences your decision to buy this console, you probably should rethink your reasoning.  If HD-DVD didn't exist I might be right there in line with you, but as it stands I'm not shelling out even $1 for a format that may be nowhere in 5 years.

But how about that advanced graphics engine?  Ain't that something?  No, not really.  It's slightly more advanced than the Xbox 360's engine, primarily because it was developed around the same time using similar cutting-edge technology.  But hey, if you think it's worth spending another $600 for something that's 5% better, or if you don't own an Xbox 360 then you might really love owning a PS3.  Except for this next part…

Games.  There aren't any.  Sure, that's overstating the case but the bottom line is that there is not a portfolio of really awesome games just waiting to be purchased/rented and played the moment you have a PS3 hooked up to your television.  In fact, Sony is still coming out with really awesome games for the PS2, which frankly if you don't currently own a console system, you might think about buying.  The PS2 has a huge portfolio of great games, very good graphics even by today's standard, a built in DVD player, and it's cheap.

Did Sony delay the launch of the PS3 because they wanted to have a proper launch, or because they just didn't feel like competing with the Xbox 360?  I'll have to go with the latter explanation because the console is not significantly better than the 360, it doesn't have the portfolio of games the 360 had when it launched, there are plenty of supply problems, basically Sony did absolutely nothing better than Microsoft did with their 360 launch, and quite a few things worse.

And take a look at a few of my posts here, I don't like Microsoft very much at all, but as they're using Windows Vista to try to push their security software, Sony is using the PS3 to push their Blu-Ray. So don't let yourself get caught up in this consumer madness and think about what you're spending your money on.  You don't pay $600 for a piece of hardware that you hook up to your television.  You pay $600 for FUN and ENTERTAINMENT. Are you really going to get that out of the PS3?  Probably not.

Save your money until Sony has vendors selling games worth playing or until Blu Ray wins the battle of High Definition DVD's.  Or just buy a PS2, or an Xbox or a 360.  And always remember, when it comes to console gaming you want to buy fun, not black plastic encasing circuitry.

- one