If this movie had had so much as a hint of anti-Muslim elements (not historically possible, of course), President Bush, the Wall Street Journal (which has written admiringly about the movie) and other heavy hitters would have been weighing in against stereotyping and intolerance. But hey, it’s only the Jews.

LeGuin explains to us that the Gethenians (the locals) have no shame about sex, that during heat they retire to what might be described (though not by her) as “fuck houses.” Would that Ms. LeGuin were similarly liberated. For all the mention of these houses and their significance for the Gethenian outlook (as well as the not unlikely interest that we mature adults who read science fiction may have in these intimate ways and means of alien species), the doors remain barred to

Hamlet – or the Case of the Bad Detective Peter A. Hempel The play Hamlet grows out of the tradition of the revenge tragedy, a great favorite of the Elizabethan audience. In the conventional revenge play, the focus is on the violent acts of revenge which spatter the stage with blood and make for predictable but fulfilling theater. In Hamlet, however, the central character is obsessed not with revenge but with detective work, and his self-indulgent over-scrupulousness is itsel

I read reviews and comments about the movie, best performances of the actors and the occasional weaknesses in the plot line, but I really haven't seen much mention of the thing that struck me most – its portrayal of what slavery meant in the deep South.

So, the main lessons are: 1. Beauty is not about outer appearances – but short is really, really ugly and it's fine to make fun of short people. 2. Beauty is in the eyes of other people; our beauty depends on what they think and what they say.

The picture-perfect ending. Kung Fu, complicated love, and death from a technique known only to an inner elite.