I have little doubt that critics (and perhaps even fans) of these columns are tiring of my weekly harangue over the sorry performance of Barack Obama. And just when I think I can spend a week actually thinking about something else on which to comment, he renders such fancy impossible by proposing yet another inane scheme for spending our great, great, great grandchildren's hard earned tax dollars. This week is no exception.

Australia's Julia Gillard barely squeaked into power. But her slim majority means that passing any legislation will be tricky.

I've been thinking about labor. Actually I've been thinking about this past holiday, American workers, changes, the summer statistics, the November election, and Jesse Jackson.

Set mostly in the desert, this tale of double and triple crosses involving an old miser (Ni Dahong) and his tarty young wife (Yan Ni) is replete with boisterously unfunny black slapstick.

'Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould' delves deeper into the influential pianist's elusive brilliance than any earlier documentary.

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long's characters entwine in a low-key long-distance relationship, in the romantic comedy 'Going the Distance.'