The Week in Entertainment

Film: Qian li zou dan qi (Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles) - Damn, that was a good movie. Ken Takakura did a brilliant job in a film that was written for him, showing the emotions that lie underneath the closed-off Takata-san, and Yimou Zhang, as always, used his camera lyrically to celebrate rural China meeting the modern world. Don't expect action, from the martial arts director or the iconic yakuza star - this is a film about emotion. It's gorgeous, through and through.

TV: Veronica Mars - Ahhhh, that final scene. Veroncia and Logan are so good together; they might, just might, be able to fix each other, or themselves ... I hope so. Dr Who - 'The Girl in the Fireplace', which just might be my favorite episode of this season. And Heroes - slowly getting better; I might have to keep watching just to see if Hiro uses his powers to buy the time to learn English!

Read: Notes for a Memoir by Janet Jeppson Asimov; Assassination Vacation by the incomparable Sarah Vowell - I dare you to read her McKinley chapter without some rage at the current situation, or her Lincoln chapter without tears; The End by Lemony Snicket - a satisfactorily ambiguous and unconclusive ending to the series - who Beatrice was caught me by surprise