By • Jan 22,2009

No thanks, Mr. Roboto

I appreciate the Japanese enthusiasm for robots. I really do. I just wish they had chosen a less auspicious name or classification number for this security robot: The prototype T-34,...

By • Jan 22,2009

Trainspotting in Mumbai

Danny Boyle is famous for setting misery to an upbeat tempo. [Trainspotting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/), his devastating 1996 take on heroin addiction, comes across as horrifying and yet almost exhilarating, too. In it,...

By • Jan 21,2009

Getting schooled by Roland Burris

We had friends staying with us for the inauguration, all of them huge Obama supporters. One of them said to me that Burris’s confirmation as a Senator lends an unfortunate...