Call us crazy, but we're not as excited about the Oscars as we could be. We're happy the writers' strike is over, because we support writers as much as anyone (we're pretty writerly ourselves, y'know). Still, the fact that everyone's excited about ads, parties, and fashion (though we do like the Penelope Cruz pick) rather than films speaks to just how Hollywood our movie industry has become--and just how sad that is for the films......

Michael Chabon will read from The Yiddish Policemen's Union on Thursday, May 3, at 6:30 pm at First Parish Church. Tickets can be purchased for $5 from Harvard Book Store. Pulitzer winner Michael Chabon's new book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, is beyond ambitious – it describes a colony of European Jews that was established during World War II in Sitka, Alaska. It could have happened. Such a plan was under discussion within the FDR administration.......