Without wanting to turn Solitude into a running commentary for the BBC, a news piece on PlayStation 2 shortages caught my eye. Hmm, so Sony has “blundered” again with it’s shipping and the net effect is that PS2 is in high demand in the UK? Again. For how many years in a row?

Now, not that I’m cynical, but could this just be the same thing they do every year to get artificial demand up and get some cheap press (“PS2 sells out…”) before releasing the vast number they have in warehouses after New Year? Or, are they really incompetent at this whole numbers thing? I think we all know the answer.

Don’t buy the hype, kiddies, get yourself a console with fun games instead (X-Box or GameCube will be fine), unless you like fighting over the last few copies of a console (I’ve seen it happen – men and children arguing over that last box or the shipment that might come in next week) that will be flooding back onto the market when it means less to PR.

A thanks to Derek for pointing to a BBC news story about the French royally screwing up an explosives exercise. That is absolutely shocking.

It’s one thing to train sniffer dogs in an airport, it’s the real situation they’ll face, but to plant plastic explosives in a random passengers luggage is just madness. You’re really just asking for the dog to mess up and let it get away. Surely someone saw this coming.

I’m sure with this being in France and all that some will put this in the “News that isn’t news to anyone” category, but I’m genuinely stunned that anyone thought this was a good idea.

It’s rare that a film is both stupidly funny and funnily intelligent, where existential crisis is explored through hitting people in the face with a spacehopper. I Heart Huckabees pulls it off with style.

First, the cast: superb, not a single poor casting decision. Jude Law is the slightly smarmy marketing man that becomes the object of Jason Schwartzman’s hatred. Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin also work well together as the quirky and disturbing existential detectives who investigate Schwartzman’s crisis. The best performance, however, is by Mark Wahlberg. He is spot on with timing, expression, everything. I never liked him before this, but he has gone up hugely in my estimation.

The first hour of the film rips past, exploring the characters, and settles the remainder of the film into a debate on whether everything is interconnected (leading to a harmonious universe) or discrete (leading to a random and cruel universe). Being a slightly surreal comedy (reminding me of the superb Being John Malkovich), it does it in ways that you’ll never see coming. Right up to the end, the film charms; the closing lines are both smirk-worthy and poignant.

One of the best films of the year.

Tragedy hit last night for many students when The Shack burned down. Famed among students for cheesey pop, the lack of access will mean having to go to, shock horror, The Garage.

Stuwee, unofficial spokesman for The Shack, was said to be “totally gutted”. Expect him to set up a support group soon.

Mad, stupid, silly, daft, bizarre, off-colour, odd. All terms that describe Shaolin Soccer well.

At it’s core, Shaolin Soccer is about an idea rather than a story. Someone thought it would be a good idea to mix bullet-time special effects, CG effects and wire-fu with the most basic of comic stories to create a surreal football film. The results are stupid but amusing scenes of balls smashing through players like bowling balls.

Although apparently cut for Western release, the film is still entertaining enough to watch.