Mid-Seventies television was, let's face it, even schlockier than Fox is today. The writers and comedians behind Tunnelvision -- fresh from Second City Television (SCTV) and not yet honed through SNL -- knew TV was tasteless. But regrettably, their early effort at parody is often more cynicism than wit. We're supposed to laugh when a "Spy TV" victim kills himself, giggle every time a male news anchor tries to shack up with compliant "weather girl," roar with delight when a nearly naked Betty Thomas must pass gas to win a game show, and gasp at unexpected racial profanities.

The political vision behind Tunnelvision is much funnier: The film takes sharp, well-executed jabs at Israel, Exxon, air pollution, phone companies, political mudslinging, and a sporty new national anthem punctuated by nuclear missiles. These "news" items are well worth seeing, and the DVD format lets the viewer skip the stuff in between.

Ultimately, Tunnelvision's theme -- TV on trial -- is a well-crafted excuse to string together 70 minutes of SCTV skits and SNL-style fake commercials. Tunnelvision offers us a worthwhile glimpse at countless great comedians' humble beginnings, and it reminds us of an era that was coarser, more troubled, more cynical, and less hip than the fantasy depicted in "That 70s Show."

DVD buyers please note: While it lets you skip to the good skits, the DVD format also exposes Tunnelvision's low-budget video and audio production quality.

It contains few of the newspaper and magazine photographs that became the official historial record of the catastrophe. Instead, it features the work of free-lancers who had to work without the benefit of helicopters, film crews, and satellite imaging. The result is a startling portrait of the disaster's impact on spectators and the neighborhoods around New York.

Magnum has captured the best photographs available anywhere of the actual ruins -- twisted steel and concrete, towering piles of rubble, nearby buildings shattered and on fire, streets buried in ash and singed paper. This advantage over other books came, perhaps, at an ethical cost: Photographers snuck past cordons and disobeyed police orders in order to capture the aftermath on film. The book doesn't say it, but some photographers (not necessarily those in the book) were arrested.

This book doesn't contain the key photographs that came to define the event, but it's a more-than-worthy supplement to such a book. And it's a vivid reflection of the obstacles and opportunities that photojournalists encounter in covering breaking news.

I can also use it in my digicam to store hundreds of photos at a time. Voila! No more lugging a PC or PDA every time I plan to take pictures.

I'm by no means an A*Teens groupie (I'm 36!) and I had not heard their post-Abba-revival material. So the discography gave me a chance to sample songs that I would not have heard otherwise, unless I stole them from Napster. I'm more likely to buy their second CD as a result.

The group interview was well done -- all four band members got equal time to speak, and did so spontaneously. I felt they proved their potential to be thoughtful, intelligent, world-class performers.

Finally, simple elements like the DVD menus -- so frequently done wrong on other DVDs, with jarring and noisy effects or awkward navigation -- were easy to use and fun to watch.

Susan Dey offers a standout performance in a movie that's unfortunately burdened with stock characters and mediocre dialogue. In her role as a TV ad model chased by a murderous conglomerate, she projects some of the charm and sensitivity that won her fans in L.A. Law a few years later. Given that many of the models in this movie are reduced to disposable bimbos, Dey brings a good deal more intelligence than (probably) her role originally required.

Leigh Taylor-Young also brings a commanding and intelligent presence to her role as a villain alongside James Coburn.

This movie has strong redeeming moments: An auto chase and a variety of burglaries are done in highly innovative fashion, Coburn is excellent as a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde CEO, Finney is low key in his male-hero come-to-the-rescue role, and the technologies (sans hypnosis) all too real. Unfortunately, some viewers may be offended at the movie's superficial and violently misogynistic portrayal of female actors.

Make no mistake, the dialogue in this movie is a bit schmaltzy, the TV ads are laughably bad, and a key question is unresolved: While it's clear that sexy models are being digitized and animated to achieve perfect on-screen performance in typically expensive TV commercials, we never learn why Coburn and Taylor-Young are murdering the models.

Nevertheless, the movie smartly analyzes the values underlying television ad production and the potential for forgery of what we see and hear on TV shows of any kind.

"Looker" lacks the star power and cutting-edge topic of other Crichton movies. But if you like intelligent sci-fi themes with sexy women and moderate violence, and if you can forgive the dialogue, you may appreciate the subtler points of "Looker."

Due to technological changes by Microsoft, the EM-500 and most other Pocket PCs on the market as of August 2001 cannot be upgraded to the new Windows Pocket PC 2002 operating system.

Assuming you need to buy a PDA before the new generation of Pocket PC 2002 PDAs reaches the market, the EM-500 is a great choice.

The video quality is excellent. The unit design is simple, sturdy and elegant. The included applications are more than sufficient for the average PDA or MP3 user. The success of the character and handwriting recognition software in translating simple messages was a pleasant surprise.

For added convenience, buy Casio's EM500 docking cradle.

But the plug (which pivots out from the unit to plug into a wall) is flimsy. After only five months of occasional use, the pivot came loose and now the plug doesn't carry power into the charger. So I can waste time getting warranty service, or I can spend $80 for a new charger.

Luckily, Russell's perspective extends well beyond her CNN duties to reflect on her role as a go-getter and as a woman in her numerous other ongoing careers.

While she has no doubt inspired many women over the years to live uncompromisingly for one's goals and dreams, she also has inspired men like me -- from an early age -- to see career women as well-rounded, smart, savvy, and critical to an organization's success. At CNN and in her book, Lynne Russell has helped make professional journalism sexy to a new generation, male and female.

This book makes no claim to be unbiased. The authors do impose a conservative Protestant filter upon their evaluations and commentaries. This results in extensive discussion of "the" (singular) Christian sexual ethic which completely excludes Catholic and liberal or independent Protestant perspectives on sexual ethics. The authors also succumb to caricatures of positions with which they disagree; they periodically stereotype the proponents of alternative ethical frameworks as well as the widely differing perspectives of gay-tolerant Christian and gay-tolerant non-Christian scientists, clergy and civil-rights activists.

Overall the book is a useful addition to the discussion of the science of sexuality within a conservative Protestant framework.

The bag is big enough for the camera, instruction manual, spare battery and USB cable, but the fit is a bit awkward. I would have preferred a snug, molded fit for the camera and a bit more room for the manual. As it is, I had to insert the manual diagonally in an oddly sized pocket, wasting some space.