Let history handle the business of judging director Tim Burton and Disney’s take on Lewis Carroll’s fantasy classic against all other film-adaptation attempts (which most notably occurred in 1903, 1933 and 1951). A more pressing question is whether Burton’s film will satisfy fans of his earlier work.

Unfilled jobs, government hucksters, and the potential tax on cigs and drinking while driving plus, for good measure, some foods.

Overheard at...

Senator Rod Adair opines on the Jackson case and columnist Zane Fischer poses as a punching bag.

A letter to the past explains this year's Oscars to the 1980s: Don’t worry. I’m not writing to warn you about some relentless cyborg death-drone coming back through time to wreak havoc on your world because the machines have taken over. It’s true that the machines have taken over, but we’re actually pretty cool with it. And we even elected the death-drone as the governor of California.

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow and some other stuff too.

Overheard at Ski Santa Fe and on the Santa Fe Trails bus system.

Shutter Island is somewhat hobbled by our sense that Martin Scorsese is directing a little beneath his talents and slumming in the schlock-fest psychiatric thriller genre. Whether the film works for viewers will depend on their tolerance for films they know are playing mind games, and their willingness to wait to see what mind games, exactly, are being played.

Jerome Block Jr. celebrates conspicuous lack of juries, domestic partnership killed by soon-to-be former legislators, plus the usual Wi-Fi, money, Wi-Fi, money, Wi-Fi, LANL issues.

Overheard at Walgreens, a playground and Video Library