Crazy/Beautiful
Kirsten Dunst has made the difficult transition from child star, in the likes of Jumanji and Little Women, to leading roles in films such as the Spider-Man trilogy and Wimbledon. In between, she starred in several so-so teen films, and produced the best performance of her career - so far - alongside Jay Hernandez in Crazy\Beautiful. While the premise is hardly original - boy and girl from different backgrounds find that love can defeat the obstacles between them - the script is tight, the characters are excellent and the love story rings true; this last is all too infrequent on film. And while the - largely unknown - supporting cast doesn't put a foot wrong, it is Dunst who stands out as the wealthy but discontented Nicole, whose life is going off the tracks through drink, drugs and a broken relationship with her father - those who regard her as a pretty face without any great acting depth (a view that recent efforts such as Elizabethtown and Marie Antoinette could encourage) will be pleasantly surprised. It was marketed as a teen film, with hot young actors, but it is far better than that (indeed, Dunst has rarely looked worse: an absence of make-up and unwashed hair contributing to her character) and should be watched as a love story without any labels attached.

The Times crossword
The traditional crossword is a pretty unexciting way to fill time - for each clue you merely have to find a synonym or an example, and enter it into a grid. It gets the mental juices flowing, but there is nothing to stimulate the imagination - while the difficulty level can be increased as far as is desired, the puzzle cannot reach a higher plane. The cryptic crossword changed that. While essentially the same idea - there are clues, which give answers to fit in a grid - a cryptic crossword is infinitely superior to its 'straight' cousin. A cryptic clue, typically, consists of a straight definition and some cryptic wordplay, be that an anagram, a combination of words, or something more devious: basic examples include "Ogre transformed thus (4)" or "Fuss helping to produce love (9)", answers to which are 'ergo' (an anagram of 'ogre') and 'adoration' (fuss = ado, helping = ration) - compare these to their mundane straight counterparts, "Thus (4)" and "Love (9)". The cryptic has developed over the years, with informal and less informal rules introduced by, among others, the great cruciverbalist Ximenes, and each newspaper's crossword today has its own rules and customs. The world's most famous crossword belongs to the world's most famous newspaper, The Times (otherwise known as The Times of London), and manages to stay within ideals of fair play while still being fresh almost every time. It is a difficult puzzle compared with, for example, The Telegraph, but is infinitely more pleasing, and a great place to learn the rules of the game. A lot of people claim not to be able to 'do' cryptic crosswords - the best way to learn is to have a go, read the answers (available the next day!) and work out why they are what they are - it's also helpful to check out Times for the Times.

The Mr. Men
When Adam Hargeaves asked his father what a tickle looked like, the response was an orange fellow with a blue hat, no torso and - of course - extraordinarily long arms. This was Mr. Tickle, and he was the first of 39 delightful characters, simply and colourfully drawn. Some of them embodied obvious characteristics (Mr. Happy, Mr. Clever, Mr. Small) some of them were less obvious (Mr. Bump, Mr. Bounce, Mr. Sneeze) and some of them were plain odd (Mr. Snow, who was only in existence for one night, and Mr. Daydream, who may not have existed at all), but they were all wonderfully unique. Each character has his own story, often searching for a job (Mr. Small, Mr. Rush and Mr. Slow) or learning the error of his ways (Mr. Greedy, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Mean), but each individual lived in the imagination to a far greater extent than the dozen or so pages of each book. It would be a lie to say the characters are insightful representations of the human condition, but they are clearly painted, both in the books and in the faithful cartoons voiced by Arthur "Captain Mainwaring" Lowe. The less said about the 'Mr Men' devised after Roger Hargreaves' death, and the abomination of the Mr. Men Show, the better - ignoring these pollutive additions, the Mr. Men stand as the most good-natured and attractive stories available to children. Or adults.