In his sumptuous new adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s great novel of love and infidelity in pre-revolutionary Russia, Wright tries something new, and it’s sublime. Eschewing a formal, traditional style, he frames Anna Karenina as a busy, highly choreographed stage play in which characters stalk the wings of the theater, moving with the grace of dancers as they spin on and off stage and in and out of love and desire.

But Wright doesn’t allow this structure to limit his imagination or his characters; they aren’t physically confined. They rush through crowded train stations or throw open a stage door to discover a snow-covered field — and then stride across it. Nor is the stage bound by the laws of physics: In one gorgeous scene, snow falls upon a man standing in the empty theater. All the visual daring makes for an intoxicating rush, especially if what you’ve been expecting is a simple costume drama.

By necessity, some of Tolstoy’s grand themes get lost or at least trampled in the translation, in particular his sharp contrast of agrarian life to that of city high society. But the core of the story — the doomed love affair between the married Anna (Keira Knightley) and Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) — remains intact and vital. The film’s early moments, which use meticulous, amusing choreography to highlight the broadly comic Oblonsky (a terrific Matthew Macfadyen, Wright’s Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice), are played as farce. But as the movie winds on, its tragic nature begins to reveal itself.

It takes a book like Suzette Field’s A Curious Invitation: The Forty Greatest Parties in Literature to remind us of the absolute centrality of social entertainment to the way in which a literary classic works its spell.

Ms Field, who pursues a second calling as a bohemian party-planner, had the bright idea of subjecting some of the great literary shindigs to professional analysis – who came, the nature of the venue, what was eaten, drunk and said, what happened afterwards – and the findings enable her not only to deconstruct some of the patterns that a certain kind of social life regularly throws up, but to identify some of the techniques that novelists use in bringing these complex interactions to the page.

The circuits in the brain

The circuits in the brain that are responsible for classical conditioning are very different from those responsible for our episodic, autobiographical memories, memories that, at times, can be experienced consciously. Unlike other forms of conditioning, such as operant conditioning--where one, for example, performs an action for a reward--the conditioned response in classical conditioning (e.g., the cravings one experience when looking at a beautiful cake) cannot be suppressed at will; they are 'involuntary.' One can suppress behaviors but not the urges associated with them (Morsella, 2005, Psychological Review), especially if they are due to what Pavlov discovered, a long time ago.     

 After initially saying output increased at an annual rate of 2 percent, the Commerce Department on Thursday revised its estimate to show growth of 2.7 percent in the three months that ended Sept. 30.

    While businesses have remained cautious amid fiscal uncertainty in Washington and weak growth overseas, consumer spending in the United States has moved along in recent months at a healthier pace.

     In addition, a strengthening housing market in many regions, along with better employment figures, has reassured some analysts who feared the economy was close to stalling.

     However, worries remain about growth in the current quarter, with many economists estimating output to increase at a more tepid rate of roughly 1 percent.

    And with more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts looming if Congress and the White House can’t agree on a deal to cut the deficit by Jan. 1, economists warn the economy remains vulnerable.

    The newly estimated pace of growth represents a substantial increase in the level of expansion from the second quarter, when the economy grew at a rate of just 1.3 percent. It also marks the fastest rate of expansion since the fourth quarter of 2011, when the economy grew at a 4.1 percent pace.

This was the second of the government’s three estimates of quarterly growth. The final figure is scheduled for Dec. 20.

 tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny.

Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families — and the broader housing market.

But as President Obama and Congress try to hash out a deal to reduce the budget deficit, the mortgage interest deduction will likely be part of the discussion.

1. Mr. Crowley - Randy Rhoads (Ozzy) 
  2. Black Star - Yngwie J. Malmsteen (Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force)
  3. Eruption - Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) 
  4. Tornado Of Souls - Marty Friedman (Megadeth) 
  5. Rock Bottom - Michael Schenker (UFO) 
  6. Fade To Black - Kirk Hammett (Metallica) 
  7. Powerslave - Dave Murray / Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) 
  8. Floods - Dimebag Darrel (Pantera) 
  9. Painkiller - Glenn Tipton / K.K. Downing (Judas Priest) 
10. Stargazer - Ritchie Blackmore (Rainbow) 
11. Kill In The Spirit World - Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) 
12. Technical Difficulties - Paul Gilbert (Racer X) 
13. Crazy Train - Randy Rhoads (Ozzy) 
14. Stranger In A Strange Land - Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) 
15. Under A Glass Moon - John Petrucci (Dream Theater) 
16. The Sleep - Dimebag Darrel (Pantera) 

I want out.

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A growing degree of energy independence is good news for the American economy, but this rapid, global increase in fossil fuel combustion raises questions:

* Will the surge of petroleum (oil and natural gas) undermine the ongoing shift to renewable energy, including biofuels, solar and wind energy?

* Will the United States achieve “energy security” and be insulated from high prices and uncertain supplies?

* What about climate? The IEA, after all, says greenhouse gas releases in its most likely scenario “correspond to a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 ° C” (6.8°F). That’s almost twice the 2°C target for tolerable warming advocated by some scientists.