Characters

Edward Albee once said that a play is a comedy if the characters get what they want. In the relaxed and delightful "Kingdom Come," the characters can't always get what they want. But in the words of that other theatrical philosopher, Mick Jagger, they get what they need. Plus, they're just plain funny. The movie is based on the play "Dearly Departed" by David Dean Bottrell and Jessie Jones, who also wrote the screenplay. In the opening minutes, a rough old coot drops dead from a stroke while his wife (Whoopi Goldberg)

You expect to hear bombs exploding during a musical about the Civil War, but must everything be so bombastic? Composer Frank Wildhorn ("Jekyll & Hyde," "The Scarlet Pimpernel") isn't known for having a light touch, and he goes ballistic in "The Civil War." Currently being fought on stage at the Mechanic Theatre, this musical shouts its history lesson, is populated by character types who never become full characters, rolls out sound-alike songs and then reprises them as it takes you on a deliberately paced journey from 1861 through 1865.

They're an unlikely pair, Bullwinkle the Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel. But -- as a recently released DVD collection reminds us -- of such an unlikely pairing is pop-culture history made. At first blush, a jet-propelled rodent (scientific name Glauco-mys volans) and a giant two-legged cousin to Bambi (scientific name Alces alces) don't seem to have much in common. But looks can be deceiving. Both were wide-eyed innocents and relentless do-gooders. Both were loyal residents of the great state of Moosylvania.

The fictional town of Dublin, Mo., has a hip-high, portico-columned "mansion," a dollhouse-sized church with stained-glass windows and a steeple, and a courthouse shaded by a historic potted plant. This mock-perfect miniature of a Southern town designed by Michael Brown cheerily suggests that human nature is nobler than the behemoth piles of bricks and mortar and stone that we erect, mucking up the horizon and blocking the view. Unfortunately, playwright Lanford Wilson's Book of Days is not as clear-sighted as these happy omens might portend.

Little virtual people in little virtual homes, The Sims are so lifelike that players of the personal-computer game often fashion characters after themselves. Some have rewritten their own troubled childhoods and marriages. And some take their frustrations out on the little people. "Two of the most fundamental truths about people is that we love to create and we love to destroy," says Jon "PyroFalkon" Habib, who writes a free and popular strategic Sims manual posted on many Web sites.

The first hour of "The King and I" at Toby's Dinner Theatre moves like gangbusters. Director Toby Orenstein's actors hit their marks under pinpoint lights, scenes get shifted briskly in the dark and the whole thing has a remarkable air of efficiency. It's too efficient. For that first hour, it's like watching military maneuvers, and the warmth of this great Rodgers and Hammerstein musical doesn't begin to come through until near intermission. But the show settles down in time, growing more satisfying as it gradually draws the audience into the characters.

It isn't true that life begins at 40, at least not for Kevin Spacey. Professionally speaking, Spacey, who turned 40 in July, has been surfing a jet stream since 1995, when he imprinted himself on our collective consciousness as the most unusual of "The Usual Suspects."He gave Hollywood its archetypal crazed movie exec in "Swimming With Sharks," turned slightly more lethal as the manipulative serial killer in the Stygian "Seven," and seemed to surprise even himself as a smooth cop working both sides of the street, then rediscovering his idealism, in "L.A.

Alas poor Sherry, we hardly knew ye. The duplicitous and cunning ex-wife of President David Palmer on Fox-TV's 24, Sherry Palmer took two bullets in the abdomen at the end of last week's episode and, apparently, died. Fans of the show have been waiting three years for this moment, but now that it's finally come, we wonder how the show can go on. Evil villains come and go on 24. We've had Dennis Hopper playing a man who wanted Palmer killed, and, more recently, lesser known actors playing characters intent on setting off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles or releasing viruses in major cities to cause the deaths of millions.

Steven Fischer of Gambrills has grand plans for the cartoon comedy team he invented a decade ago -- Bluey the blue dog and his human partner with big hair, Steve.They are hosts of a radio show. They perform their comic routine in palaces. The sky is the limit when you're creating an entertainment career on paper.But in real life, to get Steve and Bluey where they are today, Fischer, 24, has put in long hours drawing, writing scripts, recording voices and learning the ins and outs of production.

Can 3-year-olds learn online? Susan Magsamen believes they can, with moderation and careful monitoring by a mentor or parent. And she's building a company to prove it. Last month, Magsamen launched Curiosityville.com , a company that focuses on online learning for children ages 3 to 8. The Cockeysville company has raised $2.3 million from investors and has struck several partnerships with some major children's learning brands, including National...