Wholphin, a Journal Cast Against Type -- On DVD

End of movie.

Whew! By this time, the idea of an Al Gore documentary is sounding better and better. It turns out to be a 13-minute, day-in-the life thing shot in 2000 by Spike Jones, the director of "Being John Malkovitch." It shows Gore, hanging around with his wife and kids and being very loose and funny and not at all stiff. He jokes and sings and even dives into the ocean and catches a wave and bodysurfs to shore. Dude!

In the booklet that comes with the DVD, the Wholphin folks suggest that if the Gore campaign had shown the film on TV, Gore might have won. It does make you wonder: If the film had changed a few hundred minds in Florida, then maybe there would be no Bush presidency, and no invasion of Iraq, and no huge deficits caused by endless tax cuts for the rich, and . . .

But we can't think about that now. The table of contents is back and if we don't choose something fast, we may get stuck watching that guy make goofy faces again.

So we choose something called "Tatli Hayat," which turns out to be a Turkish sitcom with English subtitles. It's about a doofus businessman and his zany-but-lovable wife and their madcap friends and antic antics. Watching this show is a heart-warming experience because it makes you realize that -- despite the superficial differences of language, culture and nationality -- people all over the world are basically just as idiotic as we are.

If you like the first version of the Turkish sitcom, you can watch five other versions of the same episode, each with alternative subtitles that change the plot. In one version, the characters spend an absurd amount of time discussing the American TV show "Gilmore Girls."

We didn't watch all five versions. After about a version and a half of a Turkish sitcom, you begin to feel a renewed appreciation for magazines with words marching one after another in horizontal line after horizontal line.

The idea of a DVD magazine full of odd little films still sounds great. But maybe it's the kind of idea that should be executed by somebody other than the editors of self-consciously weird literary magazines.

Or maybe not. The Wholphin folks promise that their next issue will include short films created by the writers at "The Daily Show." That sounds promising. There will also be a sitcom from Nigeria. If you consume enough beer and Doritos, you can make a whole night of it.