It may be that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has ruined the White House forever. In the warm and golden fictional world he envisioned in "The American President" and "The West Wing," events at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue were always grand, glorious and utter perfection.

• Video: Obama toasts prime minister

• State dinner coverage, guest list

Recently, Walter "Gator" Pelletier, the chairman of the National Turkey Federation and an executive at Butterball, the nation's largest turkey producer, approached Wes Pike, his go-to bird handler, with the secret mission of raising two well-mannered birds that would not trash a room at the Willard.

• Video: White House pardon preview

Movie review

The mayhem that ensues in "Ninja Assassin" is not unlike the film itself: an example of artless, pointless Western might -- in this case, the Wachowski brothers, the directors of the "Matrix" trilogy and producers of this film -- attacking an Eastern tradition -- the ninja movie -- with advanced technology and a whole lot of money. Needless to say, little survives the assault.

Movie review

With "Red Cliff," director John Woo returns with what is reputed to be the most expensive Asian film ever made and one that threatens to spill off the screen. There should be a law against seeing this thing anywhere but in a theater. It's a big ol' movie, the way "Lawrence of Arabia" was a big ol' movie.

Theater review

The Washington Shakespeare Company is working with the Nicholas Wright adaptation of "Lulu" that London's Almeida Theatre used for its steamy, disquieting staging at the Kennedy Center in 2001, but they're not injecting it with anywhere near the same kind of heat.

Carolyn Hax

A 16-year-old stumbles upon his father's old divorce paperwork and has trouble reconciling the revelation with a lifetime of hearing that once trust is lost it is hard to gain back.

Art

Three generations of Wyeth artworks will be auctioned next month, including 14 original oil canvases by N.C. Wyeth that were used to lavishly illustrate the classic adventure tale "Robinson Crusoe."

Book World

Michael Crichton, the popular author of "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain" went to Davy Jones's locker last November, but his assistant found a finished draft of "Pirate Latitudes" on his computer, and Harper plunders this booty like a chest of gold doubloons that washed up on shore.