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Here is a glass of Kool-Aid - would you like to drink it? It’s made up of equal parts expectation and hype: the long-awaited return, after 12 years, of a gifted filmmaker to the epic narrative form that’s his true strength; the breakthrough technology to make visionary fantasy worlds seem more vivid than our humdrum reality. The glass holds the promise that our entertainment industry always makes and almost never keeps - the promise of the Brand New Thing, the pop artifact that changes everything . Here is a movie called “Avatar.’’ If you drink the Kool-Aid (it’s for sale on every channel and in every...

She smiles, answers questions and can guide you to the nearest restroom or to your connecting flight. But don't try to shake her hand. That's because "she" is an avatar, the latest high-tech venture at the three major airports in the New York City area. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled the device Monday at Newark and La Guardia airports. Those two, along with JFK, will be the first airports in North America to get an avatar this summer. The Port Authority is renting them for about $180,000 for six months.

Hunger and homelessness are insistent enemies. That’s why social activist Kip Tiernan was equally persistent when battling them. Tiernan, who died of cancer July 2 at age 85, left her fingerprints all over the city’s most important social agencies, including Boston Health Care for the Homeless and the Boston Food Bank. But her name is synonymous with Rosie’s Place, which she founded in 1974 as the nation’s first shelter for homeless women. Like her social and spiritual hero, Catholic activist Dorothy Day, Tiernan believed that the prayers of the poor should be heard first and loudest.

MOVIES Arsenic and Old Lace 6 p.m. (44) Romp about murder, wine, and the odd Brewster clan. Cary Grant. NR (1944) Cinderella Man 6 p.m. (AMC) Winning bio of heavyweight champ Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe). PG-13 (2005) Don't Trip . . . He Ain't Through With Me Yet 6 p.m. (BET) Steve Harvey fires off a family-friendly stand-up performance. PG (2006) Avatar 7 p.m., 10:30 p.m. (FX) A paraplegic war veteran (Sam Worthington) explores a distant planet by controlling an alien avatar.

Lisa Brackmann’s timely and hip debut novel is a thriller with a plucky heroine, locales actual and virtual, and grounding in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Ambitious but flawed, it spans three worlds: China, Iraq, and video gaming. It’s best at China, though the Iraq sections can be powerful and angry. The gaming universe is the weakest; it isn’t easy to care about an avatar. Reading “Rock Paper Tiger’’ is a largely enjoyable breeze, but the book is ultimately unfulfilling, like the cliched restaurant meal that goes down easy but leaves one hungry an hour later.

She smiles, answers questions and can guide you to the nearest restroom or to your connecting flight. But don't try to shake her hand. That's because "she" is an avatar, the latest high-tech venture at the three major airports in the New York City area. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled the device Monday at Newark and La Guardia airports. Those two, along with JFK, will be the first airports in North America to get an avatar this summer. The Port Authority is renting them for about $180,000 for six months.

Hollywood director James Cameron is planning to move onto a New Zealand farm. Cameron has successfully applied to buy 1,067 hectares (2,636 acres) of farmland in New Zealand. In an application filed with the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office, Cameron says he and his family "intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm. " Cameron, a Canadian, directed two of Hollywood's most successful films, "Titanic" and "Avatar.

When executives from San Francisco-based Linden Lab built Second Life, they had a sense they were doing something historic. So they contracted their own journalist to chronicle the growth of the Internet's first virtual world. Now that chronicler, Wagner James Au, releases a comprehensive history of Second Life's early days in his book "The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World" (HarperCollins, $25.95). Second Life has lost some of its buzz in the past year. Growth has leveled, and media investigations have highlighted possible fraud and child...

TAMPA -- Kevin Alderman didn't bring sex to "Second Life. " He just made it better. The entrepreneur recognized four years ago that people would pay to equip their online selves -- which start out with the smooth anatomy of a Barbie or Ken doll -- with realistic genitalia and even more to add some sexy moves. Business at Eros LLC has been brisk. One of his creations, the SexGen Platinum, has gotten so popular that he's now had to hire lawyers to track down the flesh-and-blood person behind the online identity, or avatar, that he says illegally...

Sigourney Weaver may not believe in ghosts, but the paranormal world of her latest film is not alien territory for her. Weaver's Sundance Film Festival premiere, "Red Lights," is a dark exploration of the supernatural realm she previously took on in comic mode with "Ghostbusters" and its sequel. "I probably don't believe in fairies and ghosts, but I certainly believe that people have souls," Weaver, 62, said in an interview. "I think that, and that's there's more going on around us than we can explain in a rational way. " What did surprise Weaver...

OK, it's time for the presidential campaigns to stop talking about women. Seriously: It isn't helping. Last month, it was Mitt Romney's fuzzy-math suggestion that women lost more jobs than men in the recession. Now comes the latest bid from the Obama camp, the "Life of Julia" infographic that hit the web late last week. The graphic shows a theoretical woman at various stages of her life, and compares her lot under Obama's policies and Romney's, with predictable results. At 3, Julia is eligible for Head Start funds, unless those theoretical Romney budget cuts take hold!

ON WGBHGreater Boston 7 p.m. WGBH (Channel 2) Playwright Kristen Greenidge discusses her play "Luck of the Irish. "ON CHRONICLEExotic Pets 7:30 p.m. WCVB-TV (Channel 5) Local folks who think outside the kennel when it comes to animal companions.RADIO HIGHLIGHTSThe Diane Rehm Show10 a.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) Environmental Outlook: "American Canopy" by Eric Rutkow On Point With Tom Ashbrook 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. WBUR-FM (90.9) David Frum. The Callie Crossley Show1 p.m. WGBH-FM (89.7)

Hollywood director James Cameron is planning to move onto a New Zealand farm. Cameron has successfully applied to buy 1,067 hectares (2,636 acres) of farmland in New Zealand. In an application filed with the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office, Cameron says he and his family "intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm. " Cameron, a Canadian, directed two of Hollywood's most successful films, "Titanic" and "Avatar.

Sigourney Weaver may not believe in ghosts, but the paranormal world of her latest film is not alien territory for her. Weaver's Sundance Film Festival premiere, "Red Lights," is a dark exploration of the supernatural realm she previously took on in comic mode with "Ghostbusters" and its sequel. "I probably don't believe in fairies and ghosts, but I certainly believe that people have souls," Weaver, 62, said in an interview. "I think that, and that's there's more going on around us than we can explain in a rational way. " What did surprise Weaver in...

Gigi 6 p.m. (TCM) Leslie Caron in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. G (1958) Wilco: Ashes of American Flags 6:50 p.m. (SUND) The Chicago-based alt-rock band in concerts taped in 2008. NR (2009) Cliffhanger 7 p.m. (G4) Sylvester Stallone as a mountain-rescue worker out to recover stolen money. R (1993) Elf 7 p.m., 9 p.m. (USA) A human (Will Ferrell) raised by elves searches for his father. PG (2003) In the Line of Fire 7 p.m. (SPIKE)

RE "COMINATCHA! 3-D TV is here! But do we really need to tune in?" (Arts, Aug. 21): Matthew Gilbert's article dismisses the promise of 3-D television on the basis that the technology is not currently that great. In doing so, he ignores one of the most fundamental characteristics of technology: It constantly gets better. I too have experienced the uncomfortable mediocrity that is the current state of 3-D TV. But rather than dismissing the technology outright, I expect that it will take time to develop into something desirable.

RE "COMINATCHA! 3-D TV is here! But do we really need to tune in?" (Arts, Aug. 21): Matthew Gilbert's article dismisses the promise of 3-D television on the basis that the technology is not currently that great. In doing so, he ignores one of the most fundamental characteristics of technology: It constantly gets better. I too have experienced the uncomfortable mediocrity that is the current state of 3-D TV. But rather than dismissing the technology outright, I expect that it will take time to develop into something desirable.

Gigi 6 p.m. (TCM) Leslie Caron in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. G (1958) Wilco: Ashes of American Flags 6:50 p.m. (SUND) The Chicago-based alt-rock band in concerts taped in 2008. NR (2009) Cliffhanger 7 p.m. (G4) Sylvester Stallone as a mountain-rescue worker out to recover stolen money. R (1993) Elf 7 p.m., 9 p.m. (USA) A human (Will Ferrell) raised by elves searches for his father. PG (2003) In the Line of Fire 7 p.m. (SPIKE)