Short Circuits

A brief look at new and noteworthy experiences among DVDs, video games, gadgets and the Web.

Dawn of an old 'Day' The Keanu Reeves remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (opening Friday) might turn out be a big-budget clunker, but the 1951 original will always be a sci-fi classic. And we have the new movie to thank for the spiffy Blu-ray edition (Fox, $35) of the first film that has just come out, along with a two-disc DVD ($20). Besides all of the extras from the previous go-round, we now have scholars' commentary, Bernard Herrmann's isolated musical score and a reading of Harry Bates' source short story -- among many other goodies that are out of this world.

Out today: "The Dark Knight," "Europa," "Gunsmoke" (Season 3, Vol. 1), "Happy Days" (Season 4), "Horton Hears a Who," "Lost" (Season 4), "Man on Wire," "Murnau, Borzage and Fox," "Peter & the Wolf," "Rawhide" (Season 3, Vol. 2), "Sin City" (Blu-ray), "Swingtown" (Season 1).

Help finding a Wii The Nintendo Wii has become the No. 1 video-game console, but it's still hard to find in stores. If you're having trouble locating one this holiday season, several websites are devoted to tracking where it's in stock and for how much. They include Wii Alerts (www.wiialerts.com), In Stock Online (www.instockonline.org) and Wii Tracker (www.wiitracker. com). Of course, you can always try your luck with individual sellers on Craigslist (http:// minneapolis.craigslist.org) and eBay (www.ebay.com), too.

RANDY A. SALAS