The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter: "The White House yesterday showed that it still knows how to play the American press like a harp."

The BBC's Alan Johnston -- snatched in Gaza back in March -- appears in a video released by the Army of Islam. While it isn't clear when the video was recorded, it provides some tangible evidence he may still be alive.

Here's the BBC story.

Opens today in Toronto! I saw it at TIFF and really liked it.

If you're in the mood for Hostel-lite meets The Office, check it out.

Note: The Toronto Star's Rob Salem also made a Hostel/Office comparison, but I didn't see his review until after I wrote the above sentence. :)

The Star and Globe both give Severance three stars out of four, as does Now -- which also has an interview with director Christopher Smith (with some audio clips). The interview, alas, is from TIFF (a standard Now trick).