Can you actually finish a Sudoku square in less than 13 minutes? Do you have a penchant for puzzles? Wish someone would make a movie out of your hobbies? Then let’s hope The Da Vinci Code delivers.

Organizers of the Cannes Film Festival announced on Monday that Ron Howard’s new thriller, based on the best-selling book by Dan Brown, will debut at the world’s most famous cinema showcase in mid-May. Starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, the scholarly semiotician, and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Deneuve, the young and vibrant cryptographer, The Da Vinci Code is a story of murder, deceit and code-breaking. The film plays like a travel-guide to Paris, with extra art thrown in for good measure. And the casting is perfect – Tom Hanks has the substance to pull off a Harvard professor and the common sense to ensure his character has intelligent dialogue, while Audrey Tautou, better known as “Amelie,” has the passionate energy and quickness of mind to play Sophie.

You either loved the book or you hated it; you suspended belief or you held to the partially erroneous research (and misuse of the phrase “a propos”) against the author; you thought it was over hyped or not hyped enough: for once, we should all just let the book go and see if a movie can dazzle us on its own merit. With a Ron Howard budget behind it, we can at least expect a beautiful picture.

Music

Tommy Lee obviously has something more going for him than a giant schlong: Motley Crue’s reunion last year has paid off with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The dirty heavy metal group that shaped rock ‘n roll in the 1980s sealed their musical celebrity status with 2005’s album, Red, White and Crue. The appropriately patriotically-colored album featured the silhouette of a naked woman on the front which just screams class. And on the topic of naked women, the band is thrilled their Star is across the street from the Erotica Museum in Hollywood. I can’t think of a more fitting spot.

The 80s band reunion trend is obviously a tempting lead to follow – if Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Motley Crue can do it, why not Guns ‘n Roses, right? Apparently, Axl Rose has been pondering the same thing. The ex-lead singer has hinted that a reunion may be in the cards, although he may have wanted to consult his old band mates first.

Ex-guitarist Slash is on record as having said that Axl has blown any chance he had left, presumably when he failed to show up for the first show of GnR’s 2002 North American tour. So in fact, Axl would just basically like to become part of Velvet Revolver, but since he’s the only original ex-member who’s career is dead, that’s not very likely.