You know, I want to hate this promo because it's based on the game based on the movie based on Hollywood's belief that Dr. Seuss's book The Cat in the Hat wasn't hip enough and needed to be violated in order to sell. But I don't. At least not much, at any rate. For one, they actually tried to do something nice and eye-catching with it, and for another it gave me a cheap excuse to work my cat into a promo piece. So despite my utter loathing for the wretched thing it's based on, I'm only filled with mild distaste rather than an obsessive need to douse it in kerosene and watch it burn, burn, Burn!

What we have here today is a retailer promo sent out to promote the Cat in the Hat game. It comes in a box 9.5" x 13-ish" x 2", brightly decorated both inside and out In addition to the hat itself, there's a variety of lesser goodies included: an informative insert, a retailer sell-sheet, a PC demo, and a ticket to suicide. Whoops sorry, that should have read "The Cat in the Hat movie."

The hat itself is just felt, although nicely put-together felt, and stands an impressive 14" high with a 12" brim. It does have one small problem, although special circumstances are required to realize it: if you decide to wear it (see? special circumstances) the hole where your head goes (any haberdashers out there got a name for that?) is about 7.5" across. This is big enough that it tends to rest on your ears, and if you tuck them in you can pull the whole thing down over your head while your friends make comments about what an improvement it is. Still, if you're in a situation where you need to wear a 14" tall red & white striped Cat in the Hat-brand Official Movie Product hat then you've probably got more to worry about than it being just a hair larger than necessary.

I'd like to thank my cat, Pi, for being amazingly patient (for him) and letting me squeeze in a quick two shots before he bolted. He's a better cat than Mike Myers can ever dream of being.

· · · James Cunningham