OK.  So now we know. When they’re stuck in a gigantic blizzard, moviegoers prefer the adventures of an animated cat to those of a drunken and dissolute writer.

The “Shrek” spin-off “Puss in Boots” ruled the box office roost this weekend, while “The Rum Diary,” Johnny Depp’s big-screen adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s only novel, finished in fifth place in the box office race. Here’s the weekend, by the numbers (courtesy of Widescreen Warriot):

The New York Times profiles Charlize Theron, whose new movie, “Young Adult,” hits theaters on Dec. 9.

The general thrust of the story is that Theron, while drop-dead gorgeous, is actually, y’know, serious about acting and stuff. Sheesh.

Here’s the nut graf:

“THERE may be women in Hollywood more beautiful than Charlize Theron, though it’s hard offhand to think who might qualify, and even harder to think of one who relies less on her looks. Ms. Theron, whose new film, “Young Adult,” directed by Jason Reitman, opens on Dec. 9, is a genuine star — with an almost Marilyn-like glamour — and yet she goes about her work as if she were a character actress. From one movie to the next she seldom looks the same, and not just in the ones where she has obviously transformed herself. To play the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in “Monster” (2003), for example, she put on 40 pounds, shaved her eyebrows and wore prosthetic teeth.”

Read the full story here.