Entertainment [5]

War is hell on songwriters. Its drama demands their best.

On When I Was Cruel, Elvis Costello is himself again -- though, at this point in time, you have a right to ask who that might be. Is it the man who writes music for string quartets and jazz ensembles? The experimentalist who works with sopranos and old-school pop classicists such as Burt Bacharach? The ambitious musicologist who's scored films and even a U.K. TV production of ''Oliver Twist''? Or ...

The most devastatingly effective Soviet spies in history were all Americans. And none of them did more damage to U.S. national security than Robert Phillip Hanssen, the FBI counterintelligence agent who spent a quarter century selling secrets to Moscow. Washington Post reporter David A. Vise explains how Hanssen got away with it -- and ultimately got caught -- in The Bureau and the Mole.

Why are Sandra Bullock's movies so dependably generic? Although Murder by Numbers isn't a jumble, you can barely remember you saw it 10 minutes after it's over.

Life or Something Like It comes roaring out of the gate as a smart and sassy throwback to those wonderful 1930s and '40s Preston Sturges-type screwball comedies -- only to sputter a bit in the middle. But a strong ending, along with a fine performance by Angelina Jolie, help the movie work.

With his thoughtful, swaggering literary demeanor, the swarthy journalist Sebastian Junger is part-writer, part-adventurer and -- if Fire is any indication -- part-prophet as well.

When the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease are at their worst, Michael J. Fox can't write. Or speak. Or stay still. With medication, these effects can be masked for short periods. It's during these times that he wrote Lucky Man: A Memoir, the proceeds of which will go to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Sounds like a depressing read, right? Not so.

Neil Young's restless muse has now lead him to, of all things, lounge soul.

The notion that members of the Los Angeles Police Department -- along with rap mogul Suge Knight and members of the Bloods street gang -- were allegedly involved in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls should be the domain of crackpots. But in the wake of Mark Fuhrman, Rodney King, and the Rampart scandal, America's most wanted police department is hardly above reproach.

Everything contradictory about Sheryl Crow is embodied in ''Soak Up the Sun,'' the initial single off C'mon, C'mon.'' An apparent dig at our information-saturated culture, the song is at best a mild knuckle rap from someone who shows up in the media at least once a week.

Advice-seekers write to Dear Abby. Ethics questioners turn to the New York Times' Randy Cohen.

Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid), a college student in National Lampoon's Van Wilder, is settling in for a drab life with her uptight frat boyfriend. Until ... she meets big man on campus Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds). An undergrad in his seventh year, Van will be the subject of Gwen's school newspaper exposé.

The Turtles' story is the classic tale of a 1960s American rock band.

After four years on the West Coast,the Grammys are headed back to the Big Apple, with the 45th annual music awards ceremony slated to be held at New York's Madison Square Garden on February 23.

Writer-executive producer Peter Tolan specializes in the comedy of dysfunction: how people's neuroses and compulsions screw up their public and private lives. This talent gives ABC's ''The Job'' (on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. EST, 8:30 p.m. CST) a resonance like few other shows on TV this past year.

How can I talk you out of this?

I know, I know: It all comes down to money. It's the way the TV business -- the pop-culture business -- works. But that doesn't mean you still can't be appalled at this nauseating irony: ABC has cancelled its most engrossing, moving show, ''Once and Again,'' due to poor ratings, while the show that precedes it on Monday, the disgustingly smarmy ''reality'' show ''The Bachelor,'' gains viewers and ...

The event: The party for the New York premiere of Woody Allen's new film Hollywood Ending, about a film director turned TV commercial director who gets a chance at a huge film comeback, only to lose his sight, due to (gasp!) paranoia.

Who would have thought Tomorrow could have so many yesterdays? Twenty-five years ago -- on April 21, 1977 -- Annie premiered on Broadway, to the delight of 2,377 audiences and the amazement of its star, Andrea McArdle, age 13.

Jim Bellows' career in journalism spanned six decades and took him to newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet. His wry and insight recollections can be found in his new book, The Last Editor (Andrews McMeel Publishing).

In this concluding part of a four-part series excerpted from his new book, The Last Editor (Andrews McMeel Publishing), veteran editor Jim Bellows recounts his years as editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and his suicidal mission against The Los Angeles Times.

Jim Bellows' career in journalism spanned six decades and took him to newspapers, magazines television and the Internet. His wry and insightful recollections can be found in his new book, The Last Editor (Andrews McMeel Publishing).

Robert Urich, the versatile television actor who starred in at least 15 shows over his 30-year career, died Tuesday of cancer. He was 55.

Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley says his Emmy award winning show is going off the air in May.

It's the perfect sitcom setup: Dad plops down in the comfy chair and turns on the TV to unwind with the History Channel -- only he can't figure out the dang remote and gets stuck on the Weather Channel. Cue the laugh track, right? Not on MTV's hit series The Osbournes, where Dad curses to himself in a slurred British accent before his son comes to the rescue.

Poker has its own language -- so much so that author Andy Bellin includes a glossary with Poker Nation. Here are some of those terms:

According to information furnished by (name deleted), the two unrobed Klansmen gave each of the victims a pint of liquor and informed them they would either have to drink it or it would be thrown in their faces. The victims drank the liquor, as well as some vodka; however, only one of the victims, James G. Bellows, passed out. It was reported that the other two victims were given some injections. ...

The Washington Post

A body has been removed from the University District residence of Layne Staley, the lead singer of the Seattle rock group Alice in Chains, a spokesman for the King County Sheriff's Department said Saturday.

The body of R&B artist Lisa Left Eye Lopes, who died Thursday in a car accident in Honduras, was being flown to the United States Saturday.

One of the biggest-selling acts in rock music this year--- the band Creed -- is canceling the rest of its North American tour because the group's lead singer was injured in a car accident.

Friends and family of Ed Turner packed a memorial service in northern Virginia Thursday, recalling the candor, career and compassion of one of CNN's founding fathers.

British DJ Fatboy Slim recently sat down with The Music Room to discuss dance culture, and here's the rest of the conversation:

The ladies have it!

Michael J. Fox says he's hopeful that a cure to Parkinson's disease will be discovered in his lifetime.

A man accused of stalking British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley has appeared in court 24 hours after the star gave birth to a son.

Diminutive pop idol Kylie Minogue's sexual magic and vocal abilities have helped her songwriters gain four nominations in Britain's annual Ivor Novello Awards.

Oscar-winner Liza Minnelli has made an emotional return to the stage at the first date of her European comeback tour in London.

Model and actress Liz Hurley has given birth to a baby boy, her spokeswoman has said.

Audiences will have to wait a little longer to see Madonna's London stage debut after technical problems delayed the pop diva's first steps onto the capital's boards.

Audiences will have to wait a little longer to see Madonna's London stage debut after technical problems delayed the pop diva's first steps onto the capital's boards.

A sale of rare Beatles memorabilia is set to take place without one of the main lots after Sir Paul McCartney intervened.

Ewan McGregor has admitted the last Star Wars: film -- in which he played a leading role -- disappointed him, and says he expects more from the next.

Smooth and sultry; two words that sum up the voice of Norah Jones, a 22-year-old jazz singer/songwriter tipped for stardom after the release of her elegant debut album, Come Away With Me.

Heirs of the late rap star Notorious B.I.G. have filed a wrongful death and federal civil rights lawsuit against Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks, two former chiefs and the city of Los Angeles, claiming they did not do enough to prevent the rapper's death five years ago in a drive-by shooting.

Britpop standard bearers of the 1990s Oasis are releasing their first single for nearly two years.

Oprah's Book Club will stop being a monthly feature and Oprah Winfrey will only promote a book when it gains her heartfelt recommendation, according to a statement by the talk show host.

LONDON, England - R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck resorted to a desperate lie to cover up a drink-fuelled air rage attack, prosecutors told a UK court.

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck has been cleared by a jury in a British court of drunken behaviour charges during a transatlantic flight.

''Look at you winning your Academy Award,'' kvells Rene Zellweger to Cuba Gooding Jr., and what's truly weird is that when she says that we're looking at Gooding looking at himself.