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Capsule Movie Reviews: Keeping It Short and Not So Sweet
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" Slate examines what makes the best writers at The New York Times. The conclusion? The best writers keep it short. The best example, says Slate, is the Times' capsule movie reviews, which never run more than 20 words.

Even if you never intend to watch any of the films, the capsules make for good morning reading. Consider this taut kiss-off of The Matrix Revolutions: "Ferocious machine assault on a battered Zion. Stop frowning, Neo; it's finally over." Appreciate, if you will, the efficient setup and slam of the 2 Fast 2 Furious capsule: "Ex-cop and ex-con help sexy customs agent indict money launderer. Two fine performances, both by cars."

*****

Howard Thompson invented the Times capsule style in the 1960s and continued to write them on contract after his 1988 retirement, according to his 2002 Times obituary. Among his greatest clips cited in the obit were assessments of The Guns of Navarone ("Allied commando mission. Strong on scenery but weighs 10 tons."); Matilda ("A boxing kangaroo. What the world needs now."); and The Wrath of God ("They said it, we didn't and it's pretty close.").

Actor Stephen Fry has revealed how he contemplated suicide twice, once as a teenager and again 11 years ago. The 48-year-old star of British comedies "Blackadder" and "Jeeves and Wooster" recalled the second incident which took place after he had walked out of a West End play called "Cell Mates".

"Eleven years ago in the early hours of the morning I came down from my flat in central London to this lane," he said in the programme "Stephen Fry - The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive", which will be aired on BBC Two in the autumn. "I went into my garage, sealed the door with a duvet I brought, and got into my car ... Sat there for at least, I think, two hours in the car, my hands on the ignition key.

"It was a ... suicide attempt, not a cry for help." Shortly afterward he fled the country but returned a week later and was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. "I'd never heard the word before, but for the first time, at the age of 37, I had a diagnosis that explained the massive highs and miserable lows I've lived with all my life," Fry said. In the same interview he said he had tried to take an overdose of tablets aged 17, but vomited them up. By taking part in the programme, Fry hopes to raise awareness of manic depression and break some of the taboos surrounding the condition. "I have discovered just how serious it is to have bi-polarity or manic depression as it's also called. Four million others in the UK have it and many of them end up killing themselves."

This is an interview with a British author who has written some very popular books about a boy with magical powers who goes to school in a castle. No, not that British author. In fact, Jenny Nimmo, author of the Charlie Bone series, hasn't even read the books about that other magical boy, Harry what's-his-name. But her editors made her change some things in her stories because of similarities between the two.

"I had a maze in one of my books ... and my editor called me up and said I had to take it out because there was a maze in one of the Harry Potter books. I was a bit put out because Charlie was certainly in my mind before Harry Potter."

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Q. Where did the idea for Charlie Bone come from?

A. "I was mulling writing a book for a long time. My own kids always wanted me to write about the boarding school I went to. It was a dark, dreadful place. I was only 6 when I was sent there. I don't think I was ready to write it until my own children went to college. ... I wanted a hero who was not completely magical but had one talent. I have a dyslexic son, and I thought it was always important for him to have the sense of having a talent."

Her ultimate goal: "It's never about the numbers. My fondest wish, I suppose, would be to die at the keyboard right after finishing a book, perhaps with a little time off to have some really good sex. It's not, 'Oh, thank God, this is book No. 250. I can die now.'"

[J]udging from conversations with impartial observers around Hollywood, the perception is that success has gone to his head. "It feels like the entire town is rooting for him to fail," says one studio exec. "Is there a 12-step program for egos?" On the eve of "Lady in the Water," M. Night Shyamalan has cooperated with a book that details his arguments with Disney president Nina Jacobson. She advised him, for instance, not to cast himself as a visionary writer whose book will change the world. Shyamalan ignored her, and made the movie at Warner Bros. "He has completely burned a bridge at Disney," says a top agent. NEWSWEEK, some say, is partly to blame for Shyamalan's arrogance. "When your fine magazine proclaimed him "The Next Spielberg" on the cover, this was all fated," says a studio exec.

Since that article four years ago, Shyamalan's movies?namely "The Village" and "Lady in the Water"?have certainly become more artificial and less engrossing. The success of The Sixth Sense gave him total creative autonomy, and he has isolated himself in Pennsylvania, where all his movies are made. "When someone is given total artistic freedom," says one blockbuster producer, "the result is usually bad."

CBS is enlisting eggs in its scramble to attract viewers. The CBS logo and slogans promoting the TV network and its series will appear along with coded expiration dates on eggs sold by grocers - just another promotional measure in the competitive world of television.

More than 35 million eggs will be marked with phrases such as "CSI: Crack the Case on CBS" and "The Class, New Grade-A CBS Comedy" as part of a deal between the CBS Marketing Group and EggFusion, an egg-coding company.

The campaign will begin in September, when the fall TV season begins, CBS said Saturday at a meeting of the Television Critics Association.

What eggxactly is CBS thinking here? Apparently, CBS totally committed to its "Outernet Strategy" -- no Internet, Internets or Interweb advertising for them. So, what's next? iPod ads stamped onto oranges? Tiny MP3 players embedded in your Starbucks cup that feature Bono yelling "Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce!!!"? Airborne holograms that follow us around screaming ads at us? The Outernet is clearly no longer safe.

Lycos acquired Wired News as part of its June 1999 acquisition of Wired Digital in a stock transaction valued at about $83 million at the time. Since then, Wired News has published Wired magazine articles on the web under a contractual relationship, while reporting independently on technology and science news.

Tuesday's deal includes all the assets of Wired News, such as the website, news content and domain name, but leaves Lycos in control of former Wired Digital properties such as HotBot, Hotwired and Webmonkey. Upon completion of the transaction, the assets of Wired News will be operated as part of Conde Nast Publications' web division, CondeNet. No layoffs at Wired News are planned as a result of the deal.

"We are thrilled to be bringing Wired News back into the fold after eight years of separation from the print publication, especially since it comes at a time of exploding growth and creativity on the web," said Steve Newhouse, chairman of the Advance.net web division of Advance Publications, the privately held parent company of Conde Nast, in a joint statement with Lycos, also released Tuesday.