Arts & Entertainment

By PHIL VILLARREAL
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Marx Brothers movies make little sense and have no class. They're cruel, snide and surly.

Bless 'em.

Who knows how depressing the Great Depression would have been had the Marx Brothers not brought their vaudeville-inspired schtick to the big screen.

Their raw yet strangely sophisticated and precise humor entertained and inspired the masses.

"Horse Feathers," an insane parody of college life, is an example of the Marx Brothers just getting rolling.

By SAMANTHA ETTUS
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
If you were to tell me you were taking money out of the stock market and investing in celebrities instead, I would advise you to stake your cash on country crooners Sara Evans and Keith Urban.

You don't need a tarot card to guess that Evans and Urban will be making colossal comebacks in the wake of their current battles.

By TERRY MORROW
Thursday, November 02, 2006
You could write a hit song just off the backstage drama from this year's "Country Music Association Awards" (8 p.m., EST/PST, Monday, Nov. 6, ABC).

Female Vocalist of the Year nominee Sara Evans is in the middle of a messy divorce.

Entertainer of the Year nominee Keith Urban is in rehab.

Troy Lee Gentry, half of Vocal Duo of the Year nominee Montgomery Gentry, has been in trouble with authorities over shooting a bear.

Then there's folks like Dolly Parton, who's still doing jokes about her breasts at age 60; Kenny Chesney, who was married to Renee Zellweger for all of about 15 seconds last year, and husband-and-wife team Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who have been outspoken with criticism of the current administration and the war in the Middle East.

Regardless, the show goes on.

Brooks and Dunn are hosts for the evening, coming live from Nashville.

By PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Hardcover best-sellers compiled from data from large-city bookstores, bookstore chains and local best-seller lists across the United States. The first number to the right of the author's name is the book's previous week's ranking; the second is the number of weeks the book has been on the best-seller list.

Fiction Hardcover

1.Lisey's Story.

By TERRY MORROW
Thursday, November 02, 2006
With "The Class," Jason Ritter is facing one of his fears.

For years he resisted doing a sitcom because he anticipated comparisons to his late father, John Ritter.

By DUSTY SAUNDERS
Thursday, November 02, 2006
My name is Dusty Saunders and I approve this message: I've watched numerous nasty political commercials through the years, but the current midterm election campaign has set a new, tacky standard when it comes to disgusting personal attack ads by candidates.

By ROB OWEN
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Fox persists in airing annual "Simpsons" Halloween episodes after the holiday, but regardless of poor timing, these spooktaculars have become an annual event for fans, always eager to see what trilogy the writers will concoct.

This year's "Treehouse of Horror XVII" begins well, but diminishes as it goes along until the final installment turns into a didactic downer commentary on the U.S.

By DAVE MASON
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Doughnuts are no longer enough for Homer Simpson.

Instead this man is broadening his horizons _ literally _ by devouring the good and not-so-good people of Springfield in the "Treehouse of Horror XVII." The annual scary "Simpsons" episode will chill the air at 8 p.m.

By BETSY PICKLE
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
"Death of a President" was declared dead on arrival at U.S. and Canadian theaters last weekend. Despite a slew of publicity _ admittedly, most of it negative _ the film earned only $281,778 on 143 screens, according to www.boxofficemojo.com.

"Death" earned an average of $1,970 per screen last Friday-Sunday.

By KAREN MACPHERSON
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
It's no exaggeration: Tomie dePaola is an icon in the world of children's literature.

Since his first children's book was published in 1965, dePaola (pronounced da-POW-la) has produced more than 200 books, ranging the "Strega Nona" folktales to anthologies of Mother Goose rhymes and Bible stories to a popular series of autobiographical chapter books.