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Contrasting his own metaphorical digging with a pen to the literal digging done by his father, Seamus Heaney comes over a little embarrassed: 'By God, the old man could handle a spade'. But some poets have heaved real sods, not least the one-time plough boy John Clare. His first-hand knowledge of the countryside's 'beautiful green solitude' provided a principal theme, one illuminated in the peasant patois of 19th-century Northamptonshire, where a snail was a 'pooty'. To celebrate this chronicler of natural beauty, his home next week becomes an environmental and arts centre. There were, however, other themes - including tragedy, something else he knew a good deal about. Born poor, he was barred when young from associating with the love of his life, Mary Joyce, by her prosperous father. Gripped by dreadful depression, he was later consigned to High Beach asylum in Essex, from where he cut an 80-mile homeward dash - 'eating the grass by the roadside' to survive - desperately hoping to fin

Prequels, sequels, junior sequels, semi-official junior prequels to penultimate graphic sequels ... Joe Queenan unravels the baffling, tangled world of the movie novelisationAuthors of film novelisations, not unlike pornographers, rarely get the respect they deserve. Generally, practitioners of such genres are held in contempt by writers and critics, who dismiss them as hacks.That is not entirely fair. After all, most books by movie stars, politicians, athletes and businessmen are cobbled together by ghostwriters, furnishing the alleged 'author' with an eloquence and turn of phrase that would otherwise not be available to them. Yet reviewers will routinely praise manufactured books - withholding their criticism of the ghostwriters who participate in such literary fraud - while looking down their noses at those who toil in the novelising fields.Such selectivity defies logic. Novelisations, at the very least, are the work of the authors whose names appear on the cover. Well, more or less

Patricia Arquette is done trying to divorce Thomas Jane. Less than a month after the Medium star and her famous siblings were spotted at the launch party for Jane's new HBO series,...

From what we see in "Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design," the former football player is defined less by his taste than by the overwhelming self-regard of the professional athlete.

An anti-social piece about friends, intuitive storytelling, comedy capers and more are being offered this summer by CoHo Productions in its first ever summer programming: Endless Summer. This is our ambitious endeavor to co-produce at least one performance in the CoHo Theater every night beginning Thursday, July 9, until August 29! They're cheap too! Every production has at least one performance in which ticket prices start at $5.

At least five soldiers were killed and four wounded when the truck in which they were travelling struck a landmine in Pakistan's southwestern Quetta City, a media report said.

Nicole Kidman is buzzing around a new big screen project, and the 42-year-old actress will produce and star in the new film. Kidman will star and produce BBC Films adaptation of "Little Bee," the bestselling novel by Chris Cleave, Variety reports. Gail Mutrux of Pretty Pictures will co-produce the film with Kidman and her Blossom Films partner Per Saari.

Bollywood stars lose their shine, sign more for lessEconomic TimesNEW DELHI: The stars are falling back to the earth with the Bollywood's reversal of fortune as new actors tighten their grip and companies demand more bang ...

Brüno, Brüno, Brüno, my little strüdel. Did you really wave your Wiener schnitzel at Ron Paul, interview Paula Abdul about humanitarianism as she sat on an undocumented worker, and confuse hummus with Hamas while brokering peace in the Middle East?

Legit Reviews: 'Les Ephemeres,' while composed of domestic scenes set in modern-day France, is no less concerned with the fragile, transitory nature of human life and happiness.