Conversations

CONVERSATIONS WITH WOODY ALLEN Eric Lax Knopf / 416 pages / $30 Compiled over 36 years of interviews, conversations and experiences one could only glean from gaining Allen's confidence and respect, Conversations is essential reading for aspiring filmmakers and those who wish to eventually put finger to keyboard in hopes of telling a story, but it is no less intriguing for simple cinephiles. Broken into eight sections - "The Idea," "Writing It," "Casting, Actors and Acting," "Shooting, Sets, Locations," "Directing," "Editing," "Scoring" and "The Career" - Conversations details not only the creative process but also the psychic burden of the divide between comedy and drama.

The man who informed police about Ruthann Aron's alleged murder-for-hire scheme and helped them tape her making the plans, insisted yesterday that Aron had not been coaxed into her actions.On a June evening last year, when she spoke to him about her feelings of vengeance and asked him to help find someone to "eliminate" two then-unidentified people, William H. Mossburg Jr. said he was frightened."At some point I'm telling her this doesn't make sense," Mossburg testified yesterday in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Three of Linda Tripp's friends and one of her former attorneys testified yesterday before the Howard County grand jury, as the investigation into her alleged illegal wiretapping continues.According to sources familiar with the investigation, the three friends regularly played bridge with Tripp. They were asked whether they had tapes of Tripp's conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.The Tripp friends did not offer comment after they testified, and it is not known what they said to the grand jury.

Attracting a throng of reporters and photographers to Ellicott City, New York literary agent Lucianne Goldberg testified for 1 1/2 hours yesterday before a Howard County grand jury, saying later she had turned over tapes of conversations involving her friend Linda R. Tripp.Goldberg, the highest-profile witness to appear before the grand jury investigating allegations that Tripp broke state wiretap law, insisted to reporters that "Linda did nothing illegal" in taping former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

EVEN IF TEXACO executives did not use a racial slur in talking about black employees of the oil company, a tape recording of the conversation provides clear evidence of their bias not only toward African Americans but Jews as well.Plaintiffs in a $520 million discrimination lawsuit have a tape recording of a 1994 meeting in which their claim was discussed by former Texaco treasurer Robert Ulrich and other top executives. A Texaco lawyer who digitized and analyzed the tape says "St. Nicholas" was what the plaintiffs heard as "(expletive)

Electronic conversations on the Internet and various other computer networks such as America Online, Prodigy and CompuServe, are a new and interesting feature of American social life and manners.The terabytes of gab on these systems, engaging millions of people, are perhaps the first display of the direct voice of the American people in an ongoing, semi-organized, public forum. People are talking about everything under the sun -- politics, pet care, even deliberate gibberish. Consequently, politicians, pollsters, reporters, marketers and social analysts are keenly interested in what our fellow citizens are saying and thinking on-line.

As prosecutors try to convict five people alleged to be partners in a Maryland drug ring, a Baltimore police sergeant has stirred up a legal squall by saying jurors should believe his testimony because he is a God-fearing man.Sgt. Melvin Russell, the key prosecution witness, says his faith is a fair response to cross-examination that questions his credibility. But two of the defense attorneys say it provides grounds for a mistrial.Sergeant Russell, a supervisor in the Eastern District drug unit, has been testifying against five defendants charged with participating in a ring that peddled heroin for years in Baltimore and on the Eastern Shore.

Two separate conversations in the past few months remind me of an important, but often forgotten lesson.Speaking with a friend a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to find that this former Peace Corps volunteer had not been involved in volunteer work for years. He explained that there were so many organizations he wanted to help, he found himself in a classic case of paralysis by analysis.My other conversation was with a bank executive who, along with his family, was involved with more charities than you could count on your fingers and toes.

In a book to be released in September, "Adultery: The Forgivable Sin," New York City family therapist Bonnie Eaker Weil lists signals that might indicate a spouse could be having an extramarital affair.Don't jump to conclusions, but if your marriage exhibits three or more of these signals, you may want to explore the reasons why, she says:* Do you receive frequent phone calls in which the caller hangs up?* Does your spouse participate in whispered conversations to others?* Are there strange charges on phone bills or credit cards, or has your spouse become secretive about credit card slips?

Defense attorneys for nine men on trial for distributing the drug China White said yesterday that prosecutors failed to show their clients participated in any of the more than 100 phone conversations presented as evidence after a two-month wiretap investigation.That defense came during closing arguments yesterday in the drug conspiracy trial of the men in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in the courtroom of Judge Frederic N. Smalkin.Carlos Ortiz, 27, of New York, is charged with being the kingpin of an organization that distributed the synthetic narcotic fentanyl, which is known as China White, and heroin.

WASHINGTON - A report issued by Barack Obama's White House transition team concluded that the president-elect had no contact with Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich or his office and no one acting on Obama's behalf was involved in any "quid pro quo" arrangement allegedly sought by the governor to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat. Incoming White House counsel Greg Craig said yesterday that Obama; his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel; and his adviser, Valerie Jarrett, all submitted to interviews with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week as part of a continuing criminal investigaiton of Blagojevich.

Conversation is as central to Thanksgiving as the turkey crowning the dinner table. But how many of our treasured conversations do we truly remember - and how often have we wished we could hear again a loved one or friend recount a revealing story? Today, Americans are being invited to act on that impulse by recording just such a conversation in what is being promoted as a "National Day of Listening." The sponsors of this event have shown compellingly in recent years how the act of listening can change opinions, improve relations and transform lives.

CONVERSATIONS WITH WOODY ALLEN Eric Lax Knopf / 416 pages / $30 Compiled over 36 years of interviews, conversations and experiences one could only glean from gaining Allen's confidence and respect, Conversations is essential reading for aspiring filmmakers and those who wish to eventually put finger to keyboard in hopes of telling a story, but it is no less intriguing for simple cinephiles. Broken into eight sections - "The Idea," "Writing It," "Casting, Actors and Acting," "Shooting, Sets, Locations," "Directing," "Editing," "Scoring" and "The Career" - Conversations details not only the creative process but also the psychic burden of the divide between comedy and drama.

President Bush's crushing victory last weekend over the Democratic Congress, forcing its leaders to accept secret surveillance of American citizens without court approval, demonstrates that Mr. Bush's favorite fear tactic has not lost its potency. Vague hints of a possible terrorist attack on American soil within the next few weeks set a tone of urgency. The administration's "more, more, more" negotiating stance made compromise impossible. And the still-palpable fears among Americans since the 9/11 attacks suggested that a principled stand of opposition before a monthlong recess could have disastrous political consequences.

WASHINGTON -- Even after years of criticizing the conduct of the war in Iraq, and months urging President Bush to pursue diplomacy in the region, Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest found it no easy decision to demand a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. "This took a long time -- many, many conversations -- with people in and out of the government," said the Eastern Shore Republican, one of only two GOP members to join House Democrats yesterday in ordering President Bush to pull combat troops out of Iraq by September of next year.

The party was in honor of an undercover spy, but who said the guests had to be discreet? Champagne-fueled conversations -- in French, British-accented English and Bawlmerese -- echoed from all corners of the French ambassador's mansion. Soldiers with chestfuls of medals jingled past, and every few seconds there was the sound of a double-cheek kiss. In the midst of it all was propped the portrait of the late Virginia Hall, and for once the Baltimore-born spy appeared oblivious to the swirling intrigue.

DON'T KNOW HOW IT IS IN your house, but one of my children is always telling one of the parents, "Just don't tell Mom." Or, conversely, "Just don't tell Dad." They seem to do just fine with this set of rules at the CIA and the FBI. ("Just don't tell Justice" or "Just don't tell the Pentagon.") But it is causing a lot of confusion in my house because my husband and I aren't sharp enough to maintain our deniability or keep our stories straight. Add to that the fact that we can't remember what we said to each other the last time we talked and you have a web of unspoken truths or downright lies that would snare a small aircraft.

The competition for free-agent outfielder Carlos Lee appears to be down to three teams, including the Orioles, and the slugger could make a decision by the weekend. The Orioles, Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies are viewed as the most serious bidders for Lee, the most coveted offensive player remaining on a market that's rapidly changing shape. "That's my read," said Jim Duquette, vice president of baseball operations. It's believed the Orioles would offer as much as a six-year contract worth about $80 million to $90 million for Lee, 30. Though it would be a substantial commitment, it's not in the same neighborhood as the eight-year, $136 million contract that Alfonso Soriano signed with the Chicago Cubs.

Is it me, or is it loud in here? I SAID IS IT ME, OR IS IT LOUD IN HERE? YES, IN HERE! IN THE MOVIE THEATER! WHAT? YES, I KNOW IT'S ONLY THE TRAILERS. I SAID, I KNOW IT'S ONLY THE ... Whew. Do you have conversations like this at the movies? I have them all the time. At the risk of lapsing into cranky-old-guy musing, when did it get so loud at the local cineplex or multiplex or megaplex, or whatever they're calling themselves these days? When did they start jacking the volume to eardrum-shattering levels, so that every car crash, helicopter explosion and Semtex blast makes me jump out of my seat?

A federal jury waded through hours of secretly recorded conversations yesterday that prosecutors say implicates two Baltimore police officers charged with organizing and running an illegal drug-dealing operation. Prosecutors, on the third day of testimony, spent most of their time with an FBI agent who took the witness stand to interpret language used by street-level drug dealers - and the accused officers. The FBI's seven-month wiretap probe led to the May 2005 arrests of detectives William A. King and Antonio L. Murray.