Holy Grail

Taunting Frenchmen and a killer rabbit are at the gates of Baltimore. The touring company of Monty Python's Spamalot begins its 16-show run tonight at the Hippodrome Theatre. Spamalot, which opened on Broadway two years ago, is "lovingly ripped off" from the British comedy troupe's 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail - with other brave and strong bits thrown in. Spamalot runs today through March 18, times vary, Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. Tickets, $30-$75, at BroadwayAcrossAmerica.

Bob Velke spent several years searching for live people during the day and dead people at night. Eventually, he quit his job as a researcher for a private investigator tracking down white-collar criminals, but he never stopped digging up information on the deceased. The former criminologist now runs a genealogical software company from offices on Red Branch Road in Columbia. For more than 15 years, Velke has helped others unearth their roots, though, ironcially, it has left him little time to work on his own. "Every family's got a genealogist," the Columbia resident said.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a shot in the funny bone - or, rather, an entire fusillade of shots, some landing on bones you never realized could be funny. French knights send Arthur King of the Britons into retreat with taunts, such as "I blow my nose at you, so-called `Arthur King.' " Catapulted cow and Trojan Rabbit alike curl across the screen like arrows crossed with boomerangs. Arthur can't make his way to Camelot without rousing discussions of class warfare, and once he gets there, he has a nightmare musical-comedy vision of a chorus line singing "We're knights of the Round Table, our shows are for-mi-dable."

Taunting Frenchmen and a killer rabbit are at the gates of Baltimore. The touring company of Monty Python's Spamalot begins its 16-show run tonight at the Hippodrome Theatre. Spamalot, which opened on Broadway two years ago, is "lovingly ripped off" from the British comedy troupe's 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail - with other brave and strong bits thrown in. Spamalot runs today through March 18, times vary, Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. Tickets, $30-$75, at BroadwayAcrossAmerica.

It happens only rarely - a television show popular enough to anchor 85 million people to their sofas for an hour. But to the delight of advertisers, and General Electric Co.'s NBC, that's how many people are expected to tune in to the finale of the hit Friends on May 6. The show is commanding $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time, setting a record for a non-Super Bowl broadcast. That is four times the $500,000 cost for commercial time on a normal episode of Friends. The National Football League's Super Bowl has long been the holy grail of advertising.

THE DA VINCI CODE Rating -- PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content. What it's about -- A murder in the Louvre sends a researcher and a cop on the quest for the Holy Grail, or its factual equivalent. The Kid Attractor Factor -- Codes and treasure hunts and chases. Good lessons/bad lessons -- That Leonardo was one clever cat. And the Bible wasn't "faxed down from heaven." It was written. And edited. By men. Violence -- Shootings, stabbings, bludgeonings.

LONDON -- A British High Court judge ruled yesterday that similarities between author Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, and an earlier nonfiction work did not constitute copyright infringement. Judge Peter Smith, pronouncing his verdict in the packed courtroom No. 61 in London's Royal Courts of Justice, dismissed the claim that Brown's novel "appropriated the architecture" and central theme of a 1982 work written by the plaintiffs. The three-week trial, which saw Brown take the witness stand, attracted huge publicity and at times became a real-life potboiler followed by readers and writers.

If you're smart, you'll save your TV-viewing muscles for tomorrow, when a handful of cable stations say good-bye to 1995 with marathons that should leave picture tubes throughout the country gasping for air. The Sci-Fi channel, for instance, will air 48 consecutive episodes of "The Twilight Zone" beginning at 7 p.m., while TNT will send residents of Tokyo running for cover with five straight Godzilla movies beginning at 11 a.m., and the Discovery Channel will...

Let there be no confusion: The Rouse Co.'s planned 73-acre shopping center on Route 175 in Columbia is no Holy Grail -- and never was intended to be, according to a top company executive."

Jack Lucas is a shock DJ in New York who thinks he's about to make it big in a TV sitcom. "Well, forgiiiiiiive me!" he keeps repeating from the script -- a phrase that will become a trademark in the mouth of another actor because Jack is not destined to deliver it.What derails Jack's plans is that one of his nerdy listeners takes one of the shock jock's offhand remarks too seriously and, with a shotgun, proceeds to off most of the patrons of a midtown watering...

The Break-Up What It's About: A couple (Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston) decide to break up, but neither wants to give up the condo they share. Rated: PG-13 The scoop: This is half of a great movie: a biting look at exes taking off the gloves. But it fails to explain how these characters got together in the first place. Grade: B Cars What It's About: Pixar's latest animation miracle envisions Al Gore's worst nightmare - a universe peopled entirely by cars. Rated: G The scoop: It's a vehicle for beguiling comedy and drama about a hot-shot racer (Owen Wilson)

Pop-rock solo The lowdown -- Rhett Miller, the vocalist and rhythm guitar slinger of the Dallas-based alt-rock band Old 97's, brings his pop-rock solo project to Rams Head Live on Sunday. Although he began his musical career in 1993 with the quartet he leads, he's also put out three albums on his own. His current tour is in support of his latest effort, The Believer. If you go -- Rams Head Live is at 20 Market Place. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20 in advance and $22 the day of the show.

THE DA VINCI CODE Rating -- PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content. What it's about -- A murder in the Louvre sends a researcher and a cop on the quest for the Holy Grail, or its factual equivalent. The Kid Attractor Factor -- Codes and treasure hunts and chases. Good lessons/bad lessons -- That Leonardo was one clever cat. And the Bible wasn't "faxed down from heaven." It was written. And edited. By men. Violence -- Shootings, stabbings, bludgeonings.

LONDON -- A British High Court judge ruled yesterday that similarities between author Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, and an earlier nonfiction work did not constitute copyright infringement. Judge Peter Smith, pronouncing his verdict in the packed courtroom No. 61 in London's Royal Courts of Justice, dismissed the claim that Brown's novel "appropriated the architecture" and central theme of a 1982 work written by the plaintiffs. The three-week trial, which saw Brown take the witness stand, attracted huge publicity and at times became a real-life potboiler followed by readers and writers.

In the News Amazon.com uses star-studded delivery service Clay Aiken lurked outside a house, Emmylou Harris stopped by a university, Nick Lachey dropped in on a stranger's workplace and Moby played with dogs while making special deliveries in honor of online retailer Amazon.com's 10th anniversary. Over 10 days, 23 Amazon customers received a surprise visit from a celebrity associated with their order. American Idol runner-up Aiken dropped off his memoir, Learning to Sing. Lachey delivered all three seasons of MTV's Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica on DVD, while musicians Moby and Harris showed up with their CDs. Other celebrities who participated in the surprises included Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Jeff Bridges, Minnie Driver, Fat Joe and Michael J. Fox. `Spamalot' to tour next year Those Monty Python boys will be looking for the Holy Grail across America (and in Canada, too)

Spam was haute cuisine in New York last night when Monty Python's Spamalot -- a send-up of everything from King Arthur's Round Table to Broadway itself -- was named the best musical at the 59th-annual Tony Awards. Spamalot took home three Tonys, out of 14 nominations. Sara Ramirez was honored for her portrayal of the Lady of the Lake, a character only mentioned in passing in the musical's source, the 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The show's third award went to director Mike Nichols, bringing his career total to nine Tonys.

Now and forever the man of the hour on the midnight movie circuit, Tim Curry has enjoyed a vastly more multifaceted career than his star-making turn as Dr. Frank N. Furter in the 1975 cult hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He's done right proper English theater and Saturday morning cartoon characters. He indulged a brief vogue as a rock singer in the early 1980s and has had roles in such recent films as Kinsey and A Series of Unfortunate Events (as the voice of Lemony Snicket). Curry, who turns 58 next month, knew it was time for something completely different: the lead role of King Arthur in Spamalot, the musical based on another beloved cult film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A crime-fighting teen-ager who spins webs to scale Manhattan's tall buildings catapulted himself from comic-book hero to America's hero this weekend as Spider-Man became the first movie ever to earn $100 million in its first three days. The film adventures of Marvel Comics' best-loved good guy rang up an estimated $114 million from Friday through Sunday - shattering the previous weekend opening record of $90.3 million, set in November by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Spider-Man earned a senses-tingling three times as much as the rest of the weekend's Top 10 movies combined.

NEW YORK -- It's the Titan vs. Tiny. The $11 million blockbuster vs. the $3.5 million off-Broadway transfer. A cast of 22 vs. a cast of nine (plus four audience volunteers). Once again, the battle for best musical at tonight's Tony Awards ceremony (8 p.m.-11 p.m., WJZ-Channel 13) is predicted to be a showdown between a leviathan and a scrappy little guy. Last year, the best-musical competition pitted Wicked, the favorite, against Avenue Q, the underdog. Avenue Q won. This year, Monty Python's Spamalot is the one to beat, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee just might be the show to do it. For all of their differences, Spamalot and Spelling Bee do have a few things in common.

Now and forever the man of the hour on the midnight movie circuit, Tim Curry has enjoyed a vastly more multifaceted career than his star-making turn as Dr. Frank N. Furter in the 1975 cult hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He's done right proper English theater and Saturday morning cartoon characters. He indulged a brief vogue as a rock singer in the early 1980s and has had roles in such recent films as Kinsey and A Series of Unfortunate Events (as the voice of Lemony Snicket). Curry, who turns 58 next month, knew it was time for something completely different: the lead role of King Arthur in Spamalot, the musical based on another beloved cult film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.