Milk

Milk Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Released by Universal Studios. $29.98. (Blu-ray, $39.95) Rated R. *** 1/2 (3 1/2 STARS) Sean Penn is nothing short of extraordinary in Milk, director Gus Van Sant's biopic of slain gay rights pioneer and San Francisco assemblyman Harvey Milk. He loses himself absolutely in the role, becoming this outgoing, physically slight but emotionally volatile character whose energy is only matched by his outrage over the inequities gay men like him have had to endure for too long.

The Purple One to reign at Target Prince is coming to a Target near you. The superstar is releasing a three-disc set through the retailer at the end of this month. The set will include two new albums as well as one by his new artist, Bria Valente, for $11.98. Prince is just the latest entertainer to release new music exclusively through a major retailer. AC/DC and the Eagles were among the acts who sold millions of CDs through their partnership with Wal-Mart. The CD set will be on sale at Target and its Web site on March 29. Honoring Milk Fresh from his best actor Oscar for his performance as Harvey Milk, Sean Penn is pushing California to officially recognize the late gay politician's birthday.

A promotional contest for Milk-Bone dog biscuits landed a Brooklyn veterinarian and her Boxer on a national talk show and in an advertising campaign this week. Jacqueline Falke and her dog, Wyatt, were among the top three vote-getters in Milk-Bone's nationwide search for the face of Milk-Bone products during the brand's 100th anniversary. Falke and Wyatt appeared Monday along with two other finalists on The Bonnie Hunt Show, which appears weekdays on NBC affiliate WBAL-TV. Though Wyatt wasn't top dog, he still will grace the cover of a series of Milk-Bone biscuit boxes.

As his 100 dairy cows lumbered over for their Monday afternoon milking, farmer Eric Foster pondered his sudden misfortune. Those Holsteins and Jerseys, profit machines during a recent milk boom, are now such money losers that he has begun selling part of his herd and fears he might have to quit the business altogether. It is not the cows' fault. The problem is the plummeting wholesale price of milk. It has fallen more than 40 percent in six months, driven down by disparate factors such as better rains in Australia, a tainted-milk scare in China and the global economic slowdown.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Slumdog Millionaire, a joyous story of enduring love and unexpected riches among the lower castes of India, took home the Oscar for best picture at last night's 81st annual Academy Awards, capping an unlikely awards season for a movie that barely got released in this country. The movie, which was picked up at the last minute by Fox Searchlight Pictures, dominated the awards, winning eight of the nine categories in which it was nominated (its only loss came in the sound editing category)

Capsules by Michael Sragow unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: **** It starts in 1918, when Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born with an old face, dilapidated plumbing and wrinkled skin over an infant body, and ends in 2005, when his true love, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), completes the telling of his story. The movie's emotional completeness leaves you poised between sobbing and applauding - it comes from a full comprehension not just of one man's life, but of the intersection of many lives over the course of the 20th century.

The cows, about 75 of them, graze and enjoy an unseasonably warm day on the 260-acre Bellevale farm in Baltimore County, about 20 miles north of downtown. It's a few hours until milking time. Together they produce hundreds of gallons of raw milk that is sold to organic milk producer Horizon for about $3 a gallon. It's pasteurized and turned into cartons sold at the grocery store. Part of farmer Bobby Prigel thinks that's a shame. There are enough people in Maryland who would pay $6 a gallon or more for the unpasteurized, or raw, milk directly from him - if that were legal.

Don't be tempted by restaurant meals or take-out at dinner time. With a little strategy, you can spend less money cooking for yourself. First, plan your meals and snacks. Buy groceries in one trip to minimize impulse purchases. Use supermarket circulars for inspiration rather than gourmet cooking magazines calling for expensive ingredients. Web sites such as allrecipes.com let you search for recipes with the ingredients you have or what is on sale. Don't have a lot of cash or appliances?

For a complete list of Oscar nominations, go to baltimoresun.com/oscars Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire Best Actor: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor; Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Sean Penn, Milk; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie, Changeling; Melissa Leo, Frozen River; Meryl Streep,...

Some terrific recent Oscar-nominated movies, such as Good Night, and Good Luck and Capote, came as close to nonfiction in their techniques and textures as movie drama could bear. This year reverses the trend with vivid splashes of artifice and theatricality. Movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire, and even Milk and Frost/Nixon, though rooted in reality, have won over still-widening audiences with touches of myth and fable and sometimes just plain make-believe.