Paparazzi

Princess Diana was the hostess.Yes, the princess would see me - at 11 a.m. sharp, the fax specified. She was at home - at Kensington Palace - relaxed, independent. It was probably the only place where she didn't risk being targeted by camera zooms.She was wearing a short, sleeveless dress, matching her eyes, unless they were reflecting its color. She wore a necklace of large pearls, high heels and a quiet assurance demonstrated by her smile and her friendly way of proffering her hand. Above all, she seemed free, and her simplicity was a nice surprise coming from someone whom protocol dictates should be addressed as "Ma'am."

The Fab Four and Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost. You might not see an immediate connection, but director Michael Kahn does, and he makes the most of it in his 1960s update of the courtly comedy at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre. Shakespeare's play is about three young noblemen who, with King Ferdinand of Navarre, vow to devote themselves to three years of study and forsake worldly indulgences, including the company of women. In Kahn's rendition, the three young men are members of a Beatles-like rock group.

BE NICE. Don't lie." Those four words sum up Valerie Bertinelli's philosophy. She delivers them with a characteristic girlish grin and a broad shrug that conveys "What - doesn't that make sense?"

Oops Designer Lloyd Klein attempted to add a touch of ballerina chic to his collection when he added criss-cross laceups to slender satin pants and stiletto heels. These, unfortunately, presented too much of a challenge for some of his models. One dramatically stumbled when her spiked heel got caught in the calf of her laceup pants, while another almost became fashion roadkill when her shoe fell off as the next model rapidly came upon her. She tried for several (excruciatingly long) seconds to untie the laces that chained her leg to the shoe before giving up and hobbling off the runway.

The Game Plan Rating -- PG What it's about -- An egomaniacal star quarterback learns he has a little girl who upends his life and his me-centered worldview. The Kid Attractor Factor -- Accidents with the blender and the bubble bath, bulldogs in tutus, The Rock in a giggle-inducing leotard. Good lessons/bad lessons -- "Stupid is a mean word." And Elvis is still The King. Violence -- On the football field; in the face of the paparazzi. Language -- Disney clean. Sex -- Disney clean, too. Drugs -- A margarita joke, one scene in a bar. Parents' advisory -- Inoffensive but also darned cute, it's a family comedy in the best Disney tradition.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Continuing Studies is sponsoring a five-part discussion series starting this week on free speech, the media and privacy:* Wednesday, defense attorney Barry Scheck and Associated Press court reporter Linda Deutsch will talk about free speech and trials.* Oct. 14 -- Frank Sesno, Washington Bureau Chief for CNN, will deal with the balance between common decency and the public's right to get information.* Oct. 21 -- Hal Buell, chief international photo editor for the AP, photographer Felice Quinto and Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig will discuss the paparazzi and privacy.

Lights! Camera! Party action! Hollywood glamour combined with Baltimore glitz as the exhibition, "Filming Maryland," had its preview with a "Silver Screen Party" at the Maryland Historical Society. About 400 guests were greeted by "paparazzi" outside before getting a chance to see the exhibit, which featured props and photographs from movies about, and filmed in, Maryland. Among the movie fans at the premiere: Barbara Katz and Marcy Sagel, event co-chairs; Dean Alexander, Dolores DeLuxe, Rebecca Jessop and Dabney Neblett, event committee members; Stan Klinefelter, Maryland Historical Society board chair; Greg Barnhill, board member; Dennis Fiori, Historical Society director; Leith Johnson, exhibition curator; John Waters, Baltimore filmmaker; Pat Moran, Baltimore casting director; Mary Vivian Pearce and Sue Lowe, actors; Mike Styer, Maryland Film Office director; Jed Dietz, Maryland Film Festival founder; Steve Yeager, Baltimore filmmaker; Michael Johnson, Heritage Film Museum director; Bob Adams, owner of Flashback, a Fells Point store; David Cordish, Cordish and Associates president; Ken Conklin, Pier 5 Hotel general manager; and Dr. Julia McMillan, associate professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

PARIS -- The Ritz may be the only hotel in the world where the back door is as important as the front.By day, it's a service entrance for chefs, plumbers and painters. By night, it's an escape hatch for celebrities.Princess Diana began her final journey from there Sundaymorning, pursued by press photographers on a route through a neighborhood where luxury and history collide.Now, along this same path, Parisians still pause to consider Diana's life -- and her death after a car accident in a tunnel by the Seine river.

Princess Diana would still be alive if she had allowed Scotland Yard to protect her, an international security consultant said yesterday."The accident was completely avoidable," said Robert L. Oatman, speaking from London. Oatman, whose main office is in Towson, arrived from Paris a day before the fatal high-speed crash in a Seine-side tunnel that killed Diana, 36; her companion, Dodi Al Fayed, 42; and chauffeur Henri Paul, 41, who French authorities say was drunk at the wheel.Although Diana used Scotland Yard's highly trained Royalty Protection Group when she was with her sons, Princes William, 15, and Harry, 12, she refused it in her private capacity in her determination to be independent from the royal family since her divorce from Prince Charles last year.

On Monday night, Baltimore did the traditional red carpet one better, with a purple carpet laid out at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric for the VIP premiere screening of the official NFL "Super Bowl XLVII Champions: 2012 Baltimore Ravens" DVD. The scene beforehand had some of its own highlights. Joe Flacco, accompanied by wife Dana, was the first to arrive on the purple carpet, although not much of the carpet itself was visible thanks to the many media types who immediately swamped the Super Bowl MVP. Ray Ricebrought along 1-year-old daughter Rayven, who posed for the paparazzi like a pro, modeling a cute purple floral frock.