Quixote

The Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith. Random House. 400 pages. $24.95. Alex-Li Tandem is the autograph man, a dealer in famous signatures. He lives in England on the fringes of the entertainment industry, "a minor incidence in the lives of others." He is a spectator, a collector, an observer in this bittersweet (and in some ways failed) new novel by Zadie Smith. Importantly, Alex-Li is also beset with an obsession. He wants -- no, needs -- the rare and elusive signature of Kitty Alexander, a screen star and glamour girl from the golden days of cinema.

QUETTA, Pakistan - The ambush was bad enough - 10 hours of shooting and sniping in the barren rocky passes above a village in southern Afghanistan. But the hardest part, Hamed Karzai says, was the ensuing three-day retreat, moving day and night through the hills with a hundred men, living off little more than stale bread and green tea while wondering who might be lurking over the next rise. "We were walking 18 hours a day," Karzai says by satellite telephone, insisting he is now safe, and still inside Afghanistan, no matter what the Pentagon says.

Olney Theatre Center concludes its 2000 season with the hit 1960s musical, "Man of La Mancha," currently in previews and opening Sunday. Adapted from Cervantes' classic, "Don Quixote," with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, the musical uses a play-within-a-play format to tell the story of both Cervantes and his fictitious hero, Quixote, the undaunted knight who tilted at windmills. Olney's production is directed by John Going and stars Broadway veterans Richard White (the voice of Gaston in Disney's animated "Beauty and the Beast")

"Man of La Mancha" is truly an "unreachable star" for most community theater troupes who don't have access to a gifted performer who can bring Miguel de Cervantes' immortal Don Quixote to the stage in a convincing manner. Surely this is one of the toughest roles in the Broadway canon, for it demands a superb high baritone voice attached to an actor accomplished enough to craft three characters and move from one to the other on the fly. Bowie's 2nd Star Productions has access to just such a performer in Braxton Peters, the actor Annapolitans know best as the in-house director of the Annapolis Opera.

"Man of La Mancha" is truly an "unreachable star" for most community theater troupes who don't have access to a gifted performer who can bring Miguel de Cervantes' immortal Don Quixote to the stage in a convincing manner. Surely this is one of the toughest roles in the Broadway canon, for it demands a superb high baritone voice attached to an actor accomplished enough to craft three characters and move from one to the other on the fly. Bowie's 2nd Star Productions has access to just such a performer in Braxton Peters, the actor Annapolitans know best as the in-house director of the Annapolis Opera.

The story of "Don Quixote," that delusional Spaniard who sees windmills as giants and himself as the last of the noble knights, has delighted audiences for nearly 400 years. Even producer Robert Halmi Sr., whose taste for spectacular gimmickry has drained the life out of more than a few classics, can't stop it. Beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday, the latest film adaptation of the Cervantes novel debuts on TNT. And while it's hardly the definitive "Don Quixote," it's an entertaining 2 1/2 hours filled with adventures, dreams and lots of pseudo-jousting.

WASHINGTON -- It has been apparent for months, perhaps years, that Steve Forbes needed a friend. He needed someone, a peer not on his payroll, who would tell him, Steve, my friend, you are becoming a joke. You are never going to win the Republican nomination for president, no matter how much you spend. Instead, the magazine publisher has been surrounded by political consultants spending his money lavishly on their own salaries and commissions on television commercials. It was not in their self-interest to tell Mr. Forbes he had neither the personality nor the policy proposals to electrify voters.

WASHINGTON -- If Maryland voters want to turn away from conventional politicians in this year's elections, they'll have plenty of choices in the congressional races.Among the contestants who emerged triumphant from the Sept. 15 primaries are a pager salesman who fancies himself a mystery writer, a drug abuse counselor and a farmer with a grudge against developers.Then there's Colin Felix Harby, a retired design engineer who was quaffing a beer at an Irish pub this summer while watching a political program on television, and decided to run against Baltimore-area Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.

Four years after failing to unseat one of Baltimore County's most entrenched Democratic state senators, former Del. John J. Bishop still seems like an earnest Republican outsider with an appetite for uphill struggles.Bishop, a little grayer and a bit heavier, is hustling through Towson's summer, trying to stage a political comeback that even some in his own party have discouraged as he challenges Democratic County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger. Many believe that Ruppersberger, a highly effective campaigner, will easily be re-elected, particularly with the economy surging and public money going to nearly every county neighborhood for long-awaited school repairs, streetscapes, new parks and infrastructure.