Sassy

Cats and dogs seize control of the Disney Channel tonight -- one of those evenings that defines the term "fun for the entire family."First up is "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" (7 p.m.-8: 15 p.m.), the tale of a cat and a pug dog that stray too far from home. Plenty of fun, particularly if you're into pugs."Homeward Bound II: Lost In San Francisco" (8: 15 p.m-9: 50 p.m.) brings back those mischievous adventurers Chance, Sassy and Shadow (voices of Ralph Waite, Sally Field and Michael J. Fox)

In summer, shortcakes definitely have the advantage over pie, capitalizing on the abundance of bright, fresh fruit and an out-of-the-kitchen-quick baking time: 12 minutes in the oven as opposed to 50 or so for a pie.Almond shortcakes with plums and mascarpone creamMakes 8 servingsPLUM FILLING:2 pounds black or red plums1/3 cup water1/3 cup amaretto1/4 cup granulated sugarSHORTCAKES:1 cup all-purpose flour1 cup cake flour5 tablespoons granulated sugar2 teaspoons...

There's about 64 minutes of slam-bang comedy, hot, fresh, snappy and just the way you like it, lost in the great sluggish tide that is the almost endless "That Old Feeling." That old feeling is fatigue.Yet this is one of those curious films far more interesting for what it says than for what it is. What it is is mediocre comedy. What it says is, Let the spirit of Dionysian fury liberate you. Escape the tyranny of evil white Republicans. Hooray for our team!Bette Midler -- in fine form -- and Dennis Farina -- gray-haired guy, very macho, usually plays cops and was a cop -- are a long-divorced couple.

For all their extraordinary ability to carry on telepathic conversations, Chance, Sassy and Shadow aren't too astute about knowing the difference between a family vacation and a trip to the pound.The three are, of course, the canine and feline stars of the popular 1993 Disney film "Homeward Bound," to which there was bound to be a sequel. And so there is: "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco," which contrives to get the American bulldog Chance (voice by Michael J. Fox), golden retriever Shadow (Ralph Waite)

Teriko Goodwyn wants her clothes to express who she is. That means she may dress "quietly sassy" one day and "casually elegant" the next.The common thread? The owner of "Expressions of You," a Northwest Baltimore interior design business, is true to her style."Some people let clothes wear them," says Ms. Goodwyn, 38, who has a 3-year-old daughter. "Others wear their clothes, and I'm one of them."Friends say you always look put together. How do you accomplish that?I see my clothing as an expression of me. It's much like when I decorate.

Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, Joyce Williams, Hampstead anglers Mike Burton and Jeff Beatrice and writer Jim Gilford joined me aboard Captain Bud Harrison's Beaudacious early last week as we kicked off this year's Chesapeake Bay fishing season. And what a start it was!After breakfast at Harrison's Inn on scenic Tilghman Island, we boarded the spacious charter boat with hopes of catching at least one legal-sized 34-inch striped bass (rockfish).Privately, I suspected we might be in for a long day of trolling because of reports that rockfish had dropped their eggs and were well south of the mid-Chesapeake area that we had chosen fish.

Lisa Jones' sensationally sassy new book, "Bulletproof Diva," is subtitled "Tales of Race, Sex and Hair." That about says it all.This collection of previously published essays, mostly from the Village Voice between 1990 and 1993, comes from someone who's pondered long and hard about what it's like to be a black woman at the backside of the 20th century. She's tough, and like a diva from another era, Gloria Gaynor, she will survive.But this is one woman who's not going to sacrifice looking sharp or her sharp sense of humor on the blunted altar of political correctness.

"One Girl's Battle With Booze." "Save The Earth, Girl." "Black Kids Who Are Fed Up." "Menstrual Customs: A World Tour." "Guns Put Fear In Teens' Hearts."These are not the teen magazine articles your mother used to read. Even compared to just 10 years ago, periodicals for teen-age girls have grown up."Girls still want to know about makeup, but they also want to know about sex, and they probably aren't going to go to their mothers," says Debbie Then, a social psychologist with the University of California, Los Angeles' Center for the Study of Women.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest show on Earth is about to begin," cooed Madonna at the beginning of the Video Music Awards last night. Of course, she wasn't really referring to the MTV broadcast -- she was just setting up a song, after all -- but it's a fair bet that everyone at MTV took the line as a compliment.And why shouldn't they have? Even though last night's broadcast didn't have any of the jaw-dropping surprises of years past, the 10th installment of MTV's celebrity-packed celebration of self was still pretty good as awards shows go.It helped that, for the most part, the best bands won. The big winner was Pearl Jam, which walked off with four awards (including Best Video, Best Group Video, Best Direction in a Group Video and Best Metal/Hard Rock Video)