Trilogy

Ocean's Thirteen hit movie screens last week. Ocean's Twelve was met with lukewarm reviews. Besides the all-star cast, what makes this third Ocean's intriguing? WHAT YOU SAY The music from the Ocean's trilogy is most intriguing to me. Have you ever listened to the soundtracks? They are phenomenal. The music is what makes the movies compelling and memorable. Kudos to the composers, producers, etc.! Beth Clark, Port Matilda, Pa. THE NEXT QUESTION Nancy Drew, the 1930s teenage sleuth, has become a media franchise with books, a television show (during the 1990s)

While the original Star Wars trilogy required millions of dollars in special effects, countless cast and crew members, and years of filming, one man has managed to bring all three of these science-fiction classics to the stage. But Charles Ross isn't backed by a production company, a cast, a crew or a special-effects team. He uses nothing but black clothing, knee and elbow pads, a spotlight and his vivid imagination. From Luke Skywalker to Chewbacca and from Darth Vader to R2-D2, Ross, 33, has made a living impersonating every Star Wars character's mannerisms and voices and acting as both narrator and background orchestra in his One Man Star Wars Show, which will come to D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Tuesday.

When playwright Jim Sizemore writes a trilogy, he takes his time. In 1985, the Baltimore Playwrights Festival produced his play, "Cecil, Virginia, 1964." Now, a mere 13 years later, part two of the trilogy, "Joe Pete," is a Playwrights Festival entry at Fell's Point Corner Theatre.Like its playwright, "Joe Pete" also takes its time. Set in the same year and the same small Virginia town as its predecessor, the evocative "Joe Pete" alternates scenes in a mental hospital with flashbacks to a bar on the day the title character committed the crime that brought his sanity into question.

The French playwright Beaumarchais thought of his great "Figaro" trilogy as a political statement that undermined the rigid class structure of 18th-century Europe.But somehow, in "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro," he got past polemics and created characters who took on a life of their own.Figaro and Susannah, the clever barber and his equally smart wife, and the hotblooded young page, Cherubino, have been adopted by playwrights and composers ever since they made their literary debut in 1784.

Pat Loera had seen "Star Wars" more than a hundred times, but at 1 p.m. yesterday she was first in line for the 4 p.m. show at the Senator Theatre.Bob Middleton arrived at 8 a.m., waiting two hours in the cold so 18 children could celebrate his son's birthday at a morning screening.Neil Cohen, a Towson doctor, queued up with his son Brandon, 7, to view the 1977 space classic whose marketing wings have enveloped two generations, including 2 1/2 -year-old Nathaniel, who watches "Star Wars" videos every morning and downloads "Star Wars" pictures from a Web site.

Drawn by pulsating music and the promise of ample numbers of the opposite sex, thousands of young people descend on Baltimore each week to party at local nightclubs.For most, it is definitely fun. It also can be trouble.For their part, police tell of how the arrival of a couple of thousand revelers can paralyze an area of the city -- especially on weekends, and especially downtown. They report shootings, snarled traffic and havoc.But that's just how police see it."I'm just looking for someplace to come and get my drink on," said 26-year-old construction worker Anthony Baker as he stood on the dance floor in Club Trilogy on Saturday night.

Biosys Inc., the Columbia bio-pesticides company, said yesterday that it will seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval Tuesday for its plan to sell most of its assets to Thermo Trilogy Corp., another Columbia bio-pesticides firm.Biosys, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, said in a statement that it estimates the value of the Thermo Trilogy deal at $15 million to $21 million.In its bankruptcy filing, which resulted from a severe cash shortage, Biosys listed assets of $24.1 million as of June 30, 1996.

The two clubs -- Volcano's on Greenmount Avenue and Trilogy on Eutaw Street -- were close cousins. They had similar clientele. Similar problems with the city. And the same important backer: Mary Ross.So there was a certain symmetry to this week's arrest: When police picked up the alleged shooter in the Oct. 24 slayings of two college students outside Volcano's nightclub, they found the suspect as he left Club Trilogy.In East Baltimore, Ross, as community coordinator for Johnston Square Community Development Corp.

IT IS TRULY a place time forgot: Hidden between stacks of English-language mysteries and science fiction is the Enoch Pratt Central Library's collection of fiction in 31 foreign tongues ranging from Czech and Chinese to Vietnamese and Yiddish.In the more than two decades I have been using the Pratt, I don't recall ever seeing anyone browsing through these about 12,000 volumes on the library's mezzanine floor. (I go there occasionally in search of some originals).''Some of them are used very seldom,'' confirms Jean Jacocks, who heads the fiction department.

Baltimore's Central District vice police had their weekend planned -- they were staking out prostitutes on North Avenue. Then other targets arose, and they spent their time shutting down three clubs and routing hundreds of late-night party-goers."

tuesday Blood Sins : by Kay Hooper (Bantam, $25). In this disturbing paranormal thriller, the second in a trilogy (after Blood Dreams) from best-seller Kay Hooper, Noah Bishop, of the FBI's Special Crimes Unit, and Haven, a civilian investigative organization, take on the fanatical Rev. Adam Deacon Samuel. Amazon.com; Publisher's Weekly

Of the 1,200 performances that Charlie Ross has given of his One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, the most memorable might have been a show he performed in Dubai in early 2006. "Some people in the audience were in full Lawrence of Arabia gear, with flowing robes and head-wraps," he says. "It was quite strange to see that mixed crowd genuinely enjoying themselves. I shudder to think that there might be people living in the desert who watch Star Wars on televisions in their tents, but it's completely possible."

Thanks to all who played our latest quiz on Baltimore-area authors. For those who were stumped, here are the answers: 1. A frequent heroine in Laura Lippman novels is former reporter (and Lippman alter-ego?) Tess Monaghan, whose greyhound is named Esskay. 2. Russell Baker worked at The Sun before becoming a commentator for The New York Times. His wonderful memoir about Baltimore is called Growing Up. 3. Anne Tyler, whose novels include The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe and Digging to America, often chronicles the love and conflict of family life.

Since we ran our last quiz about Baltimore's literary heritage, readers Rick Connor and Sally Lemmon suggested creating a more contemporary version. So here it is, with the caveat that some questions stray from Baltimore but stay within the state's border. 1. This author's heroine, often accompanied by a pet greyhound, is an expert at solving the city's mysteries. After naming the author, get bonus points for naming the heroine and greyhound. 2. He got his start at The Sun, became a well-known commentator for The New York Times and wrote a touching memoir about growing up here.

Too Human The first of a planned trilogy of games for Xbox 360 reads a lot like Dungeons & Dragons meets Halo. New this month, the game creates an interesting parallel universe that allows high-tech robotics to co-exist with Norse mythology. And who doesn't want to see flesh-challenged cyberbabes duke it out with Valhalla's finest? Yet both constituencies are in for a luke-warm hybrid. The sword-and-sorcery set are the most ill-served as the game relies heavily on cinematic cut scenes that aim for mystery but ultimately just confound.

Fire house gives service award The Susquehanna Hose Company recently presented the Residences at Bulle Rock with a Community Service Award for its fundraising efforts at the first Bulle Rock Turkey Trot. The event, which had 200 runners and walkers at Thanksgiving, raised $14,400. The money was given to the fire company and the city of Havre de Grace for new emergency equipment. Havre de Grace received three automated external defibrillators to place at three city locations. The fire company received two hydraulic rams to assist with pulling and pushing items such as door jambs, window frames and dashboards.

When The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, opened for Christmas 2005, it faced off with an actual 800-pound gorilla: Peter Jackson's King Kong. Jackson, coming off one of the most imaginative and audacious of all escapist movie classics -- his beloved and hugely profitable Lord of the Rings trilogy -- was tackling a remake of his and many other fans' favorite fantasy adventure. The creative stakes were as high as movie-lovers' hopes, with casting choices that veered between the brave (Jack Black, Adrien Brody)

Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of an acclaimed trilogy on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., will receive the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement, organizers announced this week. The Dayton Literacy Peace Prize was founded in 2006 to honor writers whose work "uses the power of literature to foster peace, social justice and global understanding." Previous honorees include authors Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel. "I'm thrilled to be in that company," Branch said yesterday.

That underrated actor Ewan McGregor recently did something even Liam Neeson couldn't do: Triumph in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. But when it comes to slick New York City genre movies, he's a jinx. He helped sink the witless Manhattan sex farce Down With Love (2003), and he couldn't inject life into the psychiatric trick mystery Stay. He does even worse in the new Gothic-Gotham suspense film Deception. This awful, glossy hybrid of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Eyes Wide Shut serves up McGregor as a shy high-powered accountant, crudely banged and boringly bespectacled despite his expensive tailoring.

While the original Star Wars trilogy required millions of dollars in special effects, countless cast and crew members, and years of filming, one man has managed to bring all three of these science-fiction classics to the stage. But Charles Ross isn't backed by a production company, a cast, a crew or a special-effects team. He uses nothing but black clothing, knee and elbow pads, a spotlight and his vivid imagination. From Luke Skywalker to Chewbacca and from Darth Vader to R2-D2, Ross, 33, has made a living impersonating every Star Wars character's mannerisms and voices and acting as both narrator and background orchestra in his One Man Star Wars Show, which will come to D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Tuesday.