True Story

Suzan-Lori Parks writes challenging plays filled with poetry, politics and history. Until now, Baltimore hasn't had a chance to see her work. But AXIS Theatre has corrected that oversight with an intriguing production of Parks' boldly theatrical "Venus." The 1996 play is loosely based on the true story of Saartjie Baartman, an African woman with enormous buttocks who was exhibited Elephant Man-style in England in the early 19th century as the Venus Hottentot. Parks tells Venus' story in flashback, beginning with the announcement of her death and interspersing the narrative with historical and medical passages read by a character called the Negro Resurrectionist (a reference to his former occupation of digging up corpses for medical studies)

W e now interrupt Mrs. Palin's book tour to bring you Thanksgiving, a grand old holiday, and we in the book business are thankful for her, that a busy woman who wanted to tell her story chose the medium of ink and paper between hard covers. Her tour is not about politics. It's about books. Those big crowds waiting in the cold outside bookstores were looking forward to cozying up to her book and savoring the intense, intimate pleasure of a memoir, the feeling that you and the author are close personal friends.

Serena Scott Thomas and Tony Award nominee David Threlfall, both Brits, will star as Princess Di and Prince Charles in NBC's four-hour miniseries "Diana: Her True Story."

Now can we all stop taking the simplistic, easy-to-swallow approach to steroids in baseball? Can we all admit that this is way more complex than we've been treating it over the years? All of us. Baseball and union officials. Fans. Media. The Justice Department. Congress. It is obvious now, more than ever, that we don't know what we're dealing with. How much more proof do we need that we, the entire baseball-observing public, have handled the issue of performance-enhancing drugs all wrong?

When you read "Moonstruck: The True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon," we asked you, What was the final part of the training for the jump over the moon? Charles Hill of Leith Walk Elementary told us the right answer: clearing the Wall, which the cow did on the first time out.

*''Backdraft'' Kurt Russell and William Baldwin are Chicago ,, firefighters whose lives are endangered by an arsonist.* ''Drop Dead Fred'' A comedy/fantasy in which Phoebe Cates is a young woman whose imaginary childhood friend reappears when she is in trouble.''Thelma and Louise'' A film starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as two friends who take to the road when one of them kills a rapist.* ''Hudson Hawk'' Bruce Willis is a cat burglar who wants to retire but is forced to do one last job.''Only the Lonely'' A John Hughes comedy in which John Candy is an aging bachelor with an overly possessive mother.

It can't be real. But it's true: MTV is about to inflict upo viewers a seventh season of its insufferable "The Real World." It starts Tuesday, this time set in Seattle.For six seasons now, audiences have endured the craftily edited "true stories" of seven attractive, strategically stereotypical young people with various personality disorders plunked into luxurious domiciles in one cosmopolitan locale after another. Once there, they proceed to whine incessantly.Enough! What are the spoiled brats complaining about, anyway?

Is there really enough of a niche market for boots designed for transvestites and drag queens to keep an entire shoe factory afloat? That's just one of the many questions posed, but not answered, by Kinky Boots, a comedy based on the true story (we are assured) of a Northamptonshire shoe factory that averted being shut down by targeting just such a specialty market. Here's betting the real story is a bit more complicated than that. Kinky Boots (Miramax) Starring Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Toni MorrisonBorn as Chloe Anthony Wofford in Ohio in 1931, both Morrison's maternal and paternal family were sharcroppers.When Morrison was 2 years old her family's landlord wanted to raise the rent and so set fire to their apartment while they were still in it.She later graduated from Howard University and later returned to teach English.Morrison wrote "Beloved," a book based on a true story about a woman who kills one of her children to protect it from slavery. The book has recently been released as a motion picture.

TELEVISION 1.American Idol - Tuesday, Fox 2.American Idol - Wednesday, Fox 3.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS 4.Grey's Anatomy, ABC 5.Desperate Housewives, ABC FILMS 1.Ice Age: The Meltdown, Fox 2.The Benchwarmers, Revolution/Columbia 3.Take the Lead, New Line 4.Inside Man, Universal 5.Lucky Number Slevin, MGM SINGLES 1.Bad Day, Daniel Powter 2.Temperature, Sean Paul 3.You're Beautiful, James Blunt 4.What You Know, T.I. 5.Be Without You,...

John Lamb was tracing his great-great-grandfather's involvement in the Civil War when he came across reports of a 19th-century killing machine. The former Harford County resident and Civil War buff soon turned his interests toward the so-called Winans Steam Gun. A shiny, black, oversized metal contraption, the steam gun was made by an Ohio inventor who boasted that it could take out an entire regiment in one sweep, firing up to 400 rounds a minute from...

THE QUESTION Of the movies you watched this summer, which do you think are Academy Award contenders and why? WHAT YOU SAY The movie that will "walk off" with an Oscar in the category of musical/comedy will be Hairspray, excelling as both a musical and a comedy. From the opening shot of quintessential Baltimore neighborhoods, we are hooked, taken back in time and thoroughly entertained for the remainder of our stay. Director Adam Shankman cleverly opens with a close up of Nikki Blonsky's eyes, immediately engaging us to this talented young woman.

Freedom Writers is the rare inspirational-teacher film that is filled with genuine, jaw-dropping coups of real-life poetry. Set in the early '90s, it's based on the true story of black, Asian-American and Latino gangs who disrupted the upper-class, white demographic of Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif., in the first years after busing. Faced with a clueless faculty, they exploded the placid atmosphere. In the xenophobic frenzy that followed the Rodney King verdict, they turned the school into a war zone.

There are now something like 10,000 reality shows on TV, and the whole stupid concept shows no signs of going away soon. Apparently no subject is too ridiculous or mundane that it can't be turned into a reality show anymore. With the click of the remote, you can now watch people sing badly, traipse through mosquito-infested jungles, get their cheeks sucked out and their stomachs tucked, and have their houses made over by professional design geeks. You can watch wives swap families, fat people lose weight, cops pull over drunk drivers, and celebrities dance the tango.

On the day the Ravens became a contender again, the phones at radio stations rang off the hook, office productivity screeched to a halt and fans began making postseason plans. There was certainly a lot that was said yesterday, particularly at the afternoon news conference announcing the Ravens' trade for quarterback Steve McNair. But there was just as much that was left unsaid. Fortunately, my tape recorder picked up both: What was said: "I know what this team is capable of doing. The defense is already spoken for. They have a great defense.

Is there really enough of a niche market for boots designed for transvestites and drag queens to keep an entire shoe factory afloat? That's just one of the many questions posed, but not answered, by Kinky Boots, a comedy based on the true story (we are assured) of a Northamptonshire shoe factory that averted being shut down by targeting just such a specialty market. Here's betting the real story is a bit more complicated than that. Kinky Boots (Miramax) Starring Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

"I liked "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs." First, I liked the characters. The wolf is so funny. Second, I liked the action. I like when the wolf went wild. Third, I liked the ending. The wolf ended up in jail because the wolf got mad at the third pig."Masafumi Ueno, Grade 3Wellwood International School"My favorite book is 'The Story of Ruby Bridges.' Its author iRobert Coles and it is illustrated by George Ford. I like this book because it is a true story about a black girl. Ruby teaches us about equality and not hating someone who is different."

"Wild Swans" by Jung Chang is a true story about three generations of Chinese women and "A Mother's Ordeal," by Stephen Moser. It's also a true story about a Chinese woman and the country's one-child-per-family-policy. They're excellent books. We're adopting a baby from China and these are great for anyone who's interested in what it's like to be a woman there.- Kelly StrzeleckiSalman Rushdie's "Imaginary Homelands." I want to read his "Satanic Verses" but I need to get used to his style before I jump into that.

TELEVISION 1.American Idol - Tuesday, Fox 2.American Idol - Wednesday, Fox 3.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS 4.Grey's Anatomy, ABC 5.Desperate Housewives, ABC FILMS 1.Ice Age: The Meltdown, Fox 2.The Benchwarmers, Revolution/Columbia 3.Take the Lead, New Line 4.Inside Man, Universal 5.Lucky Number Slevin, MGM SINGLES 1.Bad Day, Daniel Powter 2.Temperature, Sean Paul 3.You're Beautiful, James Blunt 4.What You Know, T.I. 5.Be Without You,...

If there's one phrase Hollywood should ban, it's this one: "Inspired by a true story." Take the Lead, which opens in theaters today, was, we are informed at its opening, inspired by true events. The movie centers on a man named Pierre Dulaine, played by Antonio Banderas, who starts an after-school program at a New York high school that teaches the worst students, those who chronically end up in detention, to ballroom dance. By doing so, he teaches them not only how to move, but also how to work together, respect themselves and their peers and -- potentially -- pull themselves out of the social abyss toward which they're plummeting.