White Noise

There was plenty of gun news outside Amish country this week. In Baltimore, just a few hours before the horror in Nickel Mines, a 40-year-old man allegedly killed a neighbor with a shotgun blast while the neighbor was wiping the morning dew from his pickup truck windshield. According to court papers, the gunman's wife sought a restraining order against him in June, saying that he had threatened her multiple times and that he might have access to a firearm. Later Monday, while the world's teary eyes were fixed on Nickel Mines, someone shot a 16-year-old boy near his home in East Baltimore.

The Ravens have spiced up training camp by blaring music during certain team drills across the outside practice fields at the Under Armour Performance Center. The team has mostly played modern and classic rock, including songs by the White Stripes and AC/DC. And Tuesday, the Ravens played "Renegade" by Styx, which the Pittsburgh Steelers play regularly at Heinz Field. "We love that song. It's one of our favorite songs," Harbaugh said, presumably tongue-in-cheek. Harbaugh, who said the team "got tired of the white noise, I guess," said that everybody is allowed to make suggestions.

When most people hear static on the radio or see it on television, they adjust the dial (if they still use one). But there are some who tune in primarily for this white noise. These people hear words and see images formed by the fuzz. Strange as it may seem, they believe these words are messages from spirits of dead people trying desperately to communicate with the living world. This occurrence, known in paranormal circles as electronic voice phenomena or EVP, is the basis for a new film opening tomorrow called, appropriately, White Noise.

The goal: a really restful, deep-as-it-gets sleep. The strategy: Detox your bedroom. Make it au naturel. "You want as little as possible in there, and you want it all natural and clean," says Annie (Berthold) Bond, guru of all things green and clean and natural. Bond suffered a chemical poisoning accident in the 1980s and since then, has been making her way toward a more natural, toxic-free home and lifestyle. She has penned four books on the subject and is executive director for green living at care2.

HOT FIVE 1. "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey 2. "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani 3. "Oh," Ciara 4. "Just a Lil Bit," 50 Cent 5. "Don't Phunk With My Heart," The Black Eyed Peas Billboard ALBUMS 1. Out of Exile, Audioslave 2. Be, Common 3. The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey 4. Mezmerize, System of a Down 5. Honkytonk University, Toby Keith Billboard CONCERT TOURS 1. U2 2. Eagles 3. Kenny Chesney 4. Rod Stewart 5. Josh Groban ...

Throughout the dreary sci-fi limbo of White Noise, I kept wondering why Bill Murray has been enjoying the two-stage career that should have gone to Michael Keaton. After all, Keaton was a virtuoso switch-hitter right off the bat - he won the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award in 1988 for both his soul-piercing portrayal of a recovering addict in Clean and Sober and his manic piece of obstreperous, slapstick inspiration in the title role of Beetlejuice. In Beetlejuice he played a ghost.

Q. In the past few months I have become acutely aware of a ringing in my ears. The doctor says it is tinnitus and there is nothing that can be done to eliminate it. Is it possible that there is a vitamin or herb I can take that would alleviate the problem? You have no idea how disconcerting this noise is. A. There is no cure for ringing in the ears. Some doctors prescribe anti-anxiety agents like Xanax, while others suggest white noise (like static) to mask the sound. We have heard from some readers that ginkgo might be beneficial.

There's a lot of talk about sex in Kinsey, Bill Condon's acclaimed film from last fall about the groundbreaking sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. And even more talk about sex on the two-disc DVD (Fox, $35) of the film that stars Liam Neeson as Kinsey and Laura Linney as his wife. In addition to deleted scenes and commentary from Condon, the digital edition includes several frank, adults-only extras including The Kinsey Report: Sex on Film - a feature-length documentary - and even the sex histories of members of the cast and crew.

The Baltimore Composers Coalition is a recently formed organization of local composers who have banded together to get their works performed. The coalition's first concert was held yesterday afternoon in the Great Hall of the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. In a concert that lasted less than 80 minutes, 10 different works by seven composers were performed. That meant all were short; if a listener didn't like what he was hearing, he knew it wouldn't be long until he heard something else.

The Ravens have spiced up training camp by blaring music during certain team drills across the outside practice fields at the Under Armour Performance Center. The team has mostly played modern and classic rock, including songs by the White Stripes and AC/DC. And Tuesday, the Ravens played "Renegade" by Styx, which the Pittsburgh Steelers play regularly at Heinz Field. "We love that song. It's one of our favorite songs," Harbaugh said, presumably tongue-in-cheek. Harbaugh, who said the team "got tired of the white noise, I guess," said that everybody is allowed to make suggestions.

Now we're talking. Up to now, the campaigns for this fall's city elections have mostly generated white noise -- some throat clearing here, some schoolyard shoving there -- barely audible outside whatever frequency those who follow City Hall maneuverings tune into. To recap, for the rest of you, there was Chairgate -- City Council members Keiffer Mitchell and Kenneth Harris, running, respectively, for mayor and council prez, losing committee chairmanships after announcing their runs. Then there was Bankgate (Mitchell getting put on unpaid leave at Harbor Bank, where his opponent, Mayor Sheila Dixon, keeps her campaign funds)

There was plenty of gun news outside Amish country this week. In Baltimore, just a few hours before the horror in Nickel Mines, a 40-year-old man allegedly killed a neighbor with a shotgun blast while the neighbor was wiping the morning dew from his pickup truck windshield. According to court papers, the gunman's wife sought a restraining order against him in June, saying that he had threatened her multiple times and that he might have access to a firearm. Later Monday, while the world's teary eyes were fixed on Nickel Mines, someone shot a 16-year-old boy near his home in East Baltimore.

HOT FIVE 1. "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey 2. "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani 3. "Oh," Ciara 4. "Just a Lil Bit," 50 Cent 5. "Don't Phunk With My Heart," The Black Eyed Peas Billboard ALBUMS 1. Out of Exile, Audioslave 2. Be, Common 3. The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey 4. Mezmerize, System of a Down 5. Honkytonk University, Toby Keith Billboard CONCERT TOURS 1. U2 2. Eagles 3. Kenny Chesney 4. Rod Stewart 5. Josh Groban ...

There's a lot of talk about sex in Kinsey, Bill Condon's acclaimed film from last fall about the groundbreaking sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. And even more talk about sex on the two-disc DVD (Fox, $35) of the film that stars Liam Neeson as Kinsey and Laura Linney as his wife. In addition to deleted scenes and commentary from Condon, the digital edition includes several frank, adults-only extras including The Kinsey Report: Sex on Film - a feature-length documentary - and even the sex histories of members of the cast and crew.

Throughout the dreary sci-fi limbo of White Noise, I kept wondering why Bill Murray has been enjoying the two-stage career that should have gone to Michael Keaton. After all, Keaton was a virtuoso switch-hitter right off the bat - he won the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award in 1988 for both his soul-piercing portrayal of a recovering addict in Clean and Sober and his manic piece of obstreperous, slapstick inspiration in the title role of Beetlejuice. In Beetlejuice he played a ghost.

When most people hear static on the radio or see it on television, they adjust the dial (if they still use one). But there are some who tune in primarily for this white noise. These people hear words and see images formed by the fuzz. Strange as it may seem, they believe these words are messages from spirits of dead people trying desperately to communicate with the living world. This occurrence, known in paranormal circles as electronic voice phenomena or EVP, is the basis for a new film opening tomorrow called, appropriately, White Noise.

IT'S ABOUT TIMESWV (RCA 66074)Given that the moniker "SWV" stands for "Sisters with Voices," you might think that the trio's debut would be full of flashy, En Vogue-style vocal theatrics. But instead of putting the stress on singing, what "It's About Time" emphasizes are the songs, rightly assuming that a good tune is infinitely more memorable than any amount of vocal embellishment. Too bad there isn't more in the way of strong songs here, though. "I'm So Into You" and "Weak" are obvious winners, while "Give It to Me" and the title tune show hit-potential of their own. But with 15 selections on the album, it would be nice if the hit-to-filler ratio was higher than 1-to-3.

Vacuum cleaner's soothing sounds; CD: Mother creates a disc of white noise designed to calm the little ones. Sales are showing a healthy growth."The Muffin Man?" You can handle it. "Itsy Bitsy Spider?" Part of the deal. "Old McDonald?" Gotta admit it's a classic. But since when does parenthood require listening to a recording of a vacuum cleaner?Since it was discovered that the sucking whine of the trusty Hoover can make infants stop wailing.That's why the CD "For Crying Out Loud!" -- a collection of "unlikely" sounds designed to soothe fussy babies -- is climbing the charts for the under-12-month set.Created by 33-year-old Baltimore mom Martha Stone, the album features a smorgasbord of white noise pacifiers, including a maternal heartbeat, a blow dryer, a washing machine set on the gentle cycle, a car's windshield wipers and rain falling on a roof.

Thoreau once observed that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." But in this age of noisy, open-office environments, the desperation just isn't quiet enough. At least that's the view of 60-year-old Jack Heine, a Cambridge, Mass., entrepreneur who hopes his new "sound masking" invention will become the talk of the town by drowning out the talk with white noise. His Sonet Acoustic Privacy System combines two speakers with a power supply and volume control. I have the system set up around my office computer right now. With a touch of a button, the speakers generate a whooshing noise that sounds like a cross between an air conditioner and the static from a TV set after "The Star-Spangled Banner" plays at 3 a.m. The idea is that there's just enough noise hitting my ears so that I won't hear my neighbors' conversations.

Q. In the past few months I have become acutely aware of a ringing in my ears. The doctor says it is tinnitus and there is nothing that can be done to eliminate it. Is it possible that there is a vitamin or herb I can take that would alleviate the problem? You have no idea how disconcerting this noise is. A. There is no cure for ringing in the ears. Some doctors prescribe anti-anxiety agents like Xanax, while others suggest white noise (like static) to mask the sound. We have heard from some readers that ginkgo might be beneficial.