Adam

"Courageous," the fourth entry from the filmmaking ministry of Albany, Ga's., Sherwood Baptist Church, proves a particularly clunky, tunnel-visioned vehicle whose overbearing, overlong script nearly smothers the movie's quibble-free message: Fathers must be responsible. And what of the importance of mothers here? It often feels like a case of "Oh, them. " Director Alex Kendrick and brother — and producer and co-writer — Stephen are both pastors at Sherwood Baptist. Despite the story's earnest emotional core, actions and reactions can prove overly simplistic; black-and-white when gray is so clearly called for. The many topics raised — gangs, drugs, immigration, absentee parents, poverty — are examined with didacticism and platitudes instead of by mining their inherent complexities.

The allure of stardom brings model-handsome wannabe Adam (Matthew Ludwinski) to Hollywood - and down some dubious moneymaking side roads into gay pornography and escorting - in writer-director Casper Andreas' cautionary showbiz tale "Going Down in La-La Land," which is based on a novel by Andy Zeffer. But its Andreas' own attraction to the easy spotlight of warmed-over bitchy humor (courtesy Adam's gal pal roomie, played by Allison Lane), familiar plotting and by-the-numbers characterization that sinks this earnest, gay-contoured take on the evergreen making-it-big melodrama.

A sensitive film of much charm, "Adam" stars Hugh Dancy in the title role as a brilliant young electronic engineer. He's nice-looking but awfully uptight. Not long after the death of his father, with whom he shared a Manhattan apartment, Adam meets new neighbor Beth (Rose Byrne), who's beautiful and outgoing. Intrigued by Adam, Beth gradually attempts to break through his perplexing shell.

It had only been a few years since Adam Yauch had found fame as the in-your-face rapper and bass player MCA in the transgressive, boundary-breaking trio the Beastie Boys. But in 1992 he was searching for something else, traveling in Nepal to snowboard and pursue a growing interest in Buddhism when he came upon a group of Tibetan refugees. The encounter intensified his interest in the teachings of the Dalai Lama, and he was soon one of the world's leading advocates for the cause of Tibetan independence.

Adam Carolla was driving through North Hollywood, where he grew up, when he stopped his car in front of a gray Victorian home. "This was where I lived as a kid," he said last week, as his car idled on the street. "It looks nice now, but don't be fooled. In 1974, it did not look like that. I lived in the service porch in the back. The meter reader used to come in my room to read the meter. It's not like, 'Oh man, I have all these great memories there' or anything like that. It was just poor and depressing."

The decision by ABC to cancel Adam Lambert's upcoming appearance on the late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and to remove him from the potential roster of New Year's Rockin' Eve performers continued to create controversy Thursday, as a conservative Christian group defended its decision to protest Lambert's sexually suggestive performance last month at the American Music Awards. The Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm closely tied to the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia and provides legal assistance in defense of what it calls "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family," filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over Lambert's controversial performance at the AMAs.

A long-running lawsuit to force the Norton Simon Museum to surrender one of its prized artworks, 480-year-old paired paintings of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder that were looted during the Holocaust, has reached what could be its last legal round: plaintiff Marei Von Saher's recent appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If her appeal fails, it could have far-reaching implications, potentially undermining a larger class of claims to recover Nazi-looted art. Von Saher, who lives in Connecticut, contends that the "Adam and Eve" diptych that has hung in the Pasadena museum since the late 1970s remains stolen goods.

Coleco Industries Inc. set the stage for another home-computer fire sale Wednesday as it announced the long-expected discontinuation of its poor-selling Adam home computer. The West Hartford, Conn., toy company, whose wildly popular Cabbage Patch dolls are barely offsetting deficits on its ill-fated computer venture, said it has sold its entire Adam inventory at a loss to an unidentified chain of retail stores.

Ordinary Thunderstorms A Novel William Boyd HarperCollins: 404 pp., $26.99 William Boyd begins his new novel, "Ordinary Thunderstorms," with a set piece out of Alfred Hitchcock. Adam Kindred, a young climatologist visiting London for a job interview, chats with a stranger in a restaurant. On leaving, the stranger drops an important-looking file. Adam brings the file by the stranger's apartment, only to find the man in bed, stabbed and dying. (I'm really not giving anything away here, because all this happens within the first 10 pages.

A self-possessed individual graced with the good looks of a matinee idol -- large, bluish-gray eyes, a firm jaw line and fistfuls of brown, wavy hair -- actor Hugh Dancy seemed, at first glance, completely wrong for the lead in Fox Searchlight's unconventional romantic drama "Adam."

The Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, best known the world over as the thoughtful, witty, in-your-face rapper MCA, has died, according to Rolling Stone and the hip-hop website Global Grind, which is run by Russell Simmons. Yauch, who had been battling cancer for the last three years, was part of a trio of New York rappers whose music starting in the 1980s transformed the budding genre and helped take hip-hop nationwide. Yauch, who was 47, achieved fame with the Beastie Boys, but as their fame grew he directed his energy toward his lifelong passion: Buddhism and Tibetan independence.

A long-running lawsuit to force the Norton Simon Museum to surrender one of its prized artworks, 480-year-old paired paintings of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder that were looted during the Holocaust, has reached what could be its last legal round: plaintiff Marei Von Saher's recent appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If her appeal fails, it could have far-reaching implications, potentially undermining a larger class of claims to recover Nazi-looted art. Von Saher, who lives in Connecticut, contends that the "Adam and Eve" diptych that has hung in the Pasadena museum since the late 1970s remains stolen goods.

Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley are expecting their first child. "Adam and I are excited about having a baby and the blessing that he or she will bring to our lives and to our family and friends," the pregnant Mowry-Housley told People magazine. "We can't wait to meet this little miracle!" The former "Sister, Sister" star, 33, and Housley, 40, got hitched   last May in Napa Valley, where her husband's family owns a vineyard. They and are expecting their baby in November.

A state appeals court Tuesday put the brakes on part of the criminal case against two top Bell officials in a dispute over whether the Los Angeles County district attorney should be allowed to prosecute the case. What exactly the decision from the 2nd District Court of Appeal means, though, was disputed by attorneys for the defense and the prosecution. A star player in this drama is Randy Adams, Bell's highly paid former police chief, who has not been charged. Among the allegations faced by Robert Rizzo, Bell's former chief administrative officer, and Angela Spaccia, Rizzo's second in command, is that they hid Adams' $457,000 annual paycheck by dividing it into two contracts.

Can the house that Kareem built become the home that Shabazz renovated? Pauley Pavilion, rather the new Pauley Pavilion, is on schedule to reopen with a $136-million renovation by mid-October, an athletic department official said during a media tour of the arena on Friday. The refurbished digs will be inhabited by a highly publicized recruiting class, as was the case when Pauley Pavilion opened in 1965. The difference this time is that the incoming freshmen can play for the Bruins.

Axl Rose wasn't the only musician who didn't show up to perform Saturday at the 27th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but it was illness that kept Rod Stewart from reuniting with the Faces and Adam Yauch from joining with the Beastie Boys. Rose's boycott of the 51/2-hour event generated the most sparks, however, because of his very public shunning of the ceremony and his decision not to join with his former bandmates as they became members of the Hall of Fame, which also inducted singer-songwriters Donovan and Laura Nyro and both incarnations of the British rock group the Small Faces and Faces.

The allure of stardom brings model-handsome wannabe Adam (Matthew Ludwinski) to Hollywood - and down some dubious moneymaking side roads into gay pornography and escorting - in writer-director Casper Andreas' cautionary showbiz tale "Going Down in La-La Land," which is based on a novel by Andy Zeffer. But its Andreas' own attraction to the easy spotlight of warmed-over bitchy humor (courtesy Adam's gal pal roomie, played by Allison Lane), familiar plotting and by-the-numbers characterization that sinks this earnest, gay-contoured take on the evergreen making-it-big melodrama.

War, by its very nature, doesn't give you weekends or nights off. There may be time between assaults, but the momentary cease-fires are unpredictable at best. So it is in "Declaration of War," a vibrant and heartfelt French film that captures the mood and the memories of young parents who found themselves in the trenches fighting for the life of their child. Though the names have been changed, this is a very personal story for the very personal filmmaker Valérie Donzelli, who directs, co-writes and costars with Jérémie Elkaïm.

Name; Pos.; Ht.; Wt.; Previous school; Comment Jordan Adams; SG; 6-5; 205; Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy; One of the top perimeter shooting prospects in the country should boost Bruins' three-point accuracy. Kyle Anderson; PG; 6-8; 215; Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony; A versatile talent who can play the one to the four but will probably utilize exceptional basketball IQ as starting point guard. *Larry Drew II; PG; 6-2; 180; North Carolina; Played two full seasons and part of a third for Tar Heels.

A year ago, Adam Mansbach was an award-winning novelist and aspiring screenwriter wrapping up a two-year teaching job at Rutgers University. That was before his off-color picture book, "Go the F - to Sleep," became an international phenomenon, catapulting the sleep-deprived father of one to the tops of bestseller lists and into the eye of a parenting maelstrom. Since its publication last June, actor Samuel Jackson and director Werner Herzog have recorded audio versions and Fox 2000 plans to make it into a major motion picture.