Michael Shannon

The products: At a time when heavy metals are showing up in tuna steaks and toy cabooses, it's only natural to worry about the metals in our bodies. The good news: Americans have much less lead in their blood than they did a couple of decades ago, back in the days of leaded house paint and gasoline. And though mercury levels seem to be slowly climbing, cases of acute poisoning severe enough to cause symptoms (such as upset stomach and breathing troubles) are still very rare.

A 15-year-old who attends a six-student church school in Great Bend, Kan., won the first National Geography Bee and a $25,000 college scholarship Friday. Jack Staddon, a 6-foot-6 eighth-grader, correctly named a flat intermountain area in the central Andes to defeat Michael Shannon, 14, of Reading, Mass. The answer was altiplano. Shannon will receive a $15,000 scholarship, and Kieu Luu, the third-place winner from Landover, Md., won a $10,000 scholarship. The bee, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, was open to students in grades 4 to 8.

During the eighth day of a murder trial in Pasadena Superior Court, a San Bernardino man last week decided to change his plea of not guilty and admitted killing a Pasadena couple two years ago. Nicholas Martin, 20, pleaded guilty Aug. 2 to the 1992, murders of Jeffrey Venable, 25, and his girlfriend, Robyn Braxton, 20. He will be sentenced Aug. 30 and could receive 56 years to life in state prison, said his attorney, Michael Shannon.

A friend expresses admiration for his life, but nothing's right as rain for Curtis, the small-town family man at the center of "Take Shelter. " The rain, in fact, looks tarnished, and the sky above his Ohio home is dark with foreboding. From the first moments of the eerie storm that opens the story, dread is the prevailing mood of this pre-apocalyptic drama — a film very much about this moment in time. That storm turns out to be a nightmare, the first of many for Curtis, who's played with quiet, anguished intensity by Michael Shannon in his most nuanced film work yet. Shannon has portrayed his share of unhinged characters, including the truth-blurting neighbor in "Revolutionary Road" and the messianic murderer in "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done.

Showtime's “Homeland” has won the Golden Globe award for best television drama series for the second year in a row. It triumphed over a field that included “Breaking Bad” (AMC), “The Newsroom” (HBO), “Downton Abbey” (PBS) and “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO). The series wrapped its second season on Showtime in December. Based on an Israeli series called “Hatufim,” it stars Claire Danes as a psychologically troubled CIA agent who believes that a U.S. Marine, played by Damian Lewis, has been turned by Al Qaeda after eight years in captivity.

The Bolshoi Ballet Academy will perform at the Pantages Theatre Aug. 1-6, as part of its first U.S. tour in almost 20 years. The six-week, eight-city national tour, will mark the professional debut of 19-year-old Michael Shannon, the first and only North American in the company. The tour will also feature guest appearances by recent graduates of the academy and performances by Vladimir Malakhov of the Moscow Classical Ballet and Galina Stepanyenko from the Stanislavsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet.

Don't dismiss "Premium Rush" as just another action movie. The film centers on a bike messenger in a bad fix, and its grunge sensibility is the antithesis of what we've come to expect from the genre. The bodies, most prominently Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Wilee (as in that speedy cartoon coyote), are more string bean than bulked up. And the most dangerous weapon isn't a weapon at all, but the skill and moxie it takes to race through Manhattan on a bike without brakes. Directed by David Koepp, who co-wrote the clever script with John Kamps, it's got intellect as well.

A teen-ager who attends a six-student church school in Great Bend, Kan., walked away Friday with the championship of the first National Geography Bee and a $25,000 college scholarship. Jack Staddon, 6-foot-6 and 15 years old, correctly named a flat intermountain area in the central Andes to defeat Michael Shannon, 14, of Reading, Mass. The answer is altiplano. Shannon, finishing second, will receive a $15,000 scholarship, while Kieu Luu, the third-place winner from Landover, Md., won a $10,000 scholarship.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Friday: Reality star and Playmate Holly Madison insures her breasts for $1 million. ( Los Angeles Times ) And she's not the only celebrity to insure body parts. ( The Hollywood Reporter ) In other playmate news, Crystal Harris is auctioning off the $90,000 engagement ring Hugh Hefner gave her. ( Us Weekly ) Ashton Kutcher tells his Twitter followers, "Don't believe the hype. " Does this mean he and Demi Moore aren't in splitsville?