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Ian McKellen will again take up the robes of Gandalf the Wizard in the cinematic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic "The Hobbit" a British film magazine reported Wednesday. But McKellen's publicist warned that final arrangements were yet to be made. "Of course he wants to do it, but nothing's been agreed or signed," Clair Dobbs said.

So you finally know what happens to Harry. All our questions are answered. Or not. What are your reactions? Whose death hurt the most? Do you want more, and about whom? SPOILERS are ok on this thread! You have been warned! Wow. It's over.

In his recent American Prospect Online article, "Attack of the Metaphors," Matthew Nisbet lucidly explains why even though it shouldn't, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones will inevitably come to shape this nation's ongoing political debate about cloning. George Lucas's take on this technology, Nisbet argues, resonates with themes from Brave New World, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and other influential texts concerned with misuses of science, from The Island of Dr. Moreau to Jurassic Park. Besides Star Wars itself, perhaps the most recent work in this genre is Spider Man, yet another tale of hubris, science run amok, and...

Hi guys,I'm a college student, interested in activism, and I need your help on two subjects. The first is about abortion - a friend and I are working up some information to present to interested fellow students next week on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We're interested in anything that the pro-abortion people aren't telling kids. In particular, I seem to remember hearing that more minority babies are aborted than white babies, which could be a very damning fact to this particular audience. Any information you can give us, links, book titles, whatever, would be appreciated.The second matter is ...

THE unfinished final novel of Douglas Adams, the cult science-fiction author, has been recovered from his computer and will be published on the first anniversary of his death next May. A Salmon of Doubt will be the sixth and final episode in the Hitch Hiker series and, though it will be edited, it will remain "unfinished". The work was found by his widow, Jane Belson, and his personal assistant, Sophie Astin. Adams, who died suddenly of a heart attack at 49, suffered from writer's block and is believed to have been working on the book for 11 years. Ed Victor, ...

<p>About 35 years ago, when I first got professionally involved with reproductive rights issues by serving on the National Board of Planned Parenthood, then Planned Parenthood-World Population, a descriptive term often used was "birth control."</p> <p>How sensible it seemed then. How even more sensible it seems now.</p>

To all you religion/church history buffs out there: I need your help! I'm writing a paper for a *very* liberal college professor on the Reformation, and I need lots of very good, very reliable sources, preferably offline. In particular I'd like information or book suggestions regarding how the Crusades influenced the Reformation, and what if any effect the Black Death had on same. Also, I remember reading some time ago about early (600 AD?) conflict between the British Celtic church and the Roman church; any knowledge you guys have on that would be great.