Star Wars 'Revenge of the Sith'

Describing Revenge of the Sith as "Titanic in Space", Lucas said the movie, which follows Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader, was a "tearjerker".

"It's a real tearjerker, and it will be received in a way that none of us can expect. I feel that I've made the movie the best I can and it turned out the way I wanted it to be, so I'm happy, Lucas said at a film conference in Las Vegas

"Obviously, fans would love to see a movie about Darth Vader running around killing people. I'm not telling that story, and I'm not interested in that. That's not what the movie is.

"This first trilogy is really about the father, the struggles of a father, or a man, basically, to find himself, and at the same time fall into a trap of wanting certain powers, making a pact with the devil and basically spending the rest of his life regretting it."

Late Jackson in pain

Outside court, defense lawyer Brian Oxman refused to answer questions from the media about Jackson's ailment, saying he would issue a statement only at his client's direction. Earlier this month Oxman told reporters that Jackson suffered a back injury.

Jackson is charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Valley Ranch in February or March of 2003 and plying the youth with alcohol in order to molest him. He is also accused of conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

Just a short while after Paris Hilton's triumphant appearances in Mexico, Naomi Campbell has taken the Aztec nation by storm on the catwalks of its "Acapulco Fashion" show. On one occasion she wore a Jean Paul Gaultier dress and shoes decorated with Swarovski crystals. However, according to Paco Contreras, the general coordinator of the show, Campbell's reps in London had sent the wrong shoe size information and therefore the show had prepared for Naomi 10 pairs of size 5 shoes whereas her real size is 7. History apparently is not going to record whether the supermodel threw a hissy fit when she discovered the mix-up. (By Scott Rose)

Lisa Fittko, a native German who helped the persecuted escape the nazis during their reign has died of pneumonia at the age of 95. Many of those she assisted in flight from the nazis were cultural figures; none has a story odder than that of Walter Benjamin,a literary critic and philosopher whose work has of late attracted newfound interest. When Ms. Fittko was helping him to escape into Spain, there was trouble with their not having proper exit visas and Mr. Benjamin committed suicide. He had told Ms. Fittko that the bulging briefcase he was carrying contained the only version of his current work, which he said was more important than his own life. The briefcase was lost; followers of Walter Benjamin and his writings have never given up hope that it will be found someplace. If anybody sees it, please contact The Bosh. And if you're a writer who thinks your work is less important than your life, please consult a therapist. (By Scott Rose)

His first three novels had very modest sales but Dan Brown hit the big time with "The Da Vinci Code" which is one of the best-selling novels of all time. He has become so famous that he can hardly fly in a plane without somebody requesting his autograph on an air-sickness bag. He once arrived at Boston's Logan Airport to catch the shuttle to La Guardia and found he had left his identification at home in New Hampshire. The man behind him in line had a copy of his book. The guard saw his author photo and allowed him to catch his flight. Not long after "The Da Vinci Code" was published, Mr. Brown received a call from Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler who had enjoyed the book and wanted to offer the Browns free concert tickets. Turns out, the performance was filmed for use in the John Travolta flick "Be Cool." Mr. Brown appears in the concert scene singing, screaming and clapping along in the front row. Before publishing "Da Vinci," he had a two-book, $400,000 contract which would be the life's dream of many a novelist. The contract was renegociated and now he receives untold millions per book. We are not jealous. (By Scott Rose)