Director Joe Wright's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with Knightley proved he can do the literary English costume piece in a faithful but not stuffy, handsome but not coffee-table-tome beautiful, emotionally vivid without straining for a modern sensibility way. He and scenarist Christopher Hampton have a trickier time with this novel, however; those who haven't read the book may appreciate their mostly on-the-mark, sometimes-off effort, being engrossed by narrative turns that readers will already know. The casting is fine, and some scenes (often the simplest ones) are memorably good; but there are also moments that cave to schmaltz and stylistic excess (one cast-of-thousands Steadicam shot goes on forever simply to prove it can). There's also an irritatingly gimmicky, intrusive score. Overall, Atonement is worthwhile — but that deathless phrase "the book was better" duly applies.

Can 'Idol's Jackson deliver auditions?

Yo, dawg, here's the scoop: Randy Jackson is coming to town.

Surgery centers want slice of Medicaid pie

At half past noon two Wednesdays ago, Jase Maudsley was in the doctor's office again, in pain again and, as usual, being a little trouper. The 18-month-old was getting all kinds of attention from the adults standing around him but not giving him the one thing he wanted — juice.

He hadn't had anything to drink or eat since about 8 p.m. the night before, a fast he clearly was not happy about but one necessary prior to surgery to implant tympanostomy tubes in his eardrums.

The procedure — the most common surgical procedure performed on children age 6 months to 12 years — will relieve the extremely painful build-up of pressure in his middle ear and finally put a stop to his recurring infections and most likely the recurring visits to the doctor.

Remarkably mundane is how the doctor who performed Jase's surgery, one of about 2 million that will be performed nationwide this year, described the operation, which was observed by two Utah lawmakers.

Anti-Nuclear Renaissance: A Powerful but Partial and Tentative Victory ...

As the presidential primary season heats up, an "anti-nuclear renaissance" against loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants will escalate, with the future of American energy policy and global warming hanging in the balance.

Domenici inserted into the Senate version of the national Energy Bill a complex provision meant to allow the Department of Energy to underwrite up to 80% of new reactor construction costs.

The Mortality of Male Mirror-Gazing

Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. “Stop!" cried the groaning old man at last, “Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree." — Gertrude Stein, The Making of Americans (1925)

Will Shaq’s presence make a difference with the Phoenix Suns?

That certainly carries less value, which translates into fewer options. (Maybe it was the Browns not the Lions that Jon Kitka predicted would have a 10-win season.) OK, I still applaud Jerry on the deal that he made eight months ago. It just doesnt call for as many high-fives from the media now.

BUCK: The Cowboys can only hope youre right, Dawg. I like Garrett over anyone else in the field of hotshot-coordinators-ready-to-be-head-coaches in the NFL.