DRAG ON DRAGON: Undisturbed by a bunch of minor-league newcomers, the Hannibal the Cannibal thriller Red Dragon retained the number one box-office spot, earning an estimated $17.6 million in its second week.
REMEMBERED: Pop historian and best-selling author Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was turned into an Emmy-winning HBO miniseries by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, died Sunday after a bout with lung cancer. He was 66. Ambrose also served as a technical consultant on Saving Private Ryan.
BACK TO WORK: Blythe Danner returning to the set of Presidio Med on Friday. The actress had been on a leave of absence since the October 3 death of husband Bruce Paltrow.
WINONA FOREVER: Due to a conflict in his schedule, the judge in Winona Ryder's shoplifting case delaying the Tuesday start date for her trial. The actress, however, has been ordered to appear at a hearing that morning to discuss a new date.
OH, CALCUTTA: Penélope Cruz and Melanie Griffith helping to organize Voices of Hope, a charity CD benefiting a Calcutta orphanage and due November 19. The actresses will sing on the album, which also features tracks by Bob Dylan, Sting and Ricky Martin.
LISA MARIE PREFERS SPIDEY: Nicolas Cage auctioning off his personal comic book collection, including a copy of Superman's 1938 debut, for more than $1.6 million.
SILENT BOB BOULEVARD: Officials in Paulsboro, New Jersey, to name a street after Jersey native Kevin Smith. The director is shooting Jersey Girl--starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez--in the small town in the southern part of the Garden State.
HE'LL BE THERE: Michael Jackson inviting more than 200 Air Force personnel to his Neverland Ranch Saturday. Jackson wanted to honor those who served in support of the military action in Afghanistan.
WHACKED: A federal judge ruling Friday that organizers of New York's Columbus Day Parade can bar Sopranos actors Dominic Chianese and Lorraine Bracco from participating in the Monday march because the hit HBO series casts Italian-Americans in an unfavorable light.
SPEAKING OF HIT MEN: The New York Daily News reporting that Paul Falco, the 37-year-old brother of Sopranos star Edie Falco, is accused of assaulting his legally blind fiancée and threatening her with a butcher knife.
CAN YOU TAKE HIM HIGHER? Creed postponing a few shows after singer Scott Stapp came down with acute laryngitis. The next gig is scheduled for Los Angeles on October 20.