Ready Aim... Hollywood has best-selling books in its sights, pop divas hit the high notes, wrtiers shoot to chill and TV dramas soar.(Arts and Entertainment)

MOVIES

If Hollywood can refashion underwear model Mark Wahlberg into a box-office sure thing, why can't it turn a literary best seller into a good movie? Recent efforts yielded the odd Oscar contender ("The Cider House Rules") and the sporadic minor hit ("The Talented Mr. Ripley"), but most high-minded adaptations quickly disappear into the film vaults. The past few years have seen as many ruinous adaptations as there were snowflakes in "Snow Falling on Cedars." In its entire run, "Angela's Ashes" sold no more tickets than "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" did in just its first weekend. By now you would think Hollywood might tear up its library card.

But ...