Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 53

"Tv The Hispanic Playwrights' Festival soldiers on through the heat offering five plays and a new film series This and Parker FEARLESSLY PEERING AHEAD TO THE WEEKEND County peaches on Page 3 Jm Lifeline 2E Comics 6-7E Television 10E Thursday July 102003 WWWSTAR-TliLEGRAMCOM 1 ClllilS AND CATHEIil NE'S SUMMER BOOK CLUB hapusc 4-' STAR-TELEGRAM DAVE SEYMOUR The absolutely Magic and mayhem for the kid in all of us In the midst of July as our brains flag and stall in the pollution solution we in Fort Worth refer to as we turn to a bestseller list that offers simple refreshment: books CK: Catherine people are always making fun of me for reading as many books as I do But authors like JK Rowling Lemony Snicket and Louis Sachar create richly imagined fantasy worlds and tell crisp funny stories a lot more than you can say for the last few books by Don DeLillo or Salman Rushdie Needless to say I was chomping at the bit for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Based on a dinner party I went to last week four of the five adult males present were halfway through the book not the only one (Or maybe just keeping creepy company?) CN: Potter schmotter As my 9-year-old daughter points out Rowling seem to be writing for kids anymore just for you and your creepy friends More on BOOKS on 8E 1E8L chapter Stephen King claimed he was ready to retire But now he's back at it rewriting his own 'Gunslinger' rt 50 WAYS TO LOVE YOUR SUMMER A SEASONAL SERIES It Stephen about to retire from writing? Believe it when you see it and be entirely convinced even if you do precedent aplenty for the biggest of names announcing hanging up the gloves for good only to be back sooner (most) or later (a few) Frank Sinatra a couple of times before heading back out on tour Richard Nixon going to let the press kick him around anymore six years before he became president Hunter Thompson has periodically claimed that he has written his last word then quickly returned with more printed bile And now it seems King is backing off his statement of January 2002 that after he completed a couple of in-the-works projects he was writing writing but writing at a 7 much slower pace than pre- reads a note from King posted on the Web site (wwwstephenkingcom) in response to a query about whether really retiring vA think that if I came up with something really really good I would be perfectly willing to publish it More on KING on 8E Is the rewrite any good? Two views 8E Go East young woman! 1Q KJ you have to follow runway trends to have noticed that the style statement of the summer is Asian just saunter through the nearest mall one afternoon Traditional Far East touches -i mandarin collars and frog buttons (those cord-and-loop closures) have sprouted on blouses and dresses Chinese and Japanese motifs dragons plum blossoms and delicate florals have found their way onto jeans and jewelry Asian styles have influenced Western fashion from the get-go of course and make cyclical comebacks A current Stylecom slide show features both Elizabeth Taylor (circa 1958) and Madonna (circa 1995) wrapped in cheongsams the traditional long tight silk dress-- es Vf season designers Miu Miu and Roberto Cavalli among others are playing with Asian symbols and cuts For a couture bargain 1 check out Michael updated kimono on clearance at Blueflycom for $49999 Budget-conscious shoppers can afford the look too These pretty Asian-inspired blouses are available at Charlotte Russe stores for $1999 and $2299 Liz Stevens Beyonce attains supernova status in the pop universe Beyonce Knowles gets serious about stardom and it scares her shows that I do the more people obviously know me and after the commercial after all these wonderful opportunities people recognize me more so harder for me to go she says takes getting used to Everywhere you go you have to sign autographs or look a certain way to get have to make the adjustment given the wave of success enveloping her More on MUSIC on 9E By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP MUSIC WRITER NEW YORK With millions in album sales Gram-mys more than a half-dozen hit singles a blockbuster movie and A-list endorsements hard to imagine how Beyonce star could get much brighter Yet with the release last week of Dangerously in Love first solo disc apart from the megagroup Child the 21-year-old is moving into a celebrity stratosphere so luminous even a bit nervous about it getting says Knowles in her husky Southern-accented voice looking particularly bootylicious in a white Juicy Couture shorts set as an SUV ferries her to an evening performance the more movies I do and the more TV ABACA PRESSNICOLAS KHAYAT VIA KRT Beyonce Knowles' solo album Dangerously In Love debuted in the No 1 spot on the Billboard charts I A.