etc.
WHAT ARE YOU, A HEALTH NUT?
Imagine the dismay of a group of 14 tourists who arrived tired and hungry at their camp on Spitsbergen Island in the Norwegian Arctic only to find it had been broken into by a polar bear. Now, picture them doubled over with laughter after careful inspection revealed that the animal had devoured the contents of a tube of toothpaste and a supply of vitamin-C tablets. Meanwhile, left untouched - perhaps not even sniffed at - was the food stash, including dried meat. Said the camp operator: "They like trying new things."
Attention, school principals: Are you short a teacher for the new academic year? One just happens to be available in rural north-central Montana, where an advertising campaign apparently has failed to attract a single enrollee for the one-room Benton Lake School. Last year's only student, a second-grader, transferred to a larger district offering better social opportunities.
"American Pie 2" topped theater box offices across North America for the third straight weekend, becoming only the third film all year to post such a record and bringing its total receipts to $109.6 million, according to studio estimates. Still, despite what critics consider a weak field of new releases, Hollywood is expected by this weekend to break the record summer revenue record of $3 billion set in 1999. The top-grossing movies for Aug. 24-26 (in millions), according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc.:
1. "American Pie 2" $12.8
2. "Rush Hour 2" 11.4
3. "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" 11.1
4. "The Others" 8.6
5. "Rat Race" 8.3
6. "Summer Catch" 7.5
7. "The Princess Diaries" 6.7
8. "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" 3.9
9. "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars" 3.8
10. "Planet of the Apes" 3.5
- Reuters/Associated Press
