MOUNTAIN VIEW,  Feb 10 — Zachary Mason’s critically praised first novel comes with a largely self-explanatory title: “The Lost Books of the Odyssey” purports to be a compilation of 44 alternate versions of Homer’s epic. What that title cannot possibly convey, though, is the unusual journey of Mason’s manuscript on its way to publication by Farrar, Straus & Giroux last week.

Mason, 35, a computer scientist specialising in search recommendation systems and keywords, once worked at Amazon.com. He avoided writing workshops and MFA programmes as a matter of principle, and produced “The Lost Books” at night, during lunch breaks and on weekends and vacations.

“Come senators, congressman, please heed the call,” he rasped. “Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall.” His tone was rough but almost wistful; he had turned his old exhortation into an autumnal waltz. Afterward, he stepped offstage and shook President Obama’s hand.

It was part of “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement.” The program was the Black History Month event in Michelle Obama’s continuing music series at the White House, and will be broadcast Thursday night on PBS.

The Tower Bar may want to have a talk with its headwaiter. While little known outside of the clubby film industry, Robinov, 51, has become one of the most powerful people in moviedom over the last two years and is becoming even more so. He is the heir apparent for the company’s top movie job when Alan F Horn, chief operating officer of Warner Brothers Entertainment and overlord of film production, retires next year.

With its corporate gentility and stability in a highly unstable business, Warner has long been Hollywood’s gold standard. By sticking to “the Warner way” — star-driven pictures, effective marketing — and keeping executive churn to a minimum, the studio of Batman and Harry Potter has sold more than US$1 billion (RM3.4 billion) in tickets at the domestic box office for an unparalleled nine years running.

Cruise and Abrams last teamed up in 2006 for “Mission: Impossible III,” with Cruise in the role of super agent Ethan Hunt who battles bad guys and saves the world from evil.

The San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land is seeking to purchase the 1,820-foot-tall ridge, called Cahuenga Peak, from a group of Chicago investors who acquired it from Hughes’ estate in 2002 with plans to build luxury homes there.

City officials and residents have worried since then of cluttering the postcard-perfect view of the landmark sign, whose four-story-high “H” stands just to the east of and slightly below Cahuenga Peak in the Hollywood Hills.

The 3D space extravaganza has so far taken £72 million in its eight-week British run, seven of which have been at No.1.

Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” set in the bayous of New Orleans, was in second place, just above newcomer “Astro Boy” which came in at three with the tale of a young robot learning the joys of being human.

The figures showed it paid those artists, musicians and presenters earning over £100,000 a year £70 million — a quarter of the total cost — which represents 6.5 per cent of the licence fee.

It is also set to have one of the biggest first week sales of any single since 2000.

Martin Talbot, the company’s managing director, said: “This is a phenomenal achievement. The public are certainly not showing any signs of charity fatigue.”

Interest in the 76-year-old’s film, one of 20 competition entries vying for awards at the Feb 11-21 event, has inevitably soared since his sensational arrest in Switzerland in September.

In a story published on Jan 24, the weekly newspaper reported that the couple planned imminently to separate and had agreed on how they would divide their assets and custody of their children.

Pitt, 46, and Jolie, 34, have six children and joint assets estimated by the News of the World at £205 million (RM1,127 million).