AP - A new staging of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" has been retooled for shock value, moving the setting to the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center and inserting liberal doses of flabby flesh and Hitler in drag.

AP - "But Didn't We Have Fun? An Informal History of Baseball's Pioneer Era, 1843-1870" (286 pages, Ivan R. Dee, $27.50) by Peter Morris: Any institution that endures in American culture passes through an interesting transitional period — the time when it straddles the line between an informal practice and a more structured, formal activity.

Reuters - Big is not necessarily better for the highly anticipated "Sex and the City" movie, which reaches theaters on May 30.

Reuters - Martial arts movies have always had a certain cartoonish element, so DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" makes perfect sense.

Reuters - "Waltz With Bashir," a self-styled "animated documentary" from Israeli television director Ari Folman, adds its voice to the maelstrom that has swarmed through Middle Eastern politics for decades.

AP - "Bright Shiny Morning" (HarperCollins, 501 pages, $26.95) by James Frey: In this age of controversial pseudo-memoirs, James Frey, the man who started it all, leaves his past behind and tackles Los Angeles in his new novel.

AP - Before she tried on a pair of magical pants or transformed herself as the award-winning star of "Ugly Betty," America Ferrera appeared in the indie charmer "How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer."

AP - "Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently — and many times for the same reason!" Thus begins the humorous one-man show about Teddy Roosevelt, "The Bully Pulpit."

AP - "The New Blue Media: How Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, Jon Stewart, and Company are Transforming Progressive Politics" (The New Press, 256 pages. $24.95) by Theodore Hamm: Political historians face two obligations: to describe facts accurately and to interpret nuances impartially. The slightest hint of bias can subvert even the most accurate accounts.