When salaries skyrocket, budgets skyrocket, and then rigor mortis sets in: moviemakers turn out formulaic junk in an effort to hedge their bets.

When salaries skyrocket, budgets skyrocket, and then rigor mortis sets in: moviemakers turn out formulaic junk in an effort to hedge their bets.

In the annals of the rich and miserable, Christina Onassis stands out, if only because she was so rich and so miserable.

Tobias Wolff is a hell of a writer, but you knew that already. His first memoir, 'This Boy's Life,' was a Huck Finn story set in the Eisenhower era - a story so rich and wounding that not even Hollywood could make a bad movie out of it.

You see turn one. You want to have a tidy exit on that because it sets you up for the next turn.

Don't junk up your offer with a lot of bells and whistles that might turn the sellers off - especially if you love the house and don't want to risk losing out.