MORRISON'S PROSE IS JAZZ FOR THE READER.(Show)

Byline: Richard Eder

"Jazz." By Toni Morrison. 226 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $21.

J azz" is a half-waking dream on a lumpy corncob mattress. Its voices shift, almost in a single sentence, from down-to-earth to intensely poetical. It alternately asserts, and transforms what it asserts.

Each shift - each page, virtually - begins with a tangible jolt of discovery, and dissolves, making way for the next shift and dissolution. It can be difficult to follow, yet immensely exhilarating. We raft down Toni Morrison's white water, get mired when it sinks into passages that run too deep underground, and float off when it breaks into the open.

"Jazz" has fewer undergrounds than did "Beloved," its predecessor. To my mind, it …

NKorea vows nuclear response to US-SKorea drills

North Korea warned Saturday that joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises poised to begin this weekend amount to a military provocation that will draw a "powerful" nuclear response from Pyongyang.

North Korea routinely threatens war when South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the North. The latest threat comes amid increased tensions on the peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.

The allies' defense chiefs announced earlier in the week they would stage the drills to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its …

Russian Orthodox Church slams 2 acclaimed authors

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian Orthodox Church official says the government should investigate books by Vladimir Nabokov and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to determine whether they "justify pedophilia" and should be banned.

Vsevolod Chaplin, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's department in charge of relations with society, discussed Nabokov, whose novels include "Lolita," and Garcia Marquez, the author …

Pipe and fittings are designed to withstand corrosion. (Pipes, Valves And Fittings).

This firm offers Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 pipe and fittings in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Corzan chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC). CPVC pipe is available in sizes to 12-in. dia., while PVC pipe …

'worst film ever on imdb.com'.(Life)

H DISASTER MOVIE. Directed by Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, with Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Carmen Electra, Kim Kardashian, G-Thang, Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan and Ike Barinholtz. NICHOLAS BARBER reviews

Disaster Movie isn't so much a film as an insult to cinema-goers everywhere.

I know I should really ignore a product which is nothing more than a splinter scraped from the bottom of the Hollywood barrel, but it's the second film its writer-directors have had out this year. The guilty parties are Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the same dud duo who excreted Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans, and for sheer crappiness they've excelled …

FESTIVAL A SWEET TREAT FOR CHOCOLATE-LOVERS.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: RUTH FANTASIA Food editor

Those who think there's never enough chocolate may finally get their fill this weekend at the New York State Chocolate Festival. The event, which raises money for Equinox Inc., a community services agency, will feature a number of events, including a Chocolate Gala, demonstrations, children's activities and vendors.

The festival kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday with the Taste of Chocolate Gala. Entertainment will be provided as attendees sample desserts from more than 20 Capital Region chefs. In addition, area chefs will compete in a chocolate Bake-Off. At last year's gala, Theresa Hyatt-England of Cowan & Lobel, garnered the …

Cuba Transition Project.(Cuba)(Brief Article)

CUBA TRANSITION PROJECT. The Cuba Transition Project (CTP) at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The CTP has recently published two new research studies: "Expropriated Properties in a Post-Castro Cuba: Two Views" with a Foreword by Laura Patallo-Sanchez and articles written by Oscar M. Garibaldi, Property Rights in the …