People

By Lisa McLaughlin

Q & A

DANIEL HANDLER

The End, the last book in the Lemony Snicket series, is out Oct. 13. Lev Grossman talks to its author.

What happens at the end of The End?

There's some death and birth and child rearing, and the possibility for enormous disaster, and the hope that enormous disaster can be averted.

I'm not hearing a lot of closure.

As I've been warning readers all along, there will be nothing but unpleasantness and frustration for those fool-hardy enough to read all the books.

Do your books show children the injustice of life?

I scowl at the notion that the books are teaching that the world is unjust. Any child who has ventured onto a playground already knows that.

What was your childhood like?

I was a boy soprano. My mother still has clippings if you'd like them.

And you played the accordion ...

I'm probably the first person in the world who took up the accordion to get girls.

Is your son telling stories yet?

Mostly about cars that need to be repaired, which then go to a restaurant, where they eat fries.

ANOTHER RIDE ON THE ROLLER COASTER, MR. SHEEN?

For CHARLIE SHEEN, 2006 has not exactly been a banner year. His messy divorce from Denise Richards, with the concomitant airing of dirty laundry, has made him frequent tabloid fodder. But on the upside, he shouldn't have too much trouble paying his bills. Sheen, yes THAT Charlie Sheen, is about to become the best-paid actor in a comedy on TV. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sheen will earn about $350,000 an episode for his role as a smart-mouthed single on CBS's Two and a Half Men. Looks as if being a bachelor will pay off for him on all fronts.

I SEE LONDON, I SEE FRANCE ...

Want to look au courant this spring? Start planning to reach for the Thigh Master. On Milan's catwalks last week designers kept things supershort with a leggy mix of micro-minis, teeny minis and itsy-bitsy minis. Skirts and dresses like those above from Fendi, Prada and Gucci offered 1960s-inspired silhouettes and hemlines that stopped only barely south of modesty.

BARRING BORAT

If you haven't met Borat yet, well, you're just like the President. The English-mangling, sister-snogging, horse-urine-drinking (and fictional) Kazakh journalist played by British comedian SACHA BARON COHEN is on the wackiest publicity tour in history for his movie Borat. Last week he caused a minor security kerfuffle when he tried to personally deliver a screening invitation to "President George Walter Bush." Good to know our nation's leader is safe from practical jokers.

With reporting by Lev Grossman