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The Bold Man and the Sea
Russell Crowe is a strong person and a great actor because of his intensity and savantlike dedication to his characters [Nov. 24]. It was refreshing to read an article about him that was not sensationalized. The quirks of temperament in his personality are what you find in most people who are as dedicated to their work as he is. Although I like knowing a little about the person behind the actor, I have to agree with his statement about privacy: "I'll make movies, and you go to the cinema. Why can't we just keep it at that?" What is this need to live vicariously through movie stars' lives?
Cynthia Warren
Walnut Creek, U.S.

Crowe didn't just take Hollywood by storm; he took it by tornado, hurricane and tsunami. After reading your fine cover story, I admire him even more than before.
Evan Dale Santos
Adelanto, U.S.

Crowe will eventually be seen as the pre-eminent actor of his era—surpassing Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and the rest. With Crowe, you see a conflicted cop, a sensitive gay plumber, a neo-Nazi, a fragile genius; with others, you see actors playing roles. I respect Crowe's tenacity in staying true to himself. Because he won't play the fame game, he has been assigned a persona: arrogant bad boy. Your story unfairly perpetuated that image, leaving out instances of Crowe's generosity, loyalty, humor and zest for life. Crowe is rugged, rebellious and tender. His complexity makes his roles mesmerizing and accessible to all.
Rhonda Peterson
New York City

You included Hanks among the actors "condemned to deliver endless variations on the same performance." But what about Road to Perdition, The Green Mile and Cast Away, all starring Hanks and all with very diverse characters and plot lines.
Frances Moore
Gresham, U.S.

Shifting Gears in Iraq
L. Paul bremer, the American proconsul in Iraq, is being directed to change policy there as the political winds blow [Nov. 24]. One has to wonder if the timetable for transferring governance to the Iraqis was accelerated because it is in the best interests of that country or because a re-election bid is looming for President George W. Bush and is his primary concern.
Michael Robertson
Frisco, U.S.

Responding to recent suicide-bombing attacks in Turkey, Bush said, "[terrorists] hate freedom. They hate free countries." Are we to believe that people who blow themselves up do so to bring democracy to its knees? Somehow that sounds far-fetched and not unlike the motives attributed to the enemy in Vietnam. Moreover, our response of attacking violence with more violence is as illogical as fighting fire with gasoline. War is like a fire in the human community, fueled by living beings. Let's put the fire out.
Dennis Kostecki
Holladay, U.S.

		LATEST COVER STORY Saddam Captured December 22, 2003 Issue Past Covers The Insurgents Dec. 15, 2003 ----------------- Kids and Drugs Dec. 8, 2003 ----------------- America and Bush Dec. 1, 2003 ----------------- Russell Crowe Nov. 24, 2003 ----------------- Jessica Lynch Nov. 17, 2003 ----------------- Tortured Minds Nov. 10, 2003 ----------------- Eating Smart Nov. 3, 2003 ----------------- Bollywood Oct. 27, 2003 ----------------- Tomb Raiders Oct. 20, 2003 ----------------- Bali Remembered Oct. 13, 2003 ----------------- What Went Wrong? Oct. 6, 2003 ----------------- What's Next Sept. 29, 2003 ----------------- Japan's Koizumi Sept. 22, 2003 -----------------   ASIA  Indonesia: JI still going strong  Afghanistan: Intelligence failures RELIGION  The lost Gospels ARTS  Movies: HK's film godfather  Review: One sequel too many? NOTEBOOK  Taiwan: Stuck in the middle  Japan: Searching for the stork  Milestones  Verbatim  Letters GLOBAL ADVISOR  Holidays: Champagne supernova  Kyrgyzstan: R and R in Bishkek  Malaysia: Hip hotels in Langkawi CNN.com: Top Headlines

Alternatives to Dean
Because your article on Howard Dean focused on the differences and flaws among the Democratic presidential candidates [Nov. 24], it would have been pertinent to highlight the only woman in the race—and the only candidate to be endorsed by major women's groups—Carol Moseley Braun. She has advantages no other candidate does; her greatest weakness may be that the press will not acknowledge her as a viable candidate.
Ellen Treimel
New York City

Highbrow Horror
In his viewpoint on Stephen King receiving the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters [Nov. 24], Lev Grossman described King as an "unrepentant horror monger." But Grossman admits that the great literary novels of the past were often as popular as the works of King. It's clear that King is in a class of his own; he is élite. And the American reader should be credited with appreciating this. A great writer raises standards and makes all writers work harder. King's prose and storytelling changed the landscape of the novel years ago. It's about time he was recognized for his contribution.
Katherine Carter
Malibu, U.S.

Musical Revolution
TIME chose Apple's iTunes Music Store as the Coolest Invention of 2003 [Nov. 24]. But a service that revolutionizes the way people buy and listen to music deserves more: it should be called the invention of the decade. A Mac computer running iTunes has already replaced my $1,000 CD player. Hooked up to my stereo system at home, it's as much a revolution there as the portable iPod music player is on the road. Isn't it only a matter of time before Apple releases its own iTunes-based CD player? And shouldn't Apple or one of its affiliates become a music producer-distributor? Who needs the present middlemen when Apple can bring artists directly to the public through iTunes?
Ed Firmage Jr.
Salt Lake City, U.S.

I applaud your choice of the iTunes Music Store. As someone who works on the front line of music retailing (where I have seen firsthand the decline of CD sales) and also behind the scenes at a 1,500-seat performance venue (where musicians who hit the road make and keep more money than they do from record sales), I can honestly say that the music industry has this choice: change or die. Kudos to Steve Jobs and Apple for rewriting the rules and bridging the gap between piracy and the legitimate downloading of music. If that bridge happens to be lined with Apple iPods, so be it; if it happens to be "the most-benign-looking Trojan horse in software history," well, that's icing on the cake!
Sarah FitzGerald
Portland, U.S.

Gizmos for the Real World
"Coolest Inventions" was an interesting survey of up-to-date products [Nov. 24]. I especially liked the item on Toyota's Intelligent Parking Assist, the optional self-parking feature in the new Prius that uses software to allow a car to parallel park itself while the driver doesn't even have to touch the steering wheel. This technology will be a big seller, especially for drivers like my mother, who faces many difficulties in parallel parking.
Koji Yamazaki
Toyohashi, Japan

The George and Tony Show
Re J.F.O. McAllister's article anticipating problems that might arise during President Bush's state visit to Britain [Nov. 17]: While Bush visited London, I marched through Edinburgh with thousands of fellow protesters. This nonviolent demonstration was antiwar, not anti-American. After the slaughter of thousands of innocent people on 9/11, I was deeply saddened that our leaders decided to slaughter thousands more in battle. As the body count rises, I urge everyone to draw inspiration from the nonviolent challenges of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a truly great American.
Gordon J. Millar
Edinburgh

The demonstrations surrounding the meeting between Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair provided a perfect illustration of a clever hypocrisy being practiced by the heads of both countries. For the Stop the War Coalition to have assembled hundreds of thousands of people in London to demonstrate peacefully on a weekday was no mean achievement, yet the Bushes were able to truthfully claim that they had hardly been aware of any protests. This was possible only because British authorities ensured that the demonstrators were kept out of the Bushes' range. And then, having cleverly outfoxed the protesters, the politicians added salt to the wound by extolling the virtues of free protests in democratic nations, pointing out that no such freedom had existed in Iraq. But what is the value of such liberties if protest is to be so cynically robbed of influence by the governments at which it is directed? For democracy to flourish, it is essential that the right to protest peacefully is not downgraded to the right to protest ineffectually.
Nick Godwin
Edinburgh

Ford and High Fashion
In "Bowing Out," TIME reported on the departure of pre-eminent fashion designer Tom Ford and his business partner from the Gucci Group [Nov. 17]. But if Ford is looking for new challenges, the makers of America's big, dark, ugly, gas-guzzling luxury sport-utility vehicles might offer him just the one. Tom Ford would be the perfect choice to redesign the suv line for Ford Motor Co.
Carole Wade
Los Angeles

How Sweet It was
Actor Art Carney was closely identified with the TV sitcom The Honeymooners, as our Milestone on his death noted [Nov. 24]. Eighteen years ago, some early segments of the show were dug out of storage and released. They originally aired from 1952 to 1957, when The Honeymooners was a regular segment on Jackie Gleason's hour-long TV variety show. Our critic described these episodes in a May 13, 1985, report:

"Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows, otherwise known as Ralph and Alice Kramden... lived in that dingy two-room apartment on Chauncey Street... and their best friends were already their upstairs neighbors, Ed and Trixie Norton (Art Carney and Joyce Randolph). Unlike most other sitcom couples of the '50s, the Honeymooners were not middle class but the working poor. Ralph earned $62 a week driving a bus; Norton worked, as he liked to say, as an engineer of subterranean sanitation—in the sewer system ... Ralph was even louder, brasher and more abrasive [then] ... Alice was also louder and more argumentative, and Norton was dopier, unlikely as that may sound. Why does The Honeymooners remain so appealing? 'I have two answers, and they're very simple,' says Gleason ... 'First, they're funny. And second, the audience likes the people in The Honeymooners. Once you get an audience to like you, you're home.'"

Setting the Record Straight Digital Audio The Coolest Inventions item "Digital Jamming," about a new electric guitar [Nov. 24], mistakenly said that Gibson is the "first musical-instrument maker to release an electric guitar with a digitizing microprocessor and circuit board built right in." Gibson was not the first to produce this type of guitar. The musical-instrument company Line 6 began selling its Variax guitar with a digitizing microprocessor in December 2002.