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Small ads in supermarket tabloids, comic books and magazines offered a chance at the big time in the music business. Thousands of would-be lyricists responded with their "song-poems" and their savings. NPR's Scott Simon reports on a new anthology of the results.

Merriam-Webster releases the 11th edition of its Collegiate Dictionary, which includes new words such as "dot commer" and "headbanger." The Internet has made the biggest influence on the American language, both with the new words it has generated and the speed with which the public has adopted them. Hear John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, dies after a long illness. He was believed to be 79. Doby was named to seven straight All-Star teams in his 13-year career, most of it spent with the Cleveland Indians. He experienced discrimination both on and off the field, but in later years rarely displayed bitterness. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.

The Academy Awards ceremony will go on as planned Sunday but there won't be any red carpet interviews or cheering fans in bleachers. And security is said to be very tight. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

Russian emigre comic Yakov Smirnoff is back in the limelight. His act about communist life became one of the first casualties of the end of the Cold War. But this week he opened a new one-man show on Broadway. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

The Arabic-language television news network Al-Jazeera comes under fire from British and American military officials, as well as from some Arab viewers. Al-Jazeera is broadcasting graphic pictures of dead British and American soldiers and footage of American POWs being interrogated by Iraqis. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

In an act of solidarity, New York actors join Broadway's musicians in a strike to keep live, pit orchestras playing in theaters. Following weeks of negotiations, the musicians' union and the League of American Theatres and Producers fail to reach an agreement over a new contract. Hear Jeff Lunden's report.

Marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library puts on an exhibition to commemorate her reign. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

Director Federico Fellini called an interview he gave to filmmaker Damian Pettigrew, "the most detailed conversation ever... of my personal vision." That interview is now the basis of Fellini: I'm a Born Liar, a new film from Pettigrew. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

Bloggers -- or Web loggers -- have been sharing their most intimate thoughts and opinions on the Internet since the mid-1990s, mostly with text, links and photos. Now, increasingly they're adding their voices -- literally -- to their online diaries. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the advent of audio blogs.