The "Matrix" actor teamed up with A-Mark Entertainment, an independent finance and production company, to buy the film rights from Warner Bros. He will direct from his own adaptation of Paulo Coelho's philosophical book about a traveler journeying the world during the Inquisition in order to find man's purpose in the world.

Since its debut in 1988, the book has been translated into 56 languages and has sold more than 40 million copies in more than 150 countries. Warner Bros. acquired the property in 2003 as a Fishburne vehicle. The filmmakers' take is described as "Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones," with a sweeping adventure centering on a young Spaniard who embarks on a quest to find a hidden treasure within the Egyptian pyramids and ends up discovering a personal treasure that eclipses his wildest expectations.

Over the summer, Winter will make 47 posts on the popular social networking site about his upcoming novel "The Architects Are Here." Winter's publisher Penguin is touting the initiative as the first-ever Facebook novel serialization. Each post will feature a 300-word "distillation of a chapter's essence" as well as "commentary, notes and musings," Penguin said in a release.

In addition, each installment will include videos and photos of the people and places that inspired the novel's characters and setting. The project, which will run for 10 weeks, begins Tuesday. "The Architects Are Here" is set for publication in September. Winter was a juror last year for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He is also the author of the novel "The Big Why" published in 2004.

Here are Penguin's instructions to access the posts: "Users are encouraged to contact Michael via The Wall at Penguin's Facebook page with a friend request, at which point they will be added to the distribution list." Penguin says if users have trouble accessing the page, they can sign into their Facebook account, then cut and paste this link into their browser's address window: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid2255490973.

The Egyptian government has made a formal request to borrow the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum (BM). A letter was sent last month by Dr Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Art Newspaper can reveal that the request is for a three-month loan in 2012, for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is being built near the Pyramids. Until now, the BM has been able to fend off questions about the return of the Rosetta Stone, since there had been no formal request.

Whether the loan is eventually granted is expected to depend on three main factors. First, conservation, and whether the 1,680 pound stone could be at risk. Secondly, if the Rosetta Stone can be lent in view of its iconic importance. It is probably the single most-visited object in the BM's entire collection, attracting even more visitors than the Parthenon Marbles. The Rosetta Stone has been at the museum since 1802, and has only left the building twice-when it was evacuated during World War I and when it was lent to the Louvre for one month in 1972.

Finally, there will concerns over whether it would be prudent to lend to Cairo, because of possible pressure in Egypt to retain the stone or request its permanent return. After receiving advice on these points, the request will be considered by the BM trustees.

In March, Dr Hawass told The Art Newspaper that he intends to seek the loan of five key masterpieces from international museums. The others are the head of Nefertiti (Berlin Museums), the Dendera zodiac ceiling (Louvre), the bust of Hemiunu, builder of the Great Pyramid (Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany), and the statue of Ankhaf, builder of the Khafre Pyramid (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). "I will give guarantees for their safe return," he promised.

A row has already broken out over Nefertiti, with the Berlin Museums arguing that the head is too fragile to travel. Dr Hawass warned last month that if the Berlin loan is refused, then "we will fight to bring back this bust for good."

The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter will open at the Universal Orlando Resort, in Florida, in 2009. Harry Potter author JK Rowling said: "The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed." Touted as a "theme park within a theme park", it will feature attractions and rides based on Harry Potter locations.

Based inside Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park, which already houses Marvel Super Heroes and Dr Seuss islands, the Harry Potter theme will be spread over 20-acres.

Oscar-winning production designer Stuart Craig, who has worked on the Harry Potter films, is leading the creative design for the park to ensure it remains faithful to JK Rowling's vision. "Our primary goal is to make sure this experience is an authentic extension of Harry Potter's world as it is portrayed in the books and films," he said Craig.

The Brooklyn-based songwriter set out to change the musical landscape for mobile frozen treat purveyors with new tunes -- and ringtones -- like "Ice Cream Yo!" and "Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go in the Winter?" Independent ice cream vendors across the country are already taking notice.

*****

"I had no hard and fast rules as to how to make an ice cream truck song," said Hearst, who also plays in indie duo One Ring Zero. "They had just better make people want to buy ice cream." And Hearst's 13 tracks -- short, whimsical tunes that use melodica, organ, theremin, guitar, keyboards and a children's choir -- appear to be doing just that. "Having something other than a nursery rhyme makes grown-ups not mind approaching the truck as much," said John Thibodeau, owner of single-truck operation Thibby's Ice Cream in Green Bay, Wis.

"You can't blast low-end music coming from a horn speaker, so the music has to have a certain tone. Michael nailed these great mid- and high-level sounds. Lots of people ask me about it, where I got it," said Matt Allen, popularly known as the Ice Cream Man, who gives out free ice cream at major music festivals across the country. Other vendors -- from a startup in Southern Pines, North Carolina, to a small fleet in Portland, Oregon -- are catching on as well.

Iran accused Britain yesterday of insulting Islam by awarding a knighthood to Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses prompted the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his assassination. Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, portrayed the decision to honour the novelist as an orchestrated act of aggression directed against Islamic societies, describing Rushdie as "one of the most hated figures" in the Islamic world.

*****

Rushdie returned to public life in 1999, a decade after being forced underground by Khomeini's declaration. He was the most high-profile of the 946 people honoured in the Queen's birthday list, drawn from nominations by the public or expert organisations. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said the honour was "richly deserved" and the reasons for it were "self-explanatory".

*****

In a statement following the announcement of his knighthood on Saturday, Rushdie, 59, said he was "thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour". Literary supporters said the decision to include the novelist among 21 knighthoods was overdue, claiming the British establishment had for many years been reluctant to be associated with the controversial figure.

Child actor-turned-scribe Brad Caleb Kane will sink his teeth into "The Historian," Sony's adaptation of a bestselling tome about modern-day vampires. The studio ponied up seven figures for Elizabeth Kostova's novel, her first, shortly before it hit bookstores two years ago, and Red Wagon's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher have been searching for the right scribe ever since. The key, according to Wick, was finding one able to modernize the Dracula myth in a believable way.

The book revolves around a young woman's search for her father, who is on the hunt for the grave of Vlad the Impaler, the feudal lord who inspired Bram Stoker's "Dracula."

"One of the things we've been looking for is someone who could not only capture the visceral, sexy part of the story, but who also has the talent to make it credible," said Wick.

Brian Preston never was. In fact, the author has been described (by his publisher) as a spineless wuss and a confirmed conflict-avoider. When he was in Glasgow writing on assignment about the local nightlife, a couple of drunken teens lurched out of the shadows of an alley. As one slumped against a fence, the other, wavering on his feet, pulled a small blade, waved it towards Preston and threatened to cut him. In this case, standing sideways would not be enough. Preston turned and ran.

Faced with a similar scenario, most people might do the same. But it arguably contributed to why, when his British publisher told him he should get a black belt then write a book about Kung Fu, Preston chose not to kick his ass. "My first reaction was, you've got the wrong guy," Preston says on the phone from his home on Vancouver Island. "But then I started thinking about it and realized it probably could be fun. And if someone's going to put the money up front for me to do it, why not?"

The journey had begun. Walking the earth like Cain in Kung Fu, Preston braved broken ribs, a bruised ego and plenty of open cans of whoop-ass in order to research Me, Chi and Bruce Lee: Adventures in Martial Arts. His quest takes him from suburban strip mall gyms to the Shaolin Temple in China to the temples of sin in Vegas for the lights and fights of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Along the way, he traces the history of martial arts and offers insights into North America's adoption of the eastern combative art and how it's influenced our culture.

*****

"She [Brian's wifre] would just kind of roll her eyes. I would be trying to practise my Kung Fu moves while she was trying to watch TV and she would say, 'Oh, Mr. Deadly Kung Fu.'" Deadly or not, according to ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, even a journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet. You know, the journey is the destination and all that. Still, it has to be asked: What colour of belt did Preston reach?

"Let me put it this way, I switched to Tai Chi. According to my Tai Chi master, it's the deadliest martial art, if people only studied it properly. Then he added: "I have a very spotty attendance record." Me, Chi and Bruce Lee comes out on Friday.

"Everywhere you go there is huge, ridiculous discounting by the chains," said Graham Marks, children's editor at the British-based trade magazine Publishing News. "They are literally not going to make one penny out of the book. It is stupid -- just throwing money away ... The world has gone mad." Online retailer Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have slashed nearly 50 percent off the book's $34.99 list price, forcing many independent booksellers to follow suit to stay competitive.

Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc., the world's largest booksellers, are selling it at 40 percent off. Such price cuts drive sales, but usually result in minimal profit margin, something Jefferies & Co analyst & Co. analyst Tim Allen said typically happens on every bestseller. "It's so discounted, there's minimal, if any, gain," Allen said. "Retailers try to make up the shortfall by marketing loyalty cards, which they hope will entice shoppers back into their store."

*****

But with widespread discounting biting a gigantic chunk out of any potential profits, many booksellers are not enthused about its release. And for smaller, independent book stores, the discounting makes for a hard calculation. "The bookselling trade has lost millions by having to discount Harry Potter as heavily as they do," said Caroline Horn, children's editor at Bookseller, a British trade magazine. "A lot of independent bookstores won't be selling Potter. They say it would be cheaper to buy it from a supermarket than the publisher."

Scholastic Corp. -- the U.S. publisher of the "Potter" series -- is planning to release a record-breaking 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows," so retailers expect no problems getting inventory. "We placed our orders for them and they've guaranteed us we'll get them," said Dara La Porte, the children's book manager at Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C. "The last couple of Harry Potter titles -- we've gotten them within 24 hours of when it released."

A team of scholars traveled to a medieval library in Venice to create an ultra-precise 3-D copy of the ancient manuscript -- complete with every wrinkle, rip and imperfection -- using a laser scanner mounted on a robot arm. A high-resolution, 3-D copy of the entire 645-page parchment book, plus a searchable transcription, will be made available online under a Creative Commons license.

The Venetus A is the oldest existing copy of Homer's Iliad and the primary source for all modern editions of the poem. It lives in Venice at the ancient Public Library of St. Mark. It is easily damaged. Few people have seen it. The last photographic copy was made in 1901. I was lucky enough to see the manuscript when I went to Venice with my husband, Christopher Blackwell, who is part of a team organized by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies to photograph and digitize the ancient book.

The idea is "to use our 3-D data to create a 'virtual book' showing the Venetus in its natural form, in a way that few scholars would ever be able to access," says Matt Field, a University of Kentucky researcher who scanned the pages. "It's not often that you see this kind of collaboration between the humanities and the technical fields." Venice is not the most convenient work site. All the gear had to come by boat and be carried or dragged up the stairs of the library. Built in the 1500s, the library has been renovated periodically, but its builders never envisioned a need for big lights, a motorized cradle, 17 computers or wireless internet.