NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, JANICE HOROWITZ, NADYA LABI, LINA LOFARO, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, EMILY MITCHELL, MEGAN RUTHERFORD, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND GABRIEL SNYDER

WINNERS & LOSERS

LEADING MEN, POST-STEWART & MITCHUM

[WINNERS]

WILL SMITH Men in Black in the black. Isn't bashful, but has Stewart's sunny appeal, even while battling aliens

NICOLAS CAGE A one-man Face/Off, he blends Stewart's sincerity with Mitchum's melancholy

TOM HANKS The George Bailey of the '90s. America's latest Everyman

[& LOSERS]

GEORGE CLOONEY New Bat-guy must turn TV charm into screen charisma. He's Stewart, all right--Stewart Granger

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER If Mitchum were robotized, Arnold would have it. His $25 mil for Batman is a price too high

SANDRA BULLOCK Stewart's type of girl-next-door, but girls can't carry action pics

SUMMER SHOW-AND-TELL

DECLARATION OF INDIGESTION

Since nothing is more American than a Fourth of July cookout, we checked in with a few of our nation's leaders and asked their spokespeople some key questions regarding their Independence Day activities:

SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (Republican, Utah) Hamburgers or hot dogs? "Hamburgers, but it's a toss-up." Mustard or catsup? "A little of both--probably more mustard."

SENATOR CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN (Democrat, Illinois) Hamburgers or hot dogs? "Hot dogs." Mustard or catsup? "Catsup. [Columnist Mike] Royko once attacked her by saying no real Chicagoan would put catsup on a hot dog. But he's dead."

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR BRUCE BABBITT Hamburgers or hot dogs? "I would assume that it's hamburgers, but I don't know for sure." Mustard or catsup? "I don't think he likes either, but for the press, just say catsup."

HOUSE SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH (Republican, Georgia) Hamburgers or hot dogs? "Neither. They're not on his diet." Mustard or catsup? "They aren't on his diet either. We're not going to discuss the specifics of his diet until he meets his goals."

LOOK INTO MY LENSES

If eyes are the windows of the soul, it seems there are more and more strange souls out there. Custom-designed soft contact lenses have made irises the latest accessory. "It's a statement," says California optometrist Richard Silver, who designed Schwarzenegger's cool orbs for Batman & Robin. ("These make the Terminator look like a baby sitter," Arnold boasted.) The painted lenses are costly ($800 and up), must be professionally prescribed and fitted, and are not readily available because of FDA restrictions.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAR TRAUMA

Circa A.D. 33 In The Gospel According to John, as Jesus is being arrested outside the Garden of Gethsemane, St. Peter cuts off the right ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest. In The Gospel According to Luke, Jesus reattaches it.

1876 After Custer's defeat at the battle of Little Big Horn, reports say his ears were slit, a supposed admonition from the Sioux to listen more carefully.

1888 The moody artist Vincent van Gogh severs his left earlobe.

1969 From the hit A Boy Named Sue, sung by Johnny Cash: "He came up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear."

1973 Kidnappers in Italy chop off the right ear of E. Paul Getty Jr., grandson of the world's richest man, when their ransom demands are not met in a timely way.

1986 In David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Kyle MacLachlan finds a missing ear, and later the head it once belonged to.

1992 Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's debut as a director, makes audiences squirm with the de-earification of a police officer by bad guy Michael Madsen.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

THE LOWDOWN ON CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA In contrast to three previous U.S. studies, researchers now say that kids who live near high-tension power lines do not have a significantly increased risk of leukemia.

HAPPIER AT LAST Though menopause can seem like a cheerless event, it may actually alleviate emotional distress. The rate of women who suffer from anxiety or depression drops from 10.8% in women under 55 to 5.3% in those 55 and older.

POSITIVE PROSTATE FINDINGS In patients whose prostate cancer hasn't spread, the odds of dying from the disease within 10 years drop to less than 5% if the entire gland is surgically removed.

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; Royal College of Psychiatrists meeting; J.A.M.A.

THE BAD NEWS

BRAIN DRAIN Loss of brain tissue--something that occurs naturally with aging--seems to be greater in older people who have high blood pressure than in those elderly with normal readings.

INHALER ALERT Just months after researchers warned asthma patients that chronic use of corticosteroid inhalers may be linked to glaucoma, they now find that the lifesaving inhalers may also increase the risk of cataracts.

TICK TROUBLE Lyme disease and HGE, another tick-borne illness, can infect a person simultaneously. If Lyme is found, doctors may want to use a drug that also treats HGE, which can be fatal.

Sources: Stroke; New England Journal of Medicine (2,3)

DATA POINT

PLATTERS Vinyl is thriving in the digital age. Who buys LPs? Among others, jazz aficionados who want vinyl reissues and club DJs who still spin wax.

NUMBER OF VINYL LPs SOLD 1994 625,000 1995 794,000 1996 1,100,000 1997 (through 6/29) 2,200,000

Source: SoundScan, Inc.

LOCAL HERO

RON HAYES, 48, FAIRHOPE, ALA.; founder of Families in Grief Hold Together (FIGHT)

After the 1993 death of his 19-year-old son Patrick in a grain-silo accident, Hayes set up a support group for families of workers killed on the job. He provides counseling on legal rights and helps cut through bureaucratic red tape. The project has so far aided 300 families in 40 states and, says Hayes, "has helped fill the hole that Patrick left."