SOUND BITES Other notable debuts this week were John Williams' instrumental score for the upcoming ''Star Wars: Episode Two -- Attack of the Clones'' (No. 6), Wilco's ''Yankee Foxtrot Hotel'' (initially bounced by its label as too uncommercial, it debuted at No. 13), and Elvis Costello's return to rock, ''When I Was Cruel'' (No. 20). Williams joined two other top 10 soundtracks, those for ''The Scorpion King'' (No. 7) and ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (No. 8). ''Josh Groban'' was No. 9, and Pink's ''M!ssundaztood'' was No. 10.
BABY TALK Bjork, meet stork. The swan-dress-clad singer is five months pregnant; the father-to-be is her boyfriend, American avant-garde filmmaker and sculptor Matthew Barney. The Icelandic diva, 36, has a 15-year-old son, Sindri, by her ex-husband and former Sugarcubes bandmate, Thor Eldon.
HEALTH WATCH Historian Stephen Ambrose, who blamed the various instances of plagiarism he's been recently accused of on the frenetic pace with which he cranks out best-selling tomes about World War II, plans to slow down a bit, now that he's been diagnosed with lung cancer. ''I am focusing on a course of action based on a balance of good sense and cautious optimism.'' says the 65-year-old, a longtime smoker, who is at work on another WWII book. ''I have a lot left to say and to write about our nation's history, the American spirit and personal leadership.''
WATCHING ELLIE Champagne and beer flowed Wednesday in Entertainment Weekly's New York office with the news that the magazine had picked up its fourth National Magazine award from the American Society of Magazine Editors. EW won for ''General Excellence'' among magazines with a circulation between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000, beating ESPN The Magazine, Fortune, In Style, and Vanity Fair. The three submissions that earned EW the citation were the ''It List'' issue (June 29/July 6, 2001), with future ''Spider-Man'' stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst on the cover; the ''In Dave We Trust'' issue (November 2, 2001), with a cover story on how David Letterman helped soothe a laughter-averse nation after 9/11; and the Best of 2001 issue (December 21/28), with EW's Entertainer of the Year, Nicole Kidman, on the cover.
EW had won three previous ''Ellies'' (so named because the Alexander Calder-designed trophy looks like an abstract copper elephant). The magazine won the same General Excellence honor in 1995, and in 1998, it won for Design and Special Interests. This year's other big winners, taking home three Ellies apiece, were The Atlantic Monthly (Reporting, Public Interest, and Feature Writing), The New Yorker (Fiction, Essays, and Profile Writing), and the National Geographic Society -- National Geographic Adventure magazine won for Personal Service and for General Excellence (200,000 to 500,000 circulation), and Magazine's website won for General Excellence Online. Hip-hop magazine Vibe won for General Excellence (500,000 to 1,000,000 circulation), and won for Single-Topic Issue for its post-9/11 special issue that hit the stands just two days after the attacks.
