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REEL DEALS To commemorate with a plea for peace and tolerance, 11 directors from around the world are teaming up to make an omnibus movie called ''11/09/01'' -- that's the overseas way of printing the date, but it also refers to the length of the short film that each director will shoot: 11 minutes, nine seconds, plus one frame (1/24th of a second). Filmmakers involved include Sean Penn, Britain's Ken Loach, France's Claude Lelouch, India's Mira Nair, Mexico's Alejandro Inarritu, Japan's Shohei Imamura, Bosnia's Danis Tanovic, Iran's Samira Makhmalbaf, Egypt's Youssef Chahine, Israel's Amos Gitai, and Burkina Faso's Idrissa Ouedraogo. The whole movie is expected to be compiled and ready for release in time for the first anniversary of the attacks.

TUBE TALK Newly minted millionaire Vecepia Towery wasn't the only ''Survivor'' winner on Sunday. CBS also won big, scoring a Nielsen ratings triumph on the night of the biggest May sweeps brawl in memory. The two-hour-plus contest finale drew an estimated 25.6 million viewers, the highest non-sports Sunday crowd CBS has seen in nearly five years. That's down six percent from January's ''Survivor: Africa'' finale, which was held on a Thursday, but it was still enough to bodyslam the other networks' sweeps contenders, including NBC's '''' retrospective (18.3 million), ABC's season finale of ''The Practice'' (13.2 million), and Fox's series finale of ''The X-Files'' (13 million). The Rosie O'Donnell-hosted ''Survivor Reunion'' special that followed Vee's victory drew about about 18.3 million viewers, roughly the same as January's post-''Africa'' reunion special.

SOUND BITES Another day, another awards ceremony. Monday's was the black-tie dinner held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the songwriting royalties clearinghouse, to honor of various pop singers and songwriters. Among the honorees were Beyonce Knowles, Dido, The Strokes, James Taylor, and Tony Bennett. Knowles was named songwriter of the year for three tunes she wrote or co-wrote for Destiny's Child (''Independent Women Part I,'' ''Survivior,'' and ''Jumpin', Jumpin'''). Dido's ''Thank You'' was named song of the year. The Strokes got the College Vanguard award for having their songs played most often on college radio. Taylor won the Founder's Award for his ''exceptional contributions to music,'' while Bennett won the Pied Piper award for being ''the foremost interpreter of the American songbook.'' Bennett, who performed at the dinner with k.d. lang, had kind words for one of his fellow winners, saying, ''I'd like James Taylor to run for president instead of the one that we've got in right now.'' Others present included Incubus' Dirk Lance, Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora, and Shawn Colvin.

PASSING NOTES Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, who popularized his field in such best-sellers as ''The Mismeasure of Man'' and ''The Panda's Thumb,'' died at 60 of cancer at his New York City home on Monday. Gould, a Harvard professor who promoted a modification of Darwin's theory, positing that evolution occurs in fits and starts, rather than as a smooth progression, was known for his ability to make his essays accessible to lay readers, frequently illustrating his ideas with humor and allusions to baseball. He was one of the few scientists famous enough to be caricatured on ''The Simpsons.''...

Historian Walter Lord, author of ''A Night to Remember,'' the non-fiction best-seller about the Titanic, died at 84 of complications from Parkinson's disease at his home in New York City on Sunday. Lord's 1955 book, an oral history of the disaster that included the testimony of 60 survivors, became a hit 1958 movie. Lord also served as an adviser on James Cameron's ''Titanic'' 40 years later.