STAYING IN

GADGETS

Toss out the tape measure and opt for the easy way of figuring how many gallons, feet, or yards you’ll need for your next home-improvement project. The Seiko Home Contractor Conversion Computer measures room dimensions uitra-sonically. It then electronically computes area and volume and gives you estimates on the amount of paint, wallpaper, carpet, tile, or paneling required. Cost: $79 at The Sharper Image, 8411 Preston Rd., Suite 130.



Larry North’s “Weekend Workout” airs Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on KLIF “Talk Radio.” 1190 AM. Call him at 787-1190.

LARRY NORTH WANTS YOUR BODY



LISTENING This big guy wants to make you healthy. So listen up. Twenty-nine-year-old Larry North is an exercise fanatic who came to Dallas and became a personal trainer to high-brow clients. Now he’s taken his prowess to the masses with his “Weekend Workout” talk show. Knowledgeable, friendly, and informative, North tackles any kind of health question, from exercise routines to types of equipment to the myths of drinking egg whites. Hell even devise a workout program or diet for you over the air. So detach yourself from your sofa and give ol’ Larry a listen. He has a plan for your body. -Sherri Gulczynski

A Port in the Storm



WINE Nothing takes the chill off a wintery day quite like a glass of port in front of the fireplace. Ports are wines that have been “fortified” by the addition of brandy before the fermentation has completed, providing a wine that is both sweet from natural grape sugars and high in alcohol (usually 17 to 20 percent).

The best-quality ports are from declared vintages in Portugal. Vintage ports require plenty of time in the bottle before they are ready to drink. Of course, they usually carry a hefty price tag, too. A vintage wine ready to drink now is Wain s 1980, a respectable label that costs about $40 per bottle.

Most port houses also make a blended port that reflects the house style and is far more affordable. A good example is the Graham Six Grape, which retails for about $15. The “six grape” refers to the traditional port grape varieties.

A recent arrival in Dallas is Winterbrook 1980, a new California port that also uses traditional port grape varieties. (Only a few port producers in California use traditional varieties.) Available at $5.99 for a half bottle, it is a well-balanced, easy drinking wine, and a very good buy. -Becky Murphy

Souperwoman



PROFILE Anne Connally had always wanted a business of her own, but it took a skiing accident last year to put her on the fast track. Bedridden from January through April with a knee injury, she used the time to research ways of filling a void she’d discovered: there was no fresh soup in Dallas supermarkets. Soup devotee Connally hit the ground running in May, and hasn’t stopped yet. With accountant husband Dennis Connally furnishing counsel, she had orders filled, a commercial kitchen built, and a line of soups in select stores in time for the fall soup season. Whole Foods Market, Simon David, and mainline Tom Thumbs and Minyards carry the four soups available so far under her Canyon Specialties label-black-eyed pea jambalaya, Cuban black bean, Italian sausage, and Southwestern chicken. All use fresh ingredients without chemical additives, modified starches, irradiated spices, or artificial colorings. They’re delivered in pint jars, vacuum-sealed and freshness-dated. In-store prices range from $2.89 to $3.49.

Currently in the works: a vegetarian minestrone, which can only be called that, by the way, if the soup contains zucchini-one of many Texas Department of Agriculture standards Connally has had to learn in her career as a soup entrepreneur. -Betty Cook

VIDEOS



SEEING RED

The apparent collapse of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe may rob Hollywood of a favorite villain-the brutal, robotic Commie bent on burying the West.



In The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the Commies use their favorite Cold War tool- brainwashing – to force a mysterious “war hero” (Laurence Harvey) to kill on demand. Frank Sinatra is excellent as the ex-soldier who tumbles to the scheme, and Angela Lansbury is malevolence itself as the dupe’s mother.



The lowest circle of Cold War hell was Siberia, site of the labor camps central to One Dey in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1971). Based on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s own years in exile, the film succeeds almost too well in conveying the crushing weight of tyranny on the human spirit.



No Red Scare review would be complete without cynical agents in rumpled trench coats. Richard Burton makes a good one in The Spy Who Carne in From the Cold (1965), with its numerous action scenes around the Berlin Wall, pre-sou-venir. Even if you’ve seen it, you may get lost in the labyrinth of lies and deceptions.



Little Nikita (1988), with River Phoenix as the son of two deep-cover agents, is largely forgettable, but it’s a masterpiece beside the appallingly dumb Red Dawn (1984). Once past its gripping first scenes, this improbable blivit proves only that Patrick Swayze should stick to dancing. Better dead than Red-and better dead than sit through this one.

-Chris Tucker

BOOKS



LITERATE PASSIONS

For Valentine’s Day we suggest books in which love (or something akin to it) is preeminent. There are certain works that speak volumes:

The Lover, by Marguerite Duras. A powerfully hypnotic novel about a 15-year-old French schoolgirl who has an intense affair with an older Chinese gentleman. Sparsely written, and laced with a heavy sensuality. The Lover’s overwhelming sense of the exotic is a heady trip indeed.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Not exactly your typical love story, but a classic work of fiction wrap ping teenage sex uality, American provincialism, and a major cultural taboo all up in a tidy (and far cical) little package.

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The premise is simple: boy meets girl; boy falls in love with girl; girl marries other boy; boy never falls out of love with girl and patiently waits for husband to die. Which he does, 60 years later.

The Garden of Eden, by Ernest Hem-ingway. Published posthumously, this novel created quite a stir among Hemingway die-hards because of its sexual implications. The Garden of Eden dabbles in the homo-erotic, playing with traditional male/ female roles in a definitely non-Hemingway manner.

Henry & June, from The Diary of Anais Nin. Nin met Henry Miller and his wife in 1931 and fell in love. With both of them. This book, drawn from the uncensored journals of Nin, recounts their extraordinary relationship. -Anne Warren

The War of the Roses



On the sly, we put four florists to the task of sending our office a dozen, long-stemmed red roses for a test of sorts. Our mission: to find out whose flowers held up best after one week. All were treated exactly the same: arrangements were watered at the same time each day and all sat side by side, away from direct sunlight and protected from drafts. Below are the results. -Lucie Nelka

Armchair Crusades



THE DAILY PLANET By now you no doubt know that this is the “global decade,” when common folk like you and me finally decide to reactivate our collectively dormant sense of outrage over big-picture issues. This is the decade when we’ll look past the manicured vistas of our own back yards and survey the tortured horizon of the earth. All of a sudden we’ll find ourselves with a world view. But stay seated. You can be active in a number of “causes” without ever leaving your living room. Here are a few organizations that can put your concern-and your cash-to very good use.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Organized in 1980 to wage war against the use of animals in cosmetic testing, laboratory experiments, etc. Current crusade: anti-fur. (301) 770-7444.

African Wildlife Foundation. Established in 1961 to preserve indigenous African wildlife. Current crusade: elephant poaching and ivory harvesting. 1-800-344-8875.

Amnesty International. Begun in 1961 to intervene in human rights violations. Current crusade: refugees. (AI’s regional conference is in Dallas Feb. 1648. Topic: Human Rights in Ide New South.) (212) 807-8400.

Greenpeace. The environmental action group started in 1971 that has been at the forefront of nonviolent direct intervention. Current crusade: preventing the slaughter of dolphins by tuna fishing fleets. (512) 474-2117.

Friends of the Earth. Environmental action organization begun in 1972 to lobby against the depletion of the earth’s resources. Current crusade: saving the world’s rain forests. (202) 544-2600.

CARE. For more than 44 years CARE has helped distribute food to the world’s hungry. Current crusade: the World Hunger Crusade with a goal of $3.5 million. (212) 686-3110. -Anne Warren