People

By Josh Tyrangiel

KURT LODER IS STILL SINGLE

If you want provocative celebrity couples--they aren't. That's why CARSON DALY and TARA REID did the inevitable, cute and right thing last week by not running off to Vegas or getting mutual tattoos. Instead they got properly engaged and called their parents. Daly, beloved by teen girls as host of MTV's Total Request Live, is notable for an adolescent flirtation with the priesthood, a deep affection for golf and a previous involvement with Jennifer Love Hewitt. Reid, disliked by teen boys for managing to keep her clothes on in American Pie, is a refugee from Saved by the Bell: The New Class and star of the upcoming Josie and the Pussycats. Her mother's name is actually Donna. Together, the couple plan to breed an entire race of exasperatingly wholesome celebrity babies.

BUT KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE KIDDIES

If anyone finds a spiral notebook covered with hand-scribbled lyrics about hating lots of people, composed mostly in interior rhyme, please return it promptly to EMINEM. The rapper remembers having his notebook--chock-full of material for a soon-to-be recorded album with side group D-12--aboard a Delta flight from Cincinnati, Ohio, to New Orleans. But somewhere in transit the notebook, with perhaps yet another track featuring a clever rearrangement of the words "Slim," "Shady," "I" and "Am," was lost. Eminem is offering a cash reward or a personal meeting in exchange for the notebook's safe return. Anyone with information is invited to e-mail found@eminem.com Oh, the book has a photo of Britney Spears on its cover.

The Copy Boy?

Suing because you think ADAM SANDLER copied your movie is a bit like complaining that Dan Quayle plagiarized your speech. Really, what vindication do you hope to win? In the case of Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, granddaughter of silent-film star Harold Lloyd, the answer is about $50 million worth. Hayes, on behalf of the Harold Lloyd Trust, alleges that the Walt Disney Co. violated federal copyright law because The Waterboy is "demonstrably a copy of The Freshman," the 1924 comedy classic starring her grandfather. Like The Waterboy, The Freshman told the story of a bumbling football waterboy who happens his way onto the team, becomes the butt of jokes, falls in love with a local girl and wins the big game, fueled by hatred for his tormentors. Although Sandler received a shared writing credit on the film, he is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Discerning cineastes have long known that Billy Madison was just a contemporary Wild Strawberries.

ORDINARY NERDS HAVE NO HOPE

Russia's VLADIMIR KRAMNIK knocked off former mentor GARRY KASPAROV in a stunning upset last week to become the new world champion of chess. Kasparov opened with the "Ruy Lopez," to which Kramnik responded with the impregnable "Berlin Defense," and so on. You get the idea. The important thing is that the new champ, who took home a cool $1.33 million, goes by the handle Supernerd. "He doesn't get involved in politics or business or journalism as Kasparov does," noted chess commentator Danny King. "He does nothing but chess." Kramnik, 25, gave up smoking and lost 20 lbs. to prepare for the physical and emotional rigors of championship chess, which can produce Patrick Ewing-like levels of sweat in competitors. "This match was won by Vladimir's excellent preparation," said ordinary nerd Kasparov, who has been top chess champ for 15 years. "I was outplayed not at the board but in the preparation." Tell it to Deep Blue.