Insomnia

It's not often that good foreign films are remade into good American films. For every "Sommersby" or "Birdcage" there are three "Cousins" or "City of Angels. " Even director George Sluizer had trouble Americanizing his own terrific Dutch thriller "The Vanishing. " Which makes "Memento" director Christopher Nolan's gripping psychological thriller "Insomnia" (VHS: $22.99; DVD: $26.99), based on Erik Skjoldbjaerg's 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, all the more rewarding. Nolan captures the atmosphere and cadence of the original, while branding the film with his own unique cinematic style.

Danish drugmaker H. Lundbeck A/S confirmed yesterday that it was closing its U.S. commercial office in King of Prussia after the failure of a potential insomnia treatment. "The King of Prussia operation will be closed down. It is happening right now," said Caroline Broge, Lundbeck's spokeswoman in Copenhagen, Denmark. In January, Lundbeck USA moved into a 11,940-square-foot office under a two-year lease at 455 S. Gulph Rd. to establish a U.S. commercial headquarters and to begin selling medicines, including the experimental insomnia drug gaboxadol.

Why are 70 million Americans having trouble getting a good night's sleep? Let us count the ways: We are over-caffeinated (coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, snacks) and over-medicated (prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including alcohol), wreaking havoc with slumber patterns. We are over-wired (video games, Web browsing, social media, texting) and overstressed (money, work, relationships, overloaded schedules), making us too restless to doze off when we should. We are overworked (longer hours, night shifts incompatible with our biological clocks)

Melatonin, the magical hormone supplement that is suddenly everywhere, is hailed in a best-selling book and countless articles as a hazard-free antidote to jet lag and insomnia. A natural substance that regulates the body's time clock, melatonin, says Newsweek, is "the all-natural nightcap. " Ordinarily I would ignore such hype, but I couldn't ignore the change in a friend. A world-weary novelist in her fifth decade who juggles three jobs and writes fiction at night, she has never appeared especially perky.

When conductors turn to composing, they often give the world second-generation versions of what they regularly perform - reasonably worthy and agreeable but lacking the cultural relevance and concentration of expression that's heard from alert, full-time composers. Remarkably, Esa-Pekka Salonen's one-movement, 25-minute orchestral work Insomnia, which Christoph Eschenbach conducted in its first Philadelphia Orchestra performance on Thursday, doesn't follow that pattern. The piece is recklessly derivative and heterogeneous, reflecting the varied musical life of a conductor, but all elements are fused with scintillation, compositional virtuosity, and an admirable multiplicity of meaning.

You know herbal healing has gone mainstream when the packaging for plant-based remedies called "Flu Chaser" and "Sinu Clear" is as alluring as anything you'd see in Bloomingdales, and that's the case at the Apothecary Garden, on Germantown Avenue near the Chestnut Hill-Mount Airy border. The location is apt because the small, chic herbalist's shop combines the killer-style aesthetic of the Chestnut Hill retail district (where even the bathroom-fixture stores are drop-dead gorgeous) with the earthier, woo-wooier vibe of the neighborhood to the south.

Some early spring observations (from MICHAEL LACING): Baseball salaries are so far out of hand something should be done to make the players work a little harder for their money. How about one strike and you're out? Look for depression to set in some time this week at the Arnold house when Tom and Roseanne realize Super Tuesday is a group of primary elections and not all-you-can eat chicken night at Benny's in Bel Air. The two expansion baseball teams won't begin playing until 1993, but both should still finish higher than the Cleveland Indians this year.

Robin Williams turns 50 in July, which may have more than a little to do with why the frenetic funnyman, the walking, talking improv machine, the give-this-guy-some-Valium star of The Birdcage and Aladdin, has decided to get all serious. In the movies, that is. "Once you hit 50, you're entering Walter Brennan territory," he says, referring to the Hollywood sidekick who hobbled along behind Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not and John Wayne in Rio Bravo, not to mention on TV's The Real McCoys.

Friday's release of the psycho-action-drama-thriller "Inception" is shrouded in narrative mystery. Still, someone should be able to explain what it's about, right? Right? "Please don't ask any questions," pleads actress Ellen Page, who's in the movie. "Don't look at anything, don't sniff around. Just go see it. " Lucky for Warner Bros., Page doesn't work in its marketing department, which is doing a pretty good job of not giving away the plot to a movie it doesn't seem to understand - or, at least, know how to describe.

Penn grad Seth Berkowitz started Insomnia Cookies, a late-night cookie-delivery biz, during his junior year. Nine years later, he's fueling student munchie sessions at schools including Purdue, Syracuse, Yale and N.Y.U. But why should kids have all the fun? A few weeks ago he opened a Center City bricks-and-mortar location, where, gooey, soft, hit-the-spot cookies are pulled fresh from the oven until 3 a.m. daily. The chocolate chunk is the most popular, but don't miss the s'mores deluxe - a chocolate cookie dotted with graham cracker and melted marshmallow.

Why are 70 million Americans having trouble getting a good night's sleep? Let us count the ways: We are over-caffeinated (coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, snacks) and over-medicated (prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including alcohol), wreaking havoc with slumber patterns. We are over-wired (video games, Web browsing, social media, texting) and overstressed (money, work, relationships, overloaded schedules), making us too restless to doze off when we should. We are overworked (longer hours, night shifts incompatible with our biological clocks)

Warner Brothers honchos surely smiled in their sleep Friday night at the estimated $3 million take from the limited midnight opening of Inception , starring the dreamy Leonardo DiCaprio . And there's more dough to roll in, since on Friday the film fully opened at 3,792 locations. Oh, Leo, we knew you had actorly superpowers, but in this Christopher Nolan -directed movie you actually can steal dreams. We don't know whether to say ick or take a Lunesta and pray for some REM sleep.

Friday's release of the psycho-action-drama-thriller "Inception" is shrouded in narrative mystery. Still, someone should be able to explain what it's about, right? Right? "Please don't ask any questions," pleads actress Ellen Page, who's in the movie. "Don't look at anything, don't sniff around. Just go see it. " Lucky for Warner Bros., Page doesn't work in its marketing department, which is doing a pretty good job of not giving away the plot to a movie it doesn't seem to understand - or, at least, know how to describe.

GlaxoSmithKline and Actelion Ltd announced today that they will collaborate on Actelion's treatment for sleep disorders. The collaboration has Glaxo paying Actelion $147 million, with a potential commitment of $3.3 billion. The Swiss drugmaker's almorexant is in Phase III development. Glaxo, has U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and North Carolina. Actelion has an office in San Francisco and a clinical research site in Cherry Hill. Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will receive exclusive worldwide rights to co-develop and co-commercialize almorexant, Glaxo said in a news release.

You know herbal healing has gone mainstream when the packaging for plant-based remedies called "Flu Chaser" and "Sinu Clear" is as alluring as anything you'd see in Bloomingdales, and that's the case at the Apothecary Garden, on Germantown Avenue near the Chestnut Hill-Mount Airy border. The location is apt because the small, chic herbalist's shop combines the killer-style aesthetic of the Chestnut Hill retail district (where even the bathroom-fixture stores are drop-dead gorgeous) with the earthier, woo-wooier vibe of the neighborhood to the south.

Danish drugmaker H. Lundbeck A/S confirmed yesterday that it was closing its U.S. commercial office in King of Prussia after the failure of a potential insomnia treatment. "The King of Prussia operation will be closed down. It is happening right now," said Caroline Broge, Lundbeck's spokeswoman in Copenhagen, Denmark. In January, Lundbeck USA moved into a 11,940-square-foot office under a two-year lease at 455 S. Gulph Rd. to establish a U.S. commercial headquarters and to begin selling medicines, including the experimental insomnia drug gaboxadol.

Yesterday's announcement by Merck & Co. Inc. and Danish pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck A/S that they were scrapping an insomnia drug because of disappointing effectiveness and side effects puts in jeopardy the future of Lundbeck's U.S. commercial headquarters in King of Prussia. In February, Lundbeck USA moved into an 11,000-square-foot office in King of Prussia to establish a U.S. commercial presence and begin selling medicines, including eventually the experimental insomnia drug, gaboxadol.

When conductors turn to composing, they often give the world second-generation versions of what they regularly perform - reasonably worthy and agreeable but lacking the cultural relevance and concentration of expression that's heard from alert, full-time composers. Remarkably, Esa-Pekka Salonen's one-movement, 25-minute orchestral work Insomnia, which Christoph Eschenbach conducted in its first Philadelphia Orchestra performance on Thursday, doesn't follow that pattern. The piece is recklessly derivative and heterogeneous, reflecting the varied musical life of a conductor, but all elements are fused with scintillation, compositional virtuosity, and an admirable multiplicity of meaning.

It's not often that good foreign films are remade into good American films. For every "Sommersby" or "Birdcage" there are three "Cousins" or "City of Angels. " Even director George Sluizer had trouble Americanizing his own terrific Dutch thriller "The Vanishing. " Which makes "Memento" director Christopher Nolan's gripping psychological thriller "Insomnia" (VHS: $22.99; DVD: $26.99), based on Erik Skjoldbjaerg's 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, all the more rewarding. Nolan captures the atmosphere and cadence of the original, while branding the film with his own unique cinematic style.