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Today's NYT retreads much of the LAT's Friday profile of Million Dollar Baby scribe and screenwriting flavor-of-the-moment Paul Haggis: his incredible rise from The Facts of Life ghetto to the Oscar nomination penthouse, the sage words from his thirtysomething mentor, the inspiration for his new movie, Crash. The NYT did, however, nod to Haggis' involvement with the Church of Scientology, but that's just a single sentence that goes nowhere (a white van full of L. Ron's footsoldiers must've been idling menacingly nearby). Far more fascinating is the startling revelation that Haggis is ambidextrous, at least in regards to photographs that feature the scribe pensively cradling his chin and piercing us with those baby blues.

[Photos: Francine Orr/LAT; Alex Gibson/NYT]