Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, news services and the nation’s press.

ENTERTAINMENT

Beasties’ ‘Nasty’ Still Rules: The Beastie Boys’ “Hello Nasty” stayed atop the national album chart by selling an estimated 315,000 copies last week, pushing the rap ‘n’ roll collection’s two-week sales total to nearly 1 million copies, according to SoundScan. The “Armageddon” soundtrack was second, selling 243,000 copies. Atlanta-based producer Jermaine Dupri’s debut album, “Life in 1472 . . . ,” entered the chart at No. 3, with sales of almost 162,000. “In His Own Words,” the album built around a 1996 interview with the late Tupac Shakur, sold 10,500 copies to rank No. 127.

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An Inside Job: Someone inside Barney the dinosaur’s publicity machine apparently has it out for the purple children’s TV character. In a letter received by media outlets Wednesday, publicist Nina Stern apologized for what she called a “malicious prank” in which an unidentified person “tampered” with a press release announcing forthcoming Barney “sing-along” cassettes. In the altered release, sent out by Stern last week, an obscenity was used to refer to children, and another line urged parents to “plug [kids’] ears with these latest banalities.”

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Venice Lineup: After shunning the stars last year, the Venice film festival has unveiled a glitzy lineup for this year’s competition, including Warren Beatty’s “Bulworth,” Meryl Streep’s “Dancing at Lughnasa,” and Meg Ryan and Sean Penn’s “Hurlyburly.” Meanwhile, another star-heavy project, Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” will open the Sept. 3-13 festival, although it is being shown outside of the competition. The festival will also honor Italian screen siren Sophia Loren and veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda with Golden Lions for their career achievements.

QUICK TAKES

In the wake of its movie division’s success with Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” meanwhile, DreamWorks TV plans to make a miniseries out of Stephen F. Ambrose’s book “Citizen Soldiers,” which chronicles U.S. Army troops’ experiences following the D-day invasion. Ambrose served as “Ryan’s” historical consultant; DreamWorks’ co-founder Spielberg has no direct involvement with the TV project. . . . Disneyland will close its 39-year-old Submarine Voyage ride after Labor Day. Plans call for a new attraction to open in the Tomorrowland spot in 2003, although the theme has yet to be decided. . . . CBS will air the network premiere of Tom Hanks’ Oscar-winning turn as an AIDS-ravaged lawyer in “Philadelphia” on Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. . . . Maria Gran~a, one of Argentina’s leading tango singers, has been added to the Hollywood Bowl’s “Tango Magic” concerts, Aug. 14-16.