THE BUZZ.

Byline: - Wire Services

Dry `Days': Sandra Bullock is serious about her research for the film ``28 Days.''

Bullock, who stars as a reporter who goes into rehab after she's pulled over for drunken driving, is said to have recently checked into a dry-out clinic to prepare for the role.

Not that Bullock, who's renting a weekend place in Wainscott, has lost her appetite for a good time. She recently surprised her neighbor, rapper Jay-Z, by showing up at his door complaining about the loud music and threatening to call the police. Just as Jay-Z was about to turn the knob, says a source, Bullock laughed and asked when he was going to invite her in. The hip-hopper was happy to oblige.

Back to Boyne: Liam Neeson may not want to go home again anytime soon.

The ``Phantom Menace'' star has residents of his Irish hometown seeing red for calling a key moment in the Emerald Isle's history ``some bloody obscure war.'' Neeson says that he doesn't understand why the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, in which William III defeated the Irish-backed Catholic regime of James II, still is celebrated.

``The distillation of loss has been deformed and passed from father to son,'' Neeson told George magazine, asserting that he was ``genetically encoded'' to leave his hometown of Ballymena.

Now, Neeson's being blasted by local politicians. Councilor Maurice Mills called the comments ``a slur on the town of Ballymena'' and vowed never to see the new ``Star Wars'' movie.