Comedian Aziz Ansari takes his act to Los Feliz

Keeping it in the entertainment industry, Aziz Ansari of "Parks and Recreation" has bought a house in Los Feliz for $2,686,950 from director Andrew Douglas.

Designed by Buff & Hensman and built in 1968, the Mid-Century Modern post-and-beam home features an inner courtyard that leads to a two-story central hall, 20-foot-high vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and walls of glass.

A living room/dining area and den/study sit on either side of the kitchen, which has ample space for making "sandoozles" (Ansari slang for sandwiches) or "pre-birds" (eggs). There are four bedrooms, three bathrooms and more than 3,000 square feet of living space.

• Also
• Photos: Larry David's Pacific Palisades home on the market
• Photos: Marvel Smith puts Calabasas home up for sale
• Photos: Rickey Minor closes in Hollywood Hills
• Maps
• Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA
  
• Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  
• West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA
  
• Los Angeles, CA 90046, USA
  
• Calabasas, CA 91302, USA
  

Sliding glass doors open to an outdoor living room patio with a spa, wood decking and a built-in barbecue. A second-story balcony overlooks the swimming pool. The attached carport can hold four "go-go mobiles."

The most park-like part of the property is a walled-in, Zen-inspired garden in which a wooden deck seems to float.

Actor and comedian Ansari, 30, has starred as aspiring ladies man Tom Haverford on the sitcom since it started in 2009. He was the first person cast for "Parks." His TV movie "Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive," which he wrote and starred in, was recently released. Douglas' directing credits include "The Amityville Horror" (2005).

The property previously changed hands in 2007 for $2.15 million.

Rose Ware and Terry Canfield Schmidt of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices were the listing agents. Laura Stupsker of the Agency represented Ansari.

Price curb in Pacific Palisades

Larry David has curbed his enthusiasm by more than $2 million since he first listed his Pacific Palisades estate.

Priced now at $12.995 million, the gated English-country-style mansion sits on nearly an acre with a guesthouse, mature trees and a swimming pool.

Used-brick fireplaces, half timbering and steeply vaulted ceilings bring the home's architectural charm indoors. Talk about cozy — there's even a fireplace in a bathroom.

One of the dining areas occupies the ground level of the rotunda. There are seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 11,272 square feet of living space.

David, 66, was a writer, producer and actor in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which he created in 2000. He was the head writer and an executive producer for "Seinfeld," winning an Emmy for the comedy series. Yada, yada.

Santiago Arana of the Agency in Beverly Hills is the listing agent.

Producer gets $47 million for compound

Megan Ellison, a film producer and the daughter of Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp., has quietly sold her three-house compound in Hollywood Hills West for close to $47 million.

The first sale, which closed in the summer at $20.5 million, was of the home used as the 2010 Esquire magazine design house, described as "the ultimate bachelor pad." Megan Ellison purchased the four-bedroom, seven-bathroom contemporary in 2010 for $13.75 million.

Now the other two houses have sold together for $26.25 million. Ellison spent $12.6 million in 2008 and $6.25 million in 2009 on the pair.

Ellison, 27, is the founder of Annapurna Pictures. Her producer credits include "Lawless" (2012), "Zero Dark Thirty" (2010) and "True Grit" (2010). She is also a producer on the upcoming film "American Hustle."

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John Sayles does indie hustle again with 'Go for Sisters'

Some jobs — catching fastballs, singing pop songs, dancing en pointe — are a lot easier when you're young.

Add to that list directing independent movies, where it's not the physical demands that wear out many filmmakers but the financial stresses. At some point, most indie directors tire of the never-ending hustle for the money to make and release their movies and repair to the more lucrative worlds of television and studio fare.

That's what makes the career of John Sayles so remarkable. At 63, Sayles, an endurance athlete in the punishing sport of independent film, has just released his 18th movie and fourth in a row that is primarily self-financed, a character-driven, border-set whodunit called "Go for Sisters."

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Though some critics have called the film a return to form for Sayles, who received Oscar nominations for his "Passion Fish" and "Lone Star" screenplays in the 1990s, the director has hinted that he may not be making movies this way much longer.

Sayles has outlasted most of the companies that released his movies over the years and been witness to radical transformations in his industry, from the introduction of video to Netflix.

"It's easier than it ever was to make a movie," he said. "If you're talented and the breaks go your way, you can make a good movie. The toughest part is getting any money back from it. When people say, 'the independent movie business,' I say, 'There are independent movies. I don't think there's an independent movie business.'"

Sayles' audience is loyal but small, and his socially conscious movies aren't particularly fashionable in an independent film world that is driven mostly by stories of attractive young people and their ennui.

Like most of Sayles' work, "Go for Sisters," which he also wrote and edited, infuses its narrative with issues of race, class and moral dilemmas. As children, Bernice (LisaGay Hamilton) and Fontayne (Yolonda Ross) were close friends who bore such a resemblance people said they could "go for sisters." As adults, they have followed starkly different paths but serendipitously reconnect when Bernice, a strait-laced parole officer, is assigned to monitor Fontayne, a recovering drug addict fresh out of jail.

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Though tempted and professionally obligated to keep her troubled old friend at arm's length, Bernice finds Fontayne's extra-legal history useful when a crisis hits — her son is missing on the Mexican border. Together with former police detective Freddy Suárez (Edward James Olmos), the women head south to find him.

The movie, which has already opened in New York and Los Angeles, is expanding over the next few weeks to theaters in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Columbus, San Diego and other cities.

"I had this idea for a while, thinking, 'How much money do I have left in the bank?'" Sayles said over breakfast in Austin, Texas, last spring, where the movie premiered at the South by Southwest film festival. "I made a half-assed effort to raise some outside funds but it's almost impossible.... I don't know if I've actually done this before ... a movie where I actually didn't feel like I had enough money and time. It's not that the movie suffered that much, it's that I wish I'd been able to pay people more and the hours weren't so long."

Sayles shot "Go for Sisters" on his own dime for less than $1 million. The production, lasting a mere 19 days and hitting 66 locations in the San Fernando Valley and Mexico, had its share of nail-biter moments, including a 117-degree day in Mexico and the moment when Border Patrol agents stopped a cameraman trying to capture a shot of a Mexicali border crossing.

"The guy called and said, 'Well I didn't get arrested, but it's a shaky, 7-second thing,'" Sayles said. "I said, 'Yeah I can slow that down. It's just an establishing shot.' A lot of the way I'm able to do a movie in four weeks is having done 17 movies before."

Sayles, 6 feet 4, broad-shouldered and casual, could easily be mistaken for a guy who came to fix the sink — not a guy who won a MacArthur "genius" grant in 1983, though he did.

While shooting, he relies on what will be his own crafty editing to keep the production moving. "I'll say we're moving on," he said. "An actor will say, 'But I blew a line every take' and I'll say, 'But you blew a different line every take.'"

Olmos, who has straddled the studio and independent worlds for much of his career, found Sayles' schedule breathtaking in its ambition. "I've never done a faster movie in respect to the location," Olmos said. "If you don't know what you're doing, you're never gonna make your day.... The beauty of it is total artistic control, to the blink, to the breath."

Sayles said he would prefer not to finance his own movies but has been able to because of his uncredited work polishing scripts for others.

"In the last 10 years, because most things have more than one writer on them and they do that adjudication, I've taken my name off more things than I've left them on," he said. "Sometimes it's like, well it's fine, it's just this isn't my work anymore so I shouldn't get credit and sometimes it's, I don't want to take the rap for this."

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French style in Bel-Air

CAPTIONS

Home of the Week | Bel-Air
The imposing house sits behind gates and tall hedges. (Everett Fenton Gidley)

By Lauren Beale

November 30, 2013, 7:00 a.m.

This French chateau in Bel-Air's gated Moraga Estates community is adorned throughout with elaborate crown moldings, ornate ceilings and inlaid floors. Columns flank the indoor swimming pool, which sits under a multi-pane skylight dome.

Location: 11607 Moraga Lane, Los Angeles 90049

Asking price: $15.9 million

Year built: 1999

House size: Six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, 9,518 square feet

Lot size: 37,600 square feet

Features: Two family rooms, formal living and dining rooms, mahogany-paneled office, media room, wine cellar, staff quarters, service entrance, porte-cochère, pool house, spa, expansive lawn

About the area: In the first half of the year, 168 single-family homes sold in the 90049 ZIP Code at a median price of $2.091 million, according to DataQuick. That was a 16.5% price increase from the first half last year.

Agent: Loren Judd, Coldwell Banker, (310) 860-8875

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos via Dropbox.com, permission from the photographer to publish the images and a description of the house to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.

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The chalice that helped make possible the Iran nuclear deal

WASHINGTON — Many paths led to the international agreement to temporarily curb Iran's nuclear program: secret meetings in Oman, formal negotiations in Geneva, and a quiet encounter in New York involving two diplomats and an exquisite silver chalice in the shape of a mythical winged creature.

The latter session led in September to the return of the chalice to Iran, where officials hailed it as a gesture of friendship by the United States. The move was orchestrated by a mid-level diplomat at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations who devised a way to work around a 30-year absence in formal relations.

"I wasn't sure we could pull it off," he said. "They don't talk to us. We don't talk to them."

The diplomat has operated under rules that barred most contact with Iranian officials for his entire career. Even now, because of the sensitivity of relations between the two countries, he was allowed to discuss the exchange only on condition that he and others involved not be identified.

The episode began during the summer, when the Obama administration's Middle East experts met to debate a delicate matter of diplomacy: how to acknowledge the election of Iran's moderate new president, Hassan Rouhani, in a way that might convey goodwill and show respect to the Iranian people.

One expert suggested that President Obama shake Rouhani's hand at the fall summit of the United Nations. Another posed the idea of a video message from Obama to Iranians.

But an Iran specialist came up with another possibility; returning the silver ceremonial chalice. Officials believe it was looted from an Iranian cave and imported illegally. It was seized by U.S. customs in 2003 and stored ever since in a shroud of cotton in a federal warehouse in Queens.

For a decade, Iran had sought return of the chalice, which officials there regarded as part of the country's cultural heritage. Meeting that demand, the Americans thought, could build goodwill for the U.S. and thereby strengthen Rouhani, who had won the presidency in part by promising to improve relations.

Bolstering Rouhani, they thought, would be key to reaching any deal on the nuclear program, which hard-liners in both Iran and the United States were sure to oppose.

"This wouldn't just be a gesture for government officials," said a senior administration official who took part in the meeting. "This would be a gesture with meaning for the people of Iran."

Some experts believe the vessel, known as a rhyton, was crafted in the 7th century BC in what later became the Persian Empire, now Iran. It features three trumpet-shaped cups that sprout from the body of a griffin, a fabled creature that typically has the head and wings of a bird and the body of a lion. On the chalice, the eyes are deep-set and wide open, like those of a bird of prey.

The object was allegedly part of a cache of antiquities found in a cave near the Iraqi border in the 1980s, shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolution.

"These were great treasures from a great civilization," said Fariborz Ghadar, an Iranian scholar who served as a deputy economic minister to Iran's shah. "Their discovery was of great significance to those who consider themselves Persians, who honor that period in history."

In 2003, the chalice surfaced in the hands of a well-known antiquities dealer, Hicham Aboutaam, who ran a firm based in Geneva. As he passed through U.S. customs at Newark International Airport, Aboutaam presented a certificate indicating the vessel was from Syria. He was waved through.

Aboutaam then set out to document the object's value. Three experts he consulted determined it was from Iran; two concluded it was consistent with the antiquities taken from the cave. An art collector was prepared to pay $1 million, but federal investigators caught wind of it. They charged that the object had been taken from Iran illicitly, making its importation to the U.S. illegal. The dealer was prosecuted and paid a $5,000 fine.

The chalice was then placed in a climate-controlled storage unit.

The value of the chalice remains uncertain. Some have maintained that it is not 2,700 years old at all, but a modern fake. But Iranian officials have insisted it is genuine and demanded its return.

In Iran, Ghadar said, seizure of any of the nation's antiquities by the West "was a sign of great disrespect."

When Rouhani announced plans to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, Obama's advisors decided the moment was right for a gesture.

A day after Obama delivered his annual address to the world body, the American diplomat received an email from Washington, which he read at his desk three blocks from U.N. headquarters. He was instructed to find a way to return the griffin chalice to the Iranians with no fanfare before Rouhani left in two days.

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‘Almost Human’: J.H. Wyman talks sci-fi cop show’s brighter futurism

When it comes to sci-fi, bleak and brutal are all the rage, but with his new Fox series "Almost Human," J.H. Wyman is attempting to shine a little light onto all the darkness.

"When you think about shows or movies that are placed in the future, the tendency is it rains all the time and the atmosphere is messed up," Wyman said. "In the future, you're telling me that no one has a 7-year-old daughter that they have a birthday party for and maybe buy her a present? Nobody's happy? I don't believe that."

With its gleaming silver skyscrapers and high-tech gadgetry, "Almost Human" is more late-model "Star Trek" than fashionably dystopian nightmare, which is perhaps not surprising given both J.J. Abrams' executive producer role and the presence of star Karl Urban.

Fresh off two stints as Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Abrams' recent "Trek" films, here, Urban plays gruff, robophobic detective John Kennex, a classic tough guy who develops a disdain for so-called synthetics following a botched raid that killed his team and left him without a leg.

When he returns to the force after a years-long absence, he's partnered with Michael Ealy's Dorian, who belongs to a class of android known as a DRN, machines that had been decommissioned for too closely approximating human behavior and emotion.

As the unlikely duo solves cases together, friction gradually gives way to friendship, and a futuristic buddy-cop bromance is born.

Touted as one of the most anticipated new entries on the fall schedule, "Almost Human" premiered as part of a special two-night event Nov. 17-18, earning mixed reviews but better-than-average ratings.

The show's gleeful embrace of TV procedural protocol didn't exactly charm critics — writing for The Times, Mary McNamara said "mashing up sci-fi with 'Starsky & Hutch' does nothing much for either genre," while Entertainment Weekly described the show as "a slick, polished formulation of familiar dystopian tropes elevated by an unusual and central relationship."

Karl Urban plays a part-human, part-machine cop in "Almost Human." (Liane Hentscher/Courtesy FOX/MCT)

Still, audiences appeared intrigued. Buoyed by an NFL lead-in, the first episode drew a rating of 3.1 in the key 18-49 age demographic and attracted an average of 9.1 viewers. The following night the show fared less well but still performed quite respectably — about 6.8 million viewers tuned in to watch Kennex and Dorian investigate a shadowy Albanian group abducting women to build realistic "sexbots."

It was not sexbots but conspiracies, lost love and parallel universes that informed Wyman's previous series, "Fringe," which wrapped a five-season run earlier this year. Wyman said that show, which was also executive produced by Abrams, helped him "exorcise a lot of existential demons," but it never managed to attain much mainstream success.

"I think a lot of people didn't watch it because the concept sort of froze them out," Wyman said. "I get it. You get home from work, you don't want to get a lesson in string theory."

Wyman hit on the idea for "Almost Human" late last year and pitched the concept to Abrams, who expressed enthusiastic support and who also suggested Urban play Kennex.

Casting was key as the chemistry between Kennex and Dorian drives the show, Abrams said.

"With something like 'Almost Human,' the challenge of creating something that feels new is not in even the case of the week, or the look of the world," he said. "It goes down to how do these two interact. There's some really funny and sweet exchanges between these characters as the relationship develops. That is what's taking you through the event."

"It seemed to me that there was a huge potential for fun, for comedy," Urban added. "What I realized was at the heart of the show, both these characters are learning from each other. They're learning about what it means to be human, and that was really quite an interesting and exciting concept."

Ealy and Urban had to find their footing on the show's Vancouver set, however. The actors only met in March on Ealy's first day of filming, shooting a scene in which Dorian saves Kennex's life.

"We met in the makeup trailer," said Ealy, whose previous TV credits include "The Good Wife" and "Common Law." "He came straight from New Zealand and I came straight from L.A. — it's not like we could go out to Koi and have some sushi and talk about the show. We've been getting to know each other as we shoot. … I can learn more about Dorian sometimes by talking to Karl about it because he's the one who's looking at me every day."

Wyman said he has "grand designs" for "Almost Human" and has a "feature film storyline" in mind for each of the characters, including such supporting players as Lili Taylor's nurturing police captain, Sandra Maldonado, Mackenize Crook's lab rat, Rudy Lom, and Minka Kelly's detective, Valerie Stahl.

But for now, Wyman and the writing team are focusing on crafting 13 entertaining episodes that won't alienate viewers with dense, heady mythologies or overly complicated plotting. The idea is to keep things mostly upbeat and stay on the bright side.

"I want the world to connect, I'm always writing about the same thing — life is valued by the human connections that we make," Wyman said. "Fringe" was "heavy at times for me. This is lighter, more fun, I'm trying to make it a little bit more of a fun pill."

– Gina McIntyre | @LATHeroComplex

– Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.

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China studio boss likes Hollywood writers, wants film-rating system

China's box office through the first three quarters was up 35% from last year, with contemporary-themed Chinese films drawing particularly large audiences.

Yu Dong, chief executive of Nasdaq-listed Chinese movie studio and distributor Bona Film Group, was in Los Angeles this month for the Asia Society's U.S.-China Film Summit and meetings with Hollywood partners, including Fox International Productions.

We caught up with him to talk about the state of the market and his studio's plans for 2014. Bona had a number of hits in the third quarter, including the romantic comedy "My Lucky Star," the mixed-martial arts tale "Unbeatable" and "Out of Inferno 3D," and this month the company released "Red 2," which stars Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, in China.

Following is a condensed version of the conversation:

Q: You recently said China's film industry is entering a golden era, and you encouraged Americans to go work there. Were you thinking of actors and directors, was this individual career advice? Or are you speaking more on the studio level?

A: I mean more on the big six studio level – they would bring projects of serious scale and quality. Plenty of independent producers come to China with projects, but a lot of the China elements are really forced or they don't show enough understanding of Chinese culture or the Chinese audience.

For instance, take really ancient Chinese stories – they think maybe we can get famous Chinese actresses like Fan Bingbing to act in it. They don't understand the recent changes of the Chinese market. Stories like that are probably not going to appeal to Chinese too much nor appeal to Americans. It's a lose-lose situation.

I'm excited about things like our relationship with Fox International Productions. The first project we're doing with them is "Moscow Mission." We have hired Hollywood writers to work on the script, and we of course will give it some Chinese touches in the end. We are really working together from the very beginning to create the script and everything else. It's going to be a true cooperation, and hopefully people bringing their understanding of the different markets will make the story very successful.

Q. What's it about?

A. It's based on a true story in the 1990s. There's a train between Moscow and Beijing, and many crimes happened on this train. Beijing sent six policemen to pretend to be passengers and catch the mafia people on the train. The officers are Chinese, so they'll speak Chinese, but the bad guys are going to speak Russian and English. It will be shot in China and in Russia. We imagine about 50% will be Chinese language and 50% will be Russian and English. … The budget is about $30 million or so.

Q. Why have Hollywood screenwriters write this? Why not a Chinese screenwriter?

A. Because of our relationship with Fox. The film will have global distribution and we'll have revenue sharing; hopefully it will come to the U.S. as well. That's why we have Hollywood screenwriters writing for us  --they know the Hollywood tradition of this kind of crime drama. And of course we will add in some Chinese details and the dialogue…. But overall the structure of the story, the flow of the story, we think Hollywood screenwriters have better control.

Q. "Iron Man 3" had extra scenes just for China. Will you take out some of the Chinese stuff for the global audience?

A. When Bona first started, I was bringing Hong Kong films to mainland China and working on co-productions between the mainland and Hong Kong.  Because of certain needs to satisfy the Chinese censorship and appeal to mainland audiences, there would be more footage featuring mainland actors that would get cut out in the Hong Kong version and for global distribution. So it's not a crazy thing to do.

But overall, these things the government really doesn't support this way of doing things. It's just not ideal. You're not being totally responsible to the mainland audience of 1.3 billion people. It's almost like tricking them, in a way. That's why Bona's stand is to have scriptwriters working together from the beginning, forming a true partnership early on. Hopefully we can minimize version difference as much as possible.   

Q. You recently released a Chinese-language romantic action comedy, "My Lucky Star" directed by an American, Dennie Gordon. Why hire a non-Chinese-speaking American to do such a film?

A. When the project came to me, it was brought by the star and producer, Zhang Ziyi. She was friends with Dennie. By the time it came to Bona, the combo was pretty much already set – Dennie was already onboard, and the actors were already set, so I was more of an investor. I didn't personally hire Dennie in the beginning. But I was very supportive of the project and the choice of the combo.

After reading the script, I thought it was not the best script ever, but I thought this particular working relationship, this model of having Hollywood and China working together, is something very much to encourage. I feel like we have to have done it at least once to really understand this new model and be able to qualify for more and to have more bargaining power when we talk to Hollywood studios going forward.

Working with Dennie was very pleasant. She doesn't speak any Chinese yet you really didn't need a translator on the set because she was doing things according to the Hollywood system and it was very clear when they were shooting what … this working system is very advanced and few Chinese companies are very good at it. We learned a lot through the relationship.

Q. What was the most difficult thing about the experience?  

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CalArts names new art studio building after John Baldessari

The new art studio building at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia has been named after John Baldessari. (CalArts / November 27, 2013)

By David Ng

November 29, 2013, 7:00 a.m.

Artist John Baldessari has had a long association with the California Institute of the Arts, where he was a professor of art for nearly two decades. On Friday, the school announced  that it is naming a new art studio building on campus in honor of the 82-year-old artist.

The John Baldessari Art Studio Building, which has already opened, cost $3.1 million to build and features approximately 7,000 square feet of space -- much of it used as studio space for art students and faculty.

CalArts paid for the construction using internal funds, according to a spokeswoman. However, the school is launching a $5 million-plus fundraising campaign that is intended to cover that cost, as well as to fund a scholarship.

Baldessari didn't donate any money for the new building, said the spokeswoman. She said the decision to name the facility after him was made by the school in recognition of Baldessari's years working there.

The artist was a professor of art at the school from when it first opened to students in 1970 until 1988. 

CalArts said that it will hold an art auction that will benefit the $5-million campaign. The auction, featuring works by Baldessari, Vija Celmins, Catherine Opie, Ed Ruscha and others, will be presented in an exhibition and sale at Paula Cooper Gallery and Metro Pictures in New York from April 5 to 19, with a preview at Regen Projects in Los Angeles in March.

Part of the sale will take place on the online site Artsy, while Christie's in New York will handle other parts of the overall auction. The Christie's auction is scheduled for May 13.

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Car review: Jeep takes new path with diesel 2014 Grand Cherokee

This is not your grandfather's Jeep.

The 2014 diesel Grand Cherokee Summit points the brand in a very different direction than its beginnings as a bare-bones World War II gadabout. The same can be said for this new version's $57,000 price tag.

Today's Jeep comes with trinkets that were beyond fantasy in the 1940s, including adaptive cruise control, heated and cooled leather seats and an adjustable air suspension. The hope is that goodies like these will draw buyers out of sport utility vehicles from established German luxury brands and establish Jeep as a competitor in the cut-throat, $50,000-plus arena.

"Once you hit that level, the market shrinks significantly," Mike Manley, Jeep's chief executive, said in an interview at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show. "It's a tough market, but what we've seen with the [high-end Grand Cherokees] is that we can really compete there."

Chrysler's can-do brand also wants to grab some of those owners with the new diesel option on the Grand Cherokee, which Jeep refreshed for the 2014 model year. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi each sell at least one diesel SUV in the U.S.

To stay in league with this group, Jeep is positioning the diesel model as its most premium offering (not including the 420-horsepower, full-bonkers SRT model that sails past $70,000). This means you can spend as much as $59,000 on a diesel Grand Cherokee. The almost fully loaded diesel Summit we tested sells for $56,990.

In addition to the aforementioned goodies, the Summit model includes a panoramic sunroof, power liftgate, 8.4-inch touch-screen navigation and infotainment system, heated steering wheel, forward collision mitigation, backup camera and blind-spot monitoring.

Adding the diesel engine to the Summit model is a $5,000 option, and includes an upgrade to a four-wheel-drive system, a limited-slip differential, and heavy-duty ABS brakes and rear axle.

And let's not forget the engine itself, a 3.0-liter V-6 pulled from duties in the European Grand Cherokee. With just 240 horsepower to move nearly 5,400 pounds, this Grand Cherokee can feel sluggish when you meet an onramp or passing situation. This fault isn't limited to this Jeep diesel however; nearly all the German diesels it's chasing have almost identical horsepower.

Another byproduct of driving this diesel is the noise. With all the clatter of your favorite school bus, sneak into your driveway at night you will not. However, after a week of testing we admittedly found ourselves used to the sound, and the tightly bolted interior does a great job of keeping this noise and others out.

Otherwise, the diesel model handled and drove like any other Grand Cherokee on the market. This is high praise, as you need only a few minutes behind the wheel to feel the excellence of the chassis, which this Jeep shares with the current generation of Mercedes ML SUV (a latent byproduct of the failed Daimler and Chrysler venture).

Also worthy of praise is the Grand Cherokee diesel's best attribute: piles of torque — 420 pound-feet if we're being scientific about it — that aids in initial acceleration and lets this SUV tow as much as 7,400 pounds.

A fuel-efficient eight-speed automatic transmission has been fitted to the entire Grand Cherokee family for 2014. In this model it stays out of the engine's way, and was content to play a subtle role in reducing the SUV's fuel intake.

The EPA rates this diesel version at 21 miles per gallon in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. We averaged 25 mpg during nearly all highway driving, which means around 600 miles on a single tank was possible.

This is another reason Manley and his team at Jeep were keen to bring this diesel stateside. Few modifications were needed to bring it into compliance with U.S. regulations, which means this is a relatively cheap way for Jeep to boost the brand's fuel economy average.

While it's unfortunate that Jeep customers have to part with so much cash for a capable and fuel-efficient diesel engine, Jeep hasn't ruled out making it available on lesser Grand Cherokees or different models entirely.

"I think [high-end models] are going to be a proxy to what else we can do with diesel," Manley said. "This is like a litmus test for us."

Jeep is considering the diesel on the base Laredo trim that is so popular among customers who lease. Currently, the cheapest diesel Grand Cherokee costs at least $41,590. Jeep may also bring to the U.S. the diesel version of the all-new compact Cherokee that recently went on sale. That model is available with a diesel engine in Europe, and Jeep would again position it at the high-end.

Such a strategy is not without its downsides. The Grand Cherokee diesel's biggest flaw is the interior's lack of overall refinement. That's not to say this is an unpleasant or uncomfortable vehicle. But buyers getting out of a similar BMW or Mercedes will certainly notice the inside of this Jeep is a little lower rent than they're used to.

Consider this collateral damage. A base Grand Cherokee — which has the same basic interior — isn't aimed at the luxury crowd and starts at tens of thousands of dollars less than anything with a German emblem on the hood.

This is why Jeep is looking forward to the future, which includes a deep dive into luxury waters. Not only did Manley say that an even more robust Grand Cherokee model could be possible in the future, but also that the company has plans to launch an all-new SUV in 2016 or 2017.

That model would resurrect the Grand Wagoneer nameplate, and probably would target SUVs with three rows of seats such as the Mercedes GL, Infiniti QX60, Lexus GX and Audi Q7. This true-luxury model would avoid Grand Cherokee's challenge of seeking both high-end refinement and everyday cost effectiveness.

"I would like to see a Grand Wagoneer compete at the true top end against other luxury three rows," Manley said. "For me that's an exciting opportunity. I do think we can go further."

Don't rule out Jeep on that one. Going further is something the brand has always been good at. Starting with your grandfather's Jeep.

david.undercoffler@latimes.com

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Has David O. Russell gone all soft and cuddly?

Toward the end of "American Hustle," the new film from comedy-drama laureate David O. Russell, a man describes his hard-won epiphany. "The art of survival," says the character, a con man played with toupee-ish shiftiness by Christian Bale, "is a story that never ends."

The line articulates one of the central motifs of the film — the need for self-narrative — while offering a telling peek into the mind of the man responsible for it.

For the last two decades, Russell, 55, has had one of the movie business' wildest careers, donning guises like most people put on shirts: edgy wunderkind, hothead flameout and, lately, Oscar-nominated auteur with an unlikely box-office touch. There may not be a modern American director as well versed in the art of survival or its ongoing demands.

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As he pulled all-nighters over the last few weeks to finish "American Hustle," his spin on the '70's crime picture that also stars Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams and arrives in theaters Dec. 13, Russell has sought to write the next chapter of his own survival memoir. "Hustle," loosely based on the FBI's infamous Abscam sting three decades ago and co-written by Russell, concludes a Woody Allen-like four-year, three-movie burst that began with underdog boxing picture "The Fighter" and continued with bipolar-themed romance "Silver Linings Playbook" last year. Both movies became hits and earned Russell director Oscar nominations.

Though the pictures differ — the latest is a comedic crime caper with a slight hair fetish — they compose a psychological snapshot of sorts of the man who made them, a portrait of a troubled mind in search of an on-screen exorcism.

"Each one of the people in these movies begins in a place where their lives are in shambles," Russell explained. "They don't know if they want to be who they are or if they want to live as they are. And that's how I felt back before these movies."

To find that redemption, he said, he has sought something romantic, vulnerable, un-Russell-like. "What I've discovered making these three films is that you need to have the magic of the things you love — of the people you love or the restaurant you love or the neighborhood you love. You need to find that and put it in the movie. Otherwise it's just telling stories."

Russell has just finished eating dinner in a Hollywood Hills mansion-cum-postproduction studio. It was here, with Los Angeles sprawling beneath him, that he first began meeting with Adams and Cooper to discuss "Hustle." Lately he has been hunkered down in what he calls "the submarine" — a downstairs editing suite.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

He arrived several hours late for the interview ("DT," said one member of the crew. "David Time"). When he finally burst in it was with a mixture of apology (he was at his younger son's school and lost track of time) and boyish enthusiasm. ("No other director wears his heart on his sleeve like David," said Cooper.)

He insisted on food for his support staff and for a journalist, even kneeling on his knees to look a reporter in the eye. Russell is hyper-attuned to — and expressive about — all sorts of small details, even the positioning of a chair in a room, a useful skill given his profession though, one imagines, a tiring tendency on set.

Back from the brink

It was just a few years back that Russell was down and out, nearly a decade removed from a hit (1999's "Three Kings") and most famous in certain circles for (a) a fistfight on the set of "Kings" with George Clooney and (b) a video in which, to the shock and delight of YouTube viewers everywhere, he threw a tantrum at Lily Tomlin on the set of 2004's "I Heart Huckabees."

Not seen in that video were the personal problems Russell was grappling with around the time of "Huckabees": divorce from longtime wife and filmmaker Janet Grillo, money struggles and troubles with his then-11-year-old son, who has a bipolar condition.

He started taking a series of writings gigs to pay for his divorce, movies he didn't want to make or knew he never would make. It led to nothing but despair, a half-finished directorial effort ("Nailed," a Washington, D.C., satire he walked away from midway through) and a bad reputation.

"I was adrift in those years," he said. "I lost my direction, and I didn't know what story I wanted to tell or why I wanted to tell it."

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That started to change when he came across Matthew Quick's novel "Silver Linings Playbook" around 2008. Already preoccupied with bipolar disorder, he decided to adapt the novel, about a thirtysomething man with emotional troubles. Writing the script, he said, was an act of catharsis, personally and creatively. But with his checkered past and spotty box-office reputation, Russell couldn't get it made.

He managed to land a gig directing the stalled "Fighter" — Darren Aronofsky had just dropped off and Mark Wahlberg, that film's driving force, had the rare positive "Huckabees" experience and pushed for him — proceeding to turn it into a hit. Harvey Weinstein, who owned rights to "Silver Linings," was suddenly sold on Russell's vision.

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Portraying Nelson Mandela hits close to home for Idris Elba

British actor Idris Elba is having what he describes as a "beautiful moment" in his career. His off-screen life, though, is another story.

This summer, Elba starred in Guillermo del Toro's special-effects action thriller "Pacific Rim," in which he transformed the rather moldy line, "We are canceling the apocalypse," into something akin to Shakespeare.

The third season of his acclaimed British detective series, "Luther," for which he won a Golden Globe in 2012, recently aired on BBC America, and he's reprising his role of Heimdall, the buff, all-knowing Asgardian warrior-god, in the blockbuster, "Thor: The Dark World."

And he's garnering rave reviews — not to mention awards buzz — for his complex performance as Nelson Mandela, the legendary South African leader who helped end apartheid, in the new biographical drama "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," which opens Friday. But during a recent interview, the 41-year-old Elba, admitted he's "numb" to the attention and praise. 

"It's weird at the moment," the strikingly handsome actor said over lunch at the Mondrian hotel on Sunset Boulevard. 

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"My dad died eight, nine weeks ago," he said, quietly. "He was 76. He died of lung cancer. I am having to deal with grief, and it has taken a profound effect on me."

Elba doesn't want to sound ungrateful for his professional good fortune. "I put on a smile, put on the suits and I go on the red carpet. I do the work, and I'm doing it because that is what my old man would want me to do. He was very proud of me."

The actor, who is an only child, used his father, Winston, as the basis for his performance. His father immigrated to London from Sierra Leone; his mother, Eva, is from Ghana. 

Though from different African countries, Elba said, his father and Mandela had the same cadence in their speech. There were other similarities in their behaviors, from the way they crossed their legs to holding their fingers while talking, which helped him immeasurably in bringing Mandela to life. "My dad had a big silver ball of hair and Mandela has that, so that was my framework," he said.

Elba, who exudes as much charisma in person as he does on-screen, made his first impression on American audiences in 2002 with his explosive performance as Stringer Bell, the aspirational second-in-command to a Baltimore drug kingpin in HBO's award-winning series "The Wire." 

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Over the last decade, the actor has appeared in numerous films and TV series including NBC's "The Office" (he played a rival to Steve Carell's regional manager), the 2007 Tyler Perry melodrama "Daddy's Little Girls," as well as Ridley Scott's 2007 "American Gangster" and 2012's "Prometheus."

He's also moonlights as a DJ. "I am hired specifically for my hard, progressive house music," said Elba. "It's so different from this world. Nobody cares about who I am when I am out playing the music. It really grounds me. It's a side of my creativity I can't let go of."

A singer and songwriter, Elba just recorded an album in South Africa inspired by his experience making the movie in the country. "I call it character music," Elba said. "It's the first time of really marrying what I do in the film with the music."

'The spirit of the man'

At first, Idris, who plays Mandela from his 20s through his late 70s, was reluctant to take on the role of the lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, who spent 27 years in prison before becoming the country's first democratically elected president.

Not only did he feel he was too young to play the role, "I am actually four shades too dark," said Elba.

But director Justin Chadwick had an instinct about Elba. "He's a subtle actor that totally inhabits a role," said Chadwick in an email. "The producers had imagined I'd cast a Hollywood star, but I loved that Idris carried no baggage into whatever role he plays. We weren't going for a look-alike version, but wanted to catch the spirit of the man."

Elba, Chadwick added, "is a true gentle man, very warm and generous. He is also fearless. And that's how people described Mandela the young man to me."

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Review: South Korea's '11 A.M.' — It's about time

That old space-time conundrum — can we change the past or future without unforeseen consequences in the present? — receives an effective workout in "11 A.M." The countdown thriller, with its undersea laboratory, wormholes, artificial black holes and a time machine named Trotsky, won't alter the fabric of sci-fi storytelling, but as South Korea's first time-travel movie, it's a winning gambit.

Director Kim Hyun-seok, who until now has worked chiefly in romantic comedy, deploys visual effects and low-key performances in an efficiently told, character-driven exploration of immortality, hubris and human folly.

Jung Jae-young stars as Woo-seok, lead scientist of a research team who, like the Russian oligarch funding his project, has personal reasons for seeking tomorrow's medical breakthroughs today. Opening with a biblical warning, the film finds the Russians shutting down the experiment after three largely unproductive years. With contract renewal uncertain, obsessed Woo-seok insists on one quick test run before vacating the premises — and as with that one last bank job in a crime drama, it's clear that this will be someone's undoing.

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Returning from their brief trip to the next day, Wee-seok and acolyte Young-eun (Ok-bin Kim) bring reports of dire events. Their haunted demeanor, not to mention closed-circuit video evidence, sets off a variously heroic and doomed dance of desperation among the researchers, including Young-eun's second-in-command boyfriend (Daniel Choi).

Park Su-jin's lean screenplay tosses in some backstory melodrama while keeping the tech mumbo-jumbo to a stage-setting minimum. Best of all, the characters are well-defined without overdoing the quirk factor that often plays into such disaster-story ensembles.

calendar@latimes.com

-----------------------

'11 A.M.'

MPAA rating: None; in Korean with English subtitles

Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Playing: At CGV Cinemas, Los Angeles

   

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Yeezus! Seth Rogen, Zac Efron tease 'Bound 4'-Kanye West parody

The "Bound 2" parodies keep on coming! This time, Seth Rogen has teamed up with his "Neighbors" costar Zac Efron to spoof the explicit Kanye West and Kim Kardashian music video and simultaneously promote their upcoming comedy.

Are you ready for it? "Bound 4" features a chiseled Efron side-by-side with a portly Rogen -- at least that's what we've surmised from this Instagram photo the "High School Musical" alum shared Tuesday. 

"Whether you're a #KanyeWest fan or not, fans are #Bound2 get a kick out of this new still from #ZacEfron and #SethRogen's film #NeighborsMovie Check out all the neighborly shenanigans when the comedy hits theaters next May! #uhhuhhoney," the 26-year-old actor wrote. 

PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West

Indeed, leave it to Efron and Rogen to capitalize on the ridiculousness of the music video, and its even better parody, "Bound 3," featuring Rogen and James Franco. The latter pair decided to re-enact the video by stepping into the roles of Kardashian and West. You know, the same roles that had topless Kardashian straddling her rapper fiance while he rides motorcycle.

Uh-huh, honey.

"You nailed it!!! Sooo funny!" Kardashian tweeted to Rogen.

"thanks!" the 31-year-old actor replied. "Some of those positions were really uncomfortable. That ... is harder than it looks."

"Kanye says what's up!" the reality star added. "He loves u guys! He laughed so hard at this."

"That's so awesome!! Ha!!" he said. "Tell him what's up back, so psyched you guys like it!" Rogen replied.

Given West's anger over Jimmy Kimmel's parody of him and his latest heated exchange with MTV's Sway Calloway, the warm reception he gave "Bound 3" is surprising. But it would seem that Rogen and Franco weren't off by much in their interpreation of the cheesy, scenic video. 

"I wanted to take white trash T-shirts and make it into a video," West told New York hip-hop radio station Power 105's "Breakfast Club" on Tuesday. "I wanted it to look as phony as possible. I wanted the clouds to go one direction, the mountains to go one direction, the horses to go over there ... 'cause I want to show you that this is 'The Hunger Games.' I want to show you that this is the type of imagery that's been presented to all of us. And the only difference is a black dude in the middle of it."

"I'm like Marina Abramovic," the 36-year-old Grammy winner said, referring to the performance artist who recently collaborated with Lady Gaga. "This is, like, performance art. The thing is, I don't got a problem with looking stupid."

"I don't have a problem with making mistakes in front of people," he added. "And the thing is you create stuff you on the borderlines, you can like it and people could respond to it or people could not respond to it."

And that wasn't the only puzzling thing he said during the interview: He went on another "creative genius"-like rant  -- or his so-called "visionary stream of consciousness" during the 42-minute segment. The DJs put him in his place a few times; all the while he dissed Kate Upton, compared himself and Kardashian to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, got angry about his shoe deals, contemplated slavery, talked about Jay-Z being his big brother, explained his love-hate relationship with the paparazzi, attacked corporations and industries, and, oh, so much more.

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Follow Ministry of Gossip @LATcelebs.

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Labor laws dominate Legislature's 2013 output

SACRAMENTO — Big issues in the workplace — wages, overtime, time off, working conditions — are also major topics in the state Legislature. And this year, lawmakers delivered some tangible changes that will be felt in the pocketbook.

At the top of the list, of course, is an increase in the minimum wage that swept through Democrat-dominated Sacramento, despite opposition from powerful business interests. But workers didn't get all of their agenda passed into law.

"We were able to improve upon existing protections as well as support workers in a number of new ways, including increasing the minimum wage," said Steve Smith, a spokesman for the California Labor Federation. "If you look at this year, compared to over the past decade, it would be hard to argue that there's been a better year for worker legislation."

Many of the latest changes, Smith said, might seem incremental. But all are important, he explained, because "the cumulative effect is to make it harder for employers to violate the rights of workers, which is a good thing."

But skeptics, particularly owners of small companies and their trade groups, worry that the continuing rush of new labor laws is proof that the state and local governments are unfriendly to small business.

"We have a 'gotcha' mentality, and some of these offenses are pretty nebulous," said Ken DeVore, legislative director for the California office of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. "There is a mind-set that businesses are out to screw employees. That they are greedy people sitting on piles of money."

In reality, DeVore said, many of their members, who employ fewer than 10 people, "are not sophisticated when it comes to a lot of the laws."

DeVore conceded that, on their face, many of the labor-backed new laws appear reasonable, such as allowing the state labor commissioner to file a lien for unpaid wages against an employer's real property. "Then they go overboard with amount of fines that employers get," he said. "It's indicative of an underlying hostility to business."

Attitudes toward California's latest dramatic labor-law change — a two-step hike in the minimum wage — are as different as Maria Estrada and Tom Benson.

Estrada, a janitor, earns $8.80 an hour, while her husband, a garment sewer, gets the current $8 minimum. The boost to $9 on July 1 and to $10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016, "will help us pay for necessities that we can't buy without a just salary," the 47-year-old mother of three said in Spanish. "With more money, we can move to a better place with lower rent" than their Pico Union apartment.

Tom Benson, 67, owns Bud's Beach Cities, a car upholstery shop in Signal Hill. He said he sympathizes with Estrada and other minimum-wage workers. But he believes they are being fooled.

"If you raise the minimum wage, it does not improve their standard of living," Benson said. "It just raises prices, and the only long-term benefit goes to the government, which collects the tax revenues."

An increase in the minimum wage, he said, pushes up all other wages, even relatively high ones, and boosts the cost of workers' compensation insurance and payroll taxes.

The hike in the minimum wage, Estrada, Benson and others agree, is the most prominent of dozens of new laws. They include laws that will:

• Create a bill of rights and provide overtime for certain in-home workers, such as personal attendants for the sick, disabled and elderly;

• Ban employers from threatening to report workers to immigration authorities if they seek payment of legally due wages or have other valid labor complaints;

• Prohibit employers from forcing outdoor employees to work during required "recovery periods" intended to prevent sunstroke.

New laws also guarantee that victims of crime can get time off to appear in certain court proceedings involving violent crime, domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. At companies with more than 50 people, full-time employees who volunteer as reserve police officers and volunteer firefighters can get temporary leaves of up to 14 days a year for training.

Labor-related bills that didn't pass this year include:

• A proposal that would have fined large employers for each worker who doesn't get company-provided health insurance and, instead, receives coverage from the state Medi-Cal program for low-income residents;

• A bill that would have expanded an employee appeal process for workplace safety violations.

The Legislature's prolific passage of new workplace laws could have had an even bigger effect on businesses, the National Federation of Independent Businesses lobbyist DeVore said. He credited Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown "for kind of being the adult in the room" by letting lawmakers know early that he doesn't support a bill and by vetoing other measures opposed by business.

The governor, said DeVore, "is rational."

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

Twitter: @MarcLifsher

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UCLA's Nick Ekbatani, USC's Kelli Tennant a solid team after accident

The former UCLA football player glistened with tough, his blade prosthetic a shiny blur as he sprinted into the Rose Bowl.

This popular offensive lineman who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 16 months ago brought the blue-clad crowd to its feet Saturday night as he led UCLA out of the locker room for the second half against Arizona State, thousands cheering the epitome of a gutty little Bruin.

If only they had seen what happened next. If only they had seen their powerful Bruins symbol jog off into the deep embrace of the popular volleyball player who has been quietly carrying him through this nightmare.

If only they had seen she was a Trojan.

::

His name is Nick Ekbatani, and he is all UCLA.

"UCLA has a certain grit, a certain underdog feel, and that is how I resonate," he said.

Her name is Kelli Tennant, and she is all USC.

"We're strong, we're traditional, I'm a Trojan through and through," she said.

They couldn't be more different. They couldn't be more connected.

They began dating in the summer of 2012, a couple of years after each had graduated. Their courtship had consisted of only a handful of dates before Ekbatani's motorcycle was broadsided by a taxi that crushed his left leg and led to amputation below the knee.

Tennant could have run from him. Instead, she ran to him, beginning an extraordinary journey during which they have used their disparate experiences to help each other grow.

"She is the epitome of a Trojan, and I am the epitome of a Bruin, but we have come together on this great adventure," said Ekbatani.

This Thanksgiving week is perhaps a good time to celebrate this adventure, a tale that exposes a neat little secret about this country's unique college sports rivalry.

For all its vitriol, Saturday's 83rd renewal of the USC-UCLA football game at the Coliseum is about two schools but one community, two visions but one destination, two heartbeats but one city's soul.

"I think we're just another example of how, at the end of the day, USC and UCLA is really all one big supportive neighborhood," Ekbatani said.

They were once highly regarded varsity athletes who couldn't wait to beat those kids down the street. Tennant, who was honored on the 2005 Pac-10 all-freshman team, remembers emotional volleyball matches. Ekbatani, who started all 12 games in 2008, was in uniform for the infamous 13-9 UCLA victory in 2006.

They constantly refer to their schools as their families. Yet they form a new crosstown kind of family. They have dated mostly nonstop since the accident, using the lessons from their alma mater not to tear each other down, but to hold each other together.

Tennant, 25, has used her Trojans-inspired resilience to help care for Ekbatani through his 11 surgeries and countless setbacks as he learned to walk again.

Ekbatani, 26, has used his Bruins-fed optimism to help inspire Tennant as she has advanced in her career as a local television sports broadcaster.

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TV Picks: 'Ghost Ghirls,' Streisand, 'Treme,' 'Rick and Morty'

"Ghost Ghirls" (Yahoo Screen, always). Executive producer Jack Black is the muscle attached to this light and delightful Web comedy, created by Amanda Lund, Maria Blasucci and Jeremy Konner (from "Drunk History"), about a pair of scattered, self-involved, childish, competitive ghost hunters/whisperers/busters -- best friends since childhood, when they shared a "lemonade and talk to your dead relatives" stand.

Lund, as Heidi, is the more glamorous one; Blasucci, as Angelica, the less glamorous one. ("You're being so dramatic," Heidi tells Angelica at one point, "which makes me very upset because normally I'm the one who's dramatic.") "Which one of us do you like more if you had to date us?" Angelica asks Jake Johnson, whose house they have just rid of ghost Jason Ritter. "Say who's prettier, we'll give you a 5% discount."

The series, which debuted in September, was at one point being developed as a full-on sitcom for Syfy; it came to life instead as a series of a dozen 10-minute episodes, all of them now posted, and surely better, purer and weirder than anything Syfy would have made of it. The shorter, cartoon length suits it (and the Web, of course) well and frees the characters from any but the most rudimentary psychology; they have the depth and vividness of Bugs and Daffy. Lund and Blasucci are excellent; if they seem like improv comics now and again, that is, after all, the sound of modern humor. 

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Notwithstanding a certain having-a-comedy-party looseness, the series steers a steady course. There is a surprising lot of plot in each episode, and a lot of variety among them; haunted places include a baseball diamond, a middle school, a brothel and a woodland spa. In the two-part finale, Black, Val Kilmer and Dave Grohl play a deceased '70s Southern-rock band, haunting a recording studio, fighting too much with one another to finish their last song. Other guests include Bob Odenkirk, Jason Schwartzman, Larisa Oleynik, Natasha Leggero, Colin Hanks, Molly Shannon, Brett Gelman and Kate Micucci. Allan McLeod plays put-upon assistant Rudy. I watched them all straight through, for fun.

"Treme" (HBO, Sundays). This is a happy surprise: a five-episode fourth season of "Treme," David Simon and Eric Overmyer's story of life, death, music and food in the city of New Orleans, back from seeming cancellation. The end of the third season had felt conclusive enough: not especially definitive, in the spirit of the show -- which rolls along like the Mississippi, or any river of your choice, changing and unchanging -- but leaving its main characters in a moment of peace or possibility or renewed resolve. But, naturally enough, we are moving onward, into an extended coda, and a finish hopefully no more neatly conclusive than the finish we already seemed to have. 

The new season, all of its episodes written by Simon, Overmyer and/or George Pelecanos, begins on Election Day 2008; "A Change Is Going to Come" is its musical theme. "Treme" is about recombination and rebirth, about making things -- music, food, money, a safe place -- out of whatever's at hand; it has the complicated, joy-out-of-sadness tone of a New Orleans funeral parade. The milieu may be exotic -- the Crescent City really is a world of its own -- but it's the most lifelike show around; its protagonists are decent, their challenges familiar, their solutions (or lack of one) believable. They're deep, the way people are, without being disturbed -- only human. In my more perfect universe, this would be the cable drama everybody talks about and wants to imitate. 

TALKING TV: 'Orange is the New Black' is the new hot

"Great Performances: Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn" (PBS, Friday). Brooklyn has changed somewhat since Barbra Streisand grew up there, back in the center of the 20th century -- the hipsters were all out west in Manhattan -- and so, one would think, has she. Nevertheless, the conceit of this filmed concert, from the borough's big new Barclays Center, is that she's come home, the same simple girl as ever she was. (Maybe so; she certainly lets her accent out for a romp between songs, and with "Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long," within the song itself.) In spite of the hugeness of the venue, she both fills it -- her voice remains a big, thrilling thing -- and makes it homey; she is chatty, in a way that, though it may be scripted down to the last word, seems genuine, whether answering questions from the audience or interviewing her guests: Il Volo (three cute Italians boys, you probably knew); good-looking young trumpeter Chris Botti, who brings the pop-jazz; and son Jason Gould, with whom she duets, a little creepily, on "How Deep is the Ocean." (He can sing, though.)

She's spangly in black in the first half of the concert; in the second, she sports a chiffony, empire-cut pink gown, such as she favored in her early days. Streisand has a long history with television, from her Jack Paar era "Tonight Show" debut in 1961 to her own specials (which routinely birthed companion albums) and concert events such as this one (already available on DVD). Her material doesn't always live up to her talent, and her personality is so strong that not every song is a comfortable fit: The pop of her own generation -- she's just a few months older than Paul McCartney -- never suited her like what she sang on Broadway or borrowed from the past. Still, she's a genius wherever she goes. (I'm a fan, OK?) She stays in the moment, takes the measure and meaning of every note and syllable, and has not been swallowed by her own vibrato. She was 70 when this concert was recorded last October, but you can't tell by listening (or, for that matter, looking). 

TALKING TV: What's up with CBS' 'The Dome'?

"Rick and Morty" (Adult Swim, Mondays). I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about this animated Adult Swim sci-fi family comedy, created by Dan Harmon ("Community," not "Community," "Community" again) and Justin Roiland ("House of Cosbys," and he also played Christopher Cross on "Yacht Rock" for Harmon's Channel 101). Morty is a kid at the bottom of the food chain; Rick is his grandfather, a drunk and dissolute mad scientist with spit or puke or something always on his chin and easy access to other worlds, dimensions and dream planes. He is full of good bad advice, or bad good advice, for his grandson, whom he drags from his crushing daily life into a world of insane terror. (It's a classic magic-grandpa, scary-buddy story, plus vomit.) Nothing wrong with that. Still, sex jokes involving underage characters, even made for an over-age audience, feel wrong to me, and an episode in which the family dog is "scientifically" rigged to follow commands, then struggles to talk, then talks, then takes over, was the stuff of bad dreams. (There was another episode actually about bad dreams -- itself the stuff of bad dreams.) That is no doubt intentional; this is the channel of "Superjail!" and "Metalocalypse" and "Eagleheart," after all. Nevertheless, I am fascinated (I think that's the right word) by Roiland's performance as Rick -- he also plays Morty -- a kind of cross between Hunter Thompson and Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown with maybe a little Shecky Greene or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog thrown in, randomly peppered with weird, up-from-the-gut groans and hacking noises. In its speed and urgency and intimacy, it's a new sound, unlike anything else on television.

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

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Pakistan names career infantry officer as new military chief

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan named a new army chief Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation over who would fill what has been seen as the most powerful position in the nuclear-armed nation.

Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif, 57, a career infantry officer viewed as a moderate, will head Pakistan's 600,000-person army when Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, 61, steps down Thursday after six years at the helm.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the appointment on Twitter. Sharif is a common name and the two are not related.

Analysts said the choice, which includes a promotion to four-star general, was a safe, if not terribly inspiring, choice.

The appointment comes at a key time for Pakistan. A homegrown Taliban insurgency is threatening to wage a "bloody revenge campaign" after the death of its leader Hakimullah Mehsud on Nov. 1 in a suspected CIA drone strike. The umbrella organization of some 30 loosely affiliated insurgent groups has killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The country also faces uncertainty with the departure of all U.S.-led NATO combat troops from neighboring Afghanistan in late 2014, which is expected to lead to a vacuum and spark regional jockeying for influence. It faces continued tension with India over the divided Kashmir region and a separatist movement in southwestern Baluchistan province. And Pakistan continues its struggle to find a balance between uniformed and civilian rule in a country long dominated by the military.

The general election was the first time an elected government completed its term and handed over power to another elected government. Pakistan has seen three successful and numerous unsuccessful coups in its six-decade history.

While the election and transition of power were important steps, analysts warned that structural change doesn't happen overnight.

"There should be no doubt that the military is and will remain the boss in Pakistan," said Raza Rumi, an Islamabad-based political commentator. "Luckily for the politicians, the military has worked with them recently and doesn't have much immediate appetite for meddling in politics. But it remains the biggest power center in Pakistan."

While Prime Minister Sharif's administration has taken a more accommodating approach toward India and Afghanistan, many in the army's rank and file are wary of this shift, analysts said.

"In the army, we're against this move," said Saad Muhammad, a Peshawar-based analyst and retired brigadier general. "If he wants to bring the army on the same page with the civilian government, he's got a lot of work ahead."

Raheel Sharif's appointment surprised many analysts, given that he's third in line within the army, which in Pakistan has been called a state within a state. The favorite was Lt. Gen. Rashad Mahmood, seen as close ally to Kayani, who assumes the largely ceremonial job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee. He also is being promoted to four-star general.

Analysts said Sharif was unlikely to initiate any drastic reform.

"He is an average guy who fulfills all the qualifications to be an army chief," said Ayesha Siddiqua, an Islamabad-based defense and security analyst. "He represents the status quo, not change."

Sharif comes from a distinguished military family. His father was a major in Pakistan's military. And both his uncle and his elder brother won Pakistan's highest military award for valor in the 1965 and 1971 wars against India, respectively.

During his nearly four-decade military career, Sharif has served in Gilgit near the Indian border, played a key role at Pakistan's military academy and commanded two infantry brigades. He is credited with helping craft a response to India's cold-start doctrine – a plan to conduct coordinated offensive operations against Pakistan – even as New Delhi denies having any such doctrine.

Sharif, who served most recently as Kayani's chief of staff and the army's inspector general of training and evaluation, is credited with rewriting Pakistan's infantry manual to include more modern principles of warfare.

Sharif also will have to contend with Pakistan's dismal economic situation. Foreign exchange reserves are falling, a chronic fiscal deficit is widening and electricity shortages are endemic.

"The country's bad economic situation will be another major challenge," said Muhammad, the retired brigadier general. "It remains to be seen whether the state can provide enough resources to run and expand our defense priorities."

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Twitter: markmagnier

mark.magnier@latimes.com

Special correspondent Sahi reported from Islamabad and Magnier from New Delhi.

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'The Voice' recap: Caroline Pennell and Ray Boudreaux head home

It was not a total shocker that Ray Boudreaux, the classically handsome Louisiana swamp-pop singer from Blake Shelton's team, and the wonderfully quirky-voiced Caroline Pennell, Cee Lo Green's final contestant, were the two contenders sent home Tuesday on "The Voice" as the Top 8 shrank to the Top 6.

Boudreaux seemed to have worn out his welcome Monday night, when he turned in a smarmy take on the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'." And while Pennell's charming vocals and beatific smile never got old, she had, after all, been in the bottom three last week, rescued by her tweeting fans at the last minute. Pennell had shown new fire this week, when she took on Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over," but everything surrounding that rousing performance -- from the rehearsal run-up to the coach comments -- had seemed valedictory.

Still, take heart, Pennell fans. Even though her days on "The Voice" are over, the 17-year-old New Jersey high school senior's musical journey probably isn't. What's more, Carson Daly let us know Tuesday, she's just gotten her first college acceptance letter. It "doesn't end here for me," Pennell sunnily reassured us before she was eliminated. "I have so many things to look forward to."

PHOTOS: Concert photos by The Times

All that is not to say that Tuesday's elimination show -- which featured performances by Ellie Goulding and Cee Lo Green, as well as group performances of varying quality by the Top 8 -- didn't have its surprises. Chief among them? The presence of Matthew Schuler, who has been a front-runner since way back in the blind auditions, when his take on "Cough Syrup" earned the fastest-ever four-chair turn, in the bottom three.

"I don't really understand why," Aguilera said of the voters' forsaking the singer she has repeatedly called "magical." "You have proven yourself time and time again."

But while Schuler has had lots of standout moments in the competition – his emotional renditions of "Hallelujah," "Wrecking Ball" and "Beneath Your Beautiful," to name just three – his sometimes breathless, overly choreographed performance of "It's Time" this week was something of a stumble. And pandering to patriotic sentiments by projecting American flags onto the stage behind him as he sang apparently didn't pay off with voters.

Nevertheless, thanks to this week's Instant Save, Schuler will take his rightful place among next week's Top 6, along with his fellow Team Christina member Jacquie Lee; Cole Vosbury, now Shelton's only remaining chance at a four-peat; and all three members of Team Adam: James Wolpert, Tessanne Chin and Will Champlin. (With Pennell's departure, Team Cee Lo is now out of the running.) We'll see if he is able to break this season's established pattern, in which one week's saved singer gets eliminated the following week.

Did you think Schuler's presence in the bottom three was warranted? And will you miss Pennell and Boudreaux?

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Will Ferrell's 'Anchorman 2' bumped up to Dec. 18

(Left to right) David Koechner is Champ Kind, Paul Rudd is Brian Fantana, Will Ferrell is Ron Burgundy and Steve Carell is Brick Tamland in "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. (Gemma LaMana / Paramount Pictures / November 1, 2013)

By Steven Zeitchik

November 27, 2013, 7:30 a.m.

Ron Burgundy wants us to stay classy -- and wants himself to be early. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," the sequel to the comedy hit of about a decade ago, will have its release date moved up two days to Dec. 18, Paramount Pictures said Tuesday.

The Will Ferrell film looks to get a jump on a crowded Christmas that will see a bevy of new releases, such as Ben Stiller's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," and presumably strong holdovers, such as "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." The film now hits on a Wednesday, several days before the traditionally busy pre-Christmas weekend.

PHOTOS: Holiday movie sneaks 2013

"Anchorman," which picks up as Burgundy and the gang travel to New York to join a nascent cable news channel, has been nearly omnipresent lately, with Burgundy-based ads being used to hawk everything from underwear to cars.

Whether audiences will respond to the sequel as they did to the original, directed by Adam McKay and co-starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, remains to be seen.

The first film was a slow-burn hit, gaining traction first at the box office and later on DVD and cable.

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Layoffs easing: Initial unemployment claims drop to 316,000

Layoffs appear to be easing as the number of people who filed for unemployment claims last week dropped by 10,000 to 316,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday. 

The number of initial unemployment claims has decreased in six of the last seven weeks, data show. The four-week moving average, a more reliable measure that irons out weekly volatility, fell by 7,500 to 331,750, the Labor Department said. 

A year ago, the four-week moving average was 401,000.

California recorded the largest drop in initial jobless claims. Not adjusted for seasonality, the data show that claims in the Golden State fell by 4,644, largely due to fewer layoffs in the service industry, state officials reported. 

States did not report any special factors that contributed to the drop in jobless claims, a signal that layoffs are easing, the Labor Department said.

The economy produced a surprisingly strong 204,000 jobs in October, and the downward trend in initial claims for jobless benefits suggests that the pickup in the job market carried into November.  

Last month, the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 7.3%, still above the normal 5% to 6% range in a robust economy.

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Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates rise; 30-year fixed averages 4.29%

A nervous mortgage market drove interest rates higher this week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, with the average for a 30-year fixed-rate loan rising to 4.29% from 4.22% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said.

The rate for a typical 15-year fixed mortgage edged up from 3.27% to 3.3%, Freddie Mac said in its report on what lenders are offering solid borrowers. The survey showed start rates for popular types of adjustable-rate loans were little changed.

Bond investors ultimately determine what rates mortgage borrowers will pay. Their guessing game of late has been exactly when the Federal Reserve will begin tapering off its purchases of $85 billion a month in government bonds, a stimulus designed to keep long-term interest rates low.

QUIZ: How much do you know about mortgages?

With little news from the Fed itself, the market was trading on mixed housing data, said Freddie Mac Vice President Frank Nothaft, chief economist for the giant finance company.

The latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, released Tuesday, showed prices in the 20 largest cities increased 13.3% in September compared with a year earlier, the highest such increase since February 2006.

But higher mortgage interest rates also were undercutting home sales. The National Assn. of Realtors reported this week that pending sales dipped for the fifth consecutive month.

Freddie Mac surveys lenders about the terms they are offering borrowers with good credit and down payments of at least 20%, or 20% home equity if they are refinancing. The borrowers would pay the lenders less than 1% in upfront fees and discount points. Third-party charges often borne by borrowers, such as appraisals and title insurance, are not included.

The report came out Wednesday, a day earlier than usual, because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Buyer beware: Time Warner Cable comes with expensive sports channels

If Time Warner Cable is sold, its new owner is also likely to inherit some pretty expensive sports deals.

Besides owning cable systems that have more than 11 million subscribers, Time Warner Cable owns two regional sports networks in Los Angeles and is preparing to launch a third next year. It also owns a piece of a sports channel in New York City and has an Ohio outlet as well.

But it is the Los Angeles outlets that are the big-ticket items. SportsNet and Deportes, launched last year, are home to the Lakers. Next year, Time Warner Cable will roll out another channel, which will carry Dodger games.

PHOTOS: Cable versus broadcast ratings

Neither deal was cheap. Time Warner Cable agreed to pay $8.5 billion for rights to the Dodgers for 25 years. The Lakers deal runs 20 years and is north of $3 billion; some have pegged its price tag at as much as $5 billion.

While Time Warner Cable managed to get carriage deals for SportsNet and Deportes done with everyone but satellite broadcaster Dish Network, the process left a bad taste in the mouth of DirecTV, Cox and other distributors. Now Time Warner Cable will try to jam another expensive regional sports network down the throats of distributors and customers in a market where Fox Sports also has two channels.

If Time Warner Cable can't secure distribution on other outlets in the Los Angeles area including Cox and DirecTV, it is on the hook with the Dodgers to cover the lost revenue. That could add up to more than $300 million annually.

One of Time Warner Cable's potential suitors, Charter Communications, is not a player in the regional sports network business, and the idea of being stuck with these outlets may not hold much appeal. Cable mogul John Malone, whose Liberty Media owns 27% of Charter, has not been shy about criticizing the high cost of sports channels.

"We've got runaway sports rights, runaway sports salaries and what is essentially a high tax on a lot of households that don't have a lot of interest in sports," Malone said in an interview last year with the Los Angeles Times. "The consumer is really getting squeezed, as is the cable operator."

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

Comcast, another potential suitor, does have other regional sports channels, and the Los Angeles properties may hold some appeal. On the other hand, Comcast has had a rough go of it in Houston where the regional network it launched in partnership with the Rockets and Astros is in bankruptcy, which may have it rethinking big expensive sports channels.

If neither Comcast nor Charter wanted the Los Angeles channels, Fox Sports would seem to be a suitor. But Fox already has two channels in Los Angeles and dropped out of the bidding for the Lakers and Dodgers because it thought the prices were too high.

The odds of Time Warner Cable holding onto the channels while selling the systems seems unlikely. It only entered the sports channel business to guarantee that its systems would have the product.

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ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen

PHOTOS: On the set: movies and TV

PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies

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U.S. residential building permits reach 1 million, a 5-year high

The number of U.S. residential building permits issued in October surpassed 1 million, the highest level in five years, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Building permits in October were up 6.2% from the month before, reaching 1,034,000, government figures show. That's up 13.9% from October of last year. 

Data for the number of housing starts were not included with the report due to the partial government shutdown last month. The release of those figures has now been pushed to Dec. 18. 

Quiz: How much do you know about mortgages?

Nonetheless, the building permits data are a good barometer of the overall state of residential construction, which has been strong over the past year. 

Single-family home permits slowed to 620,000, the report said. Meanwhile, multi-family housing permits jumped 15.3% in October from the month before, reaching 414,000.  

The housing recovery in recent months has boosted home prices, spurred new construction and generated consumer spending at hardware stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's. 

But the pace appears to be slowing, economists said. 

"This was a mixed report," economists from IHS Global Insight wrote in a note. "Despite strong October numbers, a three-month moving average of both single- and multifamily permits shows that construction is slowing."

However, Patrick Newport and Stephanie Karol, the IHS economists, said it's unclear why housing permits have slowed recently. In a note, they said it's possible that a lack of developed land to build on is delaying the housing recovery.

ALSO:

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U.S. homeownership at 1995 levels despite rebound

Pending home sales in U.S. drop to 10-month low in October

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James Franco confirmed for 'Of Mice and Men' on Broadway

James Franco will star in the 2014 production of "Of Mice and Men" on Broadway. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

By David Ng

November 26, 2013, 7:50 a.m.

Following weeks of rumors, James Franco has been confirmed to star in an upcoming production of "Of Mice and Men" on Broadway.

Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link next to a comment. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.

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Watch: Chatroulette fans react to stellar 'Wrecking Ball' cover

A random viewer reacts to YouTube comedian Steve Kardynal's rendition of the Miley Cyrus hit "Wrecking Ball." (Steve Kardynal)

By Randall Roberts Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

November 26, 2013, 7:57 a.m.

For your edification: A video that answers a few questions you didn't even know you had. Yes, Chatroulette, the website that pairs random strangers' video cameras together for spontaneous interaction, is still active. And yes, the site is still home to some truly surreal communications.

Specifically, those who awakened this morning longing to watch a bearded man serenade random users with a convincing rendition of Miley Cyrus' mega-hit "Wrecking Ball" have no idea how lucky they are, as comedian/YouTuber Steve Kardynal has offered a clip for the ages.

Mimicking the song's video, Kardynal stuns his viewers with his sexy moves, swinging from a homemade ball, licking hammers, seducing men and women around the world. His performance is Oscar-worthy, but what makes the clip truly shine are the viewer reactions. 

Surprisingly, considering Chatroulette's reputation as a hub for random nudity, the clip is safe for work. You can watch it below. (Hat tip to Gawker.)

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Twitter: @liledit

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Egypt police fire water cannons on protesters testing new law

CAIRO -- Egypt's tough new anti-protest law got its first major test Tuesday when dozens of demonstrators gathered in the capital to protest harsh police tactics -- and were met with drenching water-cannon blasts.

The anti-protest measure, which took effect Sunday, forbids spontaneous street demonstrations, which have been a prominent feature of public life here since the enormous 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the autocratic longtime president.

The private television channel CBC quoted an Egyptian police spokesman as saying that Tuesday's rally, commemorating the earlier death of a protester at police hands, was broken up because the organizers had not sought permission beforehand for the gathering, as the new law requires.

PHOTOS: Turmoil in Egypt

Political activists have denounced the measure, saying it is part of a pattern of authoritarian moves on the part of the military-backed interim government that took power in July. In the intervening months, the administration has moved on a number of fronts to muzzle political dissent, particularly that coming from Islamists loyal to ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has been the target of a fierce campaign that has left more than 1,000 of its supporters dead and the group's top leadership in jail, along with thousands of rank-and-file members. Morsi himself was put on trial earlier this month by the interim government; the proceedings were adjourned until January.

The protest law was implemented soon after the expiration of a three-month-long state of emergency, which gave the authorities sweeping powers against anyone deemed a security threat. The protest law also gives the security forces and the government broad discretion to suppress political opponents.

The government says it is presiding over a democratic transition, with a constitutional referendum and presidential and parliamentary elections to take place next year. But activists say that the protest law, together with other curbs on freedom of speech and expression, bodes ill for that process. The Obama administration has echoed those concerns.

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laura.king@latimes.com

Twitter: @LauraKingLAT

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Pending home sales in U.S. drop to 10-month low in October

Signed contracts for existing homes fell nationwide in October for the fifth straight month, further evidence the housing market has slowed after a frenzied rebound earlier this year.

The National Assn. of Realtors said Monday that its pending sales index, adjusted for seasonal swings, dropped 0.6% from September and was down 1.6% from its October 2012 level. The trade group said the government shutdown in early October, declining affordability and limited inventory curbed sales.

The index, which reflects signed contracts whose sales haven't yet closed, is at its lowest level since December of last year.

QUIZ: How much do you know about mortgages?

"We could rebound a bit from this level, but still face the head winds of limited inventory and falling affordability conditions," Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said in a statement.

After strong home price gains early this year, the housing market has cooled while buyers step back, struggling with those higher prices and also higher mortgage rates or simply frustrated over what had become seemingly never-ending bidding wars. 

Pending sales rose in the Northeast and Midwest, but fell in the South and West.

In the western U.S., tight inventory and falling affordability helped push sales down the furthest, the Realtors group said. Pending sales there fell 4.1% from September and 12.1% from last year.

Although pending sales have fallen steadily in recent months, the trade group said it forecasts closed sales of existing homes nationwide to be nearly 10% higher in 2013 than last year.

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'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' scorches; Katie Couric nears Yahoo deal

After the coffee. Before pitching my young-adult novel. 

The Skinny: I saw "Catching Fire" on Saturday and enjoyed it, though I set a high bar for dystopian fiction. Oh, and for the sake of self-promotion, I'm writing the weekly box-office projections now, so watch out for that. Monday's stories include the box-office wrap-up, Katie Couric's latest career move and the two Hercules movies coming out next year. 

Daily Dose: The possible courting of Time Warner Cable by Comcast and Charter Communications could mean another squaring off between media moguls Brian Roberts and John Malone. The executives' brushes date back two decades, to when Malone's Liberty and Roberts' Comcast were shareholders in Turner Broadcasting. Read Joe Flint's analysis here. 

"Ka-ching Fire": The "Hunger Games" sequel has blazed into theaters, cooking up the best November opening ever with a weekend take of $161 million domestically. It's the second-biggest debut of the year, behind "Iron Man 3," but predictions that it would outdo the Marvel movie proved a bit too optimistic. "Thor: The Dark World" came in second, shattering my guess that the superhero movie would fall below "Best Man Holiday." Coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Variety.  

On the move again: It looks like Katie Couric is on the way out at ABC News and nearing a deal to join not another TV network but Marrisa Mayer's Internet giant Yahoo. There aren't many details yet, but this comes just two seasons into Couric's daytime talk show and also cuts short Couric's three-year deal with ABC News, which was expensive for the network. More on the negotiations from the Hollywood Reporter.  

By the beard of Zeus! Next year will see the release of two Hercules movies, one starring Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and the other starring Kellan Lutz, setting the stage for a battle of mythological proportions. As we saw with "White House Down" and "Olympus Has Fallen" (hey, another Greek reference!), one movie ends up stealing the other's thunder. The half-god, half-man has long been silver-screen fodder, but it's been 16 years since Disney set the story of Hercules to music. Details from the New York Times. 

Animals harmed?: The Hollywood Reporter has published a big investigative story on the American Humane Assn. It opens with a harrowing anecdote about the apparent near-drowning of the Bengal tiger used for Ang Lee's "Life of Pi." 

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Rebecca Keegan assesses "Catching Fire's" politics, and Yvonne Villareal has a behind-the-scenes look at TNT's "Mob City."

Follow me on Twitter at @rfaughnder. You'll be just in time for live-tweeting of holiday specials. 

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