VHS era is winding down

Pop culture is finally hitting the eject button on the VHS tape, the once-ubiquitous home-video format that will finish this month as a creaky ghost of Christmas past.

After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes.

"It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away."

"an expensive social experiment"

With just nine months left before it opens, a new arts high school in downtown Los Angeles still lacks a principal, a staff, a curriculum, a permanent name and a clearly articulated plan for how students will be selected -- critical details for a school that aims to be one of the foremost arts education institutions in the United States.

Central High School No. 9 does have a completed campus, believed to be the second most expensive public high school ever built in the United States. But the very fact that it offers what may be the finest such facilities in the region has fueled a debate over the district's plan to operate it primarily as a neighborhood school, with fewer than one-quarter of its slots allotted to students citywide.

Vigilant Las Vegas

A statue of Jesus beckons worshipers to the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer in Las Vegas, where it’s not unusual to find casino chips among the day’s donations.
(Jay Jones)

Sarah Brightman pulls out all the stops !!!

Judging by the evidence presented Saturday night at the Forum, Sarah Brightman -- it seems safe to assume -- is unfamiliar with the old showbiz adage, "Always leave 'em wanting more."

Best known for originating the role of Christine Daaé in ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," Brightman has over the last two decades become one of the biggest names on the classical-crossover scene. And at the Forum, the English singer-actress wasted no opportunity to demonstrate that stardom in that world needn't be entirely unlike stardom of the top 40 variety.

There was simulated synchronized swimming. There was an enormous video screen flashing 3-D holograms. And backstage somewhere, there was a bottomless costume trunk.

Nostalgia can be therapeutic

"I'll be home for Christmas -- if only in my dreams."

Long derided as wimpy and a waste of time, nostalgia nonetheless often sweeps in this time of year and settles in for the holidays. In calling up memories of people and celebrations past, it can evoke feelings buried by time and daily life.

Now psychologists are rethinking the purpose of that peculiar sentiment -- and are drawing some surprising conclusions.

Depending on how it's embraced, they say, nostalgia can be a healthy emotion that buffers people from loneliness and eases them through hard times.

San Francisco's new California Academy of Sciences a natural wonder

The Renzo Piano-designed facility will house an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum and classrooms. Curvy walkways transport visitors through a rain forest in the Golden Gate Park museum. Other exhibits range from California tide pools to deep space.
(Tim Griffith / EPA)

San Francisco dresses for the holidays

Visitors in San Francisco can take a stroll along Market Street, where, for the first time in 103 years, the street will be decked out for the holiday season. Five-foot-wide snowflakes, illuminated by energy-saving LED lights, will be hung from Market Street's signature "Path of Gold" light poles.

The poles that run the length of Market from Steuart to Castro streets were originally installed in 1916 and will cast a distinctive amber glow on one of the city's main thoroughfares throughout the holiday season.

www.marketstreetassociation.org
(Peter DaSilva)

The ice rink is the closest thing to snow you'll find in San Francisco. The temporary ice rink (it stays open for nine weeks, through Jan. 4) offers outdoor skating and lessons.

www.embarcaderocenter.com
(Peter DaSilva)

San Francisco and environs may be short on snow in December, but the area has more than enough jingle to make your holidays sing. You may not be able to take a sleigh ride through Golden Gate Park, but here are 10 places where you can find plenty of Christmas cheer in the shops, restaurants and shows from Union Square to South of Market.

1. If this time of year has you longing for a touch of tradition, the Great Dickens Christmas Fair may fill the bill, but you'll have to hurry because Sunday (Dec. 21) is the last day. This holiday adventureland, a short drive from downtown, re-creates Victorian London, down to the last details.

Hundreds of costumed players, including Father Christmas, Oliver Twist and Tiny Tim, will roam the decorated winding lanes, while creative characters hawk their wares through 90,000 square feet of lamp-lighted shops, theatrical shows and English pubs.

A Christmas pantomime at the fair.
(Great Dickens Christmas Fair)

"Has somebody invented the car of the future and didn't tell us?"

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and its twin, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, are mid-to-full-size sedans that seat five in surprising comfort and offer a full-size trunk measuring around 12 cubic feet. They measure 190.6 inches long and weigh a goodly 3,720 pounds. The gas-electric output is 191 horsepower and zero to 60 mph acceleration is under 9 seconds.

The retail price of a nicely equipped Fusion Hybrid -- with blandishments such as rearview camera, blind-spot alert and 17-inch alloy wheels -- is $27,270. With the applicable federal tax credit, the car should cost consumers about $25,000, I estimate (final numbers have not been announced).

On a test drive of a Fusion Hybrid last week in West L.A. traffic, I managed, without much trouble, to get 52 mpg in mixed city-highway driving.

Wait, so, has somebody invented the car of the future and didn't tell us?

(DAN NEIL -- L A Times)

Kirov Ballet dances 'The Nutcracker' at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Denis Firsov is “The Nutcracker’s” Clown. (ended today)

"Chaplin: A Life"

In 1883 a young woman calling herself Lily Harley -- real name Hannah Hill -- abruptly left her lover and her small-time career as an English music hall performer to sail for South Africa and to marry a man she thought was the aristocratic heir to a prospering estate. In fact, this man, called Sydney Hawkes, was a penniless Cockney con man, and it is likely that he prostituted Lily. She returned to London and the theater -- with an illegitimate child and a case of syphilis, which, typically, did not announce itself for several years. She also returned to her rejected lover, whose name was Charles Chaplin.

No, not the Charlie Chaplin, but his father, then a rising performer in the halls. In the not-too-distant future, he would die of acute alcoholism and, by 1898, the pretty, charming Hannah was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed as syphilitic. The written record of this medical judgment has survived to this day, and the record of Hannah's growing madness marks all of her son's many autobiographical musings over the years. He, however, never publicly discussed the source of his mother's condition; in his telling (and in many biographies) it remains a tragic mystery. And a shaming one.

In a day when we can imagine a star like Chaplin discussing this shaping fact of his life on "Oprah," this residue of silence and gentility may strike some of us as strange -- and a few of us as, in some sense, admirable. In any case, it is important information, first revealed by the psychiatrist Stephen Weissman in a 1986 academic article, and it is now a crucial element in his new biography, "Chaplin: A Life."

"Iconic bus for 21st century London"

LONDON (AFP) — A new environmentally-friendly version of London's iconic red double-decker bus will be introduced in the capital from 2011, officials have said.

The new Routemaster buses could also feature the sleek lines of an Aston Martin, after the sports car maker jointly won a competition to design them along with top architecture firm Foster and Partners.

The Aston Martin-Fosters proposal will go forward with a design by British bus maker Capoco as the basis for the final shape of the new generation of the world-famous bus.

Routemasters, featuring open rear platforms and a spiral staircase, were taken out of service at the end of 2005, replaced by elongated "bendy buses" as well as a new generation of driver-only double-deckers.

The iconic double decker, which has been seen on the streets of London for over 50 years, is still in operation but only on popular tourist routes in the city centre.

As part of his election campaign earlier this year, new London Mayor Boris Johnson promised to bring back the Routemaster in some form.

The Aston Martin-Foster design features a zero-emissions double-decker that remains highly manoeuvrable, with solar panels built into the glass roof, warm lighting and wooden floors while remaining accessible for disable passengers.

Capoco's proposed bus has a low flat floor to allow passengers to get on and off easily, with a Routemasteresque front engine, an open rear platform and it will also be low emission.

Transport for London said it expected to award a contract for the development and manufacture of the first new bus by the end of 2009, with the vehicles expected to hit the capital's streets by 2011.

Overall, more than 700 entries were submitted for the competition, with children actively encouraged to take part and given special prizes for the best entries in various age groups.

"When I launched the competition, I asked for stylish and imaginative designs which would resonate with Londoners," Johnson said.

"We have had a phenomenal response, with ideas submitted from around the globe, and we now have, in our joint winners, two stunning designs that allow us to go forward and produce a truly iconic bus fit for 21st century London.

"I know that, like me, Londoners will be waiting eagerly to see how these ideas evolve into the final design that will appear on our roads."

Researchers debunk conventional wisdom

Contrary to popular belief, poinsettias are not toxic to people or animals, suicides do not increase over the Christmas holidays, and sugar does not make kids hyperactive. Also, Wales winning the rugby grand slam does not influence the death of popes, and douching with Coca-Cola is not an effective contraceptive method.

Those are some of the conclusions of reports in the British Medical Journal's annual Christmas issue, a compilation of the weird and lighthearted papers its editors accumulate over the year. In a related vein, a report in the journal Lancet details the curious case of a woman who fainted every time she ate a sandwich.

Drs. Christopher J. Boos and Howard Marshall, cardiologists at University Hospital Birmingham, treated a 25-year-old woman who suffered repeated fainting episodes, particularly when eating a sandwich or drinking a fizzy drink.

A full medical work-up showed her to be healthy overall, but the team ultimately diagnosed a condition called swallow syncope, which caused her heart to stop beating for as long as three seconds after some types of swallowing -- especially sandwiches, for no clear reason.

The woman was fitted with a pacemaker and has had no fainting episodes since, Boos and Marshall reported in the Lancet. They suspect that many other patients suffer the problem without being diagnosed.

"God is in the details"

Veteran guide John Hamm passes out small flashlights and slips on his white gloves in preparation for the Gamble House's Behind the Velvet Ropes tour. Held on the second Wednesday of every month, the BVR, as it is called, is a leisurely 2 1/2 -hour stroll through the iconic 1908 Pasadena landmark designed by architects Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene. The tour gives visitors a close-up glimpse at the exquisite detail of the unique Arts and Crafts home and its furnishings.

Your request is the guide's command as you step beyond the velvet ropes into the rooms once occupied by David Gamble, son of one of the founding partners of Procter & Gamble, and his wife, Mary. Hamm delights in opening secret doors, revealing hidden compartments and pulling out drawers to show off complex mortise-and-tenon joints. Ask him to see the underside of a dresser -- the one belonging to Aunt Julia, Mary's maiden sister -- and he'll crawl on all fours to highlight the bottom of the vanity, finished as deftly as the top. Clearly, for the Greene brothers -- and docent Hamm -- God is in the details.

For information and reservations for the BVR tour ($40) or the standard one-hour tour ($7 or $10), call (626) 793-3334 or go to www.gamblehouse.org. For a sampling of even more rooms on the BVR tour, check out the photo gallery online: latimes.com/home.

A dark twist just in time for the holidays

Barware designers fade to black for the holiday season with a midnight twist on ice buckets, wineglasses and other party pieces to make this New Year's toast one cool cocktail.

A super-size martini glass ($32) is detailed with a scene from Rome in silhouette; other glasses feature the skylines of London or New York. They’re at Zero Minus Plus at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, (310) 395-5718, www.zerominusplus.com. Polished black horn olive picks ($75 for a set of six) are at Table Art in Los Angeles, (323) 653-8278, www.tableartonline.com.

How much will $100,000,000 buy today ???

It's confusing.

The pale blue bank note that says 1,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars really means 10,000,000,000,000,000,000. Yes, that's 10 quintillion, taking into account the 13 zeros Zimbabwe's central bank has lopped off in the last couple of years to make the country's currency somewhat more manageable.

Every time they get out of hand, Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank scythes away 00000s. The largest note, Z$100,000,000,000, released in July and useless within weeks, looked so bizarre with all the zeros squeezed in that it became an instant collector's item.

Regardless, inflation is soaring so fast in Zimbabwe that it's hard to figure out what a Z$1-million note is actually worth on a given day.

Somewhere between July's Z$100-billion note and the more recent zero-reduced Z$1-million note, it's easy to get mixed up.

Developer proposes to demolish Century Plaza hotel

In this architect’s rendering, the Century Plaza hotel is at left, but some existing high-rise buildings in the background have been removed to better show the site. At right are two 50-story towers that would replace the hotel in a developer’s $2-billion plan. Michael Rosenfeld, who bought the property for $366.5 million last May, calls for razing the 19-story arc-shaped hotel and erecting two 50-story towers in its place.

. . . "an unquenchable thirst for adrenaline" . . .

The world’s greatest big wave surfer and epic waterman Laird Hamilton is a water sports pioneer with an unquenchable thirst for adrenaline. Hamilton is known for pushing the boundaries of water sports with awe-inspiring feats. He was the first to complete a 360-degree loop on a surfboard, created tow-in surfing to tackle huge waves such as massive 70-footers, and made marathon-like paddleboard journeys around the world.

The Chocolate you pray for may already be Blessed

Chocolate lovers know that joy, satisfaction and energy can all come in the same foil-wrapped package. As if chocolate weren't already rewarding enough, a Madison, Wis., company with offices in Los Angeles is promising to push it to a new frontier. The company, Intentional Chocolate, claims that it has found a way to infuse chocolate with prayers of "good intentions" from Buddhist monks. The monks -- some of whom are said to have trained with the Dalai Lama -- pray directly over the chocolate, presumably using some sort of spiritual assembly line.

The Excesses of the Very Rich and Powerful

After a popular revolt forced dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, to flee the Philippines in 1986, officials were astounded to find more than 1,200 pairs of shoes owned by the former first lady.

Imelda Marcos gained notoriety for shopping trips to the world's swankiest boutiques, glitzy parties and lavish beautification projects in the midst of the Philippines' extreme poverty, the Associated Press wrote in 2001. The shoes became a symbol of extravagance and excess.

In this photo, Imelda Marcos in 2001 was reunited with about 200 pairs of her shoes in the Marikina Shoe Museum, near Manila.
(Pat Roque / Associated Press)

The Space Shuttle Endeavour

In this image provided by NASA the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on its modified 747 carrier aircraft, takes off on the first leg of its trip Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008, from Edwards Air force base in Edwards, Calif., back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.