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He has a Harley in his garage, LSD in his past and a "liveskunk" he occasionally holds in his lap aboard airplanes. He talks up Jesus at stadiums and on surfboards. And he gets letters threatening his life. Greg Laurie, the man behind all those Harvest Crusade bumper stickers, has carved out an unusual niche among evangelists.

The movie: an adaptation of Sara Gruen's 2006 bestselling novel "Water for Elephants," about a veterinary student who quits his studies to join a traveling circus. The scene: a group of students, circa 1931, on the campus of Cornell University. Jim Elyea's task: to make sure the briefcases the students are carrying look authentic when the film begins shooting this May in Santa Paula, Calif. The co-owner of the History for Hire prop house in North Hollywood combs through a 1931 Sears catalog in his 5,000-book library, finds the correct design and selects the appropriate model among his collection of 400 vintage briefcases.

Attention all car buyers: The era of cut-rate financing, generous cash-back offers and big discounts is coming to an end. With the effects of the earthquake in Japan rippling through the industry and causing shortages, prices are rising for both new and used cars, and fewer models and options will be available come summer, especially for the hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles that Japan produces. That's prompted many experts to voice something rarely said in the sales-happy auto industry: With consumers facing the toughest market in recent memory, if you can, put off purchases until things sort out, probably early next year.

Not everyone is celebrating the new high in the Dow Jones industrial average. After being mauled by two punishing bear markets in the last dozen years, millions of individual investors aren't sure how to feel. On Tuesday, the world's best-known market gauge vaulted 125.95 points to close at 14,253.77, nearly 90 points above its previous high-water mark in late 2007. Some small investors are dismayed at not loading up on equities when the market plunged in 2008 and early 2009.

A long-awaited redevelopment project known as Marlton Square in South Los Angeles is set to move forward with the sale of a large portion of the site to Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser, the nation's largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, plans to build two medical office buildings on the northeast corner of Marlton Avenue and Santa Rosalia Drive, real estate broker Jamie Brooks of CBRE Group Inc. said. Kaiser doctors will treat patients at the new facilities. The 22-acre Marlton Square was identified by city officials two decades ago as a prime site for redevelopment, and millions of dollars in public funds were committed for improvements.

Mom deserves special treatment every day, but spas all over Southern California are making it easy to spoil her on Mother's Day, offering special deals on massages, treatments, relaxations, classes and products. And it's not just for her; since Mom loves you, she's going to want you to benefit from all this discount feel-good too. Ole Henriksen Face & Body Salon During the month of May, the acclaimed spa offers the Like Mother Like Daughter treatment (30-minute lavender hydrotherapy soak by candlelight, customized facial, one cleanser and one eye cream specifically suggested by your esthetician, $250)

Daniel Congiolosi is sure it won't be long before energy is so expensive he won't be able to pay the bills. When that happens, he will be ready. This spring, he tripled the size of his garden. He's rushing to install a hand pump on the well, build a concrete-lined root cellar and get an ice house ready before next summer. Thanks to soaring oil prices, he'll be able to pay for it all. Americans have been hit hard by months of $120- and $130-a-barrel oil, but in Alaska, they've hit the jackpot.

Connoisseur Osier Jean steps into the sterile room, pauses and clears his mind. With notebook and flavor wheel in hand, he quickly turns to the task at hand: checking the quality. He sniffs, slurps and swirls, allowing his senses to take in the richness. The liquid is not wine, but caffeine-rich Kafe Kreyol, Haitian coffee. It is the country's latest effort to revive a once-flourishing industry that has been crippled by decades of deforestation, political chaos and crises.

For millions of people, the quietest room is never quiet enough. Even when surrounded by silence, they can hear a ringing or buzzing in their ears that drives them to distraction. The sound is called tinnitus, and sufferers — often people with hearing trouble thanks to advanced age or loud sounds — are willing to go to great lengths to stop the noise. Some plead with their doctors to cut their hearing nerves completely, but even this drastic measure won't help. The few patients who have had the procedure could still hear their tinnitus — and nothing else.

Every once in a while, hard science has a cosmetic payoff. We use botulinum toxins to erase wrinkles, and lasers to remove unwanted hair. Now a company called Jane Beauty is promising to apply scientific principles for another purely cosmetic purpose: longer, thicker eyelashes.