Bachelor

Jeffrey Katzenberg was visiting USC recently when a faculty member stopped to chat with him. As the two parted ways, the DreamWorks Animation chief urged him: "Just keep sending me magicians. " The magicians Katzenberg seeks are animators, in high demand as the art form has exploded not only in movies and video games but also arenas like medical research and cellphone displays. Higher education is beginning to respond to the need: USC awarded 18 bachelor of arts in animation and digital arts diplomas in May, becoming the first major research university to offer the degree.

Brian K. Smith grew up with a love of education and a dream of one day obtaining a college degree. But the path to graduation for the Cal State Long Beach student included a few unexpected hurdles. Besides the rigors of a double major in Spanish translation and music, Smith became homeless at one point after he lost the financial aid that helped pay for his housing. He resorted to surreptitiously living on campus, spending nights in music practice rooms and working out complicated schedules to avoid detection by janitors.

Don't let the dance pole and two-story bar fool you. Although most of the Hollywood Hills homes designed by Angie Thornbury have been sold to bachelors, there's something for everyone in this house above the Sunset Strip. Thornbury began renovating what was then a 2,400-square-foot ranch house three years ago, transforming the former tract home in the prestigious "bird streets" area of the Hollywood Hills into a trendy, modern space nearly three times its original size. She designed the house around the views that span from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean and San Nicolas Island.

For fans of "The Bachelor" and its spinoff, "The Bachelorette," who have wondered why the veteran ABC dating franchise has never spotlighted a nonwhite contestant in the title role in any of their combined 21 seasons, the shows' creator has come up with at least a partial answer: People of color apparently don't want to be on the show. "We always want to cast for ethnic diversity," Mike Fleiss said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, adding, "It's just that for whatever reason, they don't come forward.

Actor Ashton Kutcher has listed his Sunset Strip-area "bachelor pad that never was" for $2.6 million. Kutcher bought the house in 2004 for $1 million and rebuilt it with his father but never moved in. Instead, he married actress Demi Moore in 2005. The updated Craftsman features a home theater and a two-story wine tower that holds 210 bottles. The 3,235-square-foot house has four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. It sits on nearly an acre with a three-tiered water element starting at the spa and spilling into an infinity-edge pool.

Actor Ashton Kutcher has listed his Sunset Strip-area bachelor pad for $2.6 million. Kutcher rebuilt the home as a father-son project but never moved in. The modern Craftsman has a home theater and a two-story wine tower that holds 210 bottles. The 3,235-square-foot house has four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms and sits on nearly an acre. A three-tiered waterway starting at the spa spills into an infinity-edge pool. Kutcher, 33, married actress Demi Moore in 2005. He starred on "That '70s Show" (1998-2006)

Walking through the doors of a crowded San Francisco bar, Kristin Curtin was all business. Her eyes moved from face to face before coming to rest on a pretty young woman chatting up a male patron. "You could just tell the way she was interacting with him that he was mesmerized. There were hundreds of people in that pub, but she just captured my attention," recalled Curtin, a freelance casting producer. She gave the woman her business card and a pitch about why she might want to try out for a new NBC reality show that combines love and adventure.

Several days after Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was found shot to death in her Mercedes-Benz, a friend voiced the hope to KNBC-TV news that the case wouldn't turn into "another Black Dahlia. " The friend was referring to the 1947 slaying of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, which has never been solved. Of course, mysterious deaths with links to Hollywood date to at least 1922, when debonair director William Desmond Taylor was found slain in his fashionable bachelor pad near the corner of 4th and Alvarado streets.

A stately Queen Anne home on Santa Catalina Island known as Holly Hill House has a 120-year history as colorful as its signature cupola. In addition to the towering red-and-green-striped dome, the three-story home is distinguished by steep gables, quirky interior spaces, antique furnishings that are included in the purchase and multiple porches. It was built by Peter Gano, a transplanted Ohioan and civil engineer who had helped develop the water systems for Pasadena and Altadena.

The current crop of television bachelors is pitiful. They settle for sex-lite in the pool, Champagne magnums, satin-lapelled tuxedos and RV limos. Worse, they're short the ultimate endowment: the bachelor pad, depriving male viewers of inventive solutions to single living. West Hollywood millionaire bachelor Hal B. Hayes would have laughed at these Romeos. Bachelor life is a dicey choice, subject to changing norms. In the 19th century, marriage was an expensive commitment. Husbands were expected to support their wives, who stayed at home.