Clever

Thank you, Kevin Thomas, for your thoughtful review of "FX2--the Deadly Art of Illusion" ("Well-Crafted 'FX2' Flies on Wit, Engaging Characters," Calendar May 10). I enjoyed the sequel and the original film very much, and it was nice to read a critique that appreciated the craftsmanship that went into them. Many times a sequel will contain references and jokes pertaining to the original, and "FX2" certainly is no exception. There is one subtle detail that may go unnoticed by even the most scrupulous viewers: About halfway through the film, when Dennehy and Brown call the boy to inquire about a disk, the boy is watching a movie on television--the very same movie on which Rollie was working effects during the first few minutes of the original "F/X" (when the woman in the restaurant gets blown away)

It's not often noted in the history books, but Queen Victoria simply couldn't stand pirates. In fact, the words "I Hate Pirates" are prominently carved on the royal crest. You could look it up. Well, actually, you can't, because the wacky folks at Aardman Animations made it up as a key plot point of their delightful"The Pirates! Band of Misfits,"a clever piece of business that is a complete pleasure to experience. Based on a novel by Gideon Defoe, who also wrote the screenplay, "Pirates" follows the exploits, such as they are, of Pirate Captain (wonderfully voiced by Hugh Grant)

There is something so richly subversive, so vicariously appealing about turning accountants into action heroes who aim their big guns at Wall Street Ponzi schemers that the idea alone makes the new buddy-cop comedy, "The Other Guys," clever and funny from the first frame. Fortunately, many other clever and funny frames follow. Which is nice to be able to say about a Will Ferrell comedy again after a recent string of duds capped (hopefully tighter than a BP oil well) by the dismal "Land of the Lost" in 2009.

French researchers reported this week that they had trained six baboons to read - or at least to scan a string of four letters and determine when they form a word and when they don't.  The experiment, which was reported Thursday in the journal Science, cements baboons' place among an ever-growing menagerie of clever animals . In December, the Los Angeles Times reported about pigeons who could count - birds who could see pictures of...

There is something so richly subversive, so vicariously appealing about turning accountants into action heroes who aim their big guns at Wall Street Ponzi schemers that the idea alone makes the new buddy-cop comedy, "The Other Guys," clever and funny from the first frame. Fortunately, many other clever and funny frames follow. Which is nice to be able to say about a Will Ferrell comedy again after a recent string of duds capped (hopefully tighter than a BP oil well) by the dismal "Land of the Lost" in 2009.

I was undecided in the gubernatorial race until Wilson's clever remark about Feinstein's "chubby friend," Sen. Edward Kennedy. Who's writing Wilson's stuff? Tote up a vote for Dianne. HANK KOVELL Los Angeles

It matters not whether you're innocent or guilty of a crime. The most important factor is how clever your attorney is. HENRIETTE GOLDSMITH Encino

Conrad's cartoon was very clever, but the analogy was false. Not only because Christ was a Jew, but because he didn't throw rocks, Molotov cocktails and metal bars at police. RUEBEN GORDON North Hollywood

Concerning George Bradley's poem "A Brief History" (Aug. 4): I just love profundity, but it's tricky. One silly trope, one clever little alliteration, and all goes hollow. "Quasars" do not "Quaver." FRED SCIFERS DOWNEY

Apparently those clever scientists in Scotland have put the lie to that beloved old song, "I Know There'll Never Be Another Ewe." Baaaahd! EILEEN BIGELOW Whittier

Toward the end of the first episode of HBO's "Girls," Hannah (Lena Dunham), in the hopes of persuading her parents to continue supporting her, hands them the half-dozen pages of the "book" she has been writing for the last two years. To finish this proposed nine-chapter opus, all she wants is $1,100 a month, for two more years. It's a wonderful moment, capturing the inevitable divide between generations. With all the gloriously narcissistic conviction of an academically coddled, white, upper-middle-class publishing "intern," Hannah truly believes she is writing a memoir - she just has to live it first.

Why We Broke Up A Novel Daniel Handler, with illustrations by Maira Kalman Little, Brown: 354 pp., $19.99, ages 15 and older Most of us have been there, experiencing the unprecedented high of a first love followed by the debilitating low when it crumbles. But few of these tragic trajectories have been written about as poignantly as in "Why We Broke Up. " The young-adult debut from Daniel Handler, a bestselling author better known as Lemony Snicket, is an illustrated novel that is its own series of unfortunate events, chronicling a brief but intense teen relationship gone wrong.

In "Suburgatory," a deft new sitcom premiering Wednesday on ABC, Jane Levy stars as Tessa, a Lower Manhattan teenager whose single father (played by Jeremy Sisto), having discovered a box of condoms in her bedroom, drags his daughter to "the suburbs" in order that she may lead "a normal adolescent existence" somewhere that "box of condoms" does not describe "normal adolescent existence. " "He pulled me out of school, bubble-wrapped my life and threw it into the back of a moving truck," says Tessa in the knowing narrative voice-over common to TV series in which young women come of age. Created by Emily Kapnek, who also created the Nickelodeon middle-school cartoon "As Told by Ginger," it's a neighborhood comedy to sit alongside ABC's "The Middle" — it does, in fact, do that on the schedule — though it is a little more Dorothy-over-the-rainbow in its affect.

"I do not belong on network television. It's a complete fluke!" says Whitney Cummings, sprinting across the studio backlot. She is late for a rehearsal for her new sitcom, "Whitney," because, she says, "I have really low self-esteem, so I told my assistant she didn't have to get up early this morning. " Walking onto the set, she apologizes to everyone she passes. "I'm so sorry I'm late, so sorry!" This is the woman NBC Chief Bob Greenblatt has dubbed the "It" girl of the fall TV season.

The founders of Taylor Guitars have a reputation for playing a different tune. It's been that way since Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug borrowed $10,000 from family in 1974 to fund the upstart start-up, taking on well-known competitors who had been manufacturing guitars for decades. Taylor and Listug, then all of 19 and 21, figured the only way to make it in the business was to do everything differently. They tinkered with traditional shapes and colors. They bolted on parts that usually were attached in a more permanent fashion.

From the first overheated moments of "Bridesmaids," with its Kama Sutra-plus-six-positions sex ? so satisfying for him, so exhausting for her ? it's clear we're in for that rarest of treats: an R-rated romantic comedy from the Venus point of view. For the Mars crowd, that means real people in real relationships, real raunchy, real funny. Thank you, Kristen Wiig for every single one of those old-school Rs. In fact, so unusual is this sort of humor in testosterone-driven ha-ha-Hollywood these days, it almost makes me ha-ha-happy that producer Judd Apatow is currently the industry-anointed 800-pound clown prince, since it probably took all 800 pounds of his princely powers to get this film made.

Re "Looking to Return, NFL Sees Daylight in Anaheim," Aug. 26: In the event the NFL awards the L.A. area a new franchise, the only appropriate team name should be the LA Drive. Not only does the name represent much of our daily activity, but think of the opportunities for clever headlines when they move on. Jack Reynolds Upland

To all of you Anti-Simersites: Lighten up! Last time I checked, football was still just a game. T.J., you are clever, funny and more often than not--accurate. Keep up the good work! MICKEY McLAY Lake Forest

Summer in Tahoe Morgan, 9 Magic Pen Kids Orange Like the sun, I stand in a forest of flowers. Neck tall, they are golden and graceful in the wind. The petals rustle like velvet ball gowns and, at our feet, plum morning glories bloom. As I Am Shea, 11 Orchard Hills Middle School Tustin I seem to be a turtle, quiet and shy. But really, I'm a bird chirping away. I seem to be a sloth, slow and asleep. But really, I'm a cheetah, quick and alert.