Clock

Time. It's a topic that doesn't much affect Roger Federer. The owner of 17 major titles and the defending champion of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells never wastes time. He certainly didn't on Monday, taking only 61 minutes to defeat Ivan Dodig of Croatia, 6-3, 6-1, in the third round at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Federer doesn't fiddle with his clothing or walk in dizzying circles after a tense point. Whether he hits a swift winning shot after a short rally or mishits a losing shot after running and running during a long point, Federer just moves ahead.

Lakers 99 - Hawks 98 (Final) The Lakers won a close one at Staples Center on Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Kobe Bryant hit a layup with nine seconds on the clock to put the Lakers up 99-98. The Hawks had one final chance to win the game but Josh Smith turned it over under his own basket and time expired. Bryant scored the Lakers' final six points, finishing with 34 on the night while shooting 13-27 (48.2%) from the field. The Lakers shot 48.7% from the field as a team but turned the ball over 21 times.

Amid the whir of drills and the odor of wet paint, the stage floor at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood yawned open Friday morning to reveal a 341/2 -foot-deep chasm. "Everybody in the house, please be aware I'm opening the hole!" a worker yelled from the precipice of the pit, a space designed by the Dolby's former tenants, the acrobatic theater troupe Cirque du Soleil, to deliver props and performers to the middle of a show with particular drama and efficiency. The occasion for the spectacle is preparation for the Academy Awards, which is shaping up to be one of the most logistically complex Oscar shows ever, involving multiple singing and dancing casts, extensive use of the potentially dangerous stage lifts and an appearance by a debauched digital teddy bear.

Before climbing the scaffold, Heidi Pascoe checked the wind - throwing a handful of dirt into the air to see how hard it was blowing. Pascoe, satisfied that conditions were safe, weighed her options. Should she do a backfall (falling backward), a header (rolling over) or a suicide (landing on her back)? She settled on the header, then climbed 40 feet, hand over hand, to a small platform overlooking rooftops in the Sylmar neighborhood and the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.

From Geoffrey of Monmouth to Dan Brown, when it comes to driving narrative, it's hard to beat a good heroic quest. Whether it's the Holy Grail, the one ring, the ark of the covenant or Moby-Dick, draw up a map, create a barely attainable, possibly mystical item to find and/or destroy and you've immediately got the attention of millions. Unfortunately, even for those of us who prefer our conspiracies biblical and our talismans magical, ABC's "Zero Hour," while initially tantalizing (priests, Nazis, Anthony Edwards, an unholy birth, a secret map - I'm in!

This post has been updated. Please see below for details. The California Institute of the Arts launched its literary journal Black Clock in 2004 with pieces by some of the best writers of the moment: David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Lethem, Aimee Bender and Rick Moody. There were, of course, others -- that's what a good literary journal does, combine boldface literary names with new writers just finding their voices. One of those is CalArts MFA grad Grace Krilanovich, who was later named one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for her debut novel "The Orange Eats Creeps.

NEW YORK - As the continued popularity of such shows as "Project Runway" and "Top Chef" indicates, there is something inherently captivating about watching the creative process unfold on-screen. The late-night panic, the crippling self-doubt, the sweaty-palmed anxiety and - most of all - the ability to create something beautiful under less-than-ideal circumstances can be not only entertaining, but inspiring. That's the impetus behind "One Night Stand: Creating a Play in a Day," a new documentary that goes behind the scenes of "The 24-Hour Musicals," a fundraising event in which teams of playwrights, composers, actors and directors write, rehearse and finally perform a 15-minute show over the course of a single, sleep-deprived day. First came "The 24-Hour Plays," an annual rite in the New York theater world since 1995; "The 24-Hour Musicals" were first staged in 2008.

  Think no one laid a hand on Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron during the 42-14 rout of Notre Dame in the BCS title game on Monday night? Think again. No, it wasn't anyone on the Fighting Irish, it was McCarron's own center, Barrett Jones. With the play clock running down during the fourth quarter, McCarron started screaming and jumping excitedly at the line of scrimmage, then got in Jones' face and yelled at him. Jones responded by shoving McCarron back a couple of feet, and it looked for a moment that the two might come to blows.

If you loved the Rose Bowl, you might also enjoy Monday night's Bowl Championship Series title game between Notre Dame and Alabama. Think of this as a pumped-up version of Stanford versus Wisconsin, a defensive, clock-control matchup that ended in a 20-14 Cardinal victory. Notre Dame and Alabama boast fine defenses and like-minded philosophies on how championships are won. Times staff writer Chris Dufresne examines the BCS title game's story lines. Take it or leave it No one said the BCS is perfect or that the best team has to win. You could even argue one-loss Oregon is the best-looking team playing right now. Notre Dame is 12-0 but survived several harrowing finishes to finish the regular season undefeated.