Colors

Move over, banana slug. Make way for Felimare californiensis , a sea slug sporting the California gold and Yale blue of the University of California. The Chromodoris nudibranch first named for the University of California in 1901 had vanished for decades from its native habitat in Southern California, until one was spotted off Catalina Island in 2003. Now, steady sightings have led marine biologists to believe it is making a comeback, for reasons yet to be determined.

To mark its inaugural sponsorship of the Los Angeles Marathon -- and acknowledge the fact that it's taking  place on St. Patrick's Day -- Irvine-based Asics has released a limited-edition running shoe. The commemorative kicks are a version of the brand's  GEL-Lyte33 2  with uppers in a holiday-appropriate shade of green with either purple or orange accent colors on the outsole and lining. In addition, both versions have what from afar looks like a confetti-covered midsole but upon closer examination is actually a colorful map-like graphic (think a smudged page from an old Thomas Guide map book, if you remember those)

While Jefferson Mays was performing in "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" in the fall of 2012 at Hartford Stage, he recalls, his wife kept overhearing variations on the same remark at intermission: "Isn't it wonderful how they got actors who all look the same to play the different members of the D'Ysquith family?" "It made me very happy and really depressed, simultaneously," says Mays, who was in fact the only actor cast to play all nine D'Ysquiths (DIE-squiths), aristocrats in line for a dukedom who get inventively bumped off one by one by an ambitious relative.

Take your pick next weekend: a 26.2-mile sweat-slicked slog or a 3.1-mile jog in which you are likely to get blasted with powders in all the colors of the rainbow. Guess which one is called the Graffiti Run? "Most people, when they do their first 5K, it's daunting. We're really nonjudgmental," says Nadia Madesan, the run coordinator. "Our run is really friendly to everyone. " The website ( www.thegraffitirun.com ) says, "So feel free to run, walk, dance, crawl, roll, piggyback ride or somersault your way through the color madness.

Cameron Carpenter, whom Times music critic Mark Swed has called "technically the most accomplished organist I've ever witnessed," will be playing the organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall at four concerts in April as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Brooklyn Festival. Carpenter, the first organist in residence at the Berlin Philharmonie, has become a rock star of the pipe organ with his combination of virtuoso technique, colorful outfits and his habit of not announcing his program before his appearances.

Holly Madison chose a colorful name for her new baby girl with boyfriend Pasquale Rotella. Brace yourselves, this one's a doozy: Madison's baby moniker is Rainbow Aurora Rotella. Yes, you read that correctly, and it's OK if you're now craving some sort of exotic pasta dish. The "Girls Next Door" star, who is one of Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriends, welcomed Rainbow Aurora on Tuesday at 11:59 a.m. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces and went home to Madison's Alice in Wonderland-themed nursery.

The setting couldn't have been more lovely for Tuesday night's fall 2013 Hermès show from designer Christophe Lemaire. There we were in the wood-paneled library of the secondary school Lycee Henri IV, surrounded by 60,000 volumes. And with cocktails and hors d'ouevres being passed, no one was in much of a hurry to get the show started. That idea of the luxury of time got me thinking about what Hermés is all about, which is the dedication to quality and hand craft, even if it takes a year or more to fill a handbag order.

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In the midst of this campaign for a new mayor for Los Angeles, I spent a bit of time writing about the old ones , the characters, the bloviators and crooks, the puritanical and the amorous. And readers loved them. But truthfully, now, would we really elect some modern-day version of these eccentrics? Would we find them too vivid and unstable for the job? Is "colorful" a shorthand word for wacky? Would the political blender of today chop them up and homogenize them into bland and presentable beings to get them on the ballot in the first place?

"It" bags and shoes of the season are a given. But let's talk gotta-have-it sunglasses, spring's must-have extra. More designers are parading a covetable lineup of sunnies down fashion runways. Some of the latest looks include large round and wrap styles, geometric shapes and oversized cat eyes with colored lenses and elaborate decoration. But our true style inspiration is British pop star Rita Ora, who has proved that a pair of charmingly offbeat sunglasses is not only wearable but can be a girl's best accessory.