Conventions

January is a big month for art fairs in L.A.: Both the LA Art Show and Art L.A. Contemporary take place this week. Why is January such an art fair magnet? Organizers say the weather helps attract out-of-town collectors . Here's a cheat sheet on the two events. The L.A. Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center Focus: modern and contemporary, 19th century and historical, prints and vintage posters, all in their own section Special project: "Letters From Los Angeles," a group show curated by Jack Rutberg with text-based work by dozens of California artists, such as Ed Ruscha, Ed Kienholz, Lita Albuquerque and Alexandra Grant PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times First out: Four "diamond dust" prints by Shepard Fairey (meaning diamond dust is applied to the surface of the screenprints)

Despite receiving a slew of hate mail, All Saints Church in Pasadena is moving forward with a conference hosted by the Muslim Public Affairs Council - the first time the organization has conducted a national convention at a Christian church. All Saints Rev. Ed Bacon described the emails his congregation received as "some of the most vile, mean-spirited emails I've ever read in my life. " "When we scheduled this event, we had absolutely no anticipation that we would have this kind of response," Bacon said, adding that none of the emails made actual threats.

Lawrence Guyot, a civil rights leader who was threatened, jailed and nearly beaten to death in the Deep South in the 1960s and helped lead a drive to register black voters during the tumultuous Freedom Summer of 1964, has died. He was 73. The longtime activist, who had a history of heart problems and diabetes, died at home Thursday in Mount Rainier, Md., according to his daughter, Julie Guyot-Diangone. A Mississippi native, Guyot was one of the original members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served as director of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project in Hattiesburg, Miss.

When Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence met for the first time before shooting the new David O. Russell movie "Silver Linings Playbook," they didn't opt for a conventional encounter. There was no leisurely table read of the script, no tell-me-your-hopes-and-dreams lunch with a director. Instead, they rendezvoused at a dance studio. The pair's new dramatic comedy, which the Weinstein Co. opened nationwide on Wednesday, has a significant ballroom dance subplot. So the actors entered an intense two-week session in which, for four or five hours each day, a choreographer had them spinning, lifting and dipping.

For decades, the Los Angeles Convention Center, that drab behemoth on the south edge of downtown, has done a serviceable job of providing space for local trade and consumer shows, most notably the Auto Show. But if Los Angeles officials want it to be competitive on a national level and generate more revenue - enough to make it worth keeping - then the city needs to get out of the business of operating it. That is the centerpiece of a proposal to revamp the marketing and management of the Convention Center that will come before the City Council next month.

"Anna Karenina," director Joe Wright's startling new vision of the Tolstoy classic, is all dressed up with no place to go. Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the tale of passion and impropriety in Imperial Russian society, circa 1870, the production is bold, sumptuous, ambitious and yet bound by its own self-imposed conventions. In a rash move, Wright has confined most of the sweeping story to a single decaying theater. Literally all of Anna Karenina's world is that stage, its action unfolding in odd nooks and crannies of the ancient structure, much of it on catwalks and along backstage corridors.

Shakespeare's song-filled final play, "The Tempest," is most magical and musical. And his most musicked. More than 50 "Tempest" operas are said to have been written, and many more "Tempest"-inspired, to say nothing of incidental music for the play (Purcell's and Sibelius' are of special note) or "Tempest" film scores (Michael Nyman's for Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books" being especially notable). Two "Tempest" operas came our way this week. The Metropolitan Opera is staging Thomas Adès' "The Tempest," and the HD broadcast in cinemas was Saturday (with an encore showing slated for Nov. 28)

It's a city where tourists can spot a monorail slithering overhead, where construction is underway on an expansive transit hub envisioned as a cathedral for transportation, and where hopes run high that hordes of passengers will one day blast into town on a high-speed rail. But the latest transportation project in Anaheim sounds decidedly old-school in comparison: streetcars. Orange County's largest city is now moving ahead with plans for a 3.2-mile trolley car system that would connect the city's resort district with its sports stadiums, convention center and regional transit center - an airy, arched structure made of steel - that is taking shape.

EVENTS At the Long Beach Comic and Horror Convention you'll mix and mingle with genre fans, celebrities and exhibitors and get a look at the year's best comic books and pop culture paraphernalia showcasing the work of an exceptional group of writers, artists, illustrators and creators. Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. 10 a.m. Sat. and Sun. Prices vary. http://www.longbeachcomiccon.com.

LAS VEGAS - Nearly every inch of floor space in this city's convention center is crowded with vendors hawking automotive products. There are pedestals hoisting horsepower-generating superchargers. Then there are stacks of colorful custom carpet samples. Nearby is a display case filled with high-performance head gaskets. If it has anything to do with a car, it can be found here at the Specialty Equipment Market Assn. trade show. With more than 2,250 exhibitors in attendance this year, it is the largest show in SEMA's history.