Critical Mass

If Paramount didn't pre-screen "Back to the Beach" for critics, how come its opening-weekend movie ads were already carrying an enthusiastic quote from the Chicago Trib's Gene Siskel? "It's the best piece of musical comedy nostalgia since 'Grease,' " blurbed Siskel, concurring with the energetic TV thumbs-up that he and "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" cohort Roger Ebert gave it. But that line never appears in the equally praise-mongering newspaper review that Siskel wrote Aug.

Cam Newton faced plenty of questions about his playing ability and character coming out of college before last season. The Carolina Panthers quarterback seemed to silence all the critics with a stellar rookie season that featured no off-field incidents last year. But this year, he and the Panthers are struggling on the field. And some questionable comments following Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys (see part of them on the video above and part here ) - including several that seem to be throwing offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski under the bus and another in which Howard refers to a female reporter as "sweetheart" - have raised some eyebrows.

Sweden's car maker Volvo and the French state-owned automotive concern Renault said Friday that they intend to make sizable investments in each other to try to make both companies more competitive. The announcement, made during a news conference in Amsterdam, capped a year of negotiations between the two companies, whose sales have been under pressure in an increasingly competitive world market. Volvo has been suffering from the slump on the previously profitable U.S.

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to reaffirm the right of public universities - particularly competitive and prestigious ones - to consider race as a factor in admissions decisions. This welcome and forceful endorsement of affirmative action comes in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Justice Department in a case challenging admissions policies at the University of Texas at Austin. The fact of the administration's intervention may be more influential than its specific arguments, which reflect the somewhat convoluted reasoning the court has adopted in upholding racial preferences in university admissions.

Former loan officer Mitch Lichterman is banking on his company's concept to attract the investors he needs to build Mortgage Saver Inc. into a major consumer brand name. He's been shopping his business plan around since spring, hoping to raise the capital he knows it will take to pursue the individual homeowners he wants as customers for his early mortgage-payoff service. "I believe if we were funded, we could become the Priceline.

In Mexico, laws really are made to be broken. A street vendor reserves his illegal spot on the sidewalk by paying a weekly tribute to authorities. A young man magically acquires proof that he completed compulsory military service without ever having marched a day in his life. A motorist gets a license without taking a driver's test, or worse, even after flunking it.

In this country, the craze for Manchester's current Summer of Love is still kind of theoretical. You're more likely to read an article about a Manchester band than hear one on the radio; more likely to know about the fashion--bell-bottoms!--than about the sound.

Last month, when Newsweek.com broke the story that Sony Pictures had fabricated not just blurbs for movies but also the critic who coined them, it was simply the absurd end of a trivializing process that had been going on for decades. The week it happened, one of the big openings was Ivan Reitman's star-laden turkey "Evolution." Fifteen years before it happened, one of the big openings was Reitman's star-laden turkey "Legal Eagles."

When Mike Medavoy launched his new film company Phoenix this month, alongside big Hollywood backers like Sony Pictures Entertainment was the lesser-known Pearson Television from Britain. Though television is one of the smallest parts of Pearson's $2.44-billion revenue, which includes Penguin Publishing and the Financial Times newspaper, it is the company's fastest-growing division.

This week may be the last time bicyclists stage a monthly mass ride through Santa Monica following police crackdowns on their free-wheeling event that residents complain has snarled traffic and posed hazards to motorists and cyclists alike. For nearly three years, hundreds of cyclists have converged on Santa Monica's busiest streets for their so-called Critical Mass bike ride. On the first Friday of every month, the cyclists arrive near the pier about 6:30 p.m.

Anna Seng had no idea it was against the law to ride an unregistered bike in Long Beach, a place that has pledged to be "the most bicycle-friendly city in America. " But she found out earlier this year when her teenage son borrowed a cousin's bike and came home with a big surprise: a ticket for not having a bell ? or registration. "I didn't even know that existed until I got the ticket," Seng said. "People that I talk to ? none of them tell me they have registration. " Now she and her son are preparing for a court date to challenge the fines, which total more than $400.

Do not forget Iran. Remember Neda. If there are green-clad protests in Tehran this weekend — to mark the first anniversary of the election that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole — they will doubtless again be crushed with casual brutality by the thugs of the Basij militia, the secret police and the Revolutionary Guard. Faced with violent repression, the green movement is a long way down — but not out. Iran will never again be the country it was before the election of June 12, 2009.

Two security guards leaned on a gate outside the El Dorado Lofts, watching the parade of foot traffic down Spring Street. It was just before dusk — prime dog-walking time — and for every few people who passed, there was at least one pooch. The dogs strutted down the sidewalk, straining against their leashes, stopping here and there to lift a leg. "Every tree gets tagged," said John Arias, 51, as a pug sniffed and then marked a nearby tree. "There's way too many dogs!"

Critical Mass bike ride Where: Purple Line Metro Station, Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue When: 7 p.m. Friday, ride at 7:30 p.m. sharp Price: Free Contact: www.bikeboom.com

Imagine L.A. without cars. A town where people ride their bikes and walk in the streets, and the smell of tacos and veggie burgers drifts through the air instead of exhaust. Sound like a pipe dream? Not if a group called cicLAvia is successful. The volunteer coalition of bicycle advocates, transportation experts, artists and academics wants to make Sundays in L.A. virtually car-free -- transforming the city's streets into giant bike lanes. "This city is so park-poor and so car-dependent," says Jonathan Parfrey, cicLAvia member and director of the Green LA Institute.

A groom was driving down Michigan Avenue to his wedding rehearsal one Friday night when he found himself engulfed by a sea of bicycles. Angry that they were slowing him down, he started yelling, only to have half a dozen cyclists surround his car and yell back at him for traveling by four wheels. The groom had stumbled upon Critical Mass, the monthly event that sees as many as 3,000 bikers riding through Chicago's streets, running red lights and blocking traffic -- all with a somewhat reluctant police escort.

Speaking to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on March 26, Sen. John McCain surprised many listeners when he said that "the United States should lead a global effort at nuclear disarmament." It has been a long time since a Republican candidate for president said anything close to this, let alone seemed to think it would help him win election.