Cuckoo

Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo Migratory Birds and the Impending Ecological Catastrophe Michael McCarthy Ivan R. Dee: 266 pp., $26.95 "What would it mean to us if the spring-bringers stopped arriving?" Would it be like losing rainbows? Michael McCarthy wonders, or roses or hope or music? It's a new tactic -- asking us to imagine our world without the species, sounds and smells we take for granted. And it works. A sense of wonder is replaced with a strange hollow feeling -- one part guilt, one part regret and one part denial.

When he ran a large state mental hospital, Dr. Dean Brooks made some bold decisions, but one of the most daring was to heed the call of Hollywood. Over protests from his boss and many mental health professionals, Brooks allowed the cast and crew of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" into Oregon State Hospital for 14 weeks as they made the 1975 movie that became an Oscar-winning classic. Brooks believed so strongly in the film that he played a hospital psychiatrist, a go-along, get-along type who was tragically unwilling to rock the boat.

When he ran a large state mental hospital, Dr. Dean Brooks made some bold decisions, but one of the most daring was to heed the call of Hollywood. Over protests from his boss and many mental health professionals, Brooks allowed the cast and crew of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" into Oregon State Hospital for 14 weeks as they made the 1975 movie that became an Oscar-winning classic. Brooks believed so strongly in the film that he played a hospital psychiatrist, a go-along, get-along type who was tragically unwilling to rock the boat.

Andy Samberg made his departure from "Saturday Night Live" official earlier this summer, and now his post-"SNL" plans are official: He's going to England. Samberg is set to star in the BBC series "Cuckoo. " The six-part series casts Samberg as an American hippie and "self-appointed spiritual ninja" battling a proper British dad (Greg Davies) for the heart of his daughter (Tamla Kari). Davies is a comedy star in England, where he's best known for his stand-up and his role on the classic comedy series "The Inbetweeners.

Andy Samberg made his departure from "Saturday Night Live" official earlier this summer, and now his post-"SNL" plans are official: He's going to England. Samberg is set to star in the BBC series "Cuckoo. " The six-part series casts Samberg as an American hippie and "self-appointed spiritual ninja" battling a proper British dad (Greg Davies) for the heart of his daughter (Tamla Kari). Davies is a comedy star in England, where he's best known for his stand-up and his role on the classic comedy series "The Inbetweeners.

A fractured statue, a shattered light fixture, a mangled cuckoo clock, a three-legged horse figurine: hopeless? That's not a word you'll hear very often at Brookes Restorations in Los Angeles. The shop specializes in repairing three-dimensional objects made of almost anything that cracks or chips, including wood, ivory, jade and porcelain. Repairs don't come cheap, but the service can be invaluable to owners of damaged antiques. HOME, E3

My contention that the cuckoo bird goes "cuckoo," rather than says "cuckoo," is confirmed by several obviously literate readers. You may remember that in writing erroneously about the predacious habits of the cuckoo bird, I pointed out what I took to be a simple, observable fact--that the cuckoo bird goes "cuckoo." Elizabeth A. Ross, a senior biology student at UCLA, not only corrected my errors about the bird's predations (which are bad enough, in any case)

'Happiness Runs' Writer-director Adam Sherman's haunting early years growing up on a hippie commune inspired his semi-autobiographical "Happiness Runs," an astoundingly bad memory piece that blows its potential dramatic heft at every turn. Certainly, how the peace-and-love generation's experiment with group living may have turned rancid is a topic ripe for narrative dissection, but Sherman never finds a safe enough distance from his traumatic past to tell an effective story.

What does it feel like to be a clock? An airplane? A balloon? "Becky-the-Wrecker," at the Galaxy Theatre, gives kids (ages 5 to 9) a chance to find out. Sophia Lansky and director Leon Weinstein have brought their Adrabah Educational Theatre from Tel Aviv, Israel (where it was founded in 1979), and prove that this lively performance project for children has international appeal. Becky (Lansky) is a mean little girl who's a champion toy-destroyer.

Marlene Dietrich walked into Cafe Linz wearing a silver fox stole and a wide-brimmed hat drawn over one eye. She slipped into a banquette against the wall facing the cuckoo clock. A puff of smoke oozed from red lips. Humphrey Bogart, with sad eyes and an enigmatic grin on his face, tipped his hat at Dietrich as if to give her a sign and sat near the carved table, his face partially hidden by the vase filled with paper flowers. He snapped open a newspaper and ordered schnapps.

Newt Gingrich, whose well-developed sense of sarcasm always goes over well with his Republican supporters, was on a roll Monday evening as he regaled a ballroom of supporters near Knoxville with his account of President Obama's energy plan, and his own vow to reduce gasoline prices to $2.50 a gallon, which has evolved into a campaign slogan. On the eve of Super Tuesday, with Gingrich's presidential campaign potentially in the balance, the former House speaker has been campaigning hard in the South, particularly in his adopted state of Georgia, which he expects to win tomorrow.

"Cuckoo's Nest. " Sure, everyone's heard of it. But is it worth reading? Before Jack Nicholson won his first Oscar, before there was a bus full of merry pranksters, there was a writing student with a swing-shift job in a mental ward. It's the Ken Kesey of that era who stares from the jacket flap of the 50th anniversary edition of his debut novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest": His curly hair is cropped short, he wears a cotton work shirt and his gaze is steady. To someone of my generation - X-ish - he's almost unrecognizable.

William A. "Bill" Fraker, a cinematographer who was nominated for six Academy Awards including for "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," "Heaven Can Wait" and "1941," died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 86 and had cancer. Fraker, a larger-than-life figure, was one of America's most respected cinematographers, known as much for the enduring images he crafted on classic movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" as for his efforts to mentor young camera operators.

'Happiness Runs' Writer-director Adam Sherman's haunting early years growing up on a hippie commune inspired his semi-autobiographical "Happiness Runs," an astoundingly bad memory piece that blows its potential dramatic heft at every turn. Certainly, how the peace-and-love generation's experiment with group living may have turned rancid is a topic ripe for narrative dissection, but Sherman never finds a safe enough distance from his traumatic past to tell an effective story.

Most consumer reviews of the iPad mention, among other things, its sleek design ? and just what does sleekness mean? To our friend, Merriam-Webster, sleekness refers to being "smooth and shiny ?glossy, as a highly polished surface. " In the case of the iPad, though, I'd suggest adding "not made by human hands" ? for isn't that what it seems like? Its smooth surface, no exposed screws or fastenings ? it just doesn't feel like it was built: Instead, it seems like the clouds opened and this gadget arrived on the back of a dove.

Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo Migratory Birds and the Impending Ecological Catastrophe Michael McCarthy Ivan R. Dee: 266 pp., $26.95 "What would it mean to us if the spring-bringers stopped arriving?" Would it be like losing rainbows? Michael McCarthy wonders, or roses or hope or music? It's a new tactic -- asking us to imagine our world without the species, sounds and smells we take for granted. And it works. A sense of wonder is replaced with a strange hollow feeling -- one part guilt, one part regret and one part denial.

--You can mark the decline of America from when men stopped wearing hats. --Is there any possibility that the Ayatollah Khomeini is really Salman Rushdie's press agent? --Only in Washington, D.C., could John Tower and Henry Kissinger be considered ladies' men. --Can't credit card companies get together and decide which copy is the customer's copy? --If you're going to tithe, do you do it on the net or the gross? --If you can still get into your wedding dress, you're amazing. And a liar.

You see it all the time in art reviews: A writer will proclaim that a particular work compels the viewer to do so-and-so, or think such-and-such. But that's just hype and blather. Artists aren't totalitarian states or the superego that polices your psyche. What artists can do, however, is create a climate that subtly influences the point of view and even the actions of those who choose to view the work in an active, participatory way and then reflect on the experience.

A fractured statue, a shattered light fixture, a mangled cuckoo clock, a three-legged horse figurine: hopeless? That's not a word you'll hear very often at Brookes Restorations in Los Angeles. The shop specializes in repairing three-dimensional objects made of almost anything that cracks or chips, including wood, ivory, jade and porcelain. Repairs don't come cheap, but the service can be invaluable to owners of damaged antiques. HOME, E3

It's NOT the easiest assignment, to project earnest indignation in a bright fuchsia teddy, but Molly Shannon, the Kath to Selma Blair's Kim in NBC's new comedy "Kath & Kim," is working it. Gesturing emphatically with impeccably rendered French tips, she sends giant gold hoops swaying righteously from her earlobes, squinting with sincerity as she loses patience with her twentysomething TV daughter. "Kim has been running amok for three episodes," said Michelle Nader, executive producer of the comedy.