Deeds

Social change can be part of the itinerary on a Crystal cruise from New York to Montreal. The Lighthouses to Lobsters cruise aboard Crystal Symphony in September offers a free shore excursion for those who want to help the Boston nonprofit Cradles to Crayons organize and distribute items to homeless children. The three-hour volunteer session is free and good for adults and children. FOR THE RECORD: This story incorrectly says staterooms starting at $4,495 per person didn't include airfare and instead included an airfare allowance of $500 per person.

When British authorities the other day denied an export license for a 15th-century Flemish manuscript acquired last December by the J. Paul Getty Museum at a London auction, few could have been surprised. Stopping the export of exceptional works of art from the United Kingdom is business as usual for the government's catch-all Department for Culture, Media and Sport . Why? Often, as in this particular case, for no defensible reason. ART: Can you guess the high price?

It's all about "mitzvah," said Bea Abrams Cohen as she sought to explain one possible secret to her longevity. The meanings of the Hebrew word include an act of human kindness or a good deed. That's what Cohen, age 102, has spent a lifetime doing. "Pay back. It works," said the chatty centenarian, who served her country during World War II and has worked for more than seven decades supporting the U.S. military and philanthropic organizations. A resident of Westchester, Cohen is believed to be California's oldest female veteran, according to the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

Do we have a little spat going on now at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles? Archbishop Jose Gomez and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony seemed to be going at each other in recent days over the molestation scandal that just won't die, thanks to Mahony's years-long efforts to keep all the dirty little secrets under wraps. On Wednesday, Gomez issued a rebuke, announcing that Mahony was being relieved of public duties now that the priest personnel records have been made public. And by the way, I'm not clear as to why it took Gomez two years to look into the files he describes as making "brutal and painful reading," for their descriptions of behavior that was "terribly sad and evil.

Re "Romney's Mormon faith is absent from campaign," Dec. 8 Mitt Romney, a cautious, experienced campaigner, calculates that it profits him to be virtually silent about what is best about him -- the many kind, generous, admirably humane deeds he selflessly performed as a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But at the same time, he proudly and loudly trumpets his "success" as a businessman, which resulted in putting many of his fellow Americans out of work.

Danny Wallace, a twentysomething Brit and merry prankster, placed an ad in a London newspaper in 2002 with the words "Join Me" and cryptic instructions to send passport photos to his address -- just to see what would happen. That first advertisement yielded a solitary response, but it was enough to trigger a power trip for Wallace: "Suddenly, I was a leader of men." A few months later, after a few more enigmatic ads and fliers, the BBC comedy producer and freelance journalist launched www.

A couple who bought a 150-year-old cottage have discovered they are legally banned from drinking alcohol in their new home. The cottage of Mark and Mary Souter on the Isle of Wight, off southern England, once belonged to a 19th-Century Baptist minister. who inserted the ban on booze in the title deeds, along with a rule against gambling. Mark, 26, said: "We could be prosecuted every time we have a drink but our lawyer says it's unlikely anyone would sue."

Saying their hands were tied by the terms of a 61-year-old deed, Los Angeles officials have told sponsors of a popular African cultural festival that the monthly event can no longer be held at the city-owned Leimert Plaza in the Crenshaw District. The decision prompted about 60 supporters of Afrikan Culture Day on Monday to protest at City Hall what they called a "bureaucratic outrage," and a spokesman for Mayor Tom Bradley said that the matter will be investigated.

Amid growing concern about real estate fraud, Los Angeles County officials next year will launch a pilot program to make it harder for crooks to forge deeds. The two-pronged program is designed to deter such forgeries and to notify victims when they occur. The campaign, approved in September by state lawmakers, will be carried out only in Los Angeles County, where property theft is thought to be more prevalent than elsewhere in the state.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum is $500,000 and a deed richer, thanks to contributions announced Wednesday. Officials of the contemporary art museum say the gifts will help bring about a long-sought expansion that would more than double gallery space. Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren, a member of the museum board, presented to museum officials the deed to the former Newport Beach Public Library, next-door to the museum at Newport Center.

"The Master" takes some getting used to. This is a superbly crafted film that's at times intentionally opaque, as if its creator didn't want us to see all the way into its heart of darkness. It's a film bristling with vivid moments and unbeatable acting, but its interest is not in tidy narrative satisfactions but rather the excesses and extremes of human behavior, the interplay of troubled souls desperate to find their footing. PHOTOS: Celebrity photos by the Times Its writer-director, of course, is the all-out visionary Paul Thomas Anderson, an all-in filmmaker whose previous work like "Boogie Nights" and "There Will Be Blood" explored strong and compelling personal conflicts.

Katie Holmes was the one who pulled the trigger on her nearly 6-year-old marriage, setting Tom Cruise up for his third divorce in a little more than two decades. "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children," Amanda Lundberg, Cruise's rep, said Friday. "Please allow them their privacy to work this out. " Holmes reportedly filed papers anonymously in New York on Thursday, according to TMZ, which said the actress is seeking sole legal and "primary residential" custody of Suri, her 6-year-old daughter with the "Rock of Ages" star.

It's all about "mitzvah," said Bea Abrams Cohen as she sought to explain one possible secret to her longevity. The meanings of the Hebrew word include an act of human kindness or a good deed. That's what Cohen, age 102, has spent a lifetime doing. "Pay back. It works," said the chatty centenarian, who served her country during World War II and has worked for more than seven decades supporting the U.S. military and philanthropic organizations. A resident of Westchester, Cohen is believed to be California's oldest female veteran, according to the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dear Liz: Is there any way to expedite the foreclosure process? My wife bought a townhome shortly before we were married. Long story short, it didn't fit our family once we got married and had a baby. We bought a larger house and tried renting the townhome but couldn't cover the mortgage payment. We attempted a short sale, but the bank refused a good offer, so we let it go into default. We even offered to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the bank refused unless we provided financial information for me, too. Since I'm not named on the mortgage and wasn't even around when she got the loan, I refused.

Most of Hollywood spent the weekend preparing for the Oscars, but moviegoers preferred to go to war. "Act of Valor," a military action movie featuring real Navy SEALs, opened to a solid $24.7 million, according to an estimate from distributor Relativity Media, making it by far the most popular choice for audiences. "Good Deeds," the latest movie from writer-director Tyler Perry, opened to a decent $16 million. It's the second-smallest opening ever for the prolific filmmaker and actor, ahead of only 2007's "Daddy's Little Girls.

Panning for gold in the local cesspool is always lucrative, but it's been one fat nugget after another lately. We've got Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa marketing himself for his next job before he finishes this one; City Atty. Carmen Trutanich insisting he's not the liar he appears to be; auto painters at the DWP making $109,192 a year while the agency guns for a rate hike; and Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez under investigation for an alleged scandal involving tax breaks for clients represented by his friend.

When it comes to closing a real estate deal, not even death can stop Kevin Emerson Gillies. Gillies, a man with quick wits, a smooth tongue and a string of aliases, has been known to reach beyond the grave, performing the amazing feat of acquiring property from people long dead. This is either a miracle or forgery--and those who have sued Gillies for fraud are sure it is the latter.

City Councilman James F. Krembas on Friday denied any impropriety in a transaction in which he signed away the public's right to 99 acres of open space to a housing developer who three months later hired his wife. Krembas, acknowledging his role in a 1988 action that is now under investigation by the Orange County district attorney, said he had unknowingly signed away the acreage bordering the Salt Creek Corridor Regional Park.

'Tyler Perry's Good Deeds' Rating: PG-13 for some violence, sexual content, language and thematic material Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes Playing: In general release

Even as Tyler Perry the industry grows more and more stable and certain, reliably putting out cost-effective cultural products across a number of platforms, Tyler Perry the filmmaker remains a work in progress. There is still something both oddly thrilling and endlessly frustrating about his work as writer, director and performer. When Perry sets films within the universe of broad tones steered by his signature character of Madea, veering madly from comedy to melodrama, he seems more sure-footed than when he makes films set ostensibly in the genuine contemporary here and now. In "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" he plays, indeed, a character named Wesley Deeds III who learns how to be genuinely good.