Dialogue

Richard Montoya's "Cross-Cultural Creepiness" (Calendar, Oct. 26) did more for ethnic understanding, with a lot fewer words, than "The Day of Dialogue on Race Relations." K. R. JEWETT Playa del Rey

I love "ALF"! What a refreshing and hilarious half-hour of comedy. Perhaps the plots are fluff-duff, but each of the characters and the dialogue are terrific. Esther Moon, Palos Verdes Estates

A senior South Yemeni official said in a published interview that his government will not hold talks with ousted strongman Ali Nasser Hasani or his supporters and warned that it will hit hard if they resort to arms. "We have said there will be no dialogue with (him) or his supporters. . . . We are not ready to accept any dialogue at the expense of our security," Interior Minister Saleh Montasser Saili told the weekly magazine Al Majallah.

I was delighted to read that the "Overlooked and Underrated" film festival at the Egyptian Theatre included "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." ["Unappreciated, Ignored and Slighted No More," Dec. 31] As Chris D., the festival programmer, said, "There is a lot of great dialogue in the movie." Too bad Susan King (yet another L.A. Times staffer who seems to act as an unpaid press agent for the Directors Guild of America) saw fit to mention only the movie's director, Peter Yates, who, of course, had nothing to do with the dialogue.

IN reply to Gail Giberson's response to Brian Lowry's column about "The West Wing" (Letters, Nov. 16), indicating her inability to hear and understand what was going on: May I suggest that she, and other viewers having the same problem, utilize the "closed captioning" feature of their TVs? She will then appreciate and enjoy "The West Wing" as much as I do. Since I discovered its advantages, I am able to "read" the dialogue whether mumbled, spoken too fast or poorly enunciated. I also utilize that feature when renting videotapes with English-, Irish- or Australian-accented dialogue that can be difficult for some Americans to understand.

Paul Thomas Anderson's epic about a ruthless oilman who literally claws his way out of one hellhole straight into a better-decorated, more luxurious hell of his own devising is as baffling as it is awe-inspiringly powerful. "There Will Be Blood" has been called a contemporary silent movie, not because the film contains no dialogue but because what dialogue it does contain sheds little light into the dark soul that animates Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). That's what's remarkable about Anderson's picture -- it triggers instinct without necessarily appealing to reason.

Re "The thin veneer of civilization," Opinion, Sept. 8 Timothy Garton Ash's strident piece is one of several recent apt reflections on what I call the fundamental lack of dialogue in our society today. How can one learn from disasters -- much less prevent future ones, natural or man-made? Our society has lost its capacity to look past the ever-present howls of single-issue litmus tests, and it is not looking at the fundamental shared challenges that face us as humans and Americans regardless of our social status, politics, values or faith.

In the article on Jack Kemp voicing his opposition to Proposition 187 (Oct. 20), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) was quoted as saying Kemp "should have kept his mouth shut." Who does Rohrabacher think he is? Mr. Kemp accurately points out the proposition won't work and that its only value is as a statement to the federal government to do something. While I agree with Kemp, Rohrabacher's comment is just plain stupid. Kemp should be lauded for his "guts" in speaking his mind, not toeing the party line (if indeed it is the party line)