Earl

Safety Earl Thomas does a lot for the Texas football team. He has eight interceptions, which is second in the nation, and 71 tackles, which is second on the team. He even puts points on the scoreboard, having returned two of his interceptions for touchdowns. Yes, Thomas does just about everything except play in the band. And even that could be arranged. Thomas, a sophomore, has little down time between practice with the Longhorns and practice with Bad Bones, a jazz group based in Austin, Texas.

Earl Clark was not selected the league's most-improved player, The award went to Indiana Pacers guard-forward Paul George. Clark received three third-place votes to come in a five-way tie for 21st. Through his first three seasons, Clark started a single game for Orlando Magic (none for the Phoenix Suns team that drafted him). When the Lakers suffered injuries this season and temporarily moved Pau Gasol to the bench, Clark made the most of his opportunity, starting 36 games. Through 59 games, Clark averaged 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 44% from the field.

NBC's "My Name Is Earl" is about one man's quest for good karma. And that's what the show will probably need to survive on Thursdays. Following weeks of speculation, the beleaguered network announced Thursday it will move "Earl," its most successful new program, from 9 p.m. Tuesdays to 9 p.m. Thursdays, where the ad dollars and the competitive pressures are even higher. The changes take place the week of Jan. 2.

Robert W. Edgar Six-term Pennsylvania congressman Robert W. Edgar, 69, who represented Pennsylvania for six terms in the House of Representatives, served as president of the Claremont School of Theology and went on to lead the public interest group Common Cause, died Tuesday after collapsing while exercising on a treadmill at his home in Burke, Va., according to his wife, Merle. Edgar, a liberal Democrat, was elected in 1974 in a large class of newcomers that went to Washington after the Watergate scandal.

NBC'S comedy "My Name Is Earl" takes a deceptively simple premise and plays it for deceptively simple humor. Earl is a boldly mustachioed guy who took a few hundred wrong turns in his life, and has made a list to right those wrongs. He's accompanied on his quest by a cast of working-class antiheroes, including a man-child brother (Ethan Suplee) and a venomous beauty of an ex-wife (Jaime Pressly). Earl is played by Jason Lee, who is also one of the show's executive producers. Taking a break from filming on "Alvin and the Chipmunks," Lee -- in a rare clean-shaven moment -- discussed Earl's fans, his own plans and trying to make television a cinematic experience.

Film director Roland Emmerich, whose last effort was the apocalyptic "2012," has begun shooting "Anonymous." It won't be another disaster movie -- except perhaps for English professors. According to Emmerich, the film is "about how it came to be that William Shakespeare was not the author of his plays," which, he says, turn out to have been written by the "Earl of Oxford." Emmerich calls "Anonymous" a political thriller. "It's about who will succeed Elizabeth and the cause of that thriller, the Essex Rebellion."

During the men's European runway shows this summer, I overheard a fashion editor describing a military history book he'd read. "The commanding officers in the British army at the time of the Crimean War were dandy aristocrats who were more concerned with one-upping each other with over-the-top uniforms and military regalia than they were with military strategy," he said. With the cardinal-red military jacket, blue sash and chest full of medals worn by Prince William during his April nuptials to Kate Middleton fresh in my mind, I was intrigued and inquired further.

As the screenwriter of "Anonymous," the Roland Emmerich film about the Shakespeare authorship question now in production, I read with great interest James Shapiro's April 11 Times Op-Ed article, "Alas, poor Shakespeare." I was particularly fascinated by Shapiro's claim that U.S. Supreme Court Justices William J. Brennan Jr., Harry Blackmun and John Paul Stevens ruled "unanimously for Shakespeare and against the Earl of Oxford" in a 1987 moot court case. Shapiro has, at best, oversimplified the facts.

ACCEL Technologies has named Tom Hanson international sales manager and Earl L. Therrien North American sales manager.

The Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and nephew of the Queen Mother, collapsed and died while walking in the moors near his home in Scotland, his estate manager said today. He was 59. The earl, Fergus Michael Claude Bowes-Lyon, was walking Tuesday near his Glamis Castle home when he collapsed of a heart attack. The earl acquired his title in 1972 when his cousin, Timothy Bowes-Lyon, died without children.

It took a quick refrain from Tegan and Sara's late night set Friday to fully capture what a lot of the audience was likely feeling under the dark Indio sky. “If I spend the night then I lose my mind,” the Canadian twin sisters sang sweetly on “Living Room.” Granted the song, and majority of their set, were anchored in the fluttering matters of the heart - both the yearning and desire of coupling and the earth-shattering devastation of...

When Pau Gasol initially went down with a foot injury, Earl Clark gave the Lakers a burst with his athleticism and energy. As teams became increasingly cognizant of Clark's ability to affect the game, defenses began to plan against him. Playing major minutes night after night -- after three years of limited opportunity -- hit Clark like a wall. With Gasol's return, the young forward was moved back to the bench. Over the last six games, Clark has scored just 16 points. On Tuesday night in a must-win game against the Dallas Mavericks, he exploded for 17 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high five blocks.

A slightly less heralded Laker nudged his way into the spotlight Tuesday night alongside Shaquille O'Neal , Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson . His name is Earl Clark , and his fame in NBA circles is burgeoning. "You saw the game," veteran Dallas guard Vince Carter said after Clark helped the Lakers emerge with a 101-81 victory over the Mavericks at Staples Center. "He did everything. He was as big as their stars. " Clark had 17 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high five blocks, the forward reappearing in a big way after a string of mostly forgettable performances since his midseason breakthrough.

Few Lakers fans knew Earl Clark's name at the start of the season. When injuries hit the team's big men, Clark found himself in the starting lineup. Now Pau Gasol's return from a 20-game absence means a return to the bench for Clark, who has averaged 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds as a starter. "I'm going to be fine, man," the easy-going Clark said Friday. "I think I did my job well. Pau, he's a Hall of Famer. He makes a lot of money. The guy's a two-time champion and I don't know how many All-Star games [four]

He took the stage an hour later than scheduled during his South by Southwest debut, but those who had been waiting to see Los Angeles rapper Earl Sweatshirt up there long ago proved their patience. Though only 18 years old, Sweatshirt, part of the Odd Future collective, has been the focus of much attention over the last few years, a lot of it while he was away at boarding school in Samoa. During his yearlong absence, the kid born Thebe Kgositsile became rap's prodigal son while the Odd Future collective stormed the rap world with its chaotic, punk-influenced approach.

His name is Earl. His game is struggling. The darling of the Lakers a month ago, Earl Clark has faded recently, failing to hit double-digit scoring in six of the last seven games while trying to adapt to the biggest opportunity of his NBA life. If a player can hit the rookie wall in his fourth NBA season, it's happening now. He started his 23rd consecutive game Friday against the Toronto Raptors and finished with two points and two rebounds in the Lakers' 118-116 victory.

At 14, Earl, a middle child in an enormous brood, knows Texas holds nothing for him. He's fallen in love with "the flickers," as they called 'em in the 1920s, and he's going to make his fortune in Hollywood. To get there, he plans to hop a train. It's at this moment that "Ancient Highway" opens, with the train bearing down on Earl's tiny town: "He'd heard it already, the cold and steady promise way off, building and building but still way off, not yet even to the trestle over Rogers Creek.

A bawdy 17th century play billed as the rarest known piece of English pornography sold for $88,300 at auction Thursday. "Sodom, or the Gentleman Instructed," attributed to writer and libertine the Earl of Rochester, was bought by an anonymous bidder. It is the only known printed copy of the play, which is believed to have been written as a private entertainment in the 1670s.

Lakers forward Earl Clark will have an MRI on his sore right foot Tuesday. The team will issue an update on his condition later in the day. The Lakers (24-28) return to Staples Center on Tuesday to host the Phoenix Suns (17-35) after completing a seven-game road trip. Clark has emerged as a starter this season for the Lakers, averaging 11.6 points a game and 8.8 rebounds in 16 starts while shooting 47.9% from the field and 41.2% from three-point range. Coach Mike D'Antoni chose to start the young, more athletic Clark over the more-polished Pau Gasol - citing a better fit with starting center Dwight Howard.

MIAMI - The same guy who recently went around the locker room toting a stat sheet no longer wants to talk about it. It's time to say it for him: Dwight Howard needs to be a bigger part of the Lakers' offense. Learn how to use the pick and roll with the point guard most adept at running it in NBA history. Demand the ball long before your teammates commit a flurry of fourth-quarter turnovers forcing passes into the post. Step up and shoot, shoot, shoot with Pau Gasol possibly sidelined for the rest of the regular season.