Eric

'Looking for Eric' MPAA rating: Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes Playing: At Laemmle's Sunset 5, West Hollywood, and Monica 4-Plex, Santa Monica

The city of Los Angeles has spent $375,000 so far to fix up Getty House in the months leading up to Mayor Eric Garcetti's arrival, officials said Tuesday. Garcetti spokeswoman Vicki Curry said the General Services Department, which handles upkeep of city-owned properties, used the change in mayors this year to address "a significant backlog" of deferred maintenance on the Windsor Square property. "We had not made a decision until a couple of weeks ago about moving there," Garcetti said during a news conference Thursday.

Game Over? Close, but not quite. Disgraced former icon Eric Gagne, who electrified Dodger Stadium during a three-year stretch in which he saved a record 84 consecutive games, has agreed to a minor league contract with the Dodgers that includes an invitation to major league camp, according to baseball sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet official. Gagne is expected to be part of the group of pitchers and catchers who will report to spring training in Phoenix on Saturday.

The Clippers' bench was so good last season, there were times when you almost didn't want them to bring back in the starters. It was such a rush to watch Eric Bledsoe accelerate and Jamal Crawford discombobulate and Matt Barnes infuriate and Lamar Odom orchestrate. The collection of reserves, known as "A Tribe Called Bench," often extended leads and occasionally played entire fourth quarters. "We would come out of the game maybe up eight," forward Blake Griffin recalled Tuesday, referring to the starters, "and then we would come back into the game being up 18 or 20, something like that.

Despite being almost universally acknowledged as a master of film, the French director Eric Rohmer, who came to prominence as a member of the so-called New Wave of the late '50s and early '60s (although he was about 10 years older than many of its most famous members, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut among them) arguably stands as one of the most misunderstood of great directors. Rohmer, who died Monday in Paris at age 89, came to international prominence with the films he made under the rubric "Six Moral Tales" between 1962 and 1972.

Eric Rohmer, a former film critic who became one of France's most respected filmmakers and was internationally known for movies such as "My Night at Maud's" and "Claire's Knee," died Monday in Paris. He was 89. Rohmer's death was announced by his producer, Margaret Menegoz. Relatives said he was hospitalized a week ago but offered no further explanation, according to Agence France-Presse. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the writer-director a "great auteur who will continue to speak to us and inspire us for years to come."

The Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) should consider renaming itself "Money Thrown Away." ERIC W. ROSE Thousand Oaks

In this time of dizzying change, I take great comfort in the dependable--like erIc (sic) Dickerson. I know I can always depend on erIc to: --Put erIc's needs ahead of his team's. --Be a divisive influence in the clubhouse. --Fumble in a critical situation. --Watch the championship game from the comfort of his own home. JOHN GERMAN Los Angeles

Eric: We love you, but we would love you a lot more if you could only hang onto the football. FRANK B. DRAPER Belmont Shore

Michelle is certain that Eric, her husband of 10 years, is going to leave her. "He says he loves me," the 35-year-old civil engineer says, "but I know he doesn't mean it. And it's all because I'm too fat." Michelle never dreamed that anyone would fall in love with an ugly, overweight girl like her. "My mother convinced me of that. And she would hit me or scream at me whenever I didn't do something right."

The top 25 high school basketball teams in the Southland: 1. MATER DEI. Arizona-bound Stanley Johnson is best player in California.¿ 2. ETIWANDA. Point guard Jordan McLaughlin has already proved he can beat Monarchs.¿ 3. ST. JOHN BOSCO. The trio of Tyler Dorsey, Daniel Hamilton and Vance Jackson will be tough to stop.¿ 4. LOYOLA. If 7-footer Thomas Welsh continues his development, beware of Cubs in March.¿ 5. CORONA CENTENNIAL. Point guard Sedrick Barefield and 6-5 Deontae North lead Huskies.¿ 6. COMPTON.

Renegade country singer Eric Church played to type at the CMAs in Nashville, where he performed his new single, “The Outsiders,” to a hungry crowd eager to hear new music from him. Church broke through with his previous studio album, “Chief,” which won the Country Music Assn. Award for album of the year at the 2012 ceremony. At this year's event, the North Carolina-born singer was teasing the release of his new album, also called “The Outsiders,” due out in February. No longer an underdog, Church nonetheless continued his role as the yin to Blake Shelton's softer, more palatable yang at the CMAs.

Instead of taking his toys -- in this case, the sticks -- and going home, an unhappy hockey coach decided to throw the sticks. Six of them, in fact. Junior coach Eric Veilleux melted down the other day after an official explained a call to him at the bench and skated away. Veilleux is in charge of molding the minds of the impressionable youth at Baie-Comeau Drakkar, a team in the Quebec Major Junior League.  He threw the six sticks, yelled and gestured, and thankfully, nothing else landed on the ice. He was later suspended for two games and fined $1,000.

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are already Adult Swim legends thanks to their series "Tom Goes to the Mayor" and "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. " But the champions of bizarre comedy are looking to enhance that reputation with their return show, "Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories. " The new series, which will have its official debut in 2014, will last a quarter-hour and delve into the worlds of fantasy and the unknown. Yes, even more than the already surreal "Awesome Show. " To give fans a taste of the upcoming series, a special will air on Adult Swim on Halloween night.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday praised the L.A. Board of Education and Supt. John Deasy for coming to an agreement for the superintendent to remain on the job, but insisted they smooth over their strained relationship and work together going forward. “I congratulate the board and the superintendent for being adults yesterday and coming together in the interest of our children,” Garcetti told reporters at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles. On Tuesday, following a nearly five-hour, closed-door meeting, Deasy received a satisfactory evaluation from the board, which extended his contract through June 2016 and ended days of speculation about his future.

UCLA Coach Jim Mora isn't counting out linebacker Eric Kendricks for this week's game against Colorado. Kendricks, the Bruins' leading tackler, suffered a shoulder injury against Oregon Saturday. It was added to the list. Kendricks' ankle is still sore from surgery this past summer. His back still aches from a hit he absorbed against Stanford on Oct. 19. Now comes a shoulder injury. "Eric goes into the training room and it's like the old Operation game," Mora said. "He lies there on the table and they just pick him apart.

Karin Sanchez speaks of the addiction of her son "Eric" (she requests that his given name not be used) with a restrained, powerful somberness deepened by the death of her husband from a heart attack two weeks earlier. The couple had been married 34 years, and if there was one thing they wanted, it was to provide a warm, stable home for their two sons and one daughter--something neither had had themselves. Born into a poor family in Germany, Karin Sanchez was 4 when her parents divorced.

Here's the major take-away from the raunchy new comedy "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy" — it's not a good idea. Even with booze to blur the vision and the thinking, there are still some things best left undone where friends are concerned. Uh, right. In fact, and I'm pretty sure this has been documented by serious scientific research, for most folks, getting naked and having group sex with friends is close to the top of the better-not-go-there list. However, that scientifically salient fact does make this movie about regular folks contemplating some outside-the-box behavior more amusing than you might expect, but probably not by much.

The Washington Nationals will name five-time All-Star third baseman Matt Williams to be their new manager, according to multiple reports. Williams, 47, will replace Davey Johnson, who retired at the end of the regular season. It is Williams' first managerial job at any level. He joined the Arizona Diamondbacks' coaching staff in 2010 as a first base coach but was most recently the third base coach. Williams, 47, starred for the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians in addition to Diamondbacks, for whom he also served five years as a broadcaster.

Last week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled the first specifics of his plan to modernize the city's sprawling bureaucracy, posting on his website some of the metrics by which he intends to hold city departments accountable for delivering services. They include such measurements as Fire Department response times and speed of graffiti removal and pothole repair. The mayor's attempt to improve performance is certainly timely. A recent USC Price/L.A. Times poll found that Angelenos want better services.