Fun

My husband and I saw "Good Will Hunting" the other night and were really caught up in it all--until Will decided to take Skylar for some "fun." Greyhound racing isn't my idea of fun. How did it find itself in this sensitive film? Perhaps I'm a little more sensitive than most. You see, we adopted two retired racers. Racing wasn't fun for Alex. He has the scars to show for it from abusive handlers, also an amputated toe. He also wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn't know where he is. My Gracie cries in her sleep.

The entertainment folk who call, write and occasionally even share a meal with me have almost unanimously sung the same sad refrain lately, as if they were a trained chorus instead of a loose collection of mucky-mucks. What they keep saying, in a nutshell, amounts to this appraisal of their business: "It's not fun anymore." This comes as something of a revelation only because there was a day, believe it or not, when the TV industry was not the exclusive playground of multinational conglomerates, when mom-and-pop operations existed, entrepreneurs cashed in fabulously on pluck, luck and initiative and people actually had fun--recognizing that they worked in a candy store, not in a widget factory.

One week. Two games. As winning streaks go, UCLA's current run isn't exactly historic. But for a team badly in need of confidence, a 66-49 victory over Delaware State on Sunday -- the Bruins' second in a row -- will have to suffice. "Our chemistry is a lot better," guard Michael Roll said. "We're having fun out there on the floor." And they are getting a boost before the Pacific 10 Conference schedule opens against Arizona State on Thursday. It helps that freshmen Reeves Nelson and Tyler Honeycutt played especially well, leading the team with 21 and 11 points, respectively.

Reggie Jackson brought excitement to the national pastime. He could turn a game with one swing--and has done it consistently for 19 years. Thank you, Reggie, for all the fun, especially the fun you brought to Angel fans. You are a class act. MICHAEL B. BRISON San Diego

Some typos are such fun! The reference in the review of "Beyond the Helix, DNA and the Quest for Longevity" (Nov. 10 Book Review) to "an anti-aging regiment" conjures up the image of svelte, leotarded troops armed with dye guns for spraying gray hair and surgical Scotch tape for tucking up whatever sags. So much more fun than an anti-aging regimen. ANN GARY San Diego

Laura MILLER must be living a grim and unimaginable life to be so disturbed by the Jack Bauer character played by Kiefer Sutherland in "24." In her effort to attack "24," Miller instantly loses any credibility by acknowledging "24" is "a bona fide hit." Why is she so angry that "24" appeals to a wide audience that is quite satisfied with the show, its characters, plotlines and locations? She complains that there is no fun? She should try watching the Cartoon Network if she needs some "fun" in her life.

RE the review of "10,000 BC" ["Way Out of the Past," March 7]: I was glad to see that even Kenneth Turan is willing to give credit (up to a point) to a film with no other agenda than to amaze and excite and thrill and simply provide a fun time at the neighborhood movie theater. Some movies are elegant works of art. Others are galvanizing depictions of the human drama. Still others skillfully toy with our perceptions -- of reality, of time, of truth. And some are simply fun. I remember when my father would ask my 12-year-old self if I wanted to go to a movie, he never once said, "C'mon, it'll be edifying."

The only thing "painful" about Cher's concert at the Anaheim Pond was reading Robert Hilburn's review ("A Show Solely for Believers," Aug. 23). I make it a point to ignore anything written by Hilburn because he is so out of touch and so negative, but I had to see what he wrote about Cher. It makes me wonder if he was at the same concert, a concert that was full of fun, life, talent and pure entertainment. As far as Cher "compounding matters with mostly inferior material," all he had to do was look around him to see that a tremendous mix of people--young, old, gay, straight, "cool" and "square"--were there enjoying material that in no way seemed inferior to them.

SAN DIEGO -- A day after ending an 0-for-17 skid and collecting his first two hits of the season, Luis Cruz was still smiling. "I felt like the old me," Cruz said Thursday. Cruz acknowledged he was excited when he singled to right field in his first at-bat the previous night. "Almost as excited as I was when I got my first hit in '08," the third baseman said. A.J. Ellis hit a home run in the at-bat that followed, but Cruz said, "I think I was more excited than him. " Cruz credited his father, former Mexican league standout Luis Cruz Sr., for helping him break out of his slump.