Gilbert

Only you, Gilbert Arenas. Irrepressible to the end -- which Arenas triggered prematurely with a pregame skit Tuesday in which he pretended to shoot teammates -- the Washington Wizards star was suspended indefinitely Wednesday by NBA Commissioner David Stern. League sources said Stern is prepared to suspend Arenas for the rest of the season, but will let the legal process play out before making a final decision. Stern intended to let the process play out before doing anything, but that went up in smoke after Tuesday's pre-game introductions in Philadelphia, where Arenas' teammates circled him and he put his thumbs up, index fingers out and pretended to shoot them.

California's unchallenged reputation for attracting and embracing eccentrics of all shapes and sizes was already well established when Oscar Wilde brought his one-man traveling circus to the Bear Flag State in March 1882. Not surprisingly, he killed in California. Wilde, perhaps the first international celebrity who was famous primarily for being famous, would have been right at home in today's world of carefully manufactured stars, of "American Idol," "The Voice" and "Dancing With the Stars.

True to his zany self to the end of a farce he created, blew up and then volunteered to atone for, Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was suspended for the rest of the season by NBA Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday. Arenas' teammate, Javaris Crittenton, who engaged in this so-called joke that involved five handguns in the Wizards dressing room, was also suspended for the season. None of the weapons was licensed in the District of Columbia, and bringing them to the arena was a violation of NBA rules.

Sara Gilbert of "The Talk" is engaged to Linda Perry, her girlfriend of more than a year, the co-host announced Monday on the show. The proposal, which was elaborate, is best captured by the notoriously shy Gilbert herself, who shares the event in the video down below -- definitely worth watching to hear all the intricacies. Be warned: It involves a love song, a breakup song, a picnic, a guitarist, a daydream, a string section and horns, T-shirts, moms, friends and musician John Waite.

Richard V. Gilbert, an economics adviser in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Administration, has died at home at age 83. He had been ill with cancer and suffered a heart attack 10 days before his death last Sunday. Gilbert served as a speechwriter for Roosevelt on economic issues during World War II. Economist Walter Salant of the Brookings Institution in Washington once called Gilbert "the outstanding, unsung hero of American wartime economic policy."

It's silly to expect D'Oyly Carte-level Gilbert and Sullivan in a casual dinner theater setting. Still, there's no reason that the production shouldn't have dramatic and musical integrity. Alas and alack, such is not the case with "The Pirates of Penzance" at the Harlequin Dinner Playhouse in Costa Mesa. The cast is enthusiastic, the singing is generally passable, the minimal production values are serviceable. So what's missing?

He was remembered by patients and colleagues as a caring and talented physician, one who followed his father's footsteps into medicine. And his friends spoke of how devout he was in his Jewish faith as well as of his kindness and his zest for life. "He was just a good soul," one colleague and friend said. Now police are trying to determine why someone would walk into the urologist's Newport Beach offices and shoot him to death. Dr. Ronald Gilbert was killed Monday in an exam room of his practice in the heart of a bustling medical community, allegedly gunned down by a 75-year-old retired barber who recently told a neighbor that he had cancer and didn't expect to live much longer.

Maybe it was supposed to be a joke when NBA player Gilbert Arenas displayed a gun in the team locker room last month to goose a teammate into paying a gambling debt. But the Washington, D.C., authorities apparently don't share his sense of humor. On Friday, Arenas -- who grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from Van Nuys' Grant High and was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Washington Wizards -- pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to a felony count of carrying a pistol without a license.

California's unchallenged reputation for attracting and embracing eccentrics of all shapes and sizes was already well established when Oscar Wilde brought his one-man traveling circus to the Bear Flag State in March 1882. Not surprisingly, he killed in California. Wilde, perhaps the first international celebrity who was famous primarily for being famous, would have been right at home in today's world of carefully manufactured stars, of "American Idol," "The Voice" and "Dancing With the Stars.

When Marjory Gilbert read a Times On Location story about the movie "Bukowski," produced and directed by James Franco, it brought back vivid memories of her long-ago encounter with the late poet. Gilbert was working as a clerk in the history department at Cal State Los Angeles in the late 1970s when she joined a grad student friend to hear Charles Bukowski give a reading of his poetry at a campus bookstore. "It was quite an evening," said Gilbert, who is 90 and lives in Claremont.

Los Angeles Times Gilbert Vargas had a big personality. There wasn't anyone he couldn't or wouldn't talk to, particularly about his passions: his daughters and his Pomeranian pup, Cuco. "It was my dog, but it became his," said his eldest daughter, Grecia Vargas. "He's one of those persons who made an impact on everyone's lives. " Vargas, 50, was operating a backhoe on a city public works project in Pacific Palisades on March 14 when the U-shaped trench he was working on caved in. Vargas was buried chest-high in dirt in the 15-foot deep pit. Another worker sank nearly up to his hips.

In a city that could be considered the melting pot of the world, it's only fitting that our pick for a St. Patrick's Day cocktail is Mexican. Created by mixologist Gilbert Marquez for Santa Monica's nouveau Mexican restaurant Mercado, the drink is called the Irish Poet. The spicy libation is fueled by the smoky flavor of mezcal, the heat of seeded poblano peppers, the zing of fresh lime juice and a lick of chipotle pepper-infused salt. Inspiration for the drink struck Marquez after a riotous tequila-drinking session with a loquacious Irishman in Mexico.

The boisterous applause of hundreds of admirers echoed through Palisades Charter High School's newly refurbished drama classroom on Saturday as Rose Gilbert steadied herself in a walker and made her way to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its entrance. The diminutive English teacher of 63 years smiled at the crush of people around her, many of them former students from 18 to 66 years of age, and said: "Gilbert Hall is now open. " In recent years, Gilbert, who retired three weeks ago at age 94, achieved celebrity status for being the oldest full-time teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and one of the oldest in the nation.

Los Angeles reached a benchmark half a century ago when the City Council's first African American was appointed to represent the area then known as South Central. Gilbert Lindsay, a former cotton field worker and city janitor, was chosen in 1963 to fill a vacant seat in the 9th Council District, which covered part of South Los Angeles. The appointment helped make "The Great 9th," as Lindsay took to calling it, a hub of black political clout. Two generations later, with the seat open and the March 5 election approaching, the area that gave birth to historic South Central Avenue and the city's black middle-class culture has a far different political landscape.

When Marjory Gilbert read a Times On Location story about the movie "Bukowski," produced and directed by James Franco, it brought back vivid memories of her long-ago encounter with the late poet. Gilbert was working as a clerk in the history department at Cal State Los Angeles in the late 1970s when she joined a grad student friend to hear Charles Bukowski give a reading of his poetry at a campus bookstore. "It was quite an evening," said Gilbert, who is 90 and lives in Claremont.

He was remembered by patients and colleagues as a caring and talented physician, one who followed his father's footsteps into medicine. And his friends spoke of how devout he was in his Jewish faith as well as of his kindness and his zest for life. "He was just a good soul," one colleague and friend said. Now police are trying to determine why someone would walk into the urologist's Newport Beach offices and shoot him to death. Dr. Ronald Gilbert was killed Monday in an exam room of his practice in the heart of a bustling medical community, allegedly gunned down by a 75-year-old retired barber who recently told a neighbor that he had cancer and didn't expect to live much longer.

If congressional seniority were zeroed out after each decade of tenure, we would not need term limits. GILBERT S. BAHN Moorpark

I was surprised to find that neither Michael Phillips nor Cliff Rothman, in their respective Jan. 14 articles on "Topsy-Turvy," mentioned "The Great Gilbert and Sullivan" (1953, British Lion/London Films, written and directed by Sidney Gilliat) with Robert Morley as Gilbert, Maurice Evans as Sullivan and Peter Finch as Richard D'Oyly Carte. Spanning Gilbert and Sullivan's entire careers (the British title is "The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan"), the film does indeed "brave the inside of a rehearsal room" and "the clenched niceties of a salary negotiation."

Melissa Gilbert is engaged, and she's keeping it in the TV-star family: The groom-to-be is Timothy Busfield, formerly of "thirtysomething" and "The West Wing. " The two are engaged, "and both are incredibly happy," a representative of Gilbert confirmed to People on Tuesday. "They've known each other for quite some time, as their paths have crossed off-and-on over the past 20 years," a source told Us Weekly , which first reported the news. They got engaged over the holidays, said the source, and celebrated the occasion Monday at Mr. Chow restaurant in Beverly Hills.

The poet Jack Gilbert, who had been battling dementia for many years, died Tuesday in Berkeley. He was 87. Gilbert -- who was featured in Monday's L.A. Times -- had been in frail condition at a nursing home for several years before he developed pneumonia over the last couple of days, and he succumbed early this morning, said Bill Mayer, a poet and longtime friend. Mayer was among a group who kept a vigil at Gilbert's side during his final hours. Fellow Bay Area poets Larry Felson and Steven Rood were among the group, as was Louise Gregg, the sister of the poet Linda Gregg, who was closest to Gilbert and knew him almost from the beginning of his 50-year writing career.