Goethe

How is it possible that you publish a review of Ward Just's recent novel ("The Translator," reviewed by Dick Roraback, Nov. 3) chockablock with the most baleful anti-German cliches? "The unreadable Goethe"! Your reviewer would be the one to know. Rare, actually, these days to find something as awful as that in your pages. MICHAEL ROLOFF, MALIBU. "The unreadable Goethe" is a quote from Just's book.--Ed.

We're all geniuses now. At least, we all could be geniuses if only we buckled down and spent an awfully long time working at it. That, roughly, is the thesis of "Mastery," the latest door stopper from Los Angeles author Robert Greene, whose books include "The 48 Laws of Power" and "The 50th Law," a management book co-authored with rapper 50 Cent. Readers may spot that his new thesis is the same as that put forward in Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," only Greene has improved it in three ways.

We're all geniuses now. At least, we all could be geniuses if only we buckled down and spent an awfully long time working at it. That, roughly, is the thesis of "Mastery," the latest door stopper from Los Angeles author Robert Greene, whose books include "The 48 Laws of Power" and "The 50th Law," a management book co-authored with rapper 50 Cent. Readers may spot that his new thesis is the same as that put forward in Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," only Greene has improved it in three ways.

Has there ever been a more intimidating panel of celebuchefs in the history of cooking competitions? Even the Bocuse d'Or -- the Olympics of the food world -- arguably does not pack such recognizable star power as this week's "MasterChef" lineup, including: chefs Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, Guy Savoy, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse and restaurateur Joe Bastianich. The final four home cooks did just that, breaking down into teams of two. Christine Ha, as the winner of the last challenge, decided the lineup.

The best thing about "The Faust Projekt," now at the Odyssey Theatre, is its utter refusal to treat Goethe's formidable life's work like a big deal. It is one, of course: Uncut, its two parts taken together plus intermissions, the cosmically searching piece spans nearly 20 hours of stage time. In spirit, however, Goethe's treatment of the Faust legend is a lark. It subverts the tidier Christopher Marlowe "Doctor Faustus," while transcending it.

Early early morning and you're holding your first mug of hot hot coffee. You swing open the refrigerator door and--splat!--the butter falls to the floor. The dog dashes past. Coffee sloshes on your pants. You slam the java down, knocking a jar of jelly onto someone's homework. You curse your fate and reach for the paper towels. That's when you notice the writing on the wall. Actually it's on the towel--a Sparkle two-ply. In a dopey green script: "Nothing is worth more than this day--Goethe."

"Some" might call architecture "frozen music" ("House of Blues," Home & Garden, by Barbara Thornburg, Sept. 3), but they're repeating a quote by Goethe when they do. Amy Alkon Venice

Goethe said, "If everyone swept in front of their own door step, the whole world would be clean." My feeling is, if each person in Los Angeles would help one person or one family less fortunate than themselves, it would be like throwing a pebble in the brook--the ripples would go far! Goethe also said, "Only begin and the mind grows heated. Only begin and the task is completed." GRACE MacCREA Los Angeles

The success of "Rambo" is an American moral dilemma, as Charles Champlin uncomfortably pointed out. But he overlooks a major point--the Stallone film was not made for political reasons, it was made to cash in on American humiliation. I find this truly revolting. Having this brutal, vulgar film speak for those of us who tend to be conservative is as spurious as Hitler speaking on behalf of Beethoven and Goethe. Hollywood should hang its head in shame. It won't, of course.

In his article on Ken Russell ("Where Russell Directs, Controversy Follows," April 19), Roderick Mann says that "just three months ago, he (Russell) directed 'Mephistopheles' in Genoa, Italy. . . ." The opera was undoubtedly "Mefistofele" by Boito. And, I'm quite sure that machismo had nothing to do with the reaction of the audience. They were probably outraged at Russell's staging of this great opera based on Goethe's immortal "Faust." As for Russell's remark that "they (the British critics)

"Young Goethe in Love" has an awesome array of authentic settings that drench the film in period atmosphere and capable stars Alexander Fehling in the title role and Miriam Stein playing Goethe's great love and muse Lotte Buff. Yet it drowns in swoony clichés. The first half-hour, a foray in increasingly tedious jauntiness, finds Goethe, the struggling poet and playwright, under pressure from his dour lawyer father to follow in his footsteps. About the time Goethe begins to buckle down to law he encounters the raven-haired Lotte, who has the singing voice of an angel and a mischievous manner.

MUSIC Foster the People Back in their hometown after a recent performance on "Saturday Night Live," frontman Mark Foster and his indie-pop accomplices — whom you might know from the radio earworm "Pumped Up Kicks" — head to the Wiltern for a night of synth-laced jams. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. $19.50-$25. (213) 388-1400. http://www.wiltern.com. Paul Simon Entering his seventh decade as a performer, the legendary folk-rock pioneer is still going strong.

Mike Costello sells ice. Nothing but ice. Crushed ice, cubed ice, dry ice. Ice in small bags and big bags and solid, 300-pound hunks. He sells blocks of ice for sliding down hills and ice luges for parties. It's a slow time for business right now, summer being the hottest season for the frozen stuff, of course. But even Halloween and the Fourth of July ? days that would traditionally put the business into the black ? aren't what they used to be, Costello says. "The ice business used to be a good business, but not anymore," he said.

When 6-year-old Kristopher Kuerten pricked himself with a syringe found at his school, his Redondo Beach parents had no idea they would end up locked in a complicated dispute over the needle. The school's insurance company seized the needle and won't release it, saying no lab is willing to test it. The family is worried about their son's health and wants the syringe tested. The incident, which happened at Goethe International Charter School, underscores the unusual problems that can be especially challenging for a school with no support from school district bureaucracy.

In time to correspond with the L.A. Opera's presentation of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle, this LACMA exhibition "Myths, Legends and Cultural Renewal: Wagner's Sources" will explore the Germanic myths, folk tales and legends that inspired Wagner, Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and other Germanic artists. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. $12. Noon to 8 p.m. Thursday; Noon to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. (323) 857-6000; http://www.lacma.org.

The Case for Books Past, Present, and Future Robert Darnton PublicAffairs: 210 pp., $23.95 It's all a bad dream. You wake up in a strange world with no books, no paper, only screens. The monitors, like the fabled red shoes, cannot be turned off. Book historian Robert Darnton to the rescue: Blam! Take that, Google, you blood-sucking monopoly! You fiend! Kerpow! Down go librarians who hope to save space by throwing away newspapers and even books, relying on not-so-reliable microfilm.

In your compilation of the film festivals of 1997 (Jan. 12), you have erroneously located the hosting city of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as Prague, Czech Republic. The hosting city is, in fact, Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad in English and German), Czech Republic, which is located two hours west of Prague in western Bohemia. Karlovy Vary is much smaller and quainter than Prague, but none the less famous for being one of the most popular and elegant spa resorts for the likes of Beethoven, Goethe and Marx.

In time to correspond with the L.A. Opera's presentation of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle, this LACMA exhibition "Myths, Legends and Cultural Renewal: Wagner's Sources" will explore the Germanic myths, folk tales and legends that inspired Wagner, Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and other Germanic artists. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. $12. Noon to 8 p.m. Thursday; Noon to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. (323) 857-6000; http://www.lacma.org.

JOHN ARMSTRONG knows he has an uphill battle in making a case for his subject, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The author even begins his book, "Love, Life, Goethe," with the Dublin building-site joke he heard as a youth about how to say the German writer and philosopher's name. "A new construction worker is a bit confused and asks: 'Joist? Girder? What's the difference?' The foreman patiently explains: 'Joist wrote "Ulysses," Girder wrote "Faust."

IN Hollywood, a town where tales of self-immolation are passed along like hot new scripts, everyone has been frantically trying to score a copy of "The Man Who Heard Voices," Michael Bamberger's new book about M. Night Shyamalan and the making of "Lady in the Water." The fascination with the book has only been heightened by the poor opening of "Lady," which arrived practically dead in the water over the weekend, making a paltry $18.2 million, the filmmaker's worst opening ever.