Grip

Been inexplicably sneezing or feeling itchy recently? It could be an allergic reaction to that shiny new Canon EOS Rebel T4i camera you just bought. Canon just put out a notice telling owners of the recently released camera that some  of the units have been having chemical reactions that result in the grip changing colors and which could possibly lead to allergic reactions. The Japanese camera company says a number of units produced between late May and mid-June contained a slightly higher amount of rubber accelerator than normal.

Add one more extraordinary survival tale to the canon of Holocaust documentaries: "No Place on Earth. " Director Janet Tobias uses a successful mix of storytelling methods as she details the strands of this remarkable, harrowing chapter. For 511 days, between 1943 and 1944, 38 members of two related Jewish families - the Stermers and the Wexlers - eluded the Nazis by living underground in two caves in western Ukraine, the fairly accessible Verteba followed by the far deeper Priest's Grotto.

Although growing a beard requires nothing beyond a Zen-like letting go of the daily shaving ritual, cultivating a proper handlebar requires a level of patience and skill worthy of a bonsai gardener. Here are a few pointers: 1. Put down the scissors and step away from the mirror. A proper handlebar requires upper lip hair that's long enough to properly "train," and any amount of pruning in the early stages is counterproductive. Expect this period to last six, itchy, socially uncomfortable weeks.

"Upstream Color" is as enigmatic as filmmaking gets - not in a casual way, but determinedly, even willfully. Being completely understood at first glance is not on creator Shane Carruth's agenda, but while this may sound upsetting, it turns out to be quite the opposite. Carruth, whose cult favorite "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004, is unwavering about telling his stories his own particular way, and he's so good at it that he pins us to our seats even when we're not exactly sure what's going on. Maybe because we're not exactly sure what's going on. For to watch the haunting, disturbing "Upstream Color" is to feel like you're inside not one of your own dreams but someone else's, a dream that's both compelling and unnerving in ways you can't put your finger on. Part science fiction scare movie, part offbeat romance, part completely unclassifiable, "Color" is also one-man filmmaking of a remarkable sort.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. -- Garrett Richards' seemingly firm grip on the fifth rotation spot may have slipped a bit Monday, not so much because of the rookie right-hander's somewhat shaky performance in a 6-2 exhibition loss to the Colorado Rockies in Tempe Diablo Stadium. The bigger development, as it pertains to Richards, took place a few miles up the road in Phoenix, where Jerome Williams, Richards' primary competition for the job, finally returned after sitting out more than three weeks because of a left hamstring strain.

I'm an actor who moved from New York City to L.A. at about the same time as Holly Schroeder ("Is This Any Place to Stage a Life?" April 2). It always amazes me when actors move west and talk in fanciful phrases like "creativity is my quest" or "I always thought acting was cheaper than therapy." Get a grip! This is the City of Angels and here are the rules that you fly by: looks, marketability, bankability, who you know, and keep on fishing to the end. This is the big leagues. Don't show up here unless you're ready to play.

Maybe if Oceanside High School hadn't treated the basketball as if it were a wet bar of soap, things would have gone better for the Pirates Thursday night at Madison. Maybe if a couple of their 25 turnovers wouldn't have turned into fourth-quarter slam dunks for Madison's Monte Bohannon and Brad Eaddy, Oceanside would be preparing for Saturday's San Diego Section quarterfinals.

Re Valley Briefing, "On Location," Feb. 15. Thank You! Star Waggons here, Star Waggons there Living in the Valley, I see them and stare. I understand acting, but the crew is a blur They have wonderful jobs, of that I am sure. Those titles express in mysterious prose Work so incredible that no one knows What is it a Gaffer, Grip, and Best Boy do? Who can I ask? Who will give me a clue? So no one explains until this morning, I see And finally feel someone has answered my plea!

Golf's rules-making boards, siding with Tiger Woods and others, on Wednesday proposed a change banning the growing use of "belly putting" in the game. Belly putting, also called "anchoring," is a method in which golfers use a long putter whose grip rests against the stomach or some other part of the body, giving them added stability as they putt. The U.S. Golf Assn. and its European counterpart, the Royal & Ancient, said the proposed rule would "prohibit strokes made with the club or a hand gripping the club held directly against the player's body.

Swing suggestions from some of Southern California's top professionals. Randy Chang PGA director of instruction, Arroyo Trabuco Golf Academy This will help you: The two things I'll tell everyone are: Hold your finish at the end of the swing, and maintain a constant grip pressure throughout the golf swing. That transition from the backswing to the forward swing is the most important move in golf. If your tempo is good, you keep your balance and you can put it all together, bring all your compensations together.

Scientists studying the secrets of gravity-defying geckos have discovered that the lizards' toes can grip certain surfaces even when wet. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help scientists design sticky tape that even works under water. Geckos are a remarkable and diverse group of lizards - there are more than 1,400 species worldwide, and many live in wet, tropical environments. Researchers have studied the ability of the gecko to cling to ceilings and walls without using very sticky substances.

In the musical "Avenue Q," there's a happy-go-lucky song about a dirty little computer secret. It's called "The Internet Is for Porn. " Theatergoers from the respectable middle class giggle helplessly throughout this number, but imagine how quickly the laughter would cease if government agents knocked on their door demanding to review their Internet browsing history. Such a scenario is underway in "The Nether," the daring new drama by Jennifer Haley that opened at the Kirk Douglas Theatre Sunday.

This story has been updated. See note below. "The Silence" is an exemplary German-language thriller, a complex and disturbing examination of guilt, violence and psychological torment that chills us to the core not once but two times over. Impeccably made with complete control of the medium by Swiss-born writer-director Baran bo Odar in a seriously impressive feature debut, "The Silence" is initially disturbing because the crime it focuses on is sexual violence: the rape and murder of young girls.

The new documentary “Family Band: The Cowsills Story,” premiering tonight on Showtime, opens with a compelling scene showing musician Bob Cowsill setting up single-handed for another thankless gig in the corner of a restaurant-bar of an Indian casino. As patrons chat, eat and drink, barely paying attention, he says, “I had four hit records between the ages of 17 and 21… I did!” As is obvious in that scene, the Cowsills long ago fell off the radar of most pop music fans, and are remembered today primarily for their hit recording of the title song from the musical “Hair,” which spent two weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

BEIRUT - Rebel forces have dug in to the north, east and south of Syria's capital, occupying stretches of suburban and rural terrain and threatening to break through to the heart of Damascus. Government troops have largely pulled back to a well-defended core, including the city center and loyal bastions to the west. After nearly two years of fighting in Syria that has mostly spared the capital, an uneasy stalemate reigns in Damascus. In recent days, the city has experienced mortar attacks and car bombings, while the military has responded in its usual fashion: withering bombardment of outlying rebel strongholds.

Woe to Edgar Allan Poe. In life, the writer was ill-served by fortune: orphaned as a toddler, an indebted college dropout, Poe moved often, usually to dodge creditors. His beloved wife (and, um, first cousin) died in the Bronx at age 24; two years later Poe himself was dead. The circumstances of his death remain mysterious -- the 40-year-old left Richmond, Va., en route to Philadelphia and turned up five days later at a pub in Baltimore, where he was delirious, wearing someone else's clothes and was at the end of a deathly bender or something else that drove him into the arms of the grim reaper.

Re "Sheriff Wants to Move Into Old Hall of Justice," March 30: Sheriff Lee Baca wants to move downtown. More precisely, he wants to spend $100 million to renovate the old Hall of Justice because he doesn't want county officers "to see [him] as being detached." Detached? What an ironic choice of words. The world is going virtual and our thoughtful sheriff wants to spend $100 million in county funds to be close to the action. Well, not quite. He expect to recover $80 million from federal taxpayers.

Re "Getting a Grip Is All We Can Do," by Norah Vincent, Commentary, Oct. 25: Surely you must be out of your minds in publishing this fear-inflaming piece. Does Vincent know something we don't but The Times does? "Al Qaeda has nothing to lose. We do. Game over." And, a ". . . nuclear threat more real and imminent. . . ." To put this commentary above the fold, presented without rebuttal, is to implicitly endorse its apocalyptic vision. Vincent and The Times want us all to get a grip by offering such unsupported musings and assessments?

The gun-control debate sharpened Tuesday as President Obama backed an effort to revive the assault weapons ban spearheaded by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is poised to have a powerful new role as the head of the Senate committee overseeing gun laws. Calls for federal gun restrictions were mounting following last week's shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. -- even from lawmakers who had rejected them in the past. The National Rifle Assn. and its allies have successfully kept such efforts at bay for years, but the slayings of 20 children have roiled the politics of gun control and now challenge the gun lobby's hold on Capitol Hill.

SEOUL - When Kim Jong Un inherited the leadership of North Korea a year ago, he was something of a laughingstock, an overweight rich guy in his 20s with a negligible curriculum vitae and little world experience aside from a stint in a Swiss middle school. But Kim is defying the naysayers. He has methodically consolidated his grip on power, replacing his late father's loyalists with his own, and endeared himself to the public with an attractive, well-dressed wife and a more modern public image.