Honor

Skechers has agreed to pay $40 million to consumers who purchased its  rocker-bottom shoes under the mistaken belief that the shoes would help give them Kim Kardashian's booty or Joe Montana's stamina. So how do you get your piece of the payout if you purchased the shoes months, if not years ago, and don't have a receipt? No problem. This refund relies largely on the honor system. Anyone who purchased the company's line of Shape-Up shoes -- or its Resistance Runners, Tone-ups or Toners -- is entitled to a partial refund whether they have proof of purchase or not, officials said Thursday.

Lakers fan Lee Searing waited until he thought he had a really nice horse, and it happened to coincide with an injury to his favorite player, Kobe Bryant, so he named his 2-year-old colt Kobe's Back. And what a debut for the son of Flatter on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park. Running in the $100,000 Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes, Kobe's Back broke slowly out of the starting gate in the 51/2-furlong race and was last in a field of nine. But he came charging in the stretch under jockey Rafael Bejarano and won by 31/4 lengths over Willie B Awesome.

When I think of actress Lupe Ontiveros, who passed away from liver cancer at 69 Thursday night, what stays with me most is her strength. Her women tended to be strong and resilient, no-nonsense types, whether they were running a theater company as she did in "Chuck & Buck," dealing with a rebellious daughter in "Real Women Have Curves," or picking up after some well-heeled white family, as she did in"The Goonies. "There was a "I have seen it all" quality that danced in her eyes, more bemused by the frailties of the human race than bitter about them.

TARTUS, Syria - War may be ravaging much of Syria, but there is no sign of conflict on bustling streets here, where diners wearing designer sunglasses order freshly caught fish at seaside cafes and gaze out on a palm-fringed expanse resembling a slightly tattered version of southern France or the Greek isles. Absent are the rows of pulverized apartment blocks that mark parts of battleground cities like Homs, Damascus and Aleppo. But that doesn't mean this ancient port - once home to Phoenicians, Romans and Crusaders - hasn't suffered its share of losses.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been named the world's most beautiful woman for 2013 in People's annual list of, well, beautiful famous ladies. "When I first heard that I was going to be on the cover of People's most beautiful issue, I honestly thought someone was playing a joke on me and I had to reread the email three times," the 40-year-old said in a behind-the-scenes video about the photo shoot. "I was like, 'This can't be true.'" Also included on the list: Kerry Washington, Amanda Seyfried, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lawrence, Kelly Rowland, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Pink and Zooey Deschanel, to name a few. It's kind of cute, we think, because Deschanel's "New Girl" is Paltrow's current favorite TV show.

(Sunday's episode of "The Pacific" — the eighth of the 10-part HBO miniseries — depicted the death of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone during the first day of fighting on Iwo Jima. William Lansford, a Marine and Angeleno, also fought that day in Iwo Jima and recalls his friendship with the famous Marine gunnery sergeant and his last day.) In late 1944, after two years in the Pacific as a Marine with Carlson's Raiders, I rotated stateside and received a 30-day furlough.

No Higher Honor A Memoir of My Years in Washington Condoleezza Rice Crown: 784 pp.,$35

A few days before filmmakers for the hit Fox TV series "House" were set to shoot a prison scene at a former boys correctional facility, the show's location manager, Nancy Haecker, got a phone call that made her stomach churn. Deputy State Fire Marshal Al Adams informed her that he could not clear the way for the July shoot because the vacant Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier was overgrown and posed too much of a fire hazard. Determined not to disappoint her director, Haecker and her crew sprang into action.

Around Los Angeles, a water fountain, a football stadium, an airport terminal and a theater are named for Mayor Tom Bradley 1--May 7,1983-- Birmingham High School, Van Nuys 2--June 18, 1984-- Los Angeles International Airport 3--Nov. 21, 1985-- Los Angeles Theatre Center, Downtown 4--June 27, 1980-- New Otani Hotel, Downtown 5--June 16, 1977-- Bradley Senior Citizen Center, Watts 6--May 10, 1974-- Auditorium, 20th Street Elementary School, South Central

Andy Griffith may no longer be with us, but his passing is providing an opportunity for cable TV to bring back some of his most beloved work. TV Land plans to air marathons of "The Andy Andy Griffith Show" on Wednesday, July 4, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET/PT and on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET/PT. That's 46 of the 249 episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show. " Meanwhile, Me-TV plans to honor Griffith's less well known TV guest spots with episodes of"Hawaii Five-O,""Mod Squad," "Gomer Pyle" and the "Make Room For Daddy" ep that featured Griffith as a guest star.

NAGASAKI, Japan - On my first trip to Nagasaki, just out of college, I knew what most of the world knows: An atomic bomb fell here on Aug. 9, 1945, bringing World War II to a close. It wasn't until my second visit, more than 20 years later on a guidebook assignment, that I realized how much I had missed. Although the A-bomb is rightfully front and center for overseas visitors, the Japanese concept of the city is very different. As Japan's westernmost major port, it was the nation's first landing spot for Catholic missionaries and martyrs; red-bearded, waistcoated, fancy-hatted traders; and exotic foods borne by trade winds.

For Allan Taylor, whose grandfather served in World War II and whose father saw action in Vietnam, Memorial Day has one overriding meaning. "It's about paying homage to those who have served," said Taylor, who sailed aboard the New Jersey off the coast of Beirut in 1983. "For me, a third-generation military man, it's mandatory. " Taylor, 47, of Oxnard, was among thousands who lined Sherman Way in Canoga Park for a parade with the theme "Saluting the Price of Freedom. " Under sunny skies across the Southland, trumpets blared, drums boomed and batons twirled as patriots from far and wide commemorated the nation's fallen servicemen and servicewomen at parades and cemeteries.

Question: My wife and I were leasing a house. We were about six months into the one-year lease when the owner told us he was placing the house on the market and that we would need to find another place to live. Given today's rental market, my wife and I decided we needed to quickly find a new place to live. We were lucky to find another rental house in the same neighborhood. Given how quickly local rentals were being snapped up, we felt we needed to nail down the new house. We signed a rental agreement with the owner of that house.

Henri Dutilleux French composer of modernist music Henri Dutilleux, 97, a highly regarded French composer of modernist music, died Thursday in Paris, said his publisher, Schott Music. The cause was not given. Considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century, Dutilleux received international acclaim, and his music is performed regularly by major orchestras. He wasn't a prolific writer, but his style, singular voice and iconoclastic tendencies won him admirers around the world, inviting comparisons to Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen.

Groping in the grotto isn't the only thing the Playboy Mansion is good for. Magazine publisher Hugh Hefner passes out awards there, too. On Wednesday, Norman Lear will get his turn. The 1970s sitcom legend - the man behind "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and more - will get a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the annual Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. In addition to his TV producing work, the 90-year-old Lear became a liberal activist, founding People for the American Way in 1981.

Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese ("The Departed," "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Hugo") will present the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award to comedy master Mel Brooks at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on June 6. Scorsese received the prestigious AFI honor in 1997 for his body of work. Brooks, who has won the Tony, Oscar, Grammy and Emmy, began his career as a comedian on the borscht-belt circuit and as a writer in the early 1950s on the legendary Sid Caesar series "Your Show of Shows.

Writer/director Quentin Tarantino is set to receive the Hollywood Film Awards' Hollywood Screenwriter Award at a gala Oct. 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Tarantino earned an Oscar with Roger Avary for his screenplay of the 1994 crime thriller "Pulp Fiction," and his 2009 World War II thriller, "Inglourious Basterds," earned eight Oscar nominations. His latest film, "Django Unchained," an homage to Italy's spaghetti Western genre, opens Christmas Day. "We are honored to present this award to Quentin for his unique and exceptional creative vision at this year's gala," said Carlos de Abreu, founder and executive director of the Hollywood Film Awards.

In honor of Friday's opening ceremony of the Olympics, NASA has re-released a dramatic picture of London at night taken in February 2003 by astronauts on the International Space Station. North is toward the top and slightly left. The M25 beltway is visible south of the city and further south of that is Gatwick airport. Just inside the left-hand stretch of the M25 is Heathrow airport. The Thames is the dark area that fans out to the east of the city. The two dark spots just west of the city's core are Hyde Park and Regents Park.

Carole King seems to have fans in high places: The singer-songwriter's life will be staged with an eye toward Broadway, and next week her oeuvre will be honored at the White House. Officials announced Friday that President Obama will host a star-studded show for King, the first woman to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. King is to receive the award during a concert Wednesday, with performances by Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Jesse McCartney, Emeli Sande, James Taylor, Trisha Yearwood and King herself.

Soon they'll walk across stages at college campuses around Southern California, accepting their degrees and celebrating with classmates. But at a smaller, more low-key event on Friday, they were honored with a closer set of peers: fellow foster children who had defied odds to get a degree. The luncheon, sponsored by the nonprofit John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes, brought together in Little Tokyo about 30 students from Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Northridge, UCLA and L.A. City College to celebrate their graduations.