Ink

RealD Inc., the leading supplier of 3-D technology for the cinema industry, has signed another deal to bolster its theatrical business in China. The Beverly Hills-based company on Thursday announced an agreement with SMI Corp., a Chinese entertainment and media company, to provide 3-D systems for 100 screens across SMI's Steller International Cineplex theater chain. Stellar operates more than 40 theaters with 250 screens across China. “This partnership with RealD will combine the world's most cutting-edge 3-D cinema technology with our five-star multiplexes, bringing Chinese audiences a brand new movie-going experience,” said Bruce Ren, president of SMI International Cinemas Ltd.  The announcement is the latest of several deals RealD has announced with Chinese exhibitors in recent months.

Last in a series on minor league call-ups who have helped fuel the Dodgers' early-season surge. The first was etched on his stomach; his surname, Sellers, emblazoned in black ink. "I thought it would mean a lot to my family," Dodgers infielder Justin Sellers says. "Just to represent, I guess. " From there they spread to the back of his neck, where a guardian angel keeps a lookout. That first tattoo was received during his senior year at Huntington Beach Marina High.

You never forget the first time, Sydney Leroux says. In her case it came when she was just 13, after a bet with her mother over how many goals she would score in a national soccer tournament. For Shannon Boxx it happened in college - and it, too, came on a dare after she led Notre Dame to an NCAA soccer championship. Yet for both women their first and subsequent tattoos have become indelible markers of accomplishment on a road each hopes will lead to a gold medal in the London Olympics this summer.

NEW YORK - "A snake swallowing an elephant" is how the Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong described himself. The snake was the Chinese artist in him, and the elephant was Western art. The stylistic fusion that made him one of China'sleading modern artists is on view at the Asia Society Museum here in "Revolutionary Ink: The Paintings of Wu Guanzhong," which also reflects the artist's long life amid the turmoil of China's 20th century. Wu died in 2010 at 90, and these works from his last decades - depicting nature and architecture, some more naturalistic, others mostly abstract - show his easy cohabitation of two cultural hemispheres.

Los Angeles clothier American Apparel Inc. reported a narrower financial loss and improved sales in its first quarter of 2012, but it continued to struggle. For the quarter that ended March 31, the retailer reported a loss of $7.9 million, or 7 cents a share, an improvement from the loss of $20.7 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales totaled $132.7 million, a 14% jump from $116.1 million in the year-earlier period. "We're beginning to see the results of greater efficiency in merchandise planning, systems for delivery to markets and inventory control," said Peter Schey, a lawyer for American Apparel.

Robert Miles Parker, a free-spirited artist who sparked an architectural preservation movement in San Diego and translated the personalities of Los Angeles and New York into distinctive pen-and-ink drawings of their buildings, has died. He was 72. His partner, David Van Leer, said that the cause was unknown, but that Parker, who died April 17 at his home in New York City, had numerous health problems since being diagnosed with AIDS 20 years ago. Parker published three collections of his drawings, which include "Images of American Architecture" (1981)

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink. Before dinner service on a recent Friday, Voltaggio plays around with an insulated bucket of liquid nitrogen, dipping his hand in it and tossing the residue on the floor where it morphs, CGI-like, into little rolling marbles of chemistry before dissolving into wisps...

As the sun sets over the ocean, the six crewmen on the Cape Blanco are starting a long night's work off the far side of Santa Catalina Island, putting on orange slickers and hard hats to fish for the milky white mollusks that have become California's most valuable catch. Below the gentle waves off the side of the boat swims an immense school of market squid. Capt. Nick Jurlin, pacing impatiently with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, is eager to pull in as much of it as possible.

MPG Office Trust Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, narrowed its loss in the fourth quarter even as occupancy in its buildings continued to slip. The Los Angeles real estate investment trust also faced rising costs of office space improvements required to keep and attract tenants. "The downtown L.A. market continues to bounce along the bottom, and MPG faces considerable leasing challenges," said analyst Michael Knott of Green Street Advisors. "Tenants hold the upper hand, as MPG's leasing costs increased to even higher levels, and its occupancy is now below 80%. " MPG, which also owns buildings in Orange and San Diego counties, finished the quarter with a net loss of $31.5 million, or 62 cents a share.

Derrick Yarborough can't forget the one that got away — the one he left alone on a Friday night, to be swept up by someone else by the time Yarborough realized he'd made a mistake. Now, Yarborough gazes forlornly at potential replacements, each stylish and lovely but none matching the one he lost earlier this month, the one he took everywhere and kept close to his heart. After all, they'd been together for years: Yarborough and his Waterman pen. "It's tough. I'd had it a long time," he said as he loitered in front of a display case last week at the Fountain Pen Hospital, a Manhattan institution that is accustomed to misty-eyed visitors like Yarborough.