John Deluca

The ninth annual American Choreography Awards honored dance-for-camera (movies, television, music videos) at the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday with a typically delirious compendium of high-voltage live performances, splashy film clips, emotional tributes and revealing acceptance speeches.

A federal panel stepped up U.S.-Canada trade tensions Friday by ruling that Canadian wheat imports have harmed U.S. farmers and taxpayers and asking President Clinton to curb the shipments. The Canadian government expressed disappointment at the ruling and warned that punitive trade sanctions would draw retaliation. But trade experts said any sanctions are probably months away.

Is this a thankless task or what? Would any reviewer want to risk a coal-filled stocking by criticizing a beloved holiday tradition? Fortunately, the Old Globe Theatre's third annual production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (and in these fast-paced days, "third" constitutes tradition) continues to be as good as ever--in production values and just plain family fun.

Here is the full list of winners from the 59th annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards. It includes the awards presented Sunday night on Fox and those that were bestowed Sept. 8. The Emmys are awarded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and cover programming from June 1, 2006, through May 31, 2007.

The warm sun, the cloudless sky and the bright blue sea formed a picturesque setting at Torrey Pines Tuesday, and golf's touring pros reveled in it. After the rain, hail, fog, wind and cold that assaulted their senses last week on the Monterey peninsula, Tuesday's conditions were the perfect counterpoint. Tuesday was a time for rehearsal and fine-tuning prior to the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open, which opens with a Pro-Am today.

Even before his "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" swept the Academy Awards two years ago, director Peter Jackson had announced his next project, a remake of the 1933 classic "King Kong." Although critics were divided on "King Kong" (Universal, $40), which arrives today in an enjoyable two-disc set, there's a lot to admire about the film, especially the touching relationship between the romantic simian (Andy Serkis) and the young actress Ann (Naomi Watts).

In a day when it's enough to throw a couple of stars onto an over-lighted stage, point a few video cameras at them and call the result a "special," "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" has been made with unusual care and expense and an evident respect for its subject, who has been put on a pedestal high enough for you to get a good look at him but not so high that his head disappears into the clouds.

"Romance/Romance." They make you say it twice. Once doesn't do it. Twice doesn't do it, either. There's no substance to this innocuous little musical by Keith Herrmann and Barry Harman (the alliteration is strictly coincidental) that opened Thursday at the Old Globe. Repeating the word Romance even a dozen times won't give it weight.

The California wine industry got an unexpected boon in 1991 when CBS' "60 Minutes" spotlighted the so-called French Paradox: a researcher's findings that moderate consumption of wine could protect against heart disease even in individuals who consumed fatty foods. Although it is illegal for winemakers to tout their product as a health food, the industry has since basked in the glow of similar studies and has garnered a substantial amount of favorable publicity.

For holiday audiences, here's some great news. The Old Globe's new musical is one that can't lose. It comes from a story by the funny Dr. Seuss. It's a tale where the Grinch plays a ruse on the Whos. * OK, we'll try to cease the Seussisms. It's just that Timothy Mason's libretto and lyrics for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" at the Old Globe make writing faux-Seuss look like so much fun that you want to try it at home. Not that the original 1957 text is discarded, but by itself it's too short.