Langdon

For decades, colleagues and connoisseurs say, Chris Langdon was arguably the most interesting and important experimental L.A. filmmaker that most people had never heard of. Even many of Langdon's old friends and teachers from the California Institute of the Arts, including artist John Baldessari and avant-garde trickster auteur Robert Nelson, didn't know what had become of her over the last 30 years. As it happens, Langdon is alive and well in Pasadena, where she's still painting and sculpting.

Adding to a banner day for women in U.S. motor racing, Courtney Force won drag racing's funny car event Sunday at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. Hours after Danica Patrick made history by capturing the pole position for NASCAR's Daytona 500, Force powered her Ford funny car past Ron Capps of Carlsbad in the final round of eliminations at Auto Club Raceway. Force, the 24-year-old daughter of legendary funny car driver John Force of Yorba Linda, prevailed with a run of 4.025 seconds at 317.12 mph down the 1,000-foot drag strip.

With "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown's news Tuesday morning that he would be releasing a new Robert Langdon adventure in May, we thought it wise to check in with the movie prospects for Brown's last Langdon tale, "The Lost Symbol," which resided on the New York Times hard-cover fiction bestseller list for 29 weeks and has 30 million copies in print worldwide. Sony's Columbia Pictures, which released the previous two films, "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," owns the option to all of Brown's future projects involving Langdon, including "The Lost Symbol" and the upcoming "Inferno.

He's not as well known as the three comedic giants of the silent era — Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd — but Harry Langdon was nevertheless a superstar in the 1920s. Langdon (1884-1944) played an endearing, optimistic man-child who always wore a small cloth hat and oversized clothes. Among his classic features are "The Strong Man" and "Long Pants. " But his career plummeted after he decided to direct his own films, which were not generally well-received by critics and audiences.

Doubleday has announced that it will be giving away free e-books of Dan Brown's international bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" this week.  The free digital download is offered in celebration of the novel's 10th anniversary (to readers only in the U.S. and Canada). "The Da Vinci Code" was originally published March 18, 2003 and quickly sold more than 81 million copies. The free download isn't exactly a conspiracy, but it is, clearly, part marketing: Besides the best-selling art-historical whodunit, the ebook will include the prologue and first chapter of Brown's forthcoming thriller "Inferno," also featuring renowned symbologist Robert Langdon, which will be published in May. The free e-book deal is a natural digital outgrowth of teasing a sequel by including a first chapter in the back pages of a paperback.

Left wing Darren Langdon of the New York Rangers has been suspended for two games and fined $1,000 for his part in a fight during Thursday's game against the Kings.

The NHL suspended New York Ranger enforcer Darren Langdon for one game for his actions Thursday at the Forum. Langdon received a minor for instigating a fight, a major for fighting and a 10-misconduct for an altercation with Matt Johnson in the second period of New York's 6-2 victory over the Kings. Langdon fought Doug Zmolek in the first period. * Boston Bruin defenseman Ray Bourque will be out indefinitely because of a bruised bone in his right ankle. . . .

Students at Langdon Avenue Elementary School are getting a taste of their own Olympic competition this week--complete with opening ceremonies and medal presentations--as part of an LA's BEST after-school enrichment program. And, while some of the events, like the bean-bag toss and soccer kick, may sound unfamiliar, the spirit of good-natured competition is as strong at Langdon as it was in Atlanta.

Administrators at Langdon Avenue Elementary School held a special assembly Monday morning to celebrate the school's inclusion in the LEARN program. Langdon joins about 40% of the Los Angeles Unified School District's 858 schools in the LEARN program, which seeks to improve the quality of education by turning over key decisions to a panel of parents, staff and teachers. "I think it will make a big difference. We've got to get the parents involved," said Langdon Assistant Principal Phil Genino.

A Granada Hills man is facing 16 criminal misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to correct slum conditions at an apartment complex he owns in North Hills, City Atty. Jim Hahn said. Moti Amar, 37, has been ordered to appear at an Oct. 23 arraignment at which he will be charged with 16 fire and health code violations, Hahn said.

Larry Semon The former newspaper cartoonist headlined countless silent slapstick shorts. He also starred in and directed the 1925 version of "The Wizard of Oz. " Harry Langdon The wide-eyed, childlike comic made three great features including 1926's "The Strong Man," before alienating his audience when he took creative control of his films. Charley Chase Besides directing, Chase headlined two-reel comedies such as the wonderful "Mighty Like Moose" until he died in 1940.

For decades, colleagues and connoisseurs say, Chris Langdon was arguably the most interesting and important experimental L.A. filmmaker that most people had never heard of. Even many of Langdon's old friends and teachers from the California Institute of the Arts, including artist John Baldessari and avant-garde trickster auteur Robert Nelson, didn't know what had become of her over the last 30 years. As it happens, Langdon is alive and well in Pasadena, where she's still painting and sculpting.

The wait is over. "The Lost Symbol," the follow-up to Dan Brown's 2003 mega-seller, "The Da Vinci Code," is here -- and you don't have to be a Freemason to enjoy it (although it wouldn't hurt). Like "Angels and Demons," published in 2000, and "The Da Vinci Code," "The Lost Symbol" solves puzzles, analyzes paintings and reveals forgotten histories -- all so that Brown's tireless hero, Robert Langdon, can find a legendary Masonic treasure despite special ops squads that are dogging him and a bizarre killer who has kidnapped his dear friend and mentor.

Langdon Gilkey, 85, Protestant theologian, educator and prolific author who wrote widely on the relevance of God in "time of troubles," died Friday of meningitis at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. The Chicago-born son of a liberal Baptist minister, Gilkey described himself as an "ethical humanist." As a Harvard student, he expressed pacifist beliefs and with his classmate, future Cardinal Avery Dulles, formed a Keep America Out of War Committee.

Robert E. Langdon Jr., who with his late partner, Ernest C. Wilson Jr., designed the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, has died. He was 86. Langdon died in Pasadena on Aug. 13 of natural causes. The architectural firm of Langdon & Wilson helped shape commercial construction in Los Angeles and Orange counties throughout the second half of the 20th century.

Jervis Langdon Jr., 99, one of the nation's foremost railroad executives, who was president of the storied Baltimore & Ohio in its last years as an independent company, died Monday in his native Elmira, N.Y., of congestive heart failure. Langdon earned bachelor's and law degrees from Cornell University. He worked in legal departments of various railroads before becoming assistant vice president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

To a defense and electronics company, a 5-year-old computer is a clumsy dinosaur nearing the end of its useful life. To a poor child, it is a treasure. That is the thinking that led Victor Rios, president of ITT Gilfillan, a Van Nuys company that makes radar for commercial and military uses, to start a computer-training program for children from Langdon Avenue Elementary School in North Hills. When the five-week pilot program is finished, 10 children will take their computers home to keep.

Courtney Force made it a banner day for women in U.S. motor racing Sunday by winning the funny car division of the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. Hours after Danica Patrick made history by capturing the pole position for NASCAR's Daytona 500, Force defeated Ron Capps of Carlsbad in the funny car final eliminations at Auto Club Raceway. Force's winning run was 4.025 seconds down the 1,000-foot drag strip at a top speed of 317.12 mph. It was the second win for Force, the 24-year-old daughter of 15-time funny car champion John Force of Yorba Linda.

Langdon "Don" W. Owen, a pioneer of the Southern California water industry who represented Orange County on the Metropolitan Water District board, died Thursday at his home in Newport Coast. He was 72. He had been ill in recent months, but the cause of death was not disclosed.