Lee

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

FOOTBALL URBAN LEGEND : A professional football team once leased a quarterback to another team. Strange trades have long been a part of professional sports history. Heck, just recently in Sports Legends Revealed I've featured a quarterback that the New York Giants acquired an entire franchise just to add to their team and a trade by the San Diego Padres where they dealt a player for a pair of treadmills . However, I don't believe I have ever encountered a trade like the one the Houston Oilers and the Denver Broncos made in 1964 where the Broncos traded a player to lease a quarterback from the Oilers!

'The Private Lives of Pippa Lee' MPAA rating: R for sexual content, brief nudity, some drug material and language Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes Playing: In selected theaters

Reporting from Seoul — Young-mi Lee is a South Korean filmmaker who likes to expose secrets. Her movies plumb deep into her characters' psyches, revealing confidential lives and repressed desires. Her 10 short films have been populated by the likes of a cab driver who realizes she's a lesbian; a composer with a closeted sexual drive; and two roommates — one Japanese, one Korean — whose sublimated racism is exposed in a battle over a man. "I like to focus on a person who doesn't look very special and dig deep into their life," she said.

Fifth annual Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship Where: Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St., L.A. When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday Price: Free Information: (213) 687-7193; http://www.niseiweek.org

Does Richard Jewell come to mind when reading about the Wen Ho Lee matter? GERALD A. VAN VLEET Santa Barbara

I think Njeri missed Lee's point. Regarding art, we all have opinions. Ideologies, and the way we accept or reject them, are subjective. Give the man credit. Because of "Jungle Fever," more people are having dialogues about black and white. The point is that they're talking. ROSLYN McKINNEY North Hollywood

You'd be hard-pressed to find a musical with less dramatic tension than "Million Dollar Quartet" anywhere this side of a "My Little Pony" touring show. The production that opened Tuesday at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts really just wants to let the good times roll, so you can be glad it devotes only about 10 minutes of its 105-minute running time to drumming up token conflicts between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash and their visionary producer, Sam Phillips.

The story of James Lee, a sixth-grade student at St. James' Episcopal School in Koreatown, isn't an easy one to write. Three years ago, James' mother died of cancer. And before the loss could settle in, his father's clothing sales company lost a major retail contract, and the business went under. Then in January, James complained of a headache and seemed disoriented at school. He ended up at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and the diagnosis was devastating. The bright, shy young boy — who had hoped to get into Harvard-Westlake School this fall — had a malignant, inoperable brain stem tumor.

James Lee Byars' work always has an air of elegant mystery about it. The artist, who died in 1997, was influenced by Zen spiritual practices from Japan, where he spent some time in the early ' 60s. He was also something of a provocateur, alternately dramatic and self-effacing in his irreverent performances and installations. The three works on view at Overduin and Kite are an intriguing sampling of his wide-ranging oeuvre. The show opens with a surreal suite of stone "books" -- blocks of white marble carved into geometric shapes -- encased in vitrines.

Panel: Food Writing: American Potluck When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Ronald Tutor Campus Center on the USC Campus Who: Panelists are Gustavo Arellano, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, Jennifer 8. Lee, moderated by Jonathan Gold. Information: http://events.latime.scom/festivalofbooks/

If you want to do brunch with comic book impresario Stan Lee, it will cost you -- right now about $1,550. That's the current minimum bid for a shot at attending a VIP brunch at the Catalina Film Festival on May 5 with the co-creator of Spider-man, the Hulk and a slew of other famous characters. The winning bidder gets a seat at the table and other cool stuff, including passes to the film festival in Avalon on Catalina Island, two autographed comic books and ferry tickets to get there and back.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict A novel Trenton Lee Stewart Little, Brown: 470 pp., $17.99, ages 8 and up Nicholas Benedict is best known to readers as a kindly father figure in Trenton Lee Stewart's bestselling "Mysterious Benedict Society" series. In the author's new prequel, fans finally get the back story on the narcoleptic genius, long before he placed the newspaper ad that sought four gifted orphans to help him save the world. Set decades earlier in the same rural locale, the books' namesake is just 9 years old in "The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict.

Facing an FBI investigation into brutality in his jails, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca publicly committed Tuesday to shuttering much of his most problematic lockup, Men's Central Jail, barring some unexpected hike in violent crime. In the past, Baca has tied the idea of shutting down the troubled downtown Los Angeles facility to the county agreeing to pay for an expensive new jail. The Times reported last month that Baca was now open to shutting down the old section of Men's Central Jail - the epicenter of violent clashes between deputies and inmates - even without that new jail.

Richard Lee, whose bid to legalize marijuana in California brought him international attention, plans to give up ownership of his Oakland-based marijuana businesses after a federal raid this week seized many of their assets, including plants, bank accounts, records and computers. "I've been doing this for a long time. Over 20 years.... I kind of feel like I've done my time," Lee said Thursday. "It's time for others to take over. " Lee said he would remain an outspoken marijuana advocate.