Marc

Whenever the Lakers play the Grizzlies, Pau Gasol follows a customary routine with brother Marc, Memphis' starting center. T he brother in the host city treats the other to dinner before or after the game, a custom Lakers Coach Mike Brown jokingly has asked Pau to follow with a certain spice.  "I keep trying to tell Pau to invite Marc over to cook something and put something in his food," Brown said an hour before the Lakers-Grizzlies game...

What do Leon Panetta, Marc Morial and Corinthian Colleges have in common? Good question. Panetta and Morial are among our most distinguished public servants. Panetta earlier this year concluded a stint as secretary of Defense, one of a string of high-level government posts under Presidents Obama and Clinton, preceded by 16 years as a California congressman. Morial served two terms as mayor of New Orleans and is now chief executive of the National Urban League, a leading civil rights organization.

Gasol on ice. . . . Even before the Lakers' 2008 deal with Memphis that shook the NBA, they had a member of the family in their future, although it was Pau's little ? or, at least, younger ? brother, Marc, whom they drafted in 2007. Not that anyone outside the Gasol family thought much about it, with Marc going No. 48, 18 picks into the second round, and eight after the Lakers took Sun Yue. That was the draft in which Greg Oden and Kevin Durant went 1-2, and the summer Kobe Bryant went off on the Lakers.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - He was the younger brother, a throw-in from the Pau Gasol trade, his name often appearing at the end of sentences describing what the Memphis Grizzlies received in exchange for their best player. The Grizzlies got a pair of Lakers in Kwame Brown and Javaris Crittenton . . . and two first-round draft picks . . . and, oh, by the way, Marc Gasol. Now Marc Gasol's bearded face is one of the first things you see at FedEx Forum, the image gracing banners, T-shirts and posters around the Grizzlies' home court.

Marc Jacobs embraced his role as fashion's dream maker, the Wizard of Oz at New York Fashion Week, showing a fall collection Monday with just about everything a woman would ever want to wear, be it a fairy-tale glitter-flecked clear vinyl raincoat or a glorious draped gown in a daisy-patterned taffeta, a superbly cut double-breasted pantsuit or a knife-pleated maxi skirt, all in soothing pales. There were references to every decade from the 1920s though the 1970s. "I had this feeling, as I think we all do, that I wanted to see something that wasn't trying so hard to be new," Jacobs said.

After nine games in 15 days, the Lakers wrapped their arms around something different -- a break. Coach Phil Jackson told players to stay home Wednesday in order to rest, recuperate and . . . read? "I want them to take the day off and just enjoy the day," Jackson said. "They can do whatever they want to do, read books to their children, whatever they do."

Everyone who has Game 2 in the when-does-Marc-Wilson-make-his- first-start pool is still alive. The Rusty Hilger experiment lasted one half of Sunday's opener, with the kid looking bewildered and getting hurt, besides, after which it was guess who to the rescue? Wilson worked a competent second half, and the Raiders, who led, 7-0, when Hilger left, won, 20-0, over a sad group of Green Bay Packers who were too inoffensive to count as a test of anything.

Americans spend billions on hair-care products each year, a remarkable investment for a part of the body with no real function. We clean it, nourish it and style it -- and we definitely mourn its loss. Lots of products and procedures promise to restore thinning or disappearing hair. One especially intriguing option is the HairMax LaserComb, a hand-held laser device that supposedly revives hair follicles.

Philip Hsiang and his wife, Mary Ann, used to pay almost $1,000 a year for a pair of cellphones under a family plan contract. But as recession gripped the economy a few years back, the Davis couple opted for low-cost prepaid phone service and never looked back. They shaved $800 off their annual phone bill, even though Hsiang could easily afford the pricier plan on his salary as an electrical engineer. "As a Chinese immigrant to the U.S., it's a virtue to be frugal," Hsiang said.

Marc Christian MacGinnis, who won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 1991 from the estate of his ex-lover, actor Rock Hudson, after convincing a jury Hudson had knowingly exposed him to AIDS, has died. He was 56. Known as Marc Christian, he died of pulmonary problems June 2 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The details were confirmed Friday by his sister, Susan Dahl, who said she did not publicly announce his death earlier because of her brother's wish for privacy.

"William Wegman: He Took Two Pictures. One Came Out," an exhibition of the artist's text-based black-and-white photographs from the 1970s, is on view at Marc Selwyn Fine Art through July 6. So you have a new show of your old work. Yes, and it's new old work. The bulk of it is work that I came across relatively recently. I was going to move to New York temporarily from L.A., Santa Monica. I was there from '70 to '72 and a half. When I moved temporarily, I gave my studio to John Baldessari with the thought that I would come back.

SAN ANTONIO - Surprise, surprise, the Lakers made it to the Western Conference finals. Not really. But they did get repeatedly name-dropped Saturday by the San Antonio Spurs, which made sense considering the frontcourt duo the Spurs face in this round of the playoffs somewhat resembles the Lakers' tandem they quickly dispatched in the first round. Even one of the last names is the same. Instead of Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, the Spurs must contend with the Memphis Grizzlies' Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph starting Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of the conference finals at AT&T Center.

Funny and trying, "Maron," which premieres Friday on IFC, stars the comedian and podcaster Marc Maron as comedian and podcaster Marc Maron. Among self-referential sitcoms, it is somewhere on (or around) the continuum between "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Louie," less fanciful than the first and more conventional than the latter. As a character, he's angrier than Larry David and less sweet than Louis C.K., though they all share an inability not to act from the inconvenient, if honest, impulse.

The Clippers have been pushed to the brink of playoff elimination despite a career effort from Chris Paul. Paul tried to carry the Clippers by himself because his running mate, Blake Griffin, could only play 19 minutes 34 seconds because of a sprained right ankle. But for as much as Paul did in tying his career playoff high with 35 points, he alone couldn't take down the Memphis Grizzlies, who won Game 5, 103-93, Tuesday night at Staples Center. BOX SCORE: Memphis 103, Clippers 93 After Memphis big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 46 points and 19 rebounds, the Clippers, who won the first two games in this series, now trail the Grizzlies, 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Memphis, where the Clippers lost Games 3 and 4 by an average of 16.5 points.

Comedians publishing humorous autobiographies -- quirky retellings of the boozy nights on the road, the broken hearts and broken (sitcom) dreams -- seems a rite of passage these days, along with the requisite podcast, Twitter account and digital comedy special. Marc Maron has perfected all those comedy offshoots -- his popular podcast, “WTF with Marc Maron,” is nearing 400 episodes and he's prolific, if a bit hilariously neurotic, on Twitter. He just taped a 90-minute Netflix special, due out in June, and he's landed a sitcom , “Maron,” which debuts Friday on IFC. Then Maron's memoir, "Attempting Normal," out this week from Spiegel & Grau, found its way to my desk.

So far in their Western Conference first-round playoff series, the Clippers have not found a way to handle Memphis All-Star power forward Zach Randolph and center Marc Gasol. That has shifted a lot of the pressure on the Clippers' All-Star power forward Blake Griffin and center DeAndre Jordan to deal with the Grizzlies' dynamic duo. As much as anyone, Randolph and Gasol are the reasons why the Grizzlies won the last two games to tie the best-of-seven series, 2-2. Game 5 is Tuesday night at Staples Center, and it will provide Griffin and Jordan another opportunity to wrestle with Randolph and Gasol.

Hollywood rehab can produce unhappy endings, even when the patient isn't named Lindsay or Britney. That's what Kelly Logan learned when he sought treatment for a methamphetamine addiction at Promises Malibu, detox destination to the stars. Logan's brother, Garfield, says he paid $42,000 up front to admit the former professional surfer for a month at Promises' canyon-top Mediterranean-style home. Five days later, he says, Promises kicked Logan out for belligerent behavior but kept all the money.

Islamic clothing is getting a bit more hip in Southern California. Home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the nation, the Southland has become fertile ground for a new generation of designers crafting clothes for women who are limited by faith and conviction from flashing too much skin. Although Muslim women have been dressing fashionably for years, many in the U.S. say they still face tricky challenges when getting dressed - and especially dressed up. "We are Muslim and we can still express ourselves, be fashionable, as long as we do it in a halal way" or in keeping with Islamic law, said LaTanya Maassarani, 30, a postal carrier from Long Beach.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The stats don't lie. And in the case of the Clippers, the statistics told so much about why they lost, 94-82, to the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series on Thursday night at the FedEx Forum. The one statistic that now matters most to both teams is that the Clippers lead this best-of-seven series, 2-1. Game 4 is Saturday back here. After the game, the Clippers had written down many of the stat lines on the grease board inside their locker room.

Comedian Marc Maron is busier than ever. In addition to approaching nearly 400 episodes of his popular podcast, “WTF With Marc Maron,” his memoir, “Attempting Normal,” comes out from Spiegel & Grau April 30. And “Maron,” his scripted sitcom, is to debut on IFC on May 3. The stand-up also has a 90-minute Netflix special coming out in June. We recently tagged along with Maron to a stand-up show in downtown L.A. where he aimed to work out a bit he was having trouble with.