Mouth

Texas Gov. Rick Perry had his "oops" moment on a Michigan debate stage. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) mixed up actor John Wayne with serial killer John Wayne Gacy. And Herman Cain referred to "Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan. " The 2012 Republican presidential campaign has provided a bounty of infelicitous phrasings, wrongheaded assertions and embarrassing gaffes. There was Perry's memory lapse on the debate stage, which came to be known as his "oops moment. " There was Bachmann in Waterloo, Iowa, trumpeting her pride at hailing from the same hometown as John Wayne, only to learn that her homie was serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Contraception, abortion and women's reproductive rights have been hot topics in recent months, from the halls of Congress and state legislatures to the Republican presidential primary. Now the filmmaking brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin hope to move the conversation to the multiplex with Friday's "October Baby," a movie about a young woman whose mother tried, but failed, to abort her. Opening in limited national release in nearly 400 theaters, "October Baby" tells the story of 19-year-old Hannah (newcomer Rachel Hendrix)

Is it fair to lengthen the prison sentence of a convicted defendant because she makes light of her offense and hints that she might commit it again? Or are unrepentant utterances by a lawbreaker - especially those that have a component of political advocacy - entitled to 1st Amendment protection? A federal appeals court in New York is wrestling with that issue in a case involving Lynne Stewart, an activist and former lawyer who was convicted of serving as an intermediary between her client, a convicted Egyptian terrorist, and his followers in the Middle East.

At the height of Eddie Murphy's popularity, millions of Americans flocked to his hit films like "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Coming to America. " Paramount Pictures executives are crossing their fingers that even a fraction of that interest surfaces for the actor's "A Thousand Words," a comedy that arrives in theaters this weekend nearly four years after it was made and seemingly a lifetime removed from Murphy's 1980s heyday. Going out with minimal publicity support from the star, the DreamWorks production has generated tepid interest in pre-release surveys, and analysts expect an opening weekend box office of less than $10 million.

Say goodbye to the drinker's golden rule, "Beer before liquor, never been sicker. " A new style of mixing the two favored forms of alcohol is emerging with frothy force in L.A.'s increasingly sensual drinkscape: the beer cocktail. Novel mixtures of beer, gin, vodka, whiskey, juices, infusions and herbs, beer cocktails are pouring two of the city's most hedonistic obsessions — craft beer and mixology — into a single glass, one that showcases the properties of fine beer rather than shunting it to the side as just another ingredient.

My wife required blood hormone tests every two weeks for a while. One lab cost $30 but another charged $145 for the same test. Both were listed in our Blue Shield PPO insurance information. When we inquired about the higher bill, the lab that charged $145 said it was simply a more expensive lab. Is there any recourse? Generally, two contracted labs in the same geographic area should charge the same rate for the same procedure, says Johnny Wong, spokesman for Blue Shield of California.

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

The last time Fox Searchlight released an NC-17 rated movie, the world was a different place — but whether it's changed enough could dramatically affect the performance of the company's "Shame," a controversial drama about sexual obsession opening in limited release Friday. The art film subsidiary of 20th Century Fox released Bernardo Bertolucci's sexually explicit "The Dreamers" in 2004, when Fox Searchlight faced several marketing obstacles, including several newspapers that wouldn't advertise an NC-17 rated film.

It's the time of year to give thanks, spend time with relatives, get a head start on holiday shopping — or, if you're in the family film business, panic. While Thanksgiving is always one of Hollywood's most crowded weekends, next week's slate is overstuffed with movies aimed at parents and children: "The Muppets," "Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas. " All three of those new wide, PG-rated releases will be competing against the second weekend of "Happy Feet Two" and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," the latter of which could gross as much as $150 million in its debut starting midnight Thursday.

The story of "The First Grader" is a classic underdog tale: an 84-year-old Kenyan man fights to be educated, even if that means attending an elementary school. Now the film's producers are launching their own against-all-odds effort, trying to bring the movie to the attention of Oscar voters with little help from its distributor. After its premiere at last year's Telluride Film Festival, the independently financed feature was acquired by National Geographic Entertainment, a relatively new player in the theatrical world.