Ode

A lot can change when you're in the reincarnation business, and with Tim Burton's upcoming "Frankenweenie," which opens Oct. 5, that means resurrecting a beloved live-action 1984 short film about a boy named Victor and his live-then-dead-then-live-again dog Sparky as a feature-length, stop-motion animated film. What's staying the same is the movie's evocative black-and-white look, a stylistic choice that the film's makers say became one of the more unintentionally hard-won artistic rewards on this 21/2-year-long production.

CANNES, France - Walter Salles carefully raises the fingers of his right hand and gently strokes the back of his left. "These are characters," he says, explaining the gesture, "who experience things not vicariously but on the flesh. Men and women in a quest for something they couldn't define yet, who are trying to amplify their knowledge of the world. " More than half a century after "On the Road" was published, 30-plus years since Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights in 1978, and nearly a decade after Salles began working on the film, Jack Kerouac's peerless anthem to the romance of youthful freedom and experience has finally made it to the screen with its virtues and spirit intact.

Congratulations to Bill Dyer for writing "Ode to Frank Sinatra" (Letters, Nov. 17), one of the most creative and strangely moving letters ever to appear in Calendar. GORDON HEARNE Encino

Life's a drag, but if we're talking about Los Angeles after dark, that's a good thing. The city's drag show scene, once a closeted affair hidden in dive bars, now sells out theaters and pulls in straight crowds. During the last 20 years, female-impersonator shows in L.A. have become more than dressing like Cher and lip-syncing "Believe. " "Performers are real singers and real writers," says Jon Imparato, director of cultural arts at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. "It's become an art form.

As summer nips at our heels, it's tempting to take to the streets and celebrate. It's that kind of flash mob bonhomie that's at the center of Barbara Ehrenreich's new book, "Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy." The New York Times writer will discuss her research and how it resonates with Nick Cave's Soundsuits. Fowler Museum, Sunset Boulevard at Westwood Plaza, UCLA. 7 p.m. Thu. (310 ) 825-4361.

Actor Topher Grace wanted to make a movie that treated the 1980s the way George Lucas viewed the 1960s in "American Graffiti" or Richard Linklater remembered the 1970s in "Dazed and Confused" ? more fond memory than mean-spirited satire. But Grace and his collaborators also believed their "Take Me Home Tonight" couldn't avoid the era's drug use. "You can't do a movie about prohibition," Grace says, "and not show alcohol. " That decision was one of many factors ? including moving to a new studio ?

A rabble-rousing folk singer isn't the first person who comes to mind when drafting new lyrics for one of the most recognized pieces of classical music in the world. But British singer Billy Bragg, known for his politically charged pop songs, penned new lyrics for "Ode to Joy," the chorale finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Instantly recognizable from hundreds of commercials, movies and public performances (not to mention the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1989 protests in Beijing's Tianamen Square)

About the only thing missing from Patrick J. Buchanan's ode to the virtues of air pollution ("Behind the Clean Air Act, Stench of Big Government," Op-Ed Page, April 1) was the phrase "April Fool." He was kidding, wasn't he? DAVID M. SHERR Santa Monica

Now I've heard it all: Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" being treated as a sporting event. I'm referring to CBS' coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games on Feb. 6. First, we're treated to the commentators' constant chattering during the piece. Then, the camera pans away entirely to an interview with Michelle Kwan. CBS thus showed no respect for the greatness of the music or the specialness of the moment. At this point, I was so angry that I turned off the TV. This, after having waited through the entire ceremonies in anticipation of hearing "Ode to Joy" sung on five continents at the same time.

Re "Feds Plan Vast Area for Toad," June 6: Ode to a Toad: The Arroyo may be just a small toad, But he's preventing 16 miles of road. Without a single "If you please" Brought builders to their knees, We're now an endangered toad abode. This still may not be the end of the story. Arroyo Toad may soon find further glory. If they examine El Toro and find A few more Arroyo Toad kind, Airport noise will no longer be a worry. KEN PINKHAM San Juan Capistrano

A lot can change when you're in the reincarnation business, and with Tim Burton's upcoming "Frankenweenie," which opens Oct. 5, that means resurrecting a beloved live-action 1984 short film about a boy named Victor and his live-then-dead-then-live-again dog Sparky as a feature-length, stop-motion animated film. What's staying the same is the movie's evocative black-and-white look, a stylistic choice that the film's makers say became one of the more unintentionally hard-won artistic rewards on this 21/2-year-long production.

There's no fog machine, no platform shoes and little polyester in sight. There's not even a disco ball. And yet, every Wednesday night, the Double H Club at the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, near LAX, morphs into a den of that iconic dance from the 1970s, the hustle. Immortalized in the 1975 Van McCoy song "The Hustle," the dance may conjure images of "Saturday Night Fever"-style line dancing set to disco tunes. But at the Double H Club, which has been hosting a dedicated hustle night on Wednesdays for more than 10 years, the hustle is more "Gaga" than "Bee Gee. " Since the '70s, the hustle has evolved into a refined partner dance that's a close cousin to social dances like West Coast swing and salsa, and the music has changed with the times.

Actor Topher Grace wanted to make a movie that treated the 1980s the way George Lucas viewed the 1960s in "American Graffiti" or Richard Linklater remembered the 1970s in "Dazed and Confused" ? more fond memory than mean-spirited satire. But Grace and his collaborators also believed their "Take Me Home Tonight" couldn't avoid the era's drug use. "You can't do a movie about prohibition," Grace says, "and not show alcohol. " That decision was one of many factors ? including moving to a new studio ?

"Somewhere" is a kind of road movie of the soul, a delicate, meditative look at a particular state of mind in a particular time and place. The latest from writer-director Sofia Coppola, it's a film in which doing less on screen is more and doing more is less, and if that sounds kind of Delphic, that suits the situation precisely. Slight but often seductive and so deliberately not in a hurry it periodically threatens to dissolve right in front of our eyes, "Somewhere" is more successful in creating ambience and visual imagery than it is in telling its story of a movie star bonding with his 11-year-old daughter.

In "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," the inventive, free-floating ode to nerdville, the comic-book geek stays in the picture. Whether it's Scott's everyday loser life or his ninja-fighting, super-powered imaginary one, it's all played with a sort of Michael Cera-styled sweet, nebbishy sensibility that works well since the real Michael Cera actually got the role. Go figure. Actually, there was a lot of figuring to be done to convert Bryan Lee O'Malley's distinctive artistic, and loosely autobiographical, musings about a 22-year-old Toronto native whose life is framed by his total lack of ambition until he's in a fight to the death to woo the girl of his dreams.

Baked A Novel Mark Haskell Smith Black Cat Press: 352 pp., $14 paper The first sentence of "Baked," the new thriller by Mark Haskell Smith, features a four-letter profanity. The second sentence goes: "He walked out of his house and into the white-light white heat of a bullet exploding out of a handgun…" — and the reader rests secure in the certainty that, whatever else it may or may not achieve, this narrative won't dither. Although "Baked" features odes to the virtues and variety of marijuana and not just murder and mayhem, its effect is rarely mellow.

My dog, Sparky, and I feel compelled to praise Hilburn's long-overdue article about Yoko Ono. Nothing quite perks us up first thing in the morning like a Calendar monopolized by his unending ode to a fabulously wealthy, yet ever-so-troubled, quasi-musical artiste. Sparky particularly related to Yoko's problems with concert attendance, as lately he has had trouble filling the Forum for the performance of his incredible flip-the-potato-chip-into-his-mouth trick. He was so moved, in fact, that he showered upon the Calendar the highest symbol of his respect and affection.

In addition to doling out roughly $3 billion in stem cell research money, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine also holds a poetry contest. The contest was initiated last year to celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day (also known as Sept. 23). The theme, "What stem cell research means to me," was broad enough to include entries from scientists, patients who could potentially be treated with stem cells, or anyone else who supports the research. There were enough entries to warrant two first-place awards.