Olivia

Nickelodeon welcomes one of the world's most beloved literary characters to its preschool lineup with the launch of "Olivia" on Jan. 26, followed by a week of new episodes. Presented in conjunction with media content company Chorion and animated by Brown Bag Films, the new half-hour series invites children into the life of an adventurous, can-do 6-year-old pig named Olivia. Based on author-illustrator Ian Falconer's award-winning titles, "Olivia" will be transformed into computer-generated animation and will air regularly at 11:30 a.m. weekdays.

There's one question director Ry Russo-Young expects to be asked about her new sunshine psychodrama "Nobody Walks": How much of herself, a New Yorker who came to California to make a movie, is in Olivia Thirlby's character of Martine, a New Yorker who comes to make a movie in California? The film opens with Martine's arrival in Los Angeles, where she lands at the tastefully bohemian Silver Lake home of the couple (Rosemarie DeWitt, John Krasinski) she is going to be staying with while she works with the husband on a film project.

As if 16-year-old Robert Woods of Gardena Serra isn't impressive enough with his 33-inch vertical leap and 4.4 seconds 40-yard speed, his high school football coach, Scott Altenberg, raves about his maturity and mental toughness. "He's got great intangibles," Altenberg said. On stats alone, Woods ranks as one of the top young players in the Southland. He's a 6-foot-1, 175-pound receiver who caught 43 passes for 801 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore. He also was an outstanding punt returner and made eight interceptions playing defensive back.

From the age of 3, Olivia grew up inside a gated community, sleeping next to her Mexican immigrant mother in the maid's quarters of an affluent Westside home. In the beginning, Olivia's mother lived in fear that her little girl might break something belonging to her boss, a Hollywood agent. Later the agent and his family all but adopted Olivia as their own. She became a curiosity in that gated community, the only "Mexican" girl at many a neighborhood birthday party, and in games kids played on the street.

Two years ago last week, Olivia Cull, 17, was taken off life support. The standout student ? who planned to study classics at Smith College ? had slipped into a coma during a routine, outpatient procedure at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA in Westwood. The story of her death was presented to Congress a few days ago, among cases cited by patient advocates pushing to lift the caps on damages for medical malpractice lawsuits. As lawmakers search for ways to trim healthcare costs, debate continues over the country's medical malpractice laws.

From the age of 3, Olivia grew up inside a gated community, sleeping next to her Mexican immigrant mother in the maid's quarters of an affluent Westside home. In the beginning, Olivia's mother lived in fear that her little girl might break something belonging to her boss, a Hollywood agent. Later the agent and his family all but adopted Olivia as their own. She became a curiosity in that gated community, the only "Mexican" girl at many a neighborhood birthday party, and in games kids played on the street.

Today, Alice + Olivia kicks off summer by hosting a surfside family picnic at the Malibu Lumber Yard, and neighbors Tory Burch and Intermix are chipping in on the festivities offering kid face-painting, balloon art and jewelry making. To get the party started, Alice + Olivia is handing out complimentary lunch boxes, decorated by designer Stacey Bendet, and packed with healthful sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit and a beverage.

It was a pleasure to read "Cruising Greek Isles With Daughters of Sappho." It brought back fond memories of our cruise with Olivia to the Caribbean in 1990. Olivia's all-women travel experience is professional, fun and caters to adventurous women on vacation. We concur with the authors' enthusiasm about cruising on a ship with other lesbian women. Our trip was very special and worth the extra money we paid. We could be ourselves, really enjoying our new friends and each other. During this vacation there was no explaining or fretting over possible negative reactions from non-gay individuals.

KEVIN THOMAS, in his June 11 article on Olivia de Havilland ["Her Return Engagement"], begins by anointing her "the last remaining great star of both the '30s and '40s," thus adding one more Armageddon to the long-lasting blood feud between her and her slightly younger sister Joan Fontaine. Fontaine is (to my mind, and I'd wager several million others) one of the two last remaining great stars of both the '30s and '40s. What is more, she had something that Olivia never managed to display.

Every new television series bets against cancellation. But there is something unusually optimistic about launching a show whose premise is predicated upon a mystery that may not be explained until a specific, stated later date. In "FlashForward," which premieres tonight on ABC, every person in the whole wide world passes out for two minutes and 17 seconds, during which time they are transported into the future -- to April 29, 2010, at 10 p.m. PST, to be exact -- right around the time the first season of this show will be wrapping up, if all goes well.

When Martin Scorsese and Olivia Harrison first sat down about five years ago to strategize about a documentary on the life of George Harrison, both quickly zeroed in on a letter the young Beatle wrote to his family at the height of Beatlemania. "It was a letter George had written when he was not more than 22," Harrison said of the man to whom she was married for 23 years before his death from cancer a decade ago. "It was in 1965, and the Beatles would have been really cresting at that point.

Olivia de Havilland rode a horse that later became famous as Roy Rogers' faithful Trigger in what movie? "The Adventures of Robin Hood"

Maybe the guy just wants some company. That's the speculation about a wild bald eagle that's taken up residence right outside the Orange County Zoo's bald eagle exhibit. The bird of prey first appeared last weekend and has spent every morning and evening since then perched in a tree above the zoo's 6-year-old female bald eagle, Olivia. The two have been squawking back and forth all week, said Donald Zeigler, manager of the small zoo in Irvine Regional Park. Bald eagles are spotted from time to time in the rolling foothills, oaks and sycamores surrounding the zoo, but never before has one taken such an interest in a zoo resident.

Two years ago last week, Olivia Cull, 17, was taken off life support. The standout student ? who planned to study classics at Smith College ? had slipped into a coma during a routine, outpatient procedure at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA in Westwood. The story of her death was presented to Congress a few days ago, among cases cited by patient advocates pushing to lift the caps on damages for medical malpractice lawsuits. As lawmakers search for ways to trim healthcare costs, debate continues over the country's medical malpractice laws.

"Tron: Legacy" is as much legacy as Tron. You can feel the deep imprint left by the 1982 cult classic with every flip of a light disc, every zoom of a Lightcycle, every wrinkle-resistant smile on Jeff Bridges' computer-sanitized face. With a homage around every corner, heavy hangs the crown. As it was in the beginning, "Tron: Legacy" takes us into a glow-stick world inside computers where the games are lethal and the mind can get lost, albeit with new players, a new story line, a new director and nearly three decades of improved technology including all the whiz-bang-wow the latest 3-D has to offer.

Florence + the Machine : With Tori Amos and Neko Case between projects, the music world is ripe for a new ginger chanteuse. Thus arrives this big-voiced Londoner, who just came off three sold-out nights at the Wiltern and feels on the verge of a breakthrough. With a uniquely anachronistic look and gently twisted, soulful songs like "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" and "You Got the Love," Florence Welch may be Britain's way of apologizing for Amy Winehouse. 'The Benson Interruption' on Comedy Central : A fixture at the UCB Theatre and Largo, this show led by former "Last Comic Standing" star Doug Benson offers stand-up comedy with a twist.

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" already has a surfeit of clowns and fools -- drunken Sir Toby, stuffy Malvolio, discursive Feste, clueless Aguecheek, even love-struck noblewoman Olivia. Why not add a preening Orsino to the fray? As the besotted count in Actors Co-op's sleek new production, John Allsopp spends the first act a little verklempt, turning an often thankless role into a comic sketch of self-involved emotional excess.

We begin our winter weekend with a movie, "A Beautiful Mind," a good film, though not spectacular. If this is the best thing out of Hollywood this year, then your home movies may be Oscar contenders. "Let me get this straight," I say on the way home. "She slept with her professor?" "Things were different back then," my wife says. "Yeah," I say. "Coeds were tramps." "She married him and stuck by him," my wife says, as if that's some sort of virtue. On the couch at home, we watch a pre-Super Bowl salute, two days before the game, featuring a young entertainer by the name of Ja Rule.

There's no official queen of San Diego's Comic-Con International, but if there were such a coronation, Olivia Munn might be wearing the crown. The 30-year-old actor and television personality — and recent Playboy and Maxim magazine cover girl — has drawn convention floor crowds so outsized that she's become a walking fire hazard. Her pull is poised to grow even stronger during this weekend's convention. In addition to being a co-host of the nerd-nirvana TV series "Attack of the Show!"