Olsen

Merlin Olsen, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman with the Los Angeles Rams who was a charter member of the team's famed Fearsome Foursome, then made a remarkably smooth transition into careers in broadcasting and acting, has died. He was 69. Olsen died early Thursday at City of Hope hospital in Duarte while surrounded by his family, his brother Orrin said. He had been diagnosed last year with mesothelioma, a form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs. Olsen played 15 seasons in the NFL from 1962 to 1976, all with the Rams.

In "Silent House," based on the recent Uruguayan film "La Casa Muda," a young woman, her father and uncle are closing up a country house filled with old memories and occasionally the odd squatter. Boarded up and with faulty electricity, the house has an eerie, funereal pall inside even as the sun shines outdoors. In almost no time, things take a very dark turn. Filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau previously made the pared thriller "Open Water," about scuba divers stranded in the ocean with sharks circling close by, and with "Silent House" they have again created a film around a singular conceptual conceit: The movie is constructed to seem like one continuous shot.

If Tom Lasorda loves the Dodgers as much as he claims, he should have the decency to quit, for the good of the team--and us paying fans! CARL V. OLSEN Los Angeles

Shortly after Russian hysteric Sabina Spielrein is carried kicking and screaming into a Swiss sanitarium, her new doctor, Carl Jung, primly inquires, "What are your interests?" Sabina, portrayed in "A Dangerous Method" by Keira Knightley, snarls in reply: "Suicide and interplanetary travel. " Some icebreaker! Spastic and stammering, Sabina recovers after taking the "talking cure" administered by Jung (Michael Fassbender) under the guidance of his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen)

As a devout cinephile, I enjoyed and appreciated Mark Olsen's "Consider the Alternatives" (Aug. 28) regarding eclectic film programming in the L.A. area. I was hoping he might offer some insight on the key reasons for cinema eclecticism in Los Angeles. What does he believe are the most critical factors: the sheer size of the potential audience? The multiculturalism of the area? The influence of the entertainment industry? Olsen states, "... the growth in attendance points to a growing, or at the very least underserved, audience for specialized films" and "... if you build it, they will come."

The problem with having what is arguably the best, and certainly the largest, cast on television is that if you want to give them all something interesting to do for a season that lasts only nine episodes, things can get a little crazy. That's what the creators, and fans, of "Big Love" discovered over the last few months as a soap operatic tangle of story lines -- Bill's running for state office! Ana's back and she's pregnant! Nicki's mother married Nicki's ex-husband! The Greens kidnapped Frank, Lois and Ben!

The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years "Los ANGELES isn't a real city," people have said, "it just plays one on camera." It was a clever line once upon a time, but all that has changed. Los Angeles is the most complicated community in America -- make no mistake, it is a community -- and over the last 25 years, it has been both celebrated and savaged on the big screen with amazing efficacy. Damaged souls and flawless weather, canyon love and beach city menace, homeboys and credit card girls, freeways and fedoras, power lines and palm trees . . . again and again, moviegoers all over the world have sat in the dark and stared up at our Los Angeles, even if it was one populated by corrupt cops or a jabbering cartoon rabbit.

GET ready for your close-up. A new category of cosmetics hitting stores now is designed to achieve a flawless-looking face under the microscope of pore-magnifying, fine line-focusing, high-definition television.

Even as they dealt with student protests over economic inequities and rising tuition costs, the University of California regents this week approved salary raises of between 6.4% and 23% for 12 highly ranked administrators and attorneys, most of whom now earn more than $200,000 a year. The action has renewed debate about the university's efforts to retain what it describes as important talent while it seeks more state funding and considers further fee increases. Coming as Occupy protests disrupted the regents meeting, the raises struck some critics of UC as inappropriate and likely to anger taxpayers and legislators.

Editor's note: This edition of Blowback offers four responses to the package of three Op-Eds about bilingual education that The Times ran on July 11. The opinion pieces — "The Spanish road to English" by Bruce Fuller, "A skill, not a weakness" by Laurie Olsen and Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, and "Quality Counts" by Alice Callaghan — generated a lot of feedback from readers, and much of the "Letters to the editor" section on...

Though many are befuddled this year by the new Oscar math, perhaps unable to parse just how many votes it will take to land a best picture nomination or anticipate even how many nominees there will be, one recent regular equation looks to hold firm: One indie film plus one fresh ingénue equals nominations. Last year there was Jennifer Lawrence with "Winter's Bone. " The year before that, there was Carey Mulligan in "An Education. " Then think of Ellen Page in "Juno" or Amy Adams in "Junebug.

Celebrity clothing brands have become a ubiquitous force in fashion, but this wasn't always the case. A decade ago, attaching a famous name to a mass-market brand was still fairly rare and was seen by some as a last alternative when movie scripts and TV offers slowed down. But now it's not only acceptable, it's almost expected. Some celebrities are serious about fashion, such as designer-actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, whose multiple lines include the Row and Elizabeth and James, and singer-actor Justin Timberlake, who has William Rast.

"Martha Marcy May Marlene," with a frightfully fearless Elizabeth Olsen playing all of those Ms, is a difficult title that perfectly suits this wonderfully difficult film. It'd be easy enough to say this is a drama about the destructive power of cults on youth, which it is, but really what writer-director Sean Durkin has given us is an existential thriller about identity and just how tenuous a grasp we have on who we really are. Already a hit on the festival circuit, "Martha Marcy May Marlene" is also a coming-out party of sorts — an impressive first feature for Durkin and a potent debut for its star, still best known as the Olsen twins' younger sister.

Reporting from New York — Elizabeth Olsen recently experienced something that had never happened to her: She was recognized by a stranger. "It was really weird. I was walking in Tribeca and a guy just came up to me and said, 'I just saw the trailer for your movie, and I'm really looking forward to it,' and then he kept on walking," the young actress recalled. Then she added uncertainly, "I hope he wasn't confusing me with someone else. " That she would find this exchange exciting might seem, well, really weird in its own right.

Matthew Olsen, general counsel for the National Security Agency, has been nominated to become director of the National Counterterrorism Center, the White House announced Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Olsen, 49, will take over the agency created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The agency provides intelligence assessments for the nation’s top officials.  “I am pleased to nominate Matthew Olsen to be the next director of the National Counterterrorism Center,” President Obama said in a prepared statement.

Susan Olsen, the widow of the late actor Merlin Olsen, has bought a Pasadena condo at the Granite Park Place development. The exact purchase price of her three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit was not available, but prices in the five-story building range from $800,000 to $2 million. Amenities include a full-time concierge, round-the-clock staffing, a fitness facility and a swimming pool. Olsen, who also owns a home in Utah, plans to divide her time between that house, her Pasadena condominium and traveling.

Short sales have been the hot solution for financially stressed homeowners and their lenders for the last year, but here's another potent foreclosure alternative that's about to take center stage: deeds-in-lieu. Some of the largest mortgage servicers and lenders in the country are gearing up campaigns to reach out to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth with cash incentives that sometimes range into five figures, plus a simple message: Let's bypass all the time-consuming hassles of short sales and foreclosures.

Long before professional sports moved into the area, the unique Cravens Cup golf tournament was a major event each May in Southern California. Club golf tournaments were big around here. The Cravens, involving most of the top amateurs, was something special. It commanded widespread interest and the attention of the media. With the arrival of horse racing, the Rams, Dodgers, Lakers and Angels, amateur golf was shunted to the back--or ignored completely.

Although he grew up about 20 minutes from the old Giants Stadium, Chicago tight end Greg Olsen never got a chance to play there. Now, the Giants are playing in a dazzling new venue, and Olsen, a key component of a dazzling new Bears offense, will finally get his chance Sunday for a proper homecoming. The undefeated Bears are coming off a huge victory over Green Bay in which Olsen caught five passes for 64 yards, including a touchdown and a vital 21-yard reception that helped set up the winning field goal.