Pan

"Pan Am" may be going the way of Pan Am. ABC's period piece about the 1960s glamour days of jet travel needed to post big ratings in its Sunday finale to stay a contender for renewal next season. But the show just didn't have the engine thrust to do it. A piddling 3.9 million viewers tuned in to the show's Season 1 farewell, according to early data from Nielsen on Monday (final numbers will come Wednesday). That put "Pan Am" last at the gate at 10 p.m., behind CBS' "CSI: Miami" (10 million)

Fat Tuesday is better known in some parts of the world as Pancake Day. As we prepare to mark the official end of Mardi Gras 2012 with some King Cake -- while preparing for Lent, of course -- it's worth taking a look at what just might be the most charming part of Carnival season. Mardi Gras finishes off the season with a frenzied celebration of hedonistic carnal excesses: booze, partying and rich and fatty foods to name but a few. It's a way to get everything in before Lent, the traditional 40-day period set aside for self-sacrifice. That period leads up  to the single most important day on the Christian calendar, Easter.

"I will be the first woman president of Mexico. " Thus declared Josefina Vazquez Mota on the night this month when she was officially crowned the incumbent party's candidate in upcoming national elections. A former congresswoman and education minister, Vazquez Mota, 51, has eagerly embraced her historic position as Mexico's first female presidential candidate for a major political party. In a contest where she trails the leader by a wide margin, she does not hesitate to play the so-called gender card at chosen moments.

Candy company executive Nello Ferrara liked to say that he came up with the idea for Lemonheads in 1962 because his newborn son's head was shaped like the yellow fruit. Ferrara, whose firm also brought the world such popular candies as Atomic Fire Balls, Red Hots and Baked Beans, died Feb. 3 at his home in the Chicago suburb of River Forest, said his son, Salvatore Ferrara. He was 93. Ferrara Pan Candy Co., the Chicago-based company that he ran for decades, was founded in 1908 by his Italian immigrant father to sell the candy-coated almonds that signify good luck at Italian weddings.

The Pan African Film & Arts Festival When: Thursday through Feb. 20 Where: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Rave Cinemas, 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles Information: http://www.paff.org ; (310) 337-4737

Members of Mexico's ruling party on Sunday chose former Congresswoman Josefina Vazquez Mota as their long-shot candidate for president — the first time a woman will vie for the country's top job on behalf of a major political faction. Final results gave Vazquez Mota, 51, a substantial lead over her nearest rival, former Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero — the favored candidate of incumbent President Felipe Calderon. She tallied well over half the ballots cast; Cordero reportedly conceded defeat via Twitter.

There once was a girl who was bored out of her wits. It had been a wonderful holiday season, and she had received many fantastic gifts. However, she now sat in her Grandmother's kitchen watching the rain patter on her front lawn with nothing to do. "Nanna," she asked, "is there anything at all in your house that's fun?" Her wizened old Grandmother giggled under her breath and stood up from the kitchen table. "Follow me, sweet pea," she said in an inviting tone. She led the girl up a narrow set of stairs and into an old attic.

At first glance, the story in the local paper seemed to have been written for me: "Decorating With Books. " My house is swamped with cookbooks, they're stacked on just about every horizontal surface and, yes, some are even arranged on shelves. So I thought it might be a kind of a "When life gives you lemons" thing - maybe this was going to become a trendy new style in home décor? Sadly, the story turned out to be about businesses that sell impressive-looking books - by the linear foot - to interior decorators to fill their clients' bookshelves.

"Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow" is that rare art documentary — one that places the art front and center, not as an adjunct to its maker's biography. The artist in this case, Anselm Kiefer, doesn't appear until 20 minutes into the film, and he's always seen in interaction, mainly with the crew of assistants who help him produce and move his monumental canvases and sculptures. Sophie Fiennes filmed the last two years of Kiefer's decade-and-a-half project in the South of France, where he turned the site of an abandoned silk factory into a studio compound and elaborate invented world.

The hot stars on the TV screen this fall were supposed to be Playboy bunnies, Pan Am stewardesses and angry dinosaurs. Instead the winners were broke waitresses, snarky suburbanites and Snow White. Welcome to the 2011-12 television season, where the costly shows that were supposed to be hits tanked and the ones that prognosticators had overlooked turned into ratings gold. Among the biggest disappointments have been NBC's short-lived "The Playboy Club," ABC's "Pan Am," which is struggling to stay airborne, and Fox's prehistoric drama "Terra Nova," which may end up going extinct in its first year.