Pray

When Julia Roberts signed on to play the title role in "Eat, Pray, Love," she made one thing clear: She wanted the film to be shot in the locations where the story was set. That wish, of course, would mean quite a lot of work for the film's crew, which spent nine months in pre-production trying to figure out how to logistically shoot a movie in New York, Italy, India and Bali. But the effort was essential to making the movie work, said director Ryan Murphy. He wanted the film to stay true to the work it is based on, Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 bestselling memoir about a post-divorce journey of self-discovery that leads her around the world.

Good form makes for a better workout, and that's one of the keys to ballet-inspired barre workouts. These exercises also increase flexibility and tone the muscles without adding bulk. Pasadena-based fitness expert, video host and teacher Tracey Mallett (www.traceymallett.com) is the founder of Booty Barre, a technique that combines elements of dance, yoga and Pilates to strengthen and stretch the body. No prior experience in any of those disciplines is necessary. Make sure the spine, neck and head are aligned and the movements are slow and deliberate.

At Home on the Range A Cookbook Margaret Yardley Potter with a forward by her great granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert McSweeney's Books: 256 pp., $24 You've probably never seen the fine art of bread-making broken down quite like this in a recipe: "Now relax. Sit down, light a cigarette, write a letter or make your own plans for the next fifteen minutes while the dough 'tightens up' as we bakers say. "Is your cigarette finished? Let's go. This is fun. " So writes Margaret Yardley Potter in her cookbook "At Home on the Range.

Re "Tour of Duty or Deplorable Deployment?" Commentary, July 16: Jeff Danziger summed up the feelings and fears of every one of us who has a loved one in Iraq today. Despite temperatures that soar into the triple digits each day, water rations that leave soldiers dehydrated and weak and morale that has never been lower, the men and women serving in the Gulf are keeping a good face for the folks at home. A recent letter from a friend, spattered with blood from a small wound, reflected that attitude.

Evangelist Oral Roberts will climb into his prayer tower Sunday to fast and pray for the rest of the month for donations to meet a deadline to raise $8 million for medical scholarships, a spokeswoman said. Earlier this year, Roberts said that he had been told by God, "I'll call you home," if the money was not raised by the end of March.

I hope someone over there sees the irony in the May 3 article, "Heaven to their Fans." This is good material for a "Saturday Night Live" routine. Usually when an organization gets its name publicized and its members' faces in the media, it's rock stars singing for starving children or some cause that's worthwhile, whatever the motivation may be of participants. To sing in prayer for the benefit of persons of such questionable character [county leaders] taxes one's tolerance. I suppose it could be argued that their souls really need praying for, but who cares?

Committed A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage Elizabeth Gilbert Viking: 286 pp., $26.95 It's impossible to talk about Elizabeth Gilbert's new memoir without first talking about her previous one, "Eat, Pray, Love" -- not because "Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage" is in any literal sense a sequel but because the success of "Eat, Pray, Love" drags on the new book like a lead ball and chain. No one is more aware of that than Gilbert herself.

The ultimate dilemma: We pray for peace and vote for war. FRANK A. ZIMANSKI Coronado

First baseball, now hockey. One can only pray that politics is next. THOMAS R. WILLSON Newport Beach

Love is always lovelier some place other than home. Well, at least in the celluloid universe. Traveling by boat, train or even bus can lead to romantic entanglements in the movies, as does visiting über-romantic locales such as Rome, Paris and Venice. Of course, these romances may not last, or they may even end tragically - just think of poor Jack and Rose in "Titanic" - but it doesn't matter. Movie audiences crave these idealistic, sexy trysts. Here's a look at some of the best films in the romantic travel genre: All aboard!

Reporting from Kansas City, Mo. -- It was just before 3 a.m. when Ruth and Shady Abadir walked through the double doors that lead into the thumping heart of the International House of Prayer . Outside, the rolling suburbs of south Kansas City slumbered beneath a moonless sky, the roads empty except for the occasional deer. Inside, more than 100 people worshiped to the sound of an 11-member Christian rock band, fulfilling a commitment to keep prayer going 24 hours a day. "We've just shifted our schedule to make it work," said Ruth, raising her voice over the pulsating beat.

The young Afghan journalist's text messages to his elder brother were frantic at first, then eerily calm. "Death is approaching," he tapped into his mobile phone. "I am hiding. " And then, 20 minutes later: "If I die, pray for me. " Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, 24 years old and the married father of an infant daughter, was cut down by a hail of bullets this summer during a Taliban attack in Tarin Kowt, the capital of Oruzgan province. The bereaved family of Khpalwak, who was working for an Afghan news agency and the British Broadcasting Corp., believes that Western troops fired the fatal shots.

Near the end of "The Leopard," Giuseppe di Lampedusa's 1958 novel about the crumbling Sicilian aristocracy, a priest visits three spinsters to assess the holy relics in the family's private family chapel. The priest determines that, out of all the various bits of bone and other strange objects, some are authentic and should be kept. The rest are thrown away. If author Charles Freeman had been along on that visit, he would have insisted, "Don't throw anything away! Keep everything!"

The water is coming. Ivy St. Romain could see it lapping against the boat ramp behind his house along Bayou Long, so dark and green he could barely make out the ragged tips of sunken cypress trees. "Yeah, it's coming," he said, "but I'm not going. I'm staying right here. " As the murky waters of the Atchafalaya River Basin slowly rise and threaten to swallow tiny Stephensville, population 1,433, most Cajuns who dominate this picturesque bayou town are hunkering down to fight the impending flood.

President Obama mixed faith with immigration on Thursday as he again pushed for immigration reform, which he called a moral imperative that would require a movement to achieve. Speaking at an annual Latino prayer breakfast in Washington, Obama recalled the pivotal role of churches in helping bring about social change during the American Revolution and the civil-rights struggle in South. He pledged to continuing working with Congress but urged those at the breakfast to build a movement that would force immigration reform on the agenda.

Let's all pray 'til kingdom come--at home or in houses of worship--but please, not in the politics of America. JERRY FOX Hemet

Magic Johnson: We love you, we thank you, but mostly, we pray for you. God bless! MR.& MRS. WILLIAM R. GILKEY West Covina

An inactive lifestyle, watching TV and eating too many fatty foods are all to blame for many Americans being overweight and obese. We may have to add religion to that list. A study finds that young adults who regularly attend religious activities may be more prone to obesity by middle age than their nonreligious peers. Jell-O salad? We're looking in your direction. The study included 2,433 younger men and women who were part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study and were followed for 18 years.

A series of grim developments hit a shaken Japan on Wednesday, including reports that high-level radiation may have leaked from a second damaged nuclear reactor and that emergency workers were forced to temporarily scramble for safety. The setbacks aggravated public fears that authorities might not be able to contain the expanding nuclear crisis. Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said radioactive steam might have escaped from the containment unit of a second reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi)