Pursuit

The Pursuit of Happiness is no revolutionary rock band, but it is one worth rallying around for listeners who think that a catchy melody and a hammering beat is a pop fan's inalienable right. The strength of the Canadian band's show on Saturday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano was its ability to send time and again a capsule of captivating melody into orbit on the shoulders of a booster-rocket instrumental surge. But by overplaying its strength, TPOH turned it into a flaw.

Wendy Kaminer's reflection on satisfaction ("The Inner You," Oct. 13) sees Thomas Jefferson "enshrining the pursuit of happiness as a national entitlement" in the same manner, one must suppose, as Social Security and Medicare have been so enshrined. Jefferson would be aghast. He saw the pursuit of happiness not as an entitlement but as an inviolable individual right. Kaminer further states that Jefferson's point of view was that the purpose of education is "self-government, not self-esteem."

Five people were in custody today after a 90-minute, 125-mile pursuit that began near the U.S.-Mexican border south of San Diego and ended on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The fleeing auto was clocked at speeds of 95 m.p.h. to 125 m.p.h. during most of the chase, the California Highway Patrol said. There were no injuries, although the chase caused an accident on Interstate 5 in Orange County. The pursuit began about 4:30 a.m.

American Rebecca Twigg-Whitehead recaptured the individual pursuit title Friday night in the World Cycling Championships. Whitehead, world champion in the event in 1982, '84 and '85, beat arch-rival Jeannie Longo of France in the final with a time of 3 minutes 41.14 seconds. Longo was timed in 3:44.00. Another American, Mindy Mayfield, won the bronze medal.

The most uncommon aspect of Simon Gray's extraordinary play "The Common Pursuit" is its unabashed, faintly anachronistic pursuit of literacy. We are so bombarded by electronic images and so mired in monosyllabic exchanges that the power that springs from a play steeped in intelligence and real language becomes thoroughly intoxicating. And that's just one of "The Common Pursuit's" many virtues. How about discernible structure? Wit?

The Pursuit of Happiness is no revolutionary rock band, but it is one worth rallying around for listeners who think that a catchy melody and a hammering beat is a pop fan's inalienable right. The strength of the Canadian band's show Saturday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano was its ability, time and again, to send a capsule of captivating melody into orbit on the shoulders of a booster-rocket instrumental surge. Yet, by overplaying its strength, the band turned it into a flaw.

Top Los Angeles police officials said Monday that an initial review shows an officer followed department policy over the weekend in pursuing a drunk driver down Hollywood Boulevard, where he struck and killed two pedestrians. Deputy Police Chief Terry S. Hara said it was the motorist's erratic driving and not the pursuing officer's actions that led to the two deaths. Hara said the officer acted within the LAPD restrictive pursuit policy. "The suspect was driving recklessly and endangering bystanders' lives," Police Cmdr.

Derek Jeter took the first step in his return to the New York Yankees from a calf strain, going one for two with a walk and cleanly fielding five balls at shortstop in five innings Saturday for double-A Trenton (N.J.). Jeter is scheduled to play one more rehabilitation game with the Thunder on Sunday night and could rejoin the Yankees as early as Monday in Cleveland, where he will continue his pursuit of 3,000 hits. Etc. The Pittsburgh Pirates put shortstop Ronny Cedeno on the seven-day concussion disabled list.

A young man comes to Hollywood with hopes of becoming a big star, but his career seems stalled after he appears in small roles on two episodes of different television shows. He's teetering on the edge of failure when a mysterious stranger from Arizona arrives. The Neurotic Young Urbanites at the McCadden Place Theatre present "The Myth of More," Lauren Bowles' pointed portrait of one actor's all-out pursuit of Hollywood fame.

Among the inalienable rights promised in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, happiness is the only one not guaranteed. We are theoretically assured of life and liberty, but happiness we are left to pursue on our own. "The Pursuit of Happyness," a routine domestic drama starring Will Smith, is the story of one man's unwavering pursuit for a better life (and presumably happiness with an "i") against long odds.