Seymour

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) said Sunday that he will work in the Senate to see that "not one penny" of federal aid goes to anyone convicted of looting or arson in the Los Angeles riots. But unlike his two opponents for the Republican nomination for the two-year Senate seat, Seymour supports the aid bill. Seymour made the comment during a half-hour debate, shown statewide on public television, with his two major opponents: Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton and U. S.

Anyone seeking an empty-headed, derivative joy ride through crime-comedy conventions could do far worse than "Silver Case," a brisk, good-looking and never dull B movie. With a game cast playing stock types - among them Eric Roberts and Seymour Cassel and their patented brand of twinkling menace - the gleefully pointless genre outing will be a calling card for first-time director Christian Filippella. The title Maguffin begins its preposterous journey in Italy and lands in Los Angeles for a handover to an iffy courier (Alejandro Cardenas)

My acquaintance with Ruth Seymour over the years had been fleeting. But inevitably when I saw the KCRW radio general manager, it would provoke reminiscences about the days long ago when I worked with her daughter, Celia, on the newspaper at Santa Monica High School. Maybe that obscure connection gave Seymour license to heap extra incredulity on me a couple of months ago. It was the last time I interviewed her, and I had deigned to ask whether, based on the latest Arbitron ratings, KCRW-FM (89.9)

Casting Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of Lancaster Dodd in "The Master" was surely a no-brainer for director Paul Thomas Anderson, who has been friends with the Oscar-winning actor for 17 years and has cast him in five of his films (including a small role in Anderson's debut feature, "Hard Eight"). And Hoffman himself is effusive when talking about his good friend, who hired him for the first time in 10 years for "The Master. " "We met when I was like, 25," says Hoffman. "We talked a lot and became fast friends, and we've been friends ever since.

Seymour's opposition to S-21 is yet another example of California's ineffective special interest legislators. Your editorial dramatically points out the folly of Seymour's stand on such an important issue. JOAN RICHARDSON San Clemente

I've outgrown J.D. Salinger, and I don't know where that leaves me. I was 10 when my father handed me "The Catcher in the Rye," and I found not just a voice for all the wild despair and sudden inexplicable elation of adolescence but an acknowledgement that these feelings did not occur in a vacuum. Salinger reached into the "vale of tears" catechism of my Irish Catholic upbringing and lifted me out by my hair — don't listen, he said, they're all phonies, just keep your eyes open for small moments of beauty, and you will find them between the lies and the obscenities.

I want to praise Whitney North Seymour Jr. for his courage in boldly speaking out against the unethical practices that have proliferated in Washington (Part I, Dec. 18) . I praise him for saying that he was disappointed to hear that the President was saddened by the perjury conviction of his dear friend, Deaver. I praise Seymour for criticizing the Secretary of State George Shultz for vouching for Deaver's honesty. So here's three hurrahs for Whitney North Seymour Jr., a man (and, I think, a rare Republican)

State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) is again seeking legislative passage of a bill to help parents save for their children's college tuition. Seymour said his new bill is similar to one passed by the 1988 Legislature but vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian. Seymour said he believes that the new bill has enough differences, however, to "avoid another veto by the governor." The current bill, which on Wednesday was approved by the Senate Education Committee, calls for creating a California Tuition Finance Authority.

In an effort to crack down on habitual truants, state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) is pushing a bill that would allow teachers to reduce a student's grade for excessive absences, even those excused by parents. "Since some parents are all too willing to simply write notes over and over again for their children, rather than insist they attend class, this measure was necessary so that our school system can complete the mission the people of California insist it do," Seymour said.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R--Newport Beach) is expected this week to enter the Republican primary for lieutenant governor. Another Orange County Republican, State Sen. John Seymour of Anaheim, has already announced that he will seek the nomination.

C-sharp minor - the mere words conjure up a sense of anxious edge, which is the feeling that drives "A Late Quartet. " Starring Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir as the players, this is a chamber piece about chamber musicians that is set to Beethoven's emotional Opus 131 string quartet - in C-sharp minor. As much as the movie is shaped by the piece - Opus 131 is a complex, demanding work - "A Late Quartet" is not really about the music. Director Yaron Zilberman, a chamber music fan, is using the intimate collaboration required of a string quartet to examine the way in which lives become dangerously entangled over time.

The few negative reviews of "The Master" - and yes, there have been a few - have used adjectives like "oblique" and "opaque" to describe this often perplexing opus from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. More enthusiastic critics have described the film as "elusive," "enigmatic" and "confounding. " One glowing review rhapsodizes that the movie "defies understanding. " If these seem like strange words of praise, you may need a crash course in new critical and directorial fashions.

"The Master" takes some getting used to. This is a superbly crafted film that's at times intentionally opaque, as if its creator didn't want us to see all the way into its heart of darkness. It's a film bristling with vivid moments and unbeatable acting, but its interest is not in tidy narrative satisfactions but rather the excesses and extremes of human behavior, the interplay of troubled souls desperate to find their footing. PHOTOS: Celebrity photos by the Times Its writer-director, of course, is the all-out visionary Paul Thomas Anderson, an all-in filmmaker whose previous work like "Boogie Nights" and "There Will Be Blood" explored strong and compelling personal conflicts.

It was less than one week until the FYF Fest, the two-day celebration of underground music that starts Saturday for which he is the architect, and Sean Carlson was bummed that the phone company had thwarted his plans for a caller ID prank. The 27-year-old concert promoter hasn't even bothered to learn the number for his land line. What's the point, he says, if the Man is just going to force him to be identified as a private caller? “They asked what I wanted my name to be,” Carlson said, remembering when he was giving the telecom rep his account information.

ABC has tapped Peter Seymour to serve in a newly created role as chief financial officer for the Disney/ABC Television Group. The new position centralizes financial responsibilities for the various television channels managed by Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, to whom Seymour will report. That includes the ABC television network, ABC Studios, ABC-owned television station group, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Radio Disney and Hyperion Publishing.

Philip Seymour Hoffman will be on the big screen during the Toronto International Film Festival, but it won't be in writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated film,"The Master," that's said to be a thinly veiled look at Scientology. Rather, Hoffman will be seen in Toronto in "A Late Quartet" from writer-director-producer Yaron Zilberman. The film, which will have its world premiere at the fest, features Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir as members of a renowned string quartet whose fate hangs in the balance when one of its own is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.  The film is Zilberman's first fictional feature film.

The ad for "Tamara" last week warned: "Final Six Weeks!" It was reminiscent of a similar countdown-to-closing in 1989, which was halted shortly before a blast-off. "Tamara," an extravaganza in which audiences witness intrigues as they walk through a fascist-era Italian villa, is still with us today. This time could be for real, said producer Barrie Wexler. It isn't a "gratuitous" warning; "we're seriously analyzing the situation," which has been bleak in recent weeks, he said.

The Resident Theatre Company doesn't do anything especially original with "Little Shop of Horrors"--it's all infused with the usual doo-wop pep, and the characters--from nerdy Seymour to sweet, weak Audrey--are all in place. But the familiar is performed with colorful confidence. Director Mary Bettini has brought a spoofy show featuring a lively cast and one hungry mother of a house plant--Audrey II--to the Muckenthaler Cultural Center's outdoor stage in Fullerton. Audrey II bellows just as it is supposed to, and everybody else keeps pace with its appetite for misadventure.

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has joined the cast of "The Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" as head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, according to Lionsgate, the studio behind the movies. Hoffman will play the sly orchestrator of the 75th annual Hunger Games, replacing the previous gamemaker, Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), who met an early demise after allowing heroine Katniss Everdeen to manipulate the previous games. Hoffman will enter the fictional world of Panem, playing opposite "Hunger Games" cast members Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson.

 Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has joined the cast of "The Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" as head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, according to Lionsgate, the studio behind the movies. Hoffman will play the sly orchestrator of the 75th annual Hunger Games, replacing the previous gamemaker, Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), who met an early demise after allowing heroine Katniss Everdeen to manipulate the previous games. Hoffman will enter the fictional world of Panem, playing opposite "Hunger Games" cast members Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson.