Shame

Had enough of Steve Jobs yet? Me neither. How about that Stanford address? Still inspiring. I first came across it three years ago when a friend directed me toward the section where Jobs spoke about his passion for calligraphy and how this formed the basis of his fascination with typefaces. I thought: I have a fascination with typefaces too, but mine largely comes from using an early Mac. There they were, for free, that great spill of type history on the pull-down menu, ranging from Garamond (classic, fluid, slightly coarse 16th century French)

Mitt Romney on Thursday issued a sharply worded critique of the Obama administration's handling of the case of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, saying he was troubled by news reports that Chen felt pressure to leave the U.S. Embassy in Beijing at a time when he feared for the safety of himself and his family. During an event in Portsmouth, Va., where he was endorsed by onetime rival Michele Bachmann, Romney said he was heartened that Chen, a blind activist lawyer, had sought shelter at the embassy for six days after escaping house arrest in his home province of Shandong.

'Shame' MPAA rating: NC-17 for some explicit sexual content Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes Playing: At ArcLight Cinemas, Hollywood; the Landmark, West Los Angeles

Death of a Superhero The Giant Mechanical Man Sleepless Night Available on VOD beginning Tuesday The Tribeca Film Festival opens Wednesday, but three of the fest's entries will be available to watch a day earlier, for attendees and non-attendees alike. Those movies are: "Death of a Superhero," a melancholy coming-of-age drama about a teenage cancer patient (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) who is just coming to terms with his own mortality when he falls in love with a rebellious classmate (Aisling Loftus)

"Shame" is a dispassionate treatment of a disturbing topic, and therein lies its power. Sexually graphic enough to earn its NC-17 rating yet made with a restraint that's both unflinching and unnerving, this is a psychologically claustrophobic film that strips its characters bare literally and figuratively, leaving them, and us, nowhere to hide. Directed by Steve McQueen from a script he co-wrote with Abi Morgan, this story of the obsessive behavior of a man addicted to sexual activity demands an actor willing to completely reveal himself emotionally as well as physically.

Love and Shame and Love Peter Orner Little, Brown: 439 pp., $24.99.

No shame in opening Despite its restrictive NC-17 rating, "Shame" had a solid debut at the box office this weekend. The drama, which stars Michael Fassbender as a sex addict, grossed $361,181, according to an estimate from distributor Fox Searchlight. Its per-theater average of $36,118 is the third-highest for an NC-17 film in limited debut, behind Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education" and Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution. " "NC-17 films always create a challenge, but the late shows were very strong," said Sheila DeLoach, the studio's executive vice president.

Have you no shame? Is nothing sacred? Two years ago you wrote an excellent article on Strasbourg, the beautiful city in Alsace (April 24, 1988). You spoke of La Petite Francaise, the cathedral, the boat ride on the L'ille River. And, there is the European Parliament, which is worthy of a visit. Please, sir, no more. The Route du Vin (by Jerry Hulse, Dec. 3, 1989) will become as (crowded as) the Hollywood Freeway and as popular as Disneyland. Leave us in peace, please. Wines, cheese, French bread, chocolates and our beautiful countryside may be all that is left of civilization.

Four human beings writhe together in the frenzied climax of Steve McQueen's "Shame. " There's Michael Fassbender, starring as the emotionally stunted, sex-addicted New Yorker Brandon Sullivan. Then there are two female actors, DeeDee Luxe and Calamity Chang, Brandon's playmates in his final bout of impersonal, soul-destroying physical release. And the fourth participant? Why, that would be you, dear viewer, says McQueen, the film's British director and co-writer with playwright Abi Morgan.

Jackson Lear's review of Stuart Schneiderman's book "Saving Face: The Politics of Shame and Guilt" (Book Review, Feb. 25) would pass for an effective critique of this social primer if it weren't for its thinly disguised defense of the antiwar counterculture. I am hard-pressed to believe that the "let it all hang out" philosophy of the 1960s is not the promulgator of the "anything goes" 1990s, considering the product being cranked out by the baby boom decision-makers of today's media conglomerates with regard to misogynistic rap lyrics and violent film fare.

Why theU.S. Supreme Courtcontinues to hold its oral arguments away from television cameras remains a mystery and a national shame. On Monday, the court will begin hearing six hours of arguments over three days in a lawsuit brought by more than half of the states in the nation to challenge the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, one of the most important pieces of economic legislation passed by Congress since the New...

Utility man Jerry Hairston Jr., who had been out over the weekend with a sore quad, is scheduled to return  against the Indians on Monday, this time as a shortstop. Last time he was seen -- Thursday, playing third base -- he brought back memories of Mariners third baseman Lenny Randle. It was Randle in 1981 who dropped to all fours in the Kingdome to blow on a ball dribbled down the line by the Royals' Amos Otis. Initially it was ruled a foul ball, until umpires huddled, ruled that Randle deliberately altered the course of the ball, and awarded Otis an infield single.

Perhaps you've heard of Tommy Jordan. He's the North Carolina dad who recently recorded a video of himself reading and responding to a Facebook post composed by his 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, after which he shot her computer nine times with a .45 pistol. Hannah had done what 15-year-olds have been doing since time immemorial: She complained to her friends, in this case in rather foul-mouthed terms, about household chores and the overall lameness of her parents. Her dad, in turn, did what parents do: He lost his temper and took away something she held dear - in this case, the laptop.

Four human beings writhe together in the frenzied climax of Steve McQueen's "Shame. " There's Michael Fassbender, starring as the emotionally stunted, sex-addicted New Yorker Brandon Sullivan. Then there are two female actors, DeeDee Luxe and Calamity Chang, Brandon's playmates in his final bout of impersonal, soul-destroying physical release. And the fourth participant? Why, that would be you, dear viewer, says McQueen, the film's British director and co-writer with playwright Abi Morgan.

Love and Shame and Love Peter Orner Little, Brown: 439 pp., $24.99.

We could go on for a thousand words about the following five pictures. But better to simply let the cinematographers who shot them explain the origins and execution of a few of our favorite film images from the year. "The Ides of March" The scene: Ryan Gosling's press secretary stands backstage, lost in thought following a confrontation with his boss. Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael Birth of the shot: "The morning of rehearsal, George [Clooney]

There is a neighborhood in L.A. where you can hear people converse in the language spoken by the Aztec emperors Montezuma and Cuauhtémoc. Julia Rodriguez lives there -- in Pico-Union, just west of downtown. She spoke only Nahuatl when she arrived in Los Angeles 15 years ago. In L.A., she quickly taught herself to speak Spanish. But when she was growing up in a small village in Mexico's Guerrero state, she never went to school. So she'd never been taught to read in any language.

They can be the life of the party or the black hole at the Thanksgiving table, often both. Love 'em and hate 'em, the addicts among us are a fact of life, and a perennial subject for filmmakers. As habits go, it's one that makes sense. With their raw need, masterful manipulation skills and inevitable unraveling, dipsomaniacs and junkies are riveting movie characters. Even when the film's psychology is pat, as in this year's "Shame," the roles themselves give actors something to sink their teeth into.