Shines

Ecuador's beauty shines through The beauty and "aliveness" of Mindo, Ecuador, came through clearly in "An Eden in the Clouds" [April 4], by Chris Kraul, who has reported for The Times on damage done in Ecuador by oil drilling. Beauty like Mindo's must be protected. Kraul is more than the armchair naturalist he says he is: He walked, saw, listened. And shared the beauty. -- Damiana Chavez, Los Angeles Coastal trip can be a bargain too I am surprised that in the current economic recession the L.A. Times highlighted a $1,185 overnight stay at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur ["You, Me and Hwy. 1," by Sally Horchow, April 4]

ON THE MOUND: Paul Maholm lasted only five innings and was charged with five runs (four earned) and eight hits. The Phillies blew open the game in the fifth inning, which included a two-run home run by Ryan Howard and a throwing error by Maholm that resulted in another run. Brandon League pitched two scoreless innings. Jose Dominguez also pitched two innings but gave up a two-run home run to Carlos Ruiz in the ninth inning. AT THE PLATE: Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an infield single in first inning.

Jeong Seung-ki says he knew something was dangerously wrong with the working environment at the Hankook Tire plant here. After a colleague died in an industrial accident in 2004, the 48-year-old product inspector distributed black ribbons in the man's honor. A boss took him aside, he said, demanding an explanation. For Jeong, the message was clear: This was a busy factory floor, not a memorial chapel. "The company culture was really strange," he said. "Something wasn't right."

Think of Byzantium, and a color leaps to mind. That color is gold. The empire ruled from the crossroads of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea for a thousand years between AD 324 and its final collapse in 1453. At the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, where a rare and stunning exhibition of Byzantine art recently opened, gold is everywhere. It's the ground on which biblical scenes unfold, from the tender nativity of Jesus to the brutal Passions and miraculous resurrection of Christ.

What did the butler hear? Can the peeved French maid and the combative ex-chauffeur be trusted? If only the pet dachshunds, Boysie and Girlsie, could talk. It might make it easier for jurors -- who this week are expected to begin reviewing four months of testimony and thousands of pages of evidence -- to decide if the son of Brooke Astor, the late philanthropist and New York social doyenne, fleeced his mother of millions. Final arguments entered their second day today in the trial of the son, Anthony D. Marshall, 85, and Astor's estate attorney, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., who are accused of coercing Astor to change her will, steering most of her roughly $198-million estate to Marshall when she died in 2007 at the age of 105. The trial has revealed the clashing worlds of New York, where Wall Street's crash has ended many people's extravagant ways, but where a rare few still have untold millions to spend.

In his otherwise laudable piece on Anthony Beilenson, "24th District Race for House Seat Promises to Be Interesting" (Aug. 28), Paul Clarke neglects to mention the most remarkable fact concerning Beilenson's political survival and continued effectiveness. According to Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan voter education group, Beilenson is one of approximately 10 representatives who accept no political action committee money (and unlike several of them, Beilenson is not enormously wealthy)

Open mikes and subliminal "rats" are no substitutes for good, old American name-calling, for example: Charles Lee on George Washington: "A dark designing sordid ambitious vain proud arrogant and vindictive knave." John Randolph on Henry Clay: "So brilliant! So corrupt! Like a rotten mackerel in the moonlight, he shines and stinks." William McAdoo on Warren Harding's speeches: "An army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea." Barry Goldwater on Lyndon Johnson: "He wants so much power, the Democrats don't know whether to vote him in or plug him in."

Singer Blackie Lawless and gang have ditched their lurid sex-and-violence motif and entered the world of social consciousness with no loss of power. In fact, without the crutch of its sensationalist trappings, W.A.S.P. has created its gutsiest record to date. Guest drummer Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot shines on this album's heavy territory and Uriah Heep's Ken Hensley adds '70s-style keyboards on several tracks. After being on the fringes of the metal scene for the better part of the '80s, W.A.S.

Kudos for your article on Zachary Olkewicz receiving a perfect score on his GED exam ("On GED Exam, the Dropout Had an Answer for Everything," June 20). In this time of war, terrorism and economic turmoil, how wonderful to see an article on such a terrific young man make the front page. It was refreshing and uplifting and gives hope for the future. In the face of adversity this individual rose to the top and shines! Many people would not have the dedication and focus for education that he does and would have been easily derailed.

It must really be an imperfect world when an album as good as Duran Duran's latest, "Thank You," receives a review like that penned by Chris Willman (Record Rack, April 16). The album's songs are energetic, stylish, soulful and masterfully performed, and they're as good a tribute to the original artists who performed them as any that I can think of. More importantly, though, throughout the album Duran Duran's own original creativity and versatility shines through all the material performed.

The Coen brothers' 1996 comedy-noir masterpiece "Fargo" wasn't so much a movie as it was a cultural event - you remember where you were when you first saw it. That endless yet claustrophobic snow scape, the anxious narcissism of William H. Macy's scheming car salesman, the glory of Frances McDormand's pregnant police chief Marge. It blew out the wall between hilarity and horror to prove that both dwell in the same landscape. It showed that senseless violence was simply one more item on the spectrum of human behavior, alongside love and honor and courage.

Biz Stone is the other Twitter founder. Not the one who first came up with the idea, not the one with the original investment, but the founder famous for donning a nutty professor costume to introduce the messaging platform to the world in a comic video. In the torrid tale of Twitter's foundation - complete with betrayals and counter-betrayals - he was neither a back-stabber nor the back-stabbed. His new book from Grand Central Publishing, "Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind," offers a clue about why: He seems to be quite a nice guy. Management books written by nice guys do not abound.

Wonderfully animated and well-voiced, "Rio 2" is nevertheless too much. Too much plot, too many issues, too many characters. But not too much music. Yes, the musical numbers reach saturation levels, but the Latin-influenced jamming and singing are absolutely fabulous. "Rio 2's" music might even save the 3-D animated action-adventure about endangered South American blue macaws from the terrible 2s that affect so many sequels. The eclectic animal and human cast and respective star voices that "Rio" introduced in 2011 have all reconvened to continue the party.

Mars is in opposition tonight, and if you look up any time after nightfall, you can see the red planet shining brighter in the sky than it has in  6½ years.  On April 8, the clockwork of our solar system places the Earth between Mars and the sun, so that Mars is positioned directly opposite the sun in our night sky. The red planet will rise in the eastern sky just as the sun sets in the west, and it will dip below the horizon just as...

Juergen Klinsmann hasn't made many missteps in his 2 1/2 years of coach of the U.S. national team. Still it was hard not to question last week's decision to jettison Martin Vasquez, his longtime right-hand man, and replace him with Tab Ramos and former German national team coach Berti Vogts. Sacking your top assistant two months before the World Cup is a little like a presidential candidate dumping his running mate after the convention. So was it an act of panic or prescience? It's too early to tell.

With some time to kill between performances of "Lucia di Lammermoor" at Los Angeles Opera (the last one is Sunday), the peripatetic James Conlon merely had to cross 1st Street in order to lead the first of three subscription concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Thursday night. It's hardly news that Conlon seems to be everywhere these days, but it's still a phenomenon worth noting. Indeed, Conlon turned up at the pre-concert lecture and later spent several minutes talking to the audience in the main hall about one of his Recovered Voices subjects: the strange, sad and remarkable career of Erwin Schulhoff.

Aries (March 21-April 19): Like a drummer sitting down and settling into his favorite beat, you've hit your groove. Now it's your time to shine. Drum solo! Taurus (April 20-May 20): Even though you might not be in show business, you'll be in it today. Deliver your performance. Gemini (May 21-June 21): Simple courtesies make you feel warm and comfortable. And luckily, good manners are contagious. Cancer (June 22-July 22): There's a reason you are so drawn in by that masterful, talented person you know.

This weekend, load the trunk with a rock hammer, chisels, a pick and shovel and all the water you can carry. Your destination is Opal Canyon, the Mojave Desert home of two opal mines that allow visitors to hunt and keep the fabled semiprecious stones. The Kern County mines are the only known sources of gem-fire opals in California, and one of only three recognized opal fields in the United States.

There is something both touching and irritating about Justin Halpern's dogged determination to build a career out of his father's matter-of-fact insights and profane lyricism. Halpern, you will remember, was one of the first to prove that Twitter could lead to Bigger Things - in 2009, just months after he began posting his father's salty sayings, Halpern had a contract for a book. This led to a television show called "$#*! My Dad Says" that starred fellow Twitter star William Shatner.

Dodgers 5, Chicago White Sox 0 AT THE PLATE: Top prospect Joc Pederson hit a two-run, opposite-field home run. Adrian Gonzalez doubled to left-center in the second inning, his second double in as many days. Reserve outfield candidate Mike Baxter doubled in a run in the eighth inning. Nonroster player Clint Robinson was two for two with a home run and scored two runs. ON THE MOUND: Setup man Brian Wilson, closer Kenley Jansen, Chris Perez, J.P. Howell, Jamey Wright and Matt Magill each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.