Sun

Miguel appears to be taking advantage of his new renown. Hot on the heels of his  head-turning performance last week at the Grammy Awards (where his "Adorn" won an R&B song prize), the L.A.-based soul singer released a politically charged music video Wednesday for his track "Candles in the Sun. " Unlike "Adorn" and many of the steamy love songs on Miguel's acclaimed 2012 disc "Kaleidoscope Dream," the eerie "Candles in the Sun" ponders a laundry list of societal ills, including "babies on crack," "white-collar war crime" and "mindless bureaucracy.

The playoff that led to the payoff at Riviera Country Club was always so freeway close, yet it took seven years of weaving through all the traffic. Isn't that life in L.A.? John Merrick was born in Long Beach, played at UCLA and had scuffed around the pro ranks since 2004 looking for his first PGA Tour win. He'd played Riviera Country Club many times, never with a $1.18-million purse at stake, and watched the Northern Trust Open as a spectator. He remembers, as a fan, standing 10 feet from 2001 winner Robert Allenby.

This 15th-floor condominium in the Remington blends contemporary and traditional elements. The kitchen, with professional-grade stainless steel appliances, opens to a sunroom with floor-to-ceiling windows, while hardwood floors and crown molding lend sophistication to the interiors. Location: 10727 Wilshire Blvd., #1505, Westwood 90024 Asking price: $3.495 million Year built: 2001 Unit size: Three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3,592 square feet Features: Private elevator, oversized walk-in closet, fireplace, two balconies, washer and dryer, valet parking, community swimming pool Website: http://www.Remington1505.com About the area: Last year, 331 condos single-family homes sold in the 90024 ZIP Code at a median price of $527,000, according to DataQuick.

MEXICO CITY -- Did the rulers of the ancient city of Teotihuacan dedicate their largest pyramid to the god of fire, the so-called old god with a signature beard and fire atop his head? Mexican archaeologists announced this week that a figure of the god, called Huehueteotl, was found in a covered pit at the apex of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, a popular archaeological site north of Mexico City. Excavations are ongoing, but the discovery suggests that a long-disappeared temple at the top of the pyramid was used to perform ritual offerings to the fire god, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said in a statement Monday.

Lakers tonight VS. PHOENIX When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330. Records: Lakers 24-28, Suns 17-35. Record vs. Suns: 1-1. Update: Ex-Laker Lindsey Hunter has a 4-7 record since taking over for Alvin Gentry last month as coach of the Suns. Phoenix has won only five of 27 road games this season. Point guard Goran Dragic leads the team in scoring (14.2 points per game) and assists (6.4). —Barry Stavro

After a seven-game road trip, the Lakers (24-28) return home to Staples Center on Tuesday night to host the Phoenix Suns (17-35). The road trip started on a sour note when Dwight Howard re-aggravated his shoulder problem in Phoenix. The Lakers collapsed in the fourth quarter, with Phoenix riding Michael Beasley. Meanwhile, the Suns have the worst record in the Western Conference. The first one back home after a long road trip can be a trap game. The Lakers still have a shot at the playoffs but they simply can't lose games to well-under-.500 teams such as the Suns.

He drives the lane, spins and slips backward like a fading star. He returns to the lane and scores on a layup under two defenders like a kid. He curls around the baseline, stops in front of the basket, and the ball is swatted from his hands as if he's a careless rookie. He then fakes a defender and hit an open bank shot like a star. He is awful. He is great. He is sometimes slow. He is occasionally sneaky. He is, on the whole, precisely the opposite of the sort of point guard that everyone thought he would be. Steve Nash is ordinary.

Imagine that. Kobe Bryant had one of the worst games in his 17-year pro career and the Lakers still won. It somehow made sense in this carnival of a season, where the unexpected keeps popping up, primarily in the loss column and secondarily in the daily soap-opera undertones. So when Bryant had four points on one-for-eight shooting, plus eight turnovers, people filed it under "strangest damn season" after the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 91-85, Tuesday at Staples Center. It helped that the Suns have the worst record in the Western Conference.

Lakers 91 - Suns 85 (Final) The Lakers got a necessary win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night. For three quarters the Lakers handled the Suns relatively well, especially in the fourth where they dominated, 26-12. The third quarter was a mess as the Lakers managed just nine points, giving the Suns a lead heading into the fourth. Kobe Bryant had one of the strangest games of his career, scoring four points on 1-of-8 shooting while dishing nine assists. Bryant also turned the ball over eight times, forcing a number of unnecessary passes.

What do some of Southern California's top bowls of ramen - the tsukemen at Tsujita, tonkotsu ramen at Daikokuya and kotteri shoyu ramen at Asa in Gardena - have in common? Their noodles come from the same place: a small factory near the Compton-Gardena line called Sun Noodle. The L.A. branch of a Honolulu-based company launched nine years ago, making just 10 kinds of fresh ramen noodles. Now, in the midst of a global ramen boom, the factory makes 160 kinds, to customers' exacting specifications - 31/2 tons a day, or enough for 30,000 servings, says Vice President Keisuke Sawakawa.