Values

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

Maybe what Facebook really needs is a "buy" button. After a lifeless opening last week, Facebook shares tumbled on their second day of trading, losing about $10 billion in market value Monday as investors questioned the company's revenue prospects. Shares of the Menlo Park, Calif., social network fell to as low as $33 before closing down $4.20, or 11%, to $34.03. It was unclear if Facebook shares got help from traders at the company's lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, who stepped in Friday to prop up shares just a hair above their $38 offering price.

The alarm over potential bank runs in Greece and Spain this week has highlighted an often-overlooked fact: Europe's debt crisis is also, in many ways, a major banking crisis. In capitals such as Athens, Madrid and Rome, large portions of the sovereign debt racked up by spendthrift governments are owed to the countries' own banks, locking governments and the banks in an embrace so tight that disaster for one would almost certainly spell doom for the other. International bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal have helped to keep not just their governments but also their banks afloat, as well as financial institutions in other parts of Europe with large exposure to those nations' debts.

Clayton Christensen achieves the difficult feat of being at once imposing and humble. When I visited him last autumn at Harvard Business School, he laid out with quiet authority his latest thoughts on disruptive technology, the concept that justly made him famous in the mid-1990s. But he also took time to chat about his son's college basketball team, a poster of which hangs on one wall of an office full of family photos and memorabilia. Although he places great value on his family and faith — he is a devout Mormon — his research and teaching have dominated his public story.

The most ambitious federal mortgage program to date aimed at millions of underwater homeowners is poised to take off in the coming two weeks, yet some key issues could hinder borrower participation. One of them involves something most owners know nothing about: Who was your mortgage insurer on your underwater loan? Though it was announced by the Obama administration late last year, "HARP 2.0" — the second version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program — will finally hit full stride around the middle of this month, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finish tweaking their automated underwriting systems to accept applications, and lenders and mortgage insurance companies start handling large volumes of requests.

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

Bike buyers have become accustomed to getting more for their money every year, but that has changed for 2012 thanks to rising commodity prices. Still, there are great values to be had if you know where to look. The road bikes below, which are targeted at riding enthusiasts, provide a representative spectrum of attractively priced aluminum and carbon models with vibration-damping carbon-fiber forks. If you plan to log a lot of miles but don't want to break the bank, these are good places to start.

'Life is short. Have an affair." That's the slogan of the Ashley Madison dating service, a website for people who want to cheat on their partners. That's right, unlike traditional Internet dating sites -- where you're expected to say you're unattached no matter what the truth is -- Ashley Madison is honest about its duplicity. Unlike match.

How did we go so quickly from "family values" to family brutality? REISS J. DUPLESSIS Carson

Social media start-up Pinterest has raised $100 million in a recent financing round led by a Japanese online retailer, increasing the estimated value of the virtual scrapbooking company to $1.5 billion. Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc. led the fundraising for the Palo Alto company, which is now ranked by Experian as the third-most-popular social network behind Twitter and Facebook. Pinterest users check out thousands of images collected by fellow users and "pinned up" on their online scrapbooks.

Re "A woman's touch," Opinion, May 11 Why is it such an amazing idea that "mom" might have some answers on running a business? Thousands of years of patriarchal dominion, with men's values of "assertiveness, competitiveness and even aggression," have given us endless wars, price-gouging, indecent pay inequalities, discrimination, concentration camps, slavery, child labor, class warfare and holocausts. If women had had a public voice these past few thousand years, what kind of world would we have?

WASHINGTON -- His book sales may be slowing, but President Obama appears to be on solid financial footing.   The president reported assets that could exceed $8 million, according to financial disclosure forms released by the White House on Tuesday. Obama's precise net worth is impossible to discern from the forms, which require public officials to report assets and liabilities only within broad ranges. The forms showed assets of between $2.6 million and $8.3 million. Obama listed a JPMorgan Chase checking account valued at between $500,000 and $1 million, notable as the bank faces federal regulator scrutiny for a $2-billion trading loss.

The collector car market, which slumped with the economy, is coming back along with the rest of the auto industry. But don't expect to pick up a classic Tucker or Duesenberg without ponying up money like a Facebook executive. Many of these cars are selling for well over $1 million. By one measure, the value of collectible cars has surged 33% since the depth of the recession in 2009. The Hagerty collector car blue-chip index - a Dow-like gauge that averages the values of 25 of the most sought-after collectible automobiles of the postwar era - climbed to $1.25 million from $940,000 in September 2009.

Re "Border drones have yet to prove worth," April 29 The looming proliferation of drones is chilling. How is a country that values freedom seemingly OK with this? As someone who has never been arrested, I don't want these creepy unmanned things buzzing over my head. As they become cheaper, drones will fill the skies, and anyone from the neighborhood busybody to a suspicious spouse will employ them. That walk you love in the wilderness will no longer be guaranteed to be yours alone and surveillance-free.

Corruption allegations roiling the Los Angeles County assessor's office have reached a former Hollywood landmark: the Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard. Last summer, Ramin Salari, a property tax consultant and campaign fundraiser for county Assessor John Noguez, lobbied to reduce the shuttered restaurant's tax bill because, he said, the land it sat on wasn't worth the $14 million his clients had paid for it. He convinced Noguez's staff to assess the shuttered eatery, and four smaller parcels nearby, for $7.2 million.

It sounded like a trick question to many. Which Andrew Bynum would the Lakers prefer? The one who posted his first career triple-double in the Lakers' 103-88 Game 1 victory over Denver with 10 points, 10 rebounds and an NBA playoff-record 10 blocks?  Or the one who posted 27 points and nine rebounds in the Lakers' 104-100 Game 2 win over the Nuggets? The Lakers had varying ways of wiggling out of their answer. Lakers power forward Pau Gasol pointed out with a smile that "both Andrews are good.

Facebook Inc. takes its show on the road next week to build support for an initial public offering that it said could value the company at as much as $96 billion - eclipsing the first offerings of search giantGoogle Inc. and every Web company that came before. Facebook said in a filing Thursday that it hopes to price its stock at $28 to $35 a share, raising as much as $11.8 billion for about 12% of class A and B shares in the Menlo Park, Calif., social networking company. But high demand could be generated as co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and other top executives attend a series of meetings with managers of mutual funds, hedge funds and pension funds starting Monday.