Whales

Below-zero temperatures and shifting winds continued to threaten three stranded whales Tuesday as rescuers readied for a dangerous, go-for-broke attempt to free the animals. The effort has become a race against time, complicated by the wind, bitter cold and shifting ice. Observers said that the young California gray whales were tired and at least one has pneumonia.

They say something in our salty blood draws us to the sea. As such, Ventura will always be one of our easiest, breeziest, saltiest options. You know you've left L.A. proper when the boot shops start popping up along the 101. You know you've arrived in Ventura when the wind begins to whip and the gulls begin to circle. The tab: $289 for two nights right on the beach, $120 for meals and $98 for three tickets to the whale-watching experience of a lifetime. The bed We set up at the Inn on the Beach (1175 S. Seaward Ave.; [805]

Re "Future of Whales' Lagoon Grows Murky," March 13: While I am no eco-terrorist, I am saddened that one of the few remaining whale breeding areas might be threatened by a salt mining concern, especially one not based in this country. I do not want to state that salt mining is wrong per se, and it may be helpful to other areas, but whales are increasingly limited and still mysterious as to their intellect and sentience. JAMES DITCHIK Woodland Hills

With a bright, fluid tone and a deft improvisational hand, young Israeli-born guitarist Gilad Hekselman is a rising star on the New York City jazz scene. Here he performs from his latest album, "This Just In," a primarily trio-oriented record due Tuesday that features guest turns from saxophonist Mark Turner. In the second of a two-night stand, Hekselman will be joined by local bassist Dave Robaire and drummer Mark Ferber. The Blue Whale, 123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St., Suite 301, L.A. Thu., 9 p.m. $15. http://www.bluewhalemusic.com.

The annual Dana Point Festival of Whales celebrates the 5,000-mile journey of the California gray whale down the coast. Dana Point is a natural landmark against which the whales check their migration route, and the community marks the occasion with whale watching, live music, educational programs, recreational activities and ocean-themed events. Dana Point Harbor. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Activity schedule and prices vary; see website for details. (888) 440-4309. www.festivalofwhales.

Re "Malibu's great blight whale," Dec. 7 Once again we're reminded of the dangers that large whales face along the West Coast. Whales are forced to dodge ships traveling into port. Many don't make it. Ship strikes are one of the biggest remaining threats to the recovery of whales, and in the last decade they have become all too common. Our busy shipping lanes on the West Coast overlap with important foraging habitat for whales. The federal government, charged with protecting endangered species, needs to impose mandatory speed limits on vessels in whale habitats.

Our leadership OKs Navy use of sonar and harassment of whales (July 16). Harassment, in this case, means tearing apart delicate tissues in the air cavities and near the whales' brains, causing them to hemorrhage and commit suicide by beaching themselves, as in the Bahamas recently. This, I suppose, is in the name of fighting terrorism. Jim DuBois Ventura

The U.S. is initiating a closed-door negotiation that could open new areas to whale hunting for the first time in decades, part of an attempt to end a long-standing impasse over whaling limits with Japan, the world's most avid whaling nation. The tentative plan, outlined in documents obtained by the Washington Post, seeks to achieve a breakthrough in the dispute that has raged since the International Whaling Commission voted in 1986 to ban commercial whaling.

I'm convinced that the U.S. government has lost its collective mind. Forget election 2000. According to "We Need Sound Sensibility on California's Coast" (Commentary, Dec. 6), the U.S. Navy intends to deploy a sonar system described as "one of the loudest man-made sound sources ever deployed" that is "billions of times more intense than the level known to disturb large whales." Oh yeah, and whales are beaching themselves in the Bahamas, caused by a nearby "active" sonar Navy battle group.

The guitarist Rez Abbasi embodies the globally omnivorous state of modern jazz. Born in Pakistan, schooled in L.A. and now a New Yorker, he's interested in reinventing a huge swath of American jazz and South Asian classic music. In his hands, the globe's music feels relentlessly new and progressive. The Blue Whale, 123 Astronaut Onizuka St. Suite 301, L.A. 9 p.m. Sat. bluewhalemusic.com .

How quickly we move on. Tuesday's Season 4 blind auditions marked Shakira's and Usher's second night on "The Voice," and it was already beginning to feel as though they'd been on the show forever. Cee Lo? Xtina? Who are they again? The new coaches happily, scrappily continued to grapple with Blake Shelton and Adam Levine for talent, and the teams began to take shape. By the end of the night, Usher, Shelton and Levine each had three of the 12 singers they need to complete their teams, and Shakira had four.

One of my favorite weekend activities just got a whole lot better. And no, I'm not talking about naps. There aren't many more pleasant ways to pass a weekend  afternoon than a visit to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center on the Palos Verdes shore. Take a sandwich, watch some whales, then stroll the cliffs afterward, enjoying the alternating aromas of wild sage and ocean breeze. The sticking point is the sandwich. On Saturdays, we usually stop on the way over at Santa Fe Importers in Long Beach for one of their hot subs.

A robotic ocean explorer has found the first Antarctic whale fall marine scientists have ever studied - and discovered nine new deep-sea species among the critters living off the enormous skeleton, according to British researchers. The 35-foot southern Minke whale bones, described in the journal Deep-Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, give researchers a rare glimpse into the rich ecosystem provided by these giant sea creatures once they die. Whale falls - when the body of a deceased whale sinks to the bottom of the ocean - can become an oasis rich in resources for deep-sea life.

The spectacle of Charlie digging into a family-size bucket of fried chicken is one of the sadder sights in "The Whale," Samuel D. Hunter's mordantly funny, bitterly angry and ultimately deeply moving portrait of a morbidly obese man stuffing himself to death after his lover's death. As played by Matthew Arkin (with fleshy prosthetics and makeup wizardry adding elephantine girth to the actor's medium build), Charlie is willfully drowning in his own flab - nearly 600 pounds of it. But please don't get the idea that this play, having its West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory under the direction of Martin Benson, is setting up a situation that could be resolved by the dictatorial intervention of celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels.

The morbidly obese protagonist of "The Whale," the latest play by Samuel Hunter running at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, weighs close to 600 pounds, scarfs meatball subs and hasn't left his dingy apartment for months. Creating the character of Charlie has been a technical challenge for the play's production team, which includes several costume fitters and an Academy Award-winning makeup artist. By far the biggest challenge belongs to actor Matthew Arkin. For eight performances a week, he must wear a 30-pound costume - he refuses to call it a fat suit - that is made out of Lycra, nylon, micro foam beads and foam sculpted from king-sized pillows.

WASHINGTON - Ina Drew, the former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive who oversaw the "London Whale" trades, admitted her unit made mistakes that led to at least $6.2 billion in losses but shifted blame to underlings for the scandal that damaged the bank's reputation. It also ended her 30-year career. "Clearly, mistakes were made," Drew told senators Friday in her first public comments on the episode. "The fact that these mistakes have happened on my watch has been the most disappointing and painful part of my professional career.