Yes

Death is a common theme on television. We watch people get shot, stabbed, strangled, blown up and more with numbing regularity on a variety of fictional shows. Real death, however, is another thing. It remains a taboo. We shy from it, we fear it, we don't talk about it. This, despite the fact that we will all face it. Our fragile mortality, however, comes into focus on the small screen on Friday when Showtime premieres an unsettling, raw and touching documentary series called “Time of Death.” Each episode documents the real-life death of a new subject, and chronicles in unflinching detail the way they and their families cope.

The weight loss that follows a successful bariatric surgery makes most patients feel younger. But a new study suggests that following bariatric surgery, some patients show signs of being biologically younger, as well. At Stanford University, researchers looked for evidence of change in bariatric surgery patients by measuring their telomeres -- regions of repeating DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome that grow a little shorter with age and chronic illness. Telomeres are considered a biomarker of the aging process.

If it please the court, let us stipulate to a few things upfront: First, Zsa Zsa Gabor does n ot look so fat that it would take three or four strong men to lift her onto a horse. And Elke Sommer does not resemble a bald-headed, Hollywood has-been who hangs out in seedy bars and has to sell hand-knitted pullover sweaters to eke out a living.

It's understandable that there is skepticism about whether Iran would abide by an interim agreement to suspend most of its nuclear activities in exchange for some relief from economic sanctions. But the United States and the other nations that have been negotiating with the new government in Tehran are right to pursue such an arrangement as a way to test Iran's insistence that it's willing to forswear the development of nuclear weapons over the long run. Members of Congress inclined to oppose this initiative should allow it time to succeed or fail.

Jermaine Jackson says he took a biting musical swipe at his superstar sibling, Michael, because his younger brother had frozen him out of his life. In an interview, Jermaine explained that the cantankerous lyrics to his song "Word to the Badd!!," which criticize Michael for allegedly changing his skin color and obtaining plastic surgery, were written in retaliation for eight months of unreturned phone calls.

When they converged in San Francisco about 45 years ago, Wolfgang Paalen, Gordon Onslow Ford and Lee Mullican wanted nothing less than to be image makers of cosmic freedom. The purpose of art, they thought, was self-transcending awareness.

. . . a time comes when two people should think of these things. Having a home and a family Facing up to their responsibilities. --Bruce Springsteen's "I Wanna Marry You," 1980. Bruce Springsteen's wedding plans gave the rock 'n' roll world this week one of its hottest pieces of gossip since the "Paul Is Dead" rumors in the '60s. Only this time, the reports turned out to be true. The uproar began Thursday when a Portland, Ore.

REMEMBERING HER DAYS AS A young girl--"No one would have accused me of being a happy child"--Leslie Abramson has an enduring memory of her favorite means of escape. After school, at the corner luncheonette, she'd buy button candies and chocolate marshmallow twists (two for a nickel) and spend hours at the comic-book racks, reading. Mad magazine was good for a giggle. But it was the spooky stuff, the horror comics like "Tales From the Crypt," that she really loved. And hated, too.

Obese is bad and lean is good. End of story, right? Wrong, say a pair of University of Pennsylvania physicians and obesity researchers who are calling for better ways to assess individual health prospects than the body mass index, or BMI. The BMI--a simple calculation that can be done with a scale and a ruler--is cheap, simple and allows comparisons of broad populations across years, cultures and continents. Since it was invented by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet in 1832, it has been the basis for research that has pointed overwhelmingly in one direction: When the formula for BMI (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared)

The San Fernando Valley is 260 square miles of suburbia. Actually, make that suburbia on nutritional supplements. And antidepressants. With perhaps a little cosmetic surgery south of Ventura Boulevard, where the big money is. Or maybe - now that it's grown to more than 1.7 million people in nearly three dozen cities and neighborhoods rich and poor - the Valley isn't even a suburb anymore. It begins just 10 miles northwest of Los Angeles City Hall, sprawling west to the Simi Hills, north to the Santa Susana Mountains, and east to the Verdugo and San Gabriel mountains.

Nobu, the boutique hotel-within-a-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, is about to get even more stylish -- if that's possible -- when Nobu Villa opens atop it next year. The 10,300-square-foot Nobu Villa will crown the 181-room Nobu hotel, which is housed inside Caesar's Palace . The views from Nobu Villa will include Las Vegas ' various resorts and the High Roller, one of the world's tallest Ferris wheels that's being built directly across Las Vegas Boulevard. Unlike other ultra-private villas in Vegas designated for high rollers and other invited guests, Nobu Villa will be available to anyone whose pockets are deep enough (prices haven't been announced)

Whether the country music stars who'll be front and center at the CMA Awards show from Nashville are coming up with the songs that make the whole world sing could be debated, but they're certainly some of the most trusted celebrities around. That's the finding of Repucom's latest Celebrity Davie Brown Index, or Celebrity DBI, a seven-year old measure of consumer perceptions of celebs. As it turns out, the most effective celebrity musician endorser in the country at the moment is Blake Shelton, who is in the running Wednesday night for entertainer of the year, the CMA's top award.

After years of fruitless negotiations, the United States may soon face an unfamiliar problem in its long confrontation with Iran: Are we willing to take yes for an answer? Negotiators are scheduled to meet again in Geneva this week to try to move toward an agreement that would put reliable limits on Iran's nuclear program - limits strong enough to reassure other countries that the mullahs cannot build a nuclear weapon. Officials on both sides say they are still a long way from a deal, but they also describe the talks as an important moment of opportunity.

"Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. " That admission on Tuesday by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford had city leaders calling for his ouster. But the controversial city official is not quitting. Ford, red-faced and appearing deeply emotional, held a news conference a few hours after his startling impromptu announcement on his previous drug use . PHOTOS: Political figures, personal indiscretion Here's what he said: "With today's announcement, I know I embarrassed everyone in this city, and I will be forever sorry.  There is only one person to blame for this, and that is myself.

You never know what you might see in Reno. On our first night in town, my wife and 6-year-old daughter called me to look out the window of our 27th-story hotel room. There, in the center of town, was a brilliant fireworks display - an appropriate welcome to this Nevada town full of flash and color. Although there is a plethora of casinos and night life, we found this mini-Vegas to be offbeat and kid-friendly. It's also affordable: two nights at Circus Circus cost about $175, a buffet dinner for two at the Silver Legacy was $50 and the Discovery Museum cost $24 for two adults and one child.

Anti-Obamacare conservatives are chuckling over an exchange from the House's grilling of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday morning, in which Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) challenged Sebelius to explain why men should have to pay for maternity coverage in their health insurance plans. "To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?" Ellmers asked. Ellmers and her cheering section seem to think this was hilarious , a conclusive, slam-dunk, let-me-hear-a-rimshot punchline.

The night before had been unseasonably cold for late April, with a low near 20, but now the campus was basking in sunshine. Shirtless joggers bounded past pale co-eds stretched out on blankets, and leafless trees seemed to sprout green buds in a matter of hours, as in time-lapse photography. In a dark and cramped basement room in venerable Sorin Hall, a restless freshman football player slipped on a pair of shorts and boat shoes.

We live in a contradictory age, when city slickers pay a fortune to become weekend buckaroos herding cattle in the Wyoming outback, yet disdain red meat at the dinner table in favor of some pale bottom-trash fish with a sprig of parsley in its mouth. I'm sorry, Hopalong, but this won't do. If you seek the authentic western experience you had better be prepared to sink your canines into a serious chunk of bovine.

Downtown Los Angeles has been transformed with restaurants and shops, lofts and parks, and the idea of adding a streetcar to the mix is appealing. Though modern in design, the proposed streetcar would be an homage of sorts to the trolley system that once spanned Los Angeles. As conceived by a nonprofit group and the now-defunct Community Redevelopment Agency and championed by City Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents the area, the streetcar would glide along a four-mile path through the heart of downtown, a chunk of that route down Broadway.

It is a little late to be worrying much over the body of Dracula. From pulp he came and to pulp he shall forever return. For every serious or even vaguely faithful take on the 1897 Bram Stoker novel - Browning, Murnau, Coppola, Herzog, et al. - there must be 20 or 30 instances where the character is turned to daffier uses. He has been Hammer House of Horrored, Mad Monster Partied, Mel Brooksed, George Hamiltoned, Abbott and Costelloed and Scooby-Dooed from here to Romania and back.