“It has a very beautiful lid with two holes that sort of reminds me of the Japanese shrine. “The urn was the focal point of her husband’s memorial service in San Rafael, she says, after which it was taken to the family temple in Kyoto, Japan. Munroe says the concept for each piece comes from what she knows of the deceased, and of the survivors who want to live with it attractions oklahoma . Blumberg’s silver star, for example, was commissioned by Nancy Friedman, a good friend and executor of his estate oaklahoma . It was crafted by a silversmith to Munroe’s specifications, and sits on a low pedestal that is actually an unfolded leather box. The box, made by a master bookbinder with whom Munroe also collaborates, can be assembled to look like a handsome decorative object When closed, it hides the silver piece completely ok newspaper . “The star is a very powerful, and obviously a very personal piece,” Munroe explains obituaries ok . “When its owner doesn’t want it exposed, it lives in this beautiful leather box that can sit on a bedroom table. “WHEN the Munroe show — the artist’s second — ended in June, Frank says a 75-year-old woman called to order a work that would allow her children to have something beautiful that would literally be a part of her after she’s gone. “That really represents a whole sort of systemic change in people’s attitudes,” Frank says. She didn’t expect the show to be a huge success or moneymaker, she says.

“People have to be willing to face their own mortality or the mortality of someone close to them blake griffin oklahoma . Oklahoma tickets They have to have enough money and be willing to invest in something that might not happen in 10, 20 or 30 years And they must have a celebratory sense of life after death daily oklahoman obituaries . I think it’s a discussion that will increasingly take place, and this show began that discussion for a lot of people who saw it. “Munroe does not advertise or publicize her work wagoner . “People who need me seem to find me. ” And while the idea of art meant to preserve both the memory and the cremains of a deceased person is ancient, it has gained new currency in the past few years. Frank says the most poignant response to the show was from a man who happened upon it accidentally, and seemed emotionally overwhelmed guthrie Oklahoma Oklahoma – wikipedia . “It turns out he’d been driving around for two years with his adored father’s ashes in the trunk of his car. He simply couldn’t decide what was appropriate to do with them . “Bettijane Levine can be reached at bettijane. levine*(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)Enduring memorialsJust a few years back, there weren’t a lot of creative options for placement of cremains at home Oklahoma – wikipedia .

Ring the doorbell and you almost expect Donna Reed to answer, apple pie in hand. Instead, Michelle Kelchak ushers you into a worldly living room that would put any chic boutique hotel to shame, then heads for the kitchen to fetch Slovakian pastries or a Moroccan tagine best willie nelson . This is, after all, a showplace for her aesthetic — a style she calls “international modern. ” Using rich wall treatments and lushly textured furnishings, Kelchak has created interiors that recall Parisian salons, Chinese temples and North African medinas. “My husband and I try to visit two new countries a year,” says Kelchak, 42, who often brings furniture home from her travels williw nelson . “The things I put in my suitcase and ship home — my husband sometimes thinks I am nuts. “Kelchak, a shoe designer whose Michelle K line of casual footwear is manufactured by Skechers, and her husband, aerospace engineer Mark DeRoche, were interviewing architects and planning to build a “Moroccan modern” house when they fell in love with the hillside Cape Cod built by a sea captain willienelson . They bought it three years ago from MGM studio actress Rita Forester Mattson, who had lived there for more than 30 years and had decorated the yard with stone lions and birdcages pancho lefty willie nelson . She also had added columns to the facade and put a weathervane on the roof. The New England ambience in no way dissuaded Kelchak. Nor did the shag carpeting, faded wallpaper or windows nailed shut. Motivated by romanticism and determined to test their individual sensibilities — his engineer’s eye for form and function, her fashion designer’s taste for texture and ornamentation — the couple turned the house inside out. They burnished the oak floors with a dark stain and outfitted the staircase railings with light-diffusing rice paper sandwiched between plates of glass.

They polished vintage doorknobs and installed new casement adjusters from rejuvenation on the plantation-style tip-out windows. “I wasn’t at all worried about betraying the architectural integrity of the house,” Kelchak says contact willie nelson . “By making all the wood darker and putting in all the old hardware, we gave it more charm than it had when we bought it. “With those changes complete, she had a blank slate willie nelson dell diamond . Rooms could accommodate pieces from foreign lands in a much bolder design scheme, one she describes as “whimsical and elegant at the same time. “”I am definitely a risk-taker,” she says always on my mind nelson . “I don’t like conventional things very much. “Which explains how a chandelier, hung heavy with hundreds of amber and amethyst crystals, switched on the light bulb of inspiration in Kelchak’s head on the road again nelson . She had first seen the fixture at a design showroom in Rome called Contemporanea while buying a painting of Aphrodite as a wedding present for her husband four years ago. “I knew that one day when I had a new house, I would come back for it,” she recalls. And she did. SHAPED like the hull of a boat, the fanciful dining room chandelier not only fit the nautical origins of the house but also helped to determine her color scheme throughout: white, purple and brown, with accents of red. Kelchak proceeded to shop locally but nonetheless managed to achieve a global effect.

In the airy master bedroom, a large pale purple portrait of a sunflower by fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo sits above a dark wood Chinese bench countryman willie nelson . A large wooden dresser with diamond-patterned metal doors from the Los Angeles store Dialogica adds a shimmer to the mix, as does the silvery Venetian plastered wall behind the bed. The white leather platform bed from Diva on Beverly Boulevard is as crisply tailored as a Prada skirt, glammed up with a silk and glass embroidered coverlet from an Indian import shop Red lacquer Chinese drums serve as nightstands willie pancho . The overall effect is bright and serene. By contrast, the expansive living room is dark and dramatic, with iridescent embossed velvet panels integrated into the oak walls. “I knew I wanted to keep the woodwork in order to maintain the original character of the room,” Kelchak says. The fireplace, however, had “an elaborately carved, cheesy European mantel that was so not me” and had to go, she says highwaymen nelson . Kelchak went in a Jazz Age direction with a stainless steel surround and a Deco-style limestone Odeon mantel from Chesney’s in New York highwayman nelson . For the wall tile around her new hearth, she wanted mother-of-pearl. “It was going to cost $17,000,” she says with a laugh, “so I asked, ‘What else have you got?’ “Eventually a honeycomb checkerboard made from travertine and bronze tiles created an elegant brown and white backdrop for an Erte sculpture and a collection of amethyst glass vessels with delicate hand-painted designs — some used as candle votives, others flipped over to serve as bud vases. To keep the space (“my ballroom,” Kelchak calls it) bright, she chose all white furniture. “I don’t have kids or dogs right now,” she says, “and I can live with stains. “Monochrome was fine, but boring would not do, so Kelchak returned to Contemporanea, which produced a suite of white furniture that is nothing like the ubiquitous California slip-covered sofa and chair. Perched on cast bronze feet, the Italian settees, chaises and club chairs are upholstered in pinwheel-pleated velvet, shaggy faux Mongolian lamb and fish-scale patterned leather. It’s no surprise where the passion for fabrics comes from. “There is only so much you can do designing a shoe,” Kelchak says “To make it unique, you start playing with the materials.

Texture and details are the things I look for in the fabrics I choose for my home. “Light fixtures also define the space: Old-fashioned crystal hurricane lanterns came from the gift shop in the Philippe Starck-designed Paris restaurant Light. Sconces resembling jewel-encrusted turtle shells inhabit the four corners of the room, and hammered bronze floor lamps wear goat hide shades essential willie nelson . A dragon lamp sitting on a Moroccan inlaid table is topped with lingerie-style black lace and crystal. “It looks like the Mad Hatter’s lampshade,” says Kelchak, who had a collection of vintage hats as a girl and dreamed of going to millinery school. KELCHAK grew up in a modern ranch home in Munster, Ind waylon nelson . One fateful day she visited “the new girl in school’s grandmother’s house on the rich side of town. “It was an exotic place of Persian rugs, hand-painted Chinese furniture, Louis chairs and African masks on the walls stardust nelson . “I thought, one day that’s what I’m going to do. “She went on to major in broadcast production with a minor in art at Arizona State University, eventually landing a job with an L. A willey nelson . company that edited movie trailers before becoming a stylist for fashion photography. A chance meeting with an employee at the then-hot sneaker firm L. A Gear led to an interview. Kelchak submitted drawings of animal print and snakeskin sneakers — and landed the gig. These days, her signature shoe line sells in department stores nationwide. “Designing shoes, I am very into texture and mixing materials,” she says “That’s what I am into in the house.

When people walk in, it’s like eye candy: There are so many things to look at, and every piece has a story . For me, decorating a home is about surrounding myself with all of the elements of the countries I love, so that it looks lived-in, not store-bought. “Kelchak likes to hunt for treasures for her home and garden, but nothing is too serious or precious, says Craig Boelsen, her landscape architect. “The great surprise of Michelle’s home is that it has this understated, subdued exterior,” he says shotgun willie . “And then when you walk in, you immediately get that the home has taken on her personality. “Working without an interior designer, Kelchak intuitively understood how to create rooms that have distinctive personalities but still work well together. The theatrical living room, for instance, leads into a small sitting room with Parisian Deco chairs re-covered in blue eel skin, Syrian mother-of-pearl tables and a carved ottoman from Indian Style in L. A. The walls and ceiling are covered in embossed leather in a shade similar to the dark woodwork of the living room. She employed the same trick in the dining room, which is dominated by a custom-built, 10-foot table with a turquoise glass top and Moroccan chairs upholstered in white leather. She hung a square of the dark embossed leather as artwork on a white wall and painted the facade of a built-in fire niche a deep, earthy shade Willie Nelson – willienelson . “I wanted it to be dramatic, and there’s so much dark in the living room that I felt it needed to have an element of that in here,” she explains willie on the road again . “This purple-brown color unites the rooms and makes it easier to adjust from walking out of a darker room into a brighter one. “There is no division between the dining room and kitchen, which has painted Indian doors from Arte de Mexico covering the pantry and a granite-topped island flanked by modernist bar stools inspired by ones she saw in a Laguna Beach restaurant. “I get inspiration everywhere,” she says Willie Nelson – wikipedia . THE informal layout of the open floor plan suits Kelchak. “I didn’t feel the need to have a formal dining room because the chandelier and the fire wall creates warmth and intimacy,” she says . “I like it open because when you throw parties, everybody ends up in the kitchen, so even when I’m cooking, I feel part of the party. “If the rooms in her home are defined by various cultures, so are her menus. “I have three paella pans and six tagines,” she confesses, referring to the traditional Moroccan lidded pots . Dinner parties regularly feature themes such as Christmas fondue or Caribbean barbecue. “When it’s warm, we like to keep the doors open and live and entertain inside and out,” says her husband, DeRoche Willie Nelson . Willie Nelson tickets That meant updating the garden, which was once a “big slab of cement with a fish pond that hadn’t been used in years,” Kelchak says. She hired Boelsen, whose firm, Pacific Coast Landscape Inc. , specializes in wind- and salt-resistant gardens.

The researchers reported in the journal Science that tree frogs’ toe pads contain “microscopic channel patterns” that stop cracks from forming. “Underneath these patterns, there are fluid vessels, glands and blood vessels,” said Animangsu Ghatak of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur Gator Bowl Gator Bowl – gatorbowl . Ghatak and his colleagues added tiny fluid vessels in their model adhesive and found they increased adhesion thirtyfold. 2008 rose bowl tickets . Gator Bowl tickets The rain on Titan falls mainly in the foothills. One important difference between the Earth and Saturn’s giant moon is that Titan’s rain is made of methane, not water. Otherwise, according to a team of scientists from UC Berkeley, the weather pattern on Titan might make an Englishman feel right at home Gator Bowl – gatorbowl . “Widespread and persistent drizzle” falls on Titan, said Mate Adamkovics, a Berkeley research astronomer rose bowl ticket packages . A lot of the methane rain is concentrated in the hills of the moon’s large continent, Xanadu, according to the scientists, who published their findings Friday in the journal Science Gator Bowl . The discovery, revealed in near-infrared images from Hawaii’s W. M 2010 rose bowl packages . Keck Telescope and Chile’s Very Large Telescope, may solve one of the lingering mysteries associated with Saturn’s bizarre satellite. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which is orbiting Saturn and its moons, found evidence of what appear to be methane lakes and rivers. Other spacecraft found methane, ethane and other smoglike compounds in the toxic atmosphere. Until now, however, scientists were unsure how the methane got from the ground to the sky and vice versa .

One of the most intriguing photos in a 1950 offering from the now-defunct Tuttle Bros alabama crimson tide bedding . Nurseries in Altadena shows an unfamiliar shrub whose red-brown flowers look as dark as a chocolate cosmos crimson tide . The catalog calls it old-fashioned sweet shrub; growers know it as Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus). Tidy-leaved, unusually colored, and fragrant, it could be a garden star, but I wouldn’t plant it: The seeds can cause convulsions alabama football tickets . Awareness of plants’ poisonous properties has spread rapidly in the last couple of decades, and many gardeners don’t like to take the chance of a curious child becoming ill when there are so many other choices. One reason for this new awareness may be our growing passion for landscaping that we can eat — especially herbs In the Tuttle catalog they rate only a passing mention university of alabama . Contemporary nurseries, however, have expanded their stock tremendously, offering four or five varieties each of lavender, rosemary, sage — components of the aromatic Mediterranean garden that has become a modern Los Angeles trademark . Alabama Crimson Tide tickets What else will garden historians remember as the signature plants of this decade? I would hope the pale-pink Mexican evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) gets a mention, but I worry that it’s already going out of style. I wish the same could be said about the bronze New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) Alabama Crimson Tide .

As stiff as metal sculpture, it remains the home-remodeler’s favorite foundation ornament, though kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos) has been gaining recent ground alabama crimson tide watches . One thing we can count on: Someone out there is planting something we’ve never seen before — or noticed university of alabama football . In a few years we’ll wonder how we gardened without it. Ariel Swartley can be reached at home. *(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)Planting a trendFlax today, kangaroo paw tomorrow alabama football recruiting . Some reminders about plants that have fallen in and out of (and sometimes back in) fashion:Lady Banks’ rose: Grows tall and flowers prolifically, though petals may drop easily bama football . Remains widely available. Princess flower: Tibouchina urvilleana (pictured at right) Brilliant flowers, velvety leaves Does better by the coast Widely available. Cup-of-gold vine: Solandra maxima. Enjoying a resurgence, possibly because of its listing in the Sunset Western Garden Book, which describes it as a “fast-growing, sprawling, rampant vine” with night-fragrant flowers that can be “spectacular” along fences. Mexican evening primrose: Oenothera speciosa.

Low-growing, delicate-looking but tough flower that blooms in pale pink Plant can spread aggressively Widely available. Kangaroo paw: Anigozanthos (shown on F1) Fuzzy flower spikes can last weeks Dwarf hybrids available in multiple colors The new garden staple?From Times staff alabama crimson tide clothing . A South China tiger has been caught on camera by a hunter-turned-farmer, the first confirmed sighting in 30 years of a subspecies experts had feared was extinct in the wild, China’s official New China News Agency said. Zhou Zhenglong took more than 70 photos of the young tiger lying in the grass in a mountainous part of central China alabama university football . Experts confirmed the images showed one of the elusive cats. In the early 1950s, an estimated 4,000 of the tiger subspecies, one of the world’s smallest and the only one native to central and southern China, roamed the country, but its habitat has been squeezed by the country’s rapid economic growth. alabama tide football . A NASA spacecraft observed lightning strikes at Jupiter’s poles as it provided insights into the giant planet’s dynamic atmosphere as well as volcanic activity on one of its moons, scientists said. The New Horizons spacecraft, passing the solar system’s largest planet en route to the dwarf planet Pluto, also snapped images of the tiny rings encircling Jupiter, studied a huge, swirling storm and explored the planet’s long magnetic tail. New Horizons zipped by Jupiter earlier this year, making its closest pass on Feb alabama basketball tickets . 28, and used the massive planet’s powerful gravity to slingshot itself toward Pluto. The piano-sized robotic probe is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015. . Astronomers have taken a baby step in trying to answer the cosmic question of where we come from. Planets and much on them, including humans, come from dust — mostly from dying stars.

But where did the dust that helped form those early stars come from?NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope may have spotted one of the answers It’s in the wind bursting out of super-massive black holes alabama crimson tide watch . It identified large quantities of freshly made space dust in a quasar about 8 billion light-years from here university of alabama t shirts Alabama Crimson Tide – rolltide . Scientists found signs of glass, sand, crystal, marble, rubies and sapphires, they will report in Astrophysical Journal Letters. alabama tickets . Fabiola da Silva is the leading female medal-winner in X Games history, a seven-time in-line skating gold medalist, but she won’t even be in California when the games are contested today through Sunday at Staples Center and the Home Depot Center. Dallas Friday won her fourth gold medal in wakeboarding last year, then talked about catching BMX rider Dave Mirra, who leads all X Games contestants with 14 gold medals. But Friday’s dream will remain in dry dock because wakeboarding was eliminated from the X Games lineup this year for budgetary concerns — it has cost more than $500,000 to stage the event in the Long Beach Marine Stadium. And women’s in-line skating was dropped two years ago after organizers said the sport was no longer popular enough to be included. Da Silva and Friday aren’t the only women who have had their sports cut from the X Games in recent years alabama . When the games debuted in 1995, six of 29 events were specifically designed for women and another, the Eco Challenge, paired a man and woman. Of this year’s 16 events, there are only two — skateboard vert and skateboard street — for women. It’s a disturbing enough trend that the Women’s Sports Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing women’s sports, has become involved Alabama Crimson Tide – rolltide . And it’s enough of a concern that female skateboarders, in part because they fear for their future at the X Games, have formed the Action Sports Alliance in an effort to gain more exposure for women’s action sports. “I really don’t understand why they don’t have more women’s sports at the X Games,” Da Silva said “It’s really a bummer. They have the opportunity to help women, but it seems like they just keep cutting us off. “ESPN, owner of the X Games, is not ignoring the issue.

So can Riviera or Sherwood or wherever he decides to tee it up on an off day. To the Dodgers’ delight, Maddux will pitch tonight. For them Newport Music Hall – promowestlive . “I still can’t believe we have him, it’s like a miracle,” said coach Rich Donnelly, who has watched from the third base coach’s box of four National League teams repeatedly carved up by Maddux. He might be slightly built and his fastball may top out at 87 mph, but Maddux ranks second to Roger Clemens among active pitchers with 327 victories and third behind Clemens and Randy Johnson with 3,133 strikeouts newport music hall seating . He has won four Cy Young Awards and 15 Gold Gloves while playing for the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. He can’t take any of those accomplishments to the mound tonight against the Cincinnati Reds, though There are legitimate questions about how much he has left surly girl . Maddux has gone 4-11 after beginning the season 5-0. Now he’s expected to stabilize a Dodgers starting rotation that has been inconsistent for weeks short north . He’s just glad to be pitching for a team that believes it can make the playoffs — something the Cubs gave up on months ago. “It’s nice to have a reason to pitch besides doing it for myself,” he said “That’s what happens when your team falls out of the race goodale park . We are absolutely still in it. “A key to his effectiveness is working well with his catcher This is where Maddux and Martin are playing the same hand.

The fact that Martin was 3 years old when Maddux broke into the big leagues won’t excuse mistakes behind the plate. Maddux doesn’t want Martin to set up on one side of the plate, then shift to the other in an effort to confuse the batter, a ploy Martin has become adept at. “He wants me to set up early and not move,” Martin said newport music hall concerts . “He told me not to tell him to throw one in the dirt or climb the ladder with a high pitch skullys . He said, ‘I know when to do that Newport Music Hall – promowestlive . ‘ “Martin thought for a moment and shrugged. “Of course he does,” he said “He’s so prepared This guy knows exactly what he wants to do surly girl . I just hope he likes me. “Maddux also told Martin that he won’t shake off many signs . Instead, he’ll throw the pitch he wants to throw, even if it isn’t what the catcher called. “He said that as long as the location is the same, it doesn’t matter,” Martin said “He’ll throw it and I’ll catch it. Newport Music Hall tickets “Or somebody will hit it Newport Music Hall .

It’s important, because the winningest team would have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs disney on ice ticket . Connecticut is the league’s hottest team, with an eight-game winning streak after Tuesday’s 66-52 victory over New York dysney on ice . But if the Sparks win tonight, that would give them the tiebreaker (head-to-head competition) should the teams finish with the same record. disny on ice . JPMorgan Chase & Co diney on ice . said Thursday that it was cutting jobs in its fixed-income business as investors braced for a multibillion-dollar write-down next week of the bank’s high-risk loans and other assets. The No 3 U. S. bank said the cuts included positions in its “leveraged finance” operation, which markets loans taken out to finance corporate takeovers by private equity firms. “We are making modest staff reductions in areas where we expect lower volumes going forward,” JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony said. The recently ended buyout boom kept Wall Street’s leveraged finance desks busy.

But the credit crunch that hit this summer spooked debt investors and left banks with more than $350 billion in loans stuck on their balance sheets. No senior executives are expected to lose their jobs in the cuts, unlike what has happened at rival firms such as Bear Stearns Cos disney on ice princess . and Merrill Lynch & Co. Meanwhile, at rival Citigroup, the co-head of investment banking with responsibility for capital markets and trading is leaving the company, the Wall Street Journal reported. The executive, Thomas Maheras, had been considered a potential successor to Chief Executive Charles Prince Disney On Ice – go . JPMorgan is expected to post lower profit when it releases third-quarter results Wednesday. Merrill Lynch & Co mystery on ice. shocked investors last week when it said it would write down $5. 5 billion in assets for the third quarter and report a loss incredibles on ice. Merrill also ousted its global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities. the incredibles on ice . His words sounded as if they were coming from someone who had one of those truly awful days, not someone touching the wall first in two races in the window of about 45 minutes. Michael Phelps is not easily impressed by Michael Phelps. He added two national titles — making it 30 in all — to his overflowing portfolio, winning the 200-meter freestyle and later adding the 200 butterfly at the U. S. Summer National Championships at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine.

His twin victories highlighted Wednesday’s session, along with former hometown star Aaron Peirsol, whose winning time in the 100 backstroke, 53. 38 seconds, was the second-fastest in history. Phelps won the 200 freestyle in 1:45. 63, and Klete Keller, his Club Wolverine teammate in Ann Arbor, Mich. , was second in 1:46. 62 . Though Phelps’ margin of victory was even more substantial in the 200 butterfly, 1:54. 32 to Davis Tarwater’s 1:57. 00, he was displeased, though not nearly as much as after Tuesday’s 400 individual medley. “The butterfly has been the stroke that’s felt the best over the past few weeks,” said the 21-year-old Phelps, who won six Olympic gold medals in Athens in 2004 princess on ice . “I’m kind of disappointed, but at the same end, I have a number of things that I know right now, swimming that race I can fix Disney On Ice – go . “My turns were just horrible today I chopped every wall And I hit them short every time tickets on ice Disney On Ice . Hopefully those things I can improve on going into Pan Pacs. “Sounds as if it’s time to get back to turn work with Bob the Builder, as in his coach Bob Bowman . Can a mid-course correction be made in time for Canada in about two weeks?”I think so It’s sort of me being lazy on things,” Phelps said. Disney On Ice tickets “I’ve been doing the training and I’ve been doing the big things.

“Randall is a great front-halfer, and if I can stay with him, my power’s in the back half I’m more of a 200 guy Davis Cup . So, I knew I was in good position coming off that wall. “Peirsol, 23, reflected on his first national title, which came at age 16 in the 200 backstroke. “My first one was probably easier than that one,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s race. The other winners were Leila Vaziri of Indiana University in the 100 backstroke, in 1:01. 69, marking her first national title, and Natalie Coughlin in the 200 freestyle in 1:58. 11, which was her second victory in two days. Coughlin, though, does not intend to swim the 200 freestyle at the upcoming Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, Canada devis cup . Her coach, Teri McKeever, will also be the coach at that meet Davis Cup – daviscup . “I didn’t want there to be any question on putting me on the 800 free relay,” said Coughlin, who won a close race against Katie Hoff davids cup. “I didn’t want there to be any favoritism or questions or anything like that. ” davis cup bham . Toyota’s advertising slogan is “Moving Forward. “Its U. S. -based executives keep moving out. Jim Farley, head of the automaker’s Lexus division and a driving force behind the popular Scion brand, left to run struggling Ford Motor Co. ’s global marketing operation, Ford said Thursday, becoming the third high-level executive to depart Toyota’s North American business since August. Last month Jim Press, Toyota’s top U. S. executive and former head of Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. , quit to take a job at Chrysler. Chrysler already had snagged Deborah Wahl Meyer, then head of marketing for Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand. Analysts said such defections didn’t hurt Toyota, which is known for the depth of its management ranks. “All three of those people are really good, but Toyota has tremendous bench strength,” said Jim Hossack, an analyst with AutoPacific Inc in Tustin.

“I think it’s a testimony to Toyota that they attract the best in the industry. “Farley was replaced at Lexus by Mark Templin, who had been running the Scion division, a youth-oriented vehicle line known for its quirky marketing campaigns davis cup final . Sales of most Scion models are down sharply this year, and Toyota is grappling with the slowdown in U. S 2007 cup davis roddick Davis Cup – daviscup . sales that is affecting most carmakers. But Toyota is overtaking General Motors Corp davis cuo Davis Cup . as the world’s largest automaker — and recently replaced Ford as No daviscup org . 2 in the U. S. Davis Cup tickets Ford’s share of the American market has dropped from about 25% a decade ago to less than 15% today. “Farley’s biggest challenge is going to be to get people to consider the brand at all,” Hossack said.

He doesn’t mention his Silver Star or Bronze Star or two Purple Hearts until a relative urges him to tell me. “I’ve never used this as a crutch, but I am now,” he says “I’m a Vietnam vet fairfield stags basketball . I feel I served my country in a very hard time, and I didn’t turn on society fairfield soccer . But I feel like the country has stabbed me in the back, for what it’s doing now fairfield university employment . All we’re asking for is a fair shake and a little compassion, and I don’t feel we’re getting it. “I tell him I can’t help He thanks me for taking interest and we shake hands goodbye fairfield university jobs . The nurse says she could wake Denette to talk to me, but I say no and leave. Life is hard Comes at you from all directions. Promises you nothing. *Dana Parsons’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana. parsons.

An archive of his recent columns is at latimes /parsons. fairfield university stags . **SEE CORRECTION APPENDED: “The Times apologizes over article on rapper”**Millionaire mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who nearly topped Forbes’ 2007 Hip Hop Cash Kings’ List, was accused this week in separate lawsuits of swindling a business associate and battering a concert promoter, just days after resolving a child support dispute with the mother of his 15-month-old daughter, whom he had stiffed for more than a year. Combs, who stars in MTV’s “Making the Band” reality series and oversees the Bad Boy Records label, the Sean John clothing line and the Unforgivable fragrance line, earned an estimated $28 million last year, according to Forbes. James Sabatino, a friend and business associate of slain Bad Boy rap star Biggie Smalls, filed one of the lawsuits against Combs fairfield basketball . He contended that the hip-hop entrepreneur never paid him in full after Combs purchased exclusive audio and video recordings Sabatino had made of Smalls 14 years ago fairfield invitational . The suit seeks $19 million. The deal was struck months after the still-unsolved March 1997 slaying of Smalls, whose real name was Christopher Wallace fairfield swimming .

Sabatino’s lawsuit contends that Combs agreed to pay him $200,000 for the recordings, and paid him a $25,000 advance with a promise of the $175,000 balance within 60 days. The reason for the delay, Combs allegedly told Sabatino, was that Combs had heard that police were looking at Sabatino as “a person of interest” in the Wallace murder investigation, the suit says. Combs was worried, the suit alleges, that “if someone found out that Bad Boy paid Sabatino such a large amount of money that it could be mistaken for something else” — presumably, a reward for the killing Fairfield Stags . In 1998, Sabatino was indicted and convicted of fraud and racketeering charges fairfield university stag web . Sabatino, who is still in prison, says Combs began to dodge his phone calls and letters and has continued to do so. Sabatino’s suit claims that Combs incorporated the exclusive rap recordings into Bad Boy’s hit 1999 release “Born Again” and the film footage into a music video called “Dead Wrong” to promote the CD, which sold several million copies fairfield baseball. Sabatino’s suit says he will provide documentation to show that Combs put $2,000 into his prison account in 1999 and that Combs’ sister, Keisha, visited him in jail and sent letters promising payment, the suit says Fairfield Stags – fairfieldstags . Combs’ representatives denied the allegations Fairfield Stags – fairfieldstags . “Nuisance lawsuits against celebrities are at an all-time high and the two filed this week are just additional examples of how people try to shake down Mr Combs,” a spokesman for Combs said Thursday fairfield hockey . Fairfield Stags tickets “The fact that one was filed by someone in jail, about things that supposedly happened 14 years ago, shows just how ridiculous it has gotten. “In the other suit filed this week, promoter James Waldon said Combs ordered his three bodyguards to attack him this month at the Box, a New York nightclub fairfield softball . Waldon’s suit says that one bodyguard punched him in the face as the others beat and kicked him repeatedly. Combs’ bodyguards chased Waldon around the club before he escaped, the suit says.

We are continuing to investigate this matter and will fulfill our journalistic responsibility for critical self-examination. “The story first appeared March 17 on latimes under the headline “An Attack on Tupac Shakur Launched a Hip-Hop War. ” The article described a Nov best of richard marx . 30, 1994, ambush at Quad Recording Studios in New York, where the rap singer was pistol-whipped and shot several times by three men richard marx” “matt scannell . No one has been charged in the crime, but before his death two years later, Shakur said repeatedly that he suspected allies of rap impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs. The assault touched off a bicoastal war between Shakur and fellow adherents of West Coast rap and their East Coast rivals, most famously represented by Christopher Wallace, better known as Notorious B Richard Marx – wikipedia . I. G richard marx’s wife . Both Shakur and Wallace ultimately died violently. The Times story said the paper had obtained “FBI records” in which a confidential informant accused two men of helping to set up the attack on Shakur — James Rosemond, a prominent rap talent manager, and James Sabatino, identified in the story as a promoter richard marx” “right . The story said the two allegedly wanted to curry favor with Combs and believed Shakur had disrespected them. The purported FBI records are the documents Philips and Duvoisin now believe were faked Richard Marx . The story provoked vehement denials from lawyers for Combs and Rosemond, both before and after publication. Rosemond said in a statement Wednesday that the Times article created “a potentially violent climate in the hip-hop community. ” His attorney, Marc Lichtman, added: “I would suggest to Mr.

Philips and his editors that they immediately print an apology and take out their checkbooks — or brace themselves for an epic lawsuit. “Although The Times has not identified the source of the purported FBI reports, The Smoking Gun ( the smokinggun ) asserted that the documents were forged by Sabatino children of the night richard marx . The website identified him as a convicted con man with a history of elaborate fantasies designed to exaggerate his place in the rap music firmament richard marxx . He is currently in federal prison on fraud charges. “The Times appears to have been hoaxed by an imprisoned con man and accomplished document forger, an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries,” the Smoking Gun reported. Combs’ lawyer Howard Weitzman, in a letter to Times Publisher David Hiller, called the story inaccurate richardmarx . He expanded an earlier demand for a retraction and said he believed that The Times’ conduct met the legal standard for “actual malice,” which would allow a public figure such as Combs to obtain damages in a libel suit. The purported FBI reports were filed by Sabatino with a federal court in Miami four months ago in connection with a lawsuit against Combs in which he claimed he was never paid for rap recordings in which he said he was involved right here waiting r marx . Sabatino, 31, said he had obtained the documents to help him prepare his defense in a criminal case against him in 2002, according to the Smoking Gun. Philips, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, said he believed in the authenticity of the documents in part because they had been filed in court. But the Smoking Gun’s sharply critical review said The Times had overlooked numerous misspellings and unusual acronyms and redactions that could have cast doubt on the documents’ authenticity. Moreover, the documents appeared to have been prepared on a typewriter, the Smoking Gun account noted, adding that a former FBI supervisor estimated that the bureau ceased using typewriters about 30 years ago.

The website said its reporters had learned that the documents could not be found in an FBI database. The website also described unexplained coincidences that made it appear Sabatino had composed the documents from prison don t mean nothing richard marx . The Smoking Gun showed that Sabatino had filed court papers on his own behalf that had “obvious similarities” in typography and “remarkably similar spelling deficiencies” to those in the purported FBI documents. The Smoking Gun used a report from Sabatino’s sentencing in 2003 for fraud and identity theft to suggest that his history of lying began in childhood richard max right here waiting . When the boy’s mother left home at 11, he told a teacher that his mother had died in an accident, rather than acknowledge the truth, said his father, Peter Sabatino, according to the website youtube richard max . It posted what it said was a letter that the father wrote to the judge . Richard Marx tickets At the sentencing, the younger Sabatino told the judge that he had been battling a “demon for a very long time” and that his motivation for committing fraud was “to make attention to myself,” according to another court document posted by the website richard max hazard . The headline on the Smoking Gun story, over a picture of the picture of the portly Sabatino: “Big Phat Liar. “Philips said in an interview that he had believed the documents were legitimate because, in the reporting he had already done on the story, he had heard many of the same details. He said a source had led him to three prison inmates who purportedly carried out the attack on Shakur. One of those inmates implicated the planners of the attack and another implied who was involved, Philips said Richard Marx – richardmarx . Two others who said they witnessed the attack corroborated portions of the scenario described in the article, he said.

None of the sources were named in the story. Philips also said the events the sources described fit with previous accounts in the media and even in Shakur’s songs. Still, Philips said he wished he had done more. Philips said he sought to check the authenticity of the documents with the U. S dr richard marx . attorney’s office in New York, which had handled the investigation of the attack on Shakur, and with a retired FBI agent, but did not directly ask the FBI about them The U. S hazard marx . attorney’s office declined to comment, while the former FBI agent said the documents appeared legitimate, Philips said. His statement said he “approached this article the same way I’ve approached every article I’ve ever written: in pursuit of the truth I now believe the truth here is that I got duped ricard marx . For this, I take full responsibility and I apologize. “Philips has spent years digging into the rap music business and had won a reputation as a dogged streetwise reporter ricahrd marx . He and Times reporter Michael Hiltzik shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for beat reporting for their accounts of entertainment industry corruption, including illegal detoxification programs for celebrities. Duvoisin has overseen many of The Times’ most notable investigative projects in recent years. The first significant tip that led to the Shakur story came nearly a year ago, Philips said. He conducted interviews and reported the story in the interim, then focused on the piece more intensively beginning in January. The story was reviewed by Duvoisin and two editors on the copy desk. Other investigative stories published by The Times in recent years have in some cases received the scrutiny of at least one more editor and often of the managing editor or editor of the newspaper.

The Shakur piece did not receive that many layers of review. Bob Steele, a journalism values scholar at the Poynter Institute, said he would not pass judgment on The Times’ editing process. “But any time you have a substantive investigative project you need multiple levels of quality control,” Steele said endless summer nights richard marx . “You need contrarians within the organization who are going to be very skeptical. “The editor of Smoking Gun, Bill Bastone, who shepherded the website’s critique, had been an acquaintance of Philips before the Shakur investigation endless summer night . The two met not long ago for lunch, discussing their mutual passion for investigative reporting and other matters. Bastone knew The Times would publish a story related to the attack on Shakur, and he said he had immediate misgivings when he saw the piece last week. He said he called Philips to say “things just don’t feel right about this. “Bastone said he “took no joy in doing this,” adding, “We greatly respect your paper and Chuck and Chuck’s work hold on to the night . But I think what happened here is that this guy Sabatino is a master con man, and they got caught up with him. “–james. rainey**END OF APPENDED CORRECTION: “The Times apologizes over article on rapper”** hold on to the nights. The NCAA announced a crackdown on bench decorum for the upcoming basketball season Thursday, saying many common behaviors that are deemed unsportsmanlike by officials will be met with technical fouls without warning. Also targeted: Coaches who leave the coaching box, even simply to talk to their players.

No specific conclusions can be drawn about any involvement or intent on the part of the losing or winning player. “The Davydenko controversy mushroomed at the next tour stop in Montreal — where the men’s top players had gathered for the Rogers Cup — with a series of explosive disclosures. Bob Bryan of Camarillo, one of the sport’s leading doubles players, told The Times that some colleagues received anonymous phone calls asking them to manipulate the outcomes of matches Crazy For You . Days later, prominent coach Larry Stefanki, who has been working with Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez, reported being pressed for inside information about another competitor during the Australian Open in January. The eventual U. S crazy for gershwin . Open finalist Novak Djokovic said in Montreal that tennis has a gambling problem. Bryan’s revelations gained support at the U. S crazy for you mira costa . Open when a series of players, including Paul Goldstein and Dmitry Tursunov, recounted receiving offers of money to influence matches patricia fodor crazy for you . Additionally, the French sports daily L’Equipe quoted two unnamed players saying they had received bribe offers and witnessed matches being thrown. Tenth-ranked Tomas Berdych, also at the U. S. Open, said he too had heard players were approached at events in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Of the Davydenko case, he said, “The situation, it’s really bad. “lisa. dillman.

I HAPPENED TO BE in London last week when the Independent newspaper ran a front-page petition calling for “a cease-fire now,” signed by a cross-section of the smoked-salmon socialist set — various retired ambassadors, human rights lawyers and creative geniuses such as Peter Gabriel and Harold Pinter crazy for you musical . Which conflict were they trying to end? Not the one in Iraq, where fighting among sectarian militias is killing 100 people a day ???? crazy for you . Nor the one in Darfur, which continues to claim countless victims notwithstanding the signing of a peace accord crazy for gershwin . Nor any of the many other bloodlettings going on around this unhappy planet. The war they’re exercised about is the one that Israel is waging after suffering unprovoked attacks on its northern and southern frontiers crazy for you mira costa . Their petition calls on Prime Minister Tony Blair to force Israel “to end its disproportionate and counterproductive response to Hezbollah’s aggression. ” The petition also calls for bringing “all pressure possible on Hezbollah to end its attacks on Israel,” but of course the result of a cease-fire now would be to end all pressure on the terrorists. The signatories are smart enough to know that, but they don’t care. Some of those hellbent on a cease-fire are no doubt animated by sheer animus against Israel, a nation that is held to a standard different from anyone else Crazy for You – wikipedia . (Note the “disproportionate” outrage over Israel’s bombing of a building in Qana, Lebanon, that accidentally and tragically may have killed nearly 60 civilians, compared to the relative lack of outcry over the deliberate bombings by Muslim terrorists that killed more than 200 commuters in Mumbai. )But there’s more at work here than a Mel Gibson-esque bias (“Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”).

There is also a palpable sense of self-satisfaction among those who advocate peace at any price crazy for you song . It is all too easy to bask in your own virtue while castigating someone else as a warmonger, even though few peace treaties have achieved much unless preceded by decisive military action patricia fodor crazy for you . The greatest peacemakers in modern history were generals like the Duke of Wellington, William Tecumseh Sherman, Curtis LeMay, George S ???? crazy for you . Patton and Ariel Sharon, who ruthlessly waged war on behalf of Western democracies. However, such “militarists” win no Nobel Peace Prizes crazy for gershwin . Those accolades sometimes go to brave dissidents such as Lech Walesa and Aung San Suu Kyi, but more often they go to ineffectual peace activists such as Pugwash-founder Joseph Rotblat and U Crazy for You – wikipedia . S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, author of a 1928 treaty that purported to outlaw war. On two occasions, the prize was even granted to cynical aggressors — the PLO’s Yasser Arafat and North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho — for whom a peace treaty was merely a tactical step on the way to achieving their ultimate aims by force. Architects of unsuccessful wars are rightly held responsible for their actions, as Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara were for the Vietnam War and as George W.

Bush and Donald Rumsfeld may be for the Iraq war, but there is no comparable settling of accounts for those responsible for failed peace pacts crazy for you songs . Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung still has his 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, notwithstanding North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear weapons and missiles crazy for you mira costa. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres still has his 1994 prize despite the collapse of the Oslo accords patricia fodor crazy for you . And United Nations peacekeeping forces still have their 1988 prize even though they have become better known for committing sex crimes than for keeping the peace ???? crazy for you . (The current fighting has exposed the ineffectuality of yet another set of blue helmets — those deployed in southern Lebanon. )Nowhere is the dismal record of peace processes clearer than in Israel’s case. Over the years, the “international community” repeatedly has stepped in to prevent Israel from finishing off its enemies — for instance, following its 1982, 1993 and 1996 incursions into Lebanon. Unrelenting pressure even led Israel in 2000 to leave Lebanon altogether.

The result? Not peace, but a stronger, more dangerous adversary on Israel’s border crazy for you broadway . The only real peace that Israel got, as a result of the 1978 Camp David accords, came after it had decisively defeated Egypt in two wars. You would think that some lessons might be learned from this history But no crazy for gershwin . Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, architect of the 1993 and 1996 Israeli pullouts, is demanding yet another cease-fire that will allow Hezbollah to keep holding Lebanon and Israel hostage crazy for you mira costa . And he is joined in this demand by the great and the good across the world. Samuel Johnson’s famous epigram needs to be amended patricia fodor crazy for you . In the 18th century, patriotism may have been the last refuge of the scoundrel Today, it’s peace activism. . Those who have examined Jerry Buss’ few public utterances over the years have come to understand one of the paradoxes of Hollywood’s swashbuckling sports owner. He doesn’t act. He doesn’t posture, he doesn’t pose, he means exactly what he says. What Buss said in Thursday’s paper about Kobe Bryant, then, was breathtakingly clear. He said goodbye. He said he was weary of Bryant’s ridiculing his family and degrading his organization. He said he was tired of living with Bryant’s consistent and vocal unhappiness. He said he would listen to trade offers, which means he will eventually take one. Maybe Bryant won’t be traded this minute Crazy for You .

Maybe he won’t even be traded this winter. But it is obvious the minute the Lakers can acquire anything that even resembles fair value, Bryant is gone, and Buss won’t much miss him. Hey, Kobe, turns out you’re not the only one in the organization who feels betrayed, huh?To understand the impact of Buss’ statements in his annual interview with the team’s beat writers on Wednesday, one must contrast them with his previous comments about his star. Buss saying he would trade Bryant was like his coach suddenly announcing that the triangle had become a square. Never has Buss shown anything but unconditional admiration for Bryant. Crazy for You tickets Never has he even hinted at anything other than wanting him to remain a Laker forever. Go back to Feb . 22, 2004, when Bryant’s rivalry with teammate Shaquille O’Neal erupted in nastiness. Buss flatly told ESPN that he backed Bryant. “I believe he will be a Laker for life,” Buss said. In the same interview, Buss questioned Coach Phil Jackson by saying, “There are times when it seems he doesn’t want to coach. “Four months later, Jackson was gone. Later, he also questioned O’Neal’s attitude, saying, “We have to talk and see if he wants to stay here. “Five months later, O’Neal was gone. Although Buss is an avid poker player, when it comes to talking basketball, he rarely bluffs. Fast forward to later that summer, during free-agent negotiations with his favorite son. On July 13, 2004, his public message to Bryant was, “Stay with the people who love you. “A year later, that love was still going strong. On May 4, 2005, Buss said, “I don’t want to trade Kobe ???? crazy for you . And I really think somebody would have to give me their franchise, their arena and the city in order to get him. “At that point, with Bryant firmly in control of the franchise, acting as both coach and assistant general manager, he and Buss were seemingly joined, swaggering hip to swaggering hip. On Oct crazy for gershwin . 29, 2006, Buss said his relationship with Bryant “is closer now than it has ever been. “Even as recently as May 31, shortly after Bryant began his trade demands by implying that Buss was a liar and ripping the entire Lakers front office, the owner backed him during a phone conversation. “We will continue to pursue every avenue possible to improve our team with him as the cornerstone,” Buss said. That was then. This is holy cow. Maybe Buss finally lost his patience when, in June, an audiotape surfaced in which Bryant referred to Buss as an “idiot. “Maybe Buss lost his cool when he heard Kevin Garnett say this week that he didn’t want to become a Laker because of their front office problems . Maybe, then, Buss realized the incredible damage Bryant’s public whining had done to the Lakers’ reputation and brand. Whatever the reason, when Buss sat down with the beat writers this week, you could hear how everything had changed. “I would certainly listen,” he said. The question was about trading Bryant, and the key words were “certainly” and “listen. ” Never have they been used together in a sentence on this subject. “You can’t keep too many loyalties,” Buss said. While witnesses said he used a matter-of-fact tone here, can’t you just feel the sarcasm? Is there a more loyal owner anywhere than Jerry Buss?His staff is filled with longtime employees Even some of the ballboys have seemingly been there forever. This was a direct shot at Bryant’s vindictiveness in the face of unconditional support. “You’ve got to look at it like a business,” Buss said. Again, check the sarcasm here. Buss is a good businessman but, c’mon, does any owner in basketball use the word “family” more than he does?Buss was clearly mimicking Bryant’s mantra, his cold approach to a team that has spent the last decade wrapping him in a warm hug. “[Bryant] looks at it the same way I look at it,” he said. Indeed, after an confusing summer, they are finally seeing the same two things. Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers’ front door. Thankfully, finally, the owner of the joint is grabbing him by the collar and ushering him there now. Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill. plaschke.