1. The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books: $30) Members of the Thursday Murder Club plunge back into action after a wedding guest disappears.
2. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
3. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $32) Two rival graduate students journey to hell to save their professor’s soul.
4. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.
5. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Del Rey: $35) A woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy.
6. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.
7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful period in her past.
8. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
9. We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) The follow-up to the campus satire “Bunny” goes on a journey into the heart of dark academia.
10. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (Simon & Schuster: $30) The former vice president tells her story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.
2. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.
3. We the People by Jill Lepore (Liveright: $40) The historian offers a wholly new history of the Constitution.
4. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.
5. Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $29) The Oscar-winning actor shares his writings and reflections.
6. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Scribner: $30) The acclaimed novelist’s first memoir takes on the complex relationship with her mother.
7. I’m Just a Little Guy by Charlie James, Paige Tompkins (illustrator) (Quirk Books: $15) The comedian offers a softer, sillier, sunnier way to walk through life.
8. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books: $35) The bestselling author’s memoir about an intense and ultimately tragic love.
9. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
10. Truly by Lionel Richie (HarperOne: $36) The music legend tells his story.
…
Paperback fiction
1. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
4. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Gallery Books: $19)
5. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $18)
6. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
7. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Picador: $19)
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22)
9. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
10. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
2. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
3. Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books: $22)
4. The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (Penguin: $19)
5. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19)
6. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)
7. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)
8. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
9. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
10. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)
1. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Del Rey: $35) A woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy.
2. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
3. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.
4. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
5. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $35) The deluxe limited edition of a dark academia fantasy about two rival graduate students’ descent into hell.
6. This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (Ace: $39) Carl and Princess Donut are ready for battle in the seventh book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
7. We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) The follow-up to the campus satire “Bunny” goes on a journey into the heart of dark academia.
8. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teenagers 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist.
9. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt & Co.: $29) An unexpected wedding guest gets surprise help on starting anew.
10. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (Simon & Schuster: $30) The former vice president tells her story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.
2. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books: $35) The bestselling author’s memoir about an intense and ultimately tragic love.
3. Faithonomics by Jerry Lopez (Jerry Lopez: $29) Biblical wisdom is paired with modern-day financial strategies.
4. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.
5. Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $29) The Oscar-winning actor shares his writings and reflections.
6. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
7. Replaceable You by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton & Co.: $29) An exploration of the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings.
8. Art Work by Sally Mann (Abrams Press: $35) The artist explores the challenges and pleasures of the creative process.
9. When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows … by Steven Pinker (Scribner: $30) How the hidden logic of common knowledge can make sense of many of life’s enigmas.
10. Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) The comedian uses the writings of the Bible to highlight Christian hypocrisy while calling for compassion and clarity.
…
Paperback fiction
1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)
2. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $19)
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
4. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
5. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
6. The Best Short Stories 2025 by Edward P. Jones (editor) (Vintage: $19)
7. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (Penguin: $19)
8. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
9. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
10. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Penguin: $18)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. Alignment by Katie Keller Wood (Page Two: $19)
2. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
3. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)
4. Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik (Scribner: $20)
5. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum (Vintage: $18)
6. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
7. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)
8. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $20)
9. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin Books: $21)
10. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)
In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio, as the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.
In 1889, Thomas Edison debuts his first motion picture.
In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina, dual provinces in Europe’s Balkan region which were formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire, sparking a crisis.
In 1927, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, Hollywood’s legendary “first talkie,” premiered in New York, ushering in the era of sound and a subsequent end of the silents.
In 1945, the Curse of the Billy Goat was placed on the Chicago Cubs when Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the World Series because his pet goat’s strong odor. The curse ended in 2016, when the Cubs won the World Series.
File Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/UPI
In 1973, Egypt and Syria, attempting to win back territory lost during the third Arab-Israeli war, launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. This conflict, which would last 19 days, would become known as the Yom Kippur War.
In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor walked down the aisle for the eighth time when she married Larry Fortensky. Though she had eight weddings, the actor had seven grooms; she married Richard Burton twice.
In 2001, Cal Ripken Jr. retired after a baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games.
File Photo by Chris Corder/UPI
In 2004, a U.S. weapons inspector said Iraq began destroying its illicit weapons in 1991 and had none by 1996, seven years before the United States invaded. A report determined that 12 years of international sanctions had succeeded in disarming the country of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2017, the tropical storm that would later increase in intensity to Hurricane Nate entered the Gulf of Honduras. The storm made landfall in two days later in Louisiana and resulted in nearly 50 deaths in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States.
In 2017, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
In 2018, Brett Kavanaugh took the oath of office to become a justice on the Supreme Court after a contentious confirmation process in which he was accused of sexual misconduct.
In 2021, the World Health Organization recommended the wide rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine for children after a two-year pilot program showed promising results.
In 2023, Simone Biles won her sixth all-around world championship title in Antwerp, Belgium. The win made her the most decorated gymnast in history.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers entered training camp with hopes of finally establishing chemistry between stars Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves. But the trio have yet to see the court together. On Sunday, they all stayed on the bench during the Lakers’ 111-103 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.
With Doncic (rest) and James (glute) already out, Reaves was rested Sunday after an already full first week of training camp. The fifth-year guard had the highest workload on the team entering the first preseason game that took place after three days of practice. He scored 20 points against the Phoenix Suns as one of the few offensive bright spots in Friday’s blowout loss.
Without their top offensive playmakers, the Lakers got a lift from guard Gabe Vincent, who made his preseason debut after nursing a knee injury. He had 16 points and five assists while center Deandre Ayton, who scored just one point on two shots in Friday’s preseason game, scored seven points, all in the first quarter, with seven rebounds.
“We came with more intention,” Vincent said compared to the Lakers’ 103-81 loss to the Suns on Friday. “We were more focused. Obviously it’s different with those three not playing. They’re a huge part of our team and everything that we do. But next man up.”
After their first two preseason games, the Lakers have one week of practice until their first home preseason game against the Warriors on Oct. 12. Coach JJ Redick said that although Doncic was scheduled to rest for the first two preseason games after he played in EuroBasket with his national team, the Slovenian superstar is still expected to play before the team officially opens its season on Oct. 21. The Lakers have four preseason games remaining.
Whether James, who was held out of early training camp practices because of nerve irritation in his glute, will play in the preseason remains to be seen. Entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season, James is on a slower ramp-up schedule than previous years, Redick said.
The Warriors took a similarly cautious approach with their aging superstars as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler III and Al Horford were all limited to one half. The 37-year-old Curry still scored 14 points in 15 minutes, draining five of seven shots from the field and drawing loud cheers from a nearly full Chase Center crowd when he laid up an acrobatic shot through contact and pointed two finger guns into the ESPN baseline camera.
Redick called it a challenge to get a proper evaluation of his team in a 48-minute preseason game when his top three stars are out, but after Friday’s preseason opener, he was looking for better organization on offense early in the shot clock, playing with pace and more physicality.
“We’ve got to be more physical getting open,” Redick said before the game. “We’ve got to be more physical with our screening. That doesn’t change based on who’s in the lineup, so that habit, we can build that.”
“Championship habits” is one of three pillars Redick has preached relentlessly during training camp, along with championship communication and championship shape. He said he would judge the latter in part by whether players are sprinting back on defense.
The Lakers were outscored 23-5 in transition Sunday and 42-11 through two preseason games.
With the exception of a 10-0 Warriors run to end the second quarter and a nearly six-minute stretch to begin the third quarter during which Golden State pushed a seven-point halftime lead into a 23-point rout, Redick said the overall competitiveness was “much better” than against Phoenix. But the next challenge will be to put forth that effort consistently.
It follows a recent theme Redick introduced to the team: Kaizen, the Japanese word for improvement.
“It’s just getting 1% better each day,” said forward Jake LaRavia, who had 10 points and three assists. “And that goes along with just winning the day. We thought when we played Phoenix, we didn’t. Today, we thought we did a good amount better, obviously, still not the result that we wanted, but we’re working in the right direction.”
Standing under four palm trees in the quad area of Calabasas High, Los Alamitos football players have their eyes trained on coach Ray Fenton’s face for more than five uninterrupted minutes.
Looking to see if anyone loses focus when a mother walks by and starts yelling at her daughter, the answer is incredibly no. The players keep listening and keep their eyes directed on Fenton.
It’s tough enough to make teenagers listen for 30 seconds to adults these days, but to see an entire football team not letting anyone or anything disturb their focus while their coach is speaking provides a hint why Los Alamitos is 7-0 and the surprise high school football team in Southern California this season.
“Everyone has their eye on coach,” offensive lineman Braiden McKenna said. “It’s all the little things that keep you disciplined. Wearing your mouthpiece, keeping your eyes on him.”
It’s not true that Los Alamitos doesn’t have any stars. They might not have been mentioned much in preseason hype lists, but players have performed at a high level so far.
Tight end Beckham Hofland, 6 foot 5 and 230 pounds, is a load to cover and also serves as a kicker. Running backs Kamden Tillis and Lenny Ibarra are versatile and reliable. Quarterback Colin Creason, who sat out last season while transferring from Long Beach Poly, keeps improving. The offensive line, led by the veteran McKenna, who plays center, is very good. Ibarra leads the defense with 66 tackles.
Coach Ray Fenton and his 7-0 Los Alamitos football team.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s so much easier to want to win with someone you care about and they care about you,” McKenna said of the team chemistry.
Los Alamitos has had more talented teams in recent years aided by transfer students. This one is mostly home grown, and Fenton couldn’t be happier.
“They’re friends,” Fenton said. “They’ve grown up together. You play harder with guys you’re friends with. You don’t want to let them down. They’re Los Al kids. They take pride in the community.”
They won in Hawaii 34-31 on tying and game-winning field goals by Ibarra, who practiced kicking the ball between two palm trees at a park. They knocked off Gardena Serra 42-21. They beat a good Granite Hills team 49-42. Seven straight wins came over seven weeks, so now they are on a two-week break to prepare for the daunting task of facing three good Alpha League opponents — Edison at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16, at San Clemente on Oct. 24 and a finale against Mission Viejo on Oct. 30 at Artesia.
They are serious contenders for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth even though some people still can’t figure out how they keep winning.
The answer is simple: they’re hungry. Never underestimate a team where one teammate after another supports each other no matter the challenges, no matter the obstacles, no matter the skepticism of others.
“This is throwback,” Fenton said. “It’s old school. Play for your local school, play for your community, play for your friends. The kids you played Pop Warner with are the kids you’re playing high school football with. It’s the way it was supposed to be.”
1 of 5 | Patients sick with the flu are hospitalized at a makeshift ward at Camp Funston in Kansas in 1918. On October 5, 2005, scientists announced that for the first time they were able to genetically sequence the strain of avian flu that was behind the 1918 pandemic that killed up to 50 million people worldwide. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army
Oct. 5 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1918, Germany’s Hindenburg Line was broken as World War I neared an end.
In 1921, the World Series is broadcast on the radio for the first time.
In 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 71st home run, most by a player in one season, breaking Mark McGwire’s 1998 Major League Baseball record. The San Francisco Giants slugger finished the season with 73 homers.
File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI
In 2005, scientists announced that for the first time they were able to genetically sequence the strain of avian flu that was behind the 1918 pandemic that killed up to 50 million people worldwide.
In 2010, Faisal Shahzad, who left an explosives-laden vehicle in New York’s Times Square, planning to detonate it on a busy night, was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2023, a Russian strike on a supermarket in the village of Hroza, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, killed dozens of people.
Head to the secretary of state’s website to find out if you’re registered. You’ll need to enter a California driver’s license or ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security number.
You can also call the state’s voter hotline at (800) 345-VOTE(8683) to get a paper application mailed you to you, or you can pick one up at a county election office, most California libraries and United States Post Office locations; Department of Motor Vehicle office and various federal, state, and local government offices.
Though on first glance this pairing seems an unlikely double bill, the fine folks at the New Beverly know what they’re doing, and this will make for an evening of subliminal messages and energizing subversion. Directed by John Carpenter (who also wrote the screenplay under a pseudonym), 1988’s “They Live” comes on like an alien invasion B-movie about a drifter (wrestler-turned-actor Roddy Piper) who becomes part of the resistance, but reveals itself to be an angry rebuke of Reagan-era greed. 2001’s “Josie and the Pussycats,” written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, is an uproarious satire of pop culture consumerism as a small-time rock band (Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson) come to realize the true aims of the record company that shoots them to stardom. (Parker Posey and Alan Cumming are camp delights as nefarious executives.) Though both movies are very much of their respective moments, they sadly still have a lot to say about our current one.
“They Live” is playing with “Josie and the Pussycats” on Oct. 10, 11 and 12 at the New Beverly. Tickets here.
In the spring of 2020, Doug Caines was burned out and finished coaching football.
“The COVID season probably broke me,” he said.
He had been head coach at Dos Pueblos High since 2018. He had been head coach at Santa Barbara from 2012-14. He remained at Dos Pueblos as a media arts teacher and focused on his own kids.
Then, in 2023, he was approached about becoming the girls’ flag football coach in the first season of the sport. It changed his life.
“Honestly, I’ve never had this much fun coaching football,” he said. “Man is it fun. The girls are just coachable and want to play and most are other athletes first.”
Dos Pueblos flag football receiver Brooklyn Hedricks, left, and quarterback Kacey Hurley.
(Michael Owen Baker/For The Times)
That feeling of fun, players wanting to learn and parents watching to enjoy the game instead of worrying about college recruiters best describes the third season of flag football. Everyone realizes this purity probably won’t last for long. Players are already getting offered flag football scholarships to colleges. High schools have started to seek out players.
Yet for now, the participants are enjoying just having the chance to play a sport that used to be reserved for boys.
“Before freshman year, I had never played and never heard of it,” said star Dos Pueblos receiver/defensive back Brooklyn Hendricks, whose father, George, is head baseball coach and also an assistant flag coach.
Dos Pueblos head coach Doug Caines, center, talks with his players during halftime.
(Michael Owen Baker/For The Times)
She was a travel ball player for years in softball. Her parents spent lots of time and money taking her to games around the country. Guess what has happened in her junior year of high school?
“Softball was my best sport, but flag football honestly is my best,” she said. “To get a scholarship offer is crazy.”
Dos Pueblos is 18-2 and part of a strong group of teams from Ventura County and the Santa Barbara area ready to challenge the powerful teams in Orange County. Dos Pueblos’ took 18-1 Orange Lutheran to overtime before losing.
“That was the most intense game I’ve played in,” Hendricks said. “It was such a battle back and forth. It was so much fun.”
Besides Hendricks, who has more than 30 interceptions in her flag football career, quarterback Kacey Hurley has been a key contributor. Last season Hurley was the center snapping the ball to the quarterback. Now she’s the one firing spirals, with 49 touchdown passes so far.
The regular season ends on Oct. 15. The playoffs are Oct. 21, 25, 28 and Nov. 1 with the championship games on Nov. 8.
Caines has been revitalized and rejuvenated.
“It’s been magical,” he said. “The first year was so fun. No expectations. Everything was new — the first game, the first touchdown, the first interception. We’ve been able to keep that going.”
Based on Caines’ coaching experience, a real trend in the coming years could be veteran 11-man football coaches switching to flag football to get back to the days of players learning from scratch and appreciating every moment at practice and games.
Meanwhile, the players will keep having strange dances before and after games, applying eyeblack like it’s makeup and, most of all, having fun playing a sport that isn’t their main one but could be one day.
“This team has great chemistry,” Hendricks said. “There’s never any drama. We have a good set of coaches, We focus on having more fun. We love a win. That’s great. But it’s more of a family.”
It’s the game of the year in high school flag football.
On Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Orange Lutheran, the unbeaten Lancers (18-0) take on unbeaten JSerra (19-0) in a game that should attract a large crowd and produce a memorable matchup.
Orange Lutheran and quarterback Makena Cook are the defending Division 1 flag football champions. JSerra, bolstered by a group of talented freshmen, have been surging and preparing for this showdown. Freshman quarterback Katie Meier and freshman receiver Ava Irwin get to test themselves on a big stage.
No Southern Section team has come closer than 14 points when playing JSerra. Orange Lutheran’s toughest game was an overtime win over Dos Pueblos, which hasn’t lost since.
There will be a rematch on Oct. 9 at JSerra and perhaps a third meeting in the playoffs.
But this game should do wonders for flag football as some of the top athletes in the sport show their passion and talent.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
The old stage at West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre looks as small as ever to Tim Curry. Back in 1974, the actor spent nearly a year strutting across its boards in fishnets and a snug corset as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the flamboyant, sexually ravenous mad scientist of the musical comedy “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Witnesses to that run of performances still marvel at the spectacle of Curry’s nightly entrance, as he marched from the lobby on a long catwalk, his high heels at eye level with the audience. He would then cast aside his Dracula cape to sing a personal theme song, “Sweet Transvestite.”
“It’s actually really nice to be here because it was another home for me,” says Curry, 79, looking up at the empty stage inside the Sunset Strip nightclub. “It became my stomping ground. I had to appear as though I owned it — and I kind of did.”
At the end of that same year, Curry was back home in England to shoot the feature film version, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a rock ’n’ roll send-up of old sci-fi and horror B-movies that became both a cult classic and a vibrant symbol for sexual freedom. It is the original midnight movie and is now being feted around the world for its 50th anniversary with a second life as the longest continuous theatrical release in cinema history.
Tim Curry, center, as Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
(John Jay Photo / Disney)
The role changed Curry’s career forever, and he will be part of some of those celebrations, beginning with a screening of a newly restored 4K version of the film, along with a panel Q&A, at the Academy Museum on Friday.
At the time of the film’s original release in 1975, it tapped into a cultural zeitgeist that mixed glamour and androgyny, akin to the era’s glam-rock movement led by David Bowie. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” ultimately found a cult of fans who gathered for weekly midnight screenings in costume as the movie’s outlandish characters, performing as a “shadow cast” in harmony with the film onscreen.
“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” says Curry. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”
Since a stroke in 2012, the actor has been in a wheelchair and most of his work has been in voiceover. He did appear on camera in a 2016 remake of “Rocky Horror” for television, this time as the criminologist. But it was as the lascivious, self-confident Frank-N-Furter that Curry made history.
On this afternoon, he is dressed in black, auburn hair slicked back. In the Roxy’s lobby is a portrait of Curry in character as the mad doctor in pearls. It was a role he originated in London, on the tiny stage upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, where it first became an underground sensation.
“Even for the time, there was a lot of courage that went into that performance,” remembers Jim Sharman, who directed Curry in the original stage productions in London and Los Angeles and then onscreen. “Tim himself was actually a kind of quiet intellectual offstage, but onstage he really knew how to let it rip.”
Curry, center, in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
(Disney)
With a story and songs written by actor Richard O’Brien, who also played the skeletal, sarcastic Riff-Raff, “Rocky Horror” begins with a young couple caught in a rainstorm who approach a mysterious castle in search of shelter and a phone.
Played by then-unknowns Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, the couple find Frank-N-Furter is hosting a convention of partying aliens in formalwear from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania.
The mad doctor is also anxious to show off his latest experiment, the creation of a perfectly formed male, a personal plaything of chiseled muscles and blond hair, as he sings “I Can Make You A Man.” The scene leaves an impression.
“He takes no prisoners — it’s his world and you just happen to live in it,” Curry says with a smile of his Frank-N-Furter. “He doesn’t leave much air in the room. And I enjoyed that because it was so not like me, really.”
Notably, the film shares a 50-year anniversary with “Jaws,” and Curry remembers someone at 20th Century Fox placing newspaper ads that year for “Rocky Horror” with the film’s glossy red lips image and words promising, “A different set of jaws.”
“Jaws,” of course, was a record-breaking summer blockbuster, but as the longest-running theatrical release of all time, “Rocky Horror” really has no competition in terms of impact. It helped establish a culture for midnight movies in open-ended rotation, from David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” to Paul Verhoeven’s “Showgirls.”
At the customary hour of midnight, the restored 4K film will be premiering across the country this weekend, with special screenings and Q&As on Oct. 4 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Oct. 15 at the Grammy Museum. The film will then be rereleased on Blu-ray on Oct. 7, with a reissue of the official soundtrack album on Oct. 10.
Also landing in time for the celebration is a new documentary, “Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror,” directed by Linus O’Brien, son of “Rocky Horror” author and composer Richard O’Brien. The 90-minute film explores the making of the movie, the original stage musical and the decades of fan culture that followed.
“When a work of art survives this long, it’s working on many different levels,” says the younger O’Brien, who was a toddler on the set. “You want to live in that house and have those naughty experiences. [People] will be talking about it long after we’re all dead.”
The “Rocky Horror” journey from underground theater to feature film began after Los Angeles music impresario Lou Adler saw the show during a trip to London. Known as a manager and record producer (Carole King’s “Tapestry”), Adler was shaken from his jet lag, instantly recognizing “Rocky Horror” as a potential attraction for his recently opened L.A. club, the Roxy. Within two days, Adler signed a deal to host its U.S. premiere.
At the Roxy, the show was an immediate sensation, fueled by Curry’s wildly charismatic performance. Opening night brought out a crowd that included Jack Nicholson, John Lennon and Mick Jagger. L.A. Times theater critic Dan Sullivan compared Curry to various Hollywood grande dames (Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, among them).
“It was one of the great parties of all time,” Adler recalls during a video call from his home in Malibu. “The acceptance was unbelievable.”
Talk of turning the stage musical into a movie soon followed and a deal was made with 20th Century Fox, with producers Adler and Michael White guaranteeing delivery on a modest budget of about $1 million.
“I don’t know if 20th Century Fox ever understood the film,” Sharman says with a laugh, in a video call from Australia. “They might’ve been relieved that it was going on a low budget and being made on somebody’s lunch money.”
It was the first feature film for many of them. But Adler and White insisted on keeping the stage musical’s creative team together, including Sharman, costume designer Sue Blane and production designer Brian Thomson. With Curry firmly in the lead role, most of the cast members were drawn from the London production. Joining them were American actors Sarandon, Bostwick and singer Meat Loaf.
“I adored her,” Curry says of Sarandon. “She was a witty girl and so beautiful, and a real actress, I thought. You could tell that she had something.”
He also became friends with Meat Loaf, who appeared in the small but impactful role of Eddie, bursting out of a freezer on a motorcycle long enough to sing the manic “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul.” In 1981, Curry hosted “Saturday Night Live” and appeared with Meat Loaf in a skit that had the actors selling “Rocky Horror” memorabilia. (Curry is still irritated by that one: “Dreadful.”)
Lou Adler, photographed at the Roxy in West Hollywood in 2023.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“When the movie was a definite thing, there were several big stars who wanted to play the part,” Curry remembers. “Mick Jagger wanted to play it and he would’ve done a great job if you saw ‘Performance.’ But [director Sharman] said he wanted me to do it. I don’t think the studio was happy that he turned down Mick.”
Though Sharman was a very experienced stage director, he had made only one previous film, a 16mm feature called “Shirley Thompson vs. the Aliens.” For “Rocky Horror,” he says he was aiming for “a dark version of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” He was also inspired by old B-movies and German Expressionism along with lessons learned from the stage. Interior scenes were shot at the old Hammer horror films’ Bray Studios just outside London.
“The reason we don’t have great anecdotes from the shoot is we didn’t have time for anecdotes,” adds Sharman. “It was shot in five weeks.”
Bostwick, appearing in one of his first film roles, remembers, “It felt like a very low-budget but colorful, bright and inspiring musical. You knew from the moment you were around the sets and costumes and lighting and makeup and camera people that they were at the top of their game.”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” evolved in some subtle but meaningful ways in its transition from the stage. For the live performances, Curry did his own makeup. “In the theater, I made it look a lot more amateur, deliberately, like he wasn’t good at it but was making a brave attempt and didn’t care much,” Curry says with a laugh. “In the play, it was just a lot trashier.”
For the film, French makeup artist Pierre La Roche was recruited to refine Frank-N-Furter’s exterior. La Roche had previously worked with Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust era.
“He was indeed very French,” says Curry, campily. “He was brilliant.”
An early sign of the challenges the movie would face arrived at an early screening of the completed film for Fox executives. Curry was there with Adler. “You could touch the silence at the end,” recalls Curry. “It wasn’t a very alive audience. There was really no reaction at all.”
Fox also hosted a test screening in Santa Barbara. The audience was a local mix of retirees and university students, and many of the older filmgoers began heading for the exit, until the theater was nearly empty.
But as Adler and a young Fox executive named Tim Deegan sat on the curb outside, they also met young people who were excited about the film. Adler credits Deegan for finding the “Rocky Horror” audience in an unexpected place: indie theaters at midnight.
Its second life began at the Waverly Theater in New York, where it began evolving into a happening that was both a movie and a theatrical experience. At the time, Curry happened to live within walking distance of the Waverly.
“It was a sort of guaranteed party,” he says of any potential moviegoer. “And if he didn’t bring a date, he could perhaps find one.”
On a recent weekend at the Nuart Theater in West L.A., barely five miles away from the Roxy, it’s approaching midnight and the lobby is filled with fans and volunteer shadow performers in “Rocky Horror” drag. Appearing as Frank-N-Furter is Kohlton Rippee, 32, already in his heels and makeup.
Like many here, he sees the film as both an outlet and a connection to a found family — a way “to see aspects of themselves represented in ways that they don’t see from traditional media. It’s like, ‘Oh, I can see myself in this and find this weird community to be around.’”
Bostwick first heard of the film’s second life from others and word trickled in that his every appearance onscreen was met with an affectionate callback from the crowd: “Ass—!” He didn’t see the phenomenon himself until later at the Tiffany Theater on Sunset.
“What do they say, that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth? I’ve always thought that a Friday and Saturday night at a theater at midnight was the happiest place on Earth,” the actor says of the many raucous screenings he’s witnessed. “Everybody was just having a ball.”
After Walt Disney Co.‘s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox, it turned the House of Mouse into the unlikely steward of “Rocky Horror.” Back in 1975, nothing could have been further from the Disney brand than a rock ’n’ roll musical about a cross-dressing scientist. That year, Disney released “The Apple Dumpling Gang.”
“I guess Walt is kind of revolving in his grave,” Curry jokes.
Even so, Adler says Disney has been a good partner on “Rocky Horror” and is supporting the multiple official anniversary events. “Walt was a breakthrough guy,” the producer notes. “He broke through and made a mouse a hero. So, in a way, he had his own Frank-N-Furter.”
As a major storm rushed toward Florida last October, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the time faced a different kind of threat. Police had shown up in force to a rental property she owned as a result of a prank call, in a potentially dangerous attack known as “swatting.”
Back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton had sparked a torrent of online conspiracies, with FEMA officials facing harassment and death threats, according to hundreds of pages of agency emails and other documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg News. The records shed new light on how disaster-related misinformation affects the government’s emergency response, sucks up internal resources, and puts staff at risk.
Deanne Criswell, who ran FEMA under President Joe Biden, learned about the swatting situation as she was about to brief TV viewers on Milton, one of the most powerful storms on record to develop in the Gulf of Mexico. “It was a very unsettling feeling,” she said in a recent interview, thinking back on how she juggled her concern for her renters along with preparing Floridians for the storm.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, November 20, 2024.
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Many of the attacks outlined in the documents have not previously been reported, including the doxxing of at least seven senior FEMA staffers. In those incidents sensitive personal information, such as home addresses, was published online for the purpose of harassment. The records also reveal challenges the agency faced as it tried to control the situation.
The incidents followed an online wave of disinformation suggesting FEMA was mishandling the response to the hurricanes that pummeled Florida and North Carolina in the lead up to the presidential election. Among the debunked claims swirling at the time were reports that agency workers had seized property from survivors and confiscated donations.
The offensive diverted agency time and resources to set the record straight and protect personnel. “It made my staff nervous,” said Criswell. “It made people in the community nervous. They didn’t know who to believe. They didn’t know who to trust.”The threat of misinformation continues to loom over the agency at a time when President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have made steep cuts to its staffing and funding, including pulling back on some of the resources FEMA used last fall to combat threats. In the aftermath of deadly Texas floods in July, for example, conspiracy theories online blamed cloud seeding.
“The profit-driven platform model, where sensational falsehoods outperform factual updates in emergencies, ensures this problem persists across political cycles and it can put lives at risk,” said Callum Hood, head of research at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.
A FEMA spokesperson said in an email the agency “uses internal DHS resources to identify and mitigate any personal threats to employees.”
A trail of disinformation
Workers, community members, and business owners clean up debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Marshall, North Carolina, Sept. 30, 2024.
(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Im)
Hurricane Helene made landfall in the middle of the night on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm, causing historic flooding far inland and killing at least 250 people. Western North Carolina was particularly hard hit. Flood waters swept away small towns and cut off others, while Asheville lost water for more than a month. Almost immediately, FEMA staff had to confront false rumors circulating online, including that it had stopped accepting housing assistance applications from survivors and didn’t have enough funds to help them.
FEMA officials and experts attribute the quick spread of disinformation to historic government mistrust in the area, as well as social media platforms ratcheting back moderation. High-profile figures including X owner Elon Musk and Trump, then in the late stages of his bid to retake the White House, repeated some of the false claims. Trump, for example, said multiple times during his campaign rallies FEMA was directing disaster funds to immigrants.
For example, the agency shared a screenshot taken from a TruthSocial post from Oct. 5 that stated: “Deanne Criswell needs to be executed for crimes against humanity and treason!” An Oct. 6 post on Gab, a social media site favored by the far right, called for the “Mussolini treatment” of various officials. “The only question: Is there enough rope?” read one of the responses.
Jacyln Rothenberg, the agency’s spokesperson at the time, was among the most heavily targeted, leading Homeland Security to loan Customs and Border Protection agents to provide security at her home. “Because the doxxing was so severe and my safety was at risk, I had to stop tweeting,” she said. “I had to stop doing interviews. I had to stop putting myself on the record.”
FEMA staff also found what it called “far-right” users posting possible personal information for numerous officials, including Criswell, Coen and Rothenberg, internal documents show.
Attacks on FEMA Offline
As a second powerful hurricane — Milton — developed off the coast of Florida, the attacks on staffers’ started migrating from the internet to their homes. After Criswell’s rental property was swatted, among other “serious threats,” then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas signed off on a government vehicle and extra security to protect the embattled FEMA chief.
Then it happened to someone else. “My deputy Jenna Peters’ home was swatted,” Coen told FEMA’s security team in an email on Oct. 11. Peters did not respond to a request for comment.
The most high-profile incident involved a man allegedly “hunting” FEMA staff in North Carolina’s disaster zone. On Criswell’s orders, she said in an email to other top Biden officials: “All FEMA staff and contractors working to interact with survivors and conducting housing inspections, as well as search and rescue teams stood down following the initial reports.”
Elena Gonzalez, 37, looks at their burned-out home after Hurricane Milton’s landfall on October 14, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida.
(Eva Marie Uzcategui/The Washington Post via Getty Im)
Afterwards, FEMA put together a Workplace Protection Task Force involving security, intelligence and communications professionals to manage incoming threats. Protective measures included using specialized software to flag personnel previously targeted online as at risk of more harassment. But there were limits to how far the government could influence content moderation. At the time, outspoken Republicans led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan were investigating tech companies, alleging that the platforms were censoring conservative viewpoints under federal government pressure.
After initially approving ZeroFox to assist with facilitating takedowns, FEMA later asked that the company end all social media content removal requests. Per internal documents, the move came after staff discussions that it wasn’t advisable for the agency to contract for services that took any action beyond passive threat monitoring. ZeroFox declined to comment.
Supporters of 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attend a boat parade near a house damaged in Hurricane Milton, Siesta Key, Florida, October 26, 2024.
(Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s team has already overseen a massive scale back of FEMA’s staffing, funding and programming. As part of a review of contracts, FEMA ended its agreement with ZeroFox, according to a former official familiar with the situation. A FEMA spokesperson confirmed that it ended the ZeroFox contract in April. For Melissa Ryan, founder of Card Strategies, a consulting firm that researches disinformation, the current political climate — in which public officials who attempt to provide transparency are often politicized and attacked — is a bigger obstacle than budget cuts in the fight against false claims. “So many of the new government appointees are Trump loyalists, and attempting to actually respond effectively to disinformation would make whoever made the attempt a target for MAGA and the administration,” she said.
The East L.A. Classic, matching high school football rivals Garfield and Roosevelt, is returning to East Los Angeles College on Friday, Oct. 24, the Bulldogs confirmed on Monday. There also will be a JV game and flag football game.
Last season, the two schools played at SoFi Stadium. The Coliseum has also hosted a recent game. But East L.A. College has been the site for the majority of a rivalry that serves as a homecoming for both schools and annually attracts the largest fan attendance in the City Section, if not in Southern California.
L.A.’s best football tradition is taking place THIS Friday, October 25 at Sofi Stadium.
The East L.A. Classic between the Roosevelt Roughriders & Garfield Bulldogs has been going on for over 99 years and is the best rivalry in L.A.
The high school football season begins this weekend with Week 0 games. Let’s examine storylines and questions to be answered:
What will it take for a team other than Mater Dei or St. John Bosco to reach the Southern Section Division 1 final?
The answer is luck, because it’s not happening. Every season since 2016, the Monarchs or Braves have won the Southern Section Division 1 title and have met in the finals every season except for 2021, when Servite, led by its two future first-round draft picks, Mason Graham and Teteroia McMillan, beat St. John Bosco in the semifinals. Those two schools have offensive and defensive lines too big, too strong and with too much depth for others to take down in the transfer era. They face off at the end of the regular season on Halloween, then will likely play again four weeks later for the section title.
What will life be like in the City Section after the collapse of Narbonne for rules violations?
It’s back to beating Birmingham if you want to win the City Section Open Division title. The Patriots had their 48-game City winning streak end with a loss to Narbonne but that was turned into a forfeit victory, so the streak is at 49. It’s a wide-open City race. Look for Carson, San Pedro and Palisades to join the Patriots for the right to win a missing trophy (yes, put up a reward to find it).
What’s the strongest position in the Southland this season?
It’s the defensive line. There are so many elite linemen and ends capable of making an impact this season, and beyond that quarterbacks better be warned to wear extra equipment to cushion the blows about to be inflicted. From Mater Dei’s Tomuhini Topui to Gardena Serra’s Khary Wilder, from Sierra Canyon’s Richard Wesley to St. John Bosco’s Dutch Horisk, expect lots of sacks and forced fumbles.
Which teams will be surprise success stories?
A new campus and new football stadium has Compton excited and ready for a big turnaround after going 3-7 last season. Former L.A. Jordan coach Derek Benton has taken over at Fremont, so perhaps the Pathfinders can move up. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has received some big-time transfers, putting the Knights in position to be competitive with Sierra Canyon and Gardena Serra in the Mission League. Agoura quarterback Gavin Gray is back from a knee injury, so the Chargers are ready to roll. Servite has a group of track athletes to be unleashed in football, and speed can be a game-changer. Cathedral is poised to be a title contender as quarterback Jaden Jefferson receives help on the offensive line. Burbank was impressive in seven-on-seven competitions and will try to prove its linemen can help out.
Which teams must find replacements for big-time players from last season?
Newbury Park needs someone to become the No. 1 receiver for quarterback Brady Smigiel after the graduation of Shane Rosenthal. Mater Dei will be trying out a trio of running backs to take on the role previously held by Jordon Davison, who is now at Oregon. Sierra Canyon’s bid to be a Division 1 contender will come down to play at quarterback (senior Chase Everett, junior Demarco Hernandez and senior Laird Finkel are competing for the starting job). Mission Viejo must find someone to duplicate Jaden Williams’ 23 sacks. JSerra is turning to untested quarterback Koa Smith-Mayall to replace Ryan Hopkins, who left for Mater Dei.
Which coaches will be under the microscope?
Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer takes over at Santa Margarita, having put together a top staff that includes last season’s interim coach, Steve Fifita. No one has a bigger task ahead than Narbonne first-year coach Doug Bledsoe, whose team is ineligible for the postseason and saw an exodus of players. Former NFL defensive back Troy Hill is a first-year coach at St. Bonaventure with no head coaching experience. Rick Clausen takes over at Westlake, which went 0-10 last season. Former Crespi coach Dameon Porter gets a second chance at Harvard-Westlake, which forfeited a game in 2023 because of a lack of players.
Which freshmen could have an impact?
Quarterback Thaddeus Breaux, Hamilton; quarterback Ezrah Brown, Orange Lutheran; quarterback Ford Green, Westlake; quarterback Marcus Washington Jr., Cajon; linebacker Ethan Harrington, Sierra Canyon; tight end Austin Miller, Bellflower; quarterback CJ Woods, Harvard-Westlake; quarterback Evan McCalister, Valencia; safety Tyrin Jefferson, Cathedral; receiver Mason Fowler, Corona Centennial.
What are games you don’t want to miss?
Mission Viejo vs. Santa Margarita at Trabuco Hills, Friday; Mater Dei at Corona Centennial, Sept. 12; Mater Dei at Bishop Gorman, Sept. 19; Gardena Serra at Sierra Canyon, Oct. 3; St. John Bosco vs. Orange Lutheran, Oct. 10; San Clemente at Mission Viejo, Oct. 17; Roosevelt vs. Garfield, Oct. 24; Carson at San Pedro, Oct. 30; Mater Dei at St. John Bosco, Oct. 31.
Which schools have new stadiums to visit?
Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton have new stadiums in the City Section. Long Beach Jordan, Hawthorne, Crescenta Valley and El Rancho open new stadiums in the Southern Section.
As LeBron James enters his record-setting 23rd NBA season and superstar Luka Doncic returns for his first full season in L.A., the Lakers are tied with the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks for the most nationally televised games in the league.
The NBA announced the regular season schedule Thursday, and the Lakers’ slate highlights the league’s growing number of broadcast partners. The Lakers open the season at home against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21 on NBC, have ABC/ESPN’s 5 p.m. prime-time slot against the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day and will welcome a familiar face back to Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 28 on Prime.
Anthony Davis’ return to L.A. with the Dallas Mavericks at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28 will wrap up NBA Cup group play. The former Lakers star forward was injured during what was going to be his return to L.A. last season after he was sent to the Mavericks in a shocking trade.
Now in its third year, the NBA Cup will begin on Oct. 31 with the Lakers playing at Memphis in West Group B that also includes the New Orleans Pelicans, the Clippers and the Mavericks. The Lakers have their second group game at New Orleans on Nov. 14 before playing the Clippers on Nov. 25 in Inglewood, where the game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. PST on NBC, the latest starting time for any in-season tournament game.
The NBA released only 80 of 82 regular-season games for each team as the final two games in December will be announced based on NBA Cup standings. The knockout rounds for the tournament begin Dec. 9.
The Lakers’ annual Grammy trip will have a hometown interlude as the two-week-long road trip includes a game at the Clippers on Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. But the meeting in Inglewood doesn’t necessarily ease the travel load as it is the second of the eight-game trip, sandwiched between games at Denver (Jan. 20) and Dallas (Jan. 24).
After returning from the trip, the Lakers have an eight-game home stand, highlighted by a Feb. 22 game against the Boston Celtics, when the franchise will unveil a Pat Riley statue outside Crypto.com Arena, the team announced Thursday. The coach of the Showtime Lakers, who guided the team to four NBA championships, will be the 14th statue in the arena’s Star Plaza.
The Lakers begin training camp Sept. 29 before playing six preseason games, beginning in Palm Springs on Oct. 3 against the Suns. The slate also includes a game against the Mavericks in Las Vegas on Oct. 15.
2025-26 Lakers schedule
OCTOBER
21: Golden State, 7; 24: Minnesota, 7; 26: at Sacramento, 6; 27: Portland, 7:30; 29: at Minnesota, 6:30; 31: at Memphis, 6:30.
NOVEMBER
2: Miami. 6:30; 3: at Portland, 7; 5: San Antonio, 7; 8: at Atlanta, 5; 10: at Charlotte, 4; 12: at Oklahoma City, 6:30; 14: New at Orleans, 5; 15: at Milwaukee, 5; 18: Utah, 7:30; 23: at Utah, 5; 25: at Clippers, 8; 28: Dallas, 7; 30: New Orleans, 6:30.
DECEMBER
1: Phoenix, 7; 4: at Toronto, 4:30; 5: at Boston, 4; 7: at Philadelphia, 4:30; 18: at Utah, 6; 20: at Clippers, 7:30; 23: at Phoenix, 6; 25: Houston, 5; 28: Sacramento, 6:30; 30: Detroit, 7:30.
JANUARY
2: Memphis, 7:30, 4: Memphis, 6:30; 6: at New Orleans, 5; 7: at San Antonio, 4:30; 9: Milwaukee, 7:30; 12: at Sacramento, 7; 13: Atlanta, 7:30; 15: Charlotte, 7:30; 17: at Portland, 7; 18: Toronto, 6:30; 20: at Denver, 7; 22: at Clippers, 7; 24: at Dallas, 5:30; 26: at Chicago, 5; 28: at Cleveland, 4; 30: at Washington, 4.
FEBRUARY
1: at New York, 4; 3: at Brooklyn, 4:30; 5: Philadelphia, 7; 7: Golden State, 5:30; 9: Oklahoma City, 7; 10: San Antonio, 7:30; 12: Dallas, 7; 20: Clippers, 7; 22: Boston, 3:30; 24: Orlando, 7:30; 26: at Phoenix, 6; 28: at Golden State, 5:30.
MARCH
1: Sacramento, 6:30; 3: New Orleans, 7:30; 5: at Denver, 7; 6: Indiana, 7:30; 8: New York, 12:30; 10: Minnesota, 8; 12: Chicago, 7:30; 14: Denver, 5:30; 16: at Houston, 6; 18: at Houston, 6:30; 19: at Miami, 5; 21: at Orlando, 4; 23: at Detroit, 4; 25: at Indiana, 4; 27: Brooklyn, 7:30; 30: Washington, 7; 31: Cleveland, 7:30.
APRIL
2: at Oklahoma City, 4:30; 5: at Dallas, 4:30; 7: Oklahoma City, 7:30; 9: at Golden State, 7; 10: Phoenix, 7:30; 12: Utah, 5:30.
The World Series could end in November this year. Major League Baseball can do without all the “Mr. November” jokes, so the league took a creative step last year: a flexible start date for the World Series.
It’s not easy to cram a four-round postseason in a month. But it’s even less ideal if the World Series teams roll through the league championship series, then sit around for close to a week before the World Series starts.
MLB unveiled this creative reform last year: If both World Series teams complete the league championship series in no more than five games, the start of the World Series would move up three days. Nothing kills interest in an everyday sport like a week off before the most important games of the season.
The reform did not come into play last season. Although the New York Yankees won the American League Championship Series in five games, the Dodgers needed six games to complete the NLCS.
When MLB announced its postseason schedule Tuesday, the flexible start date for the World Series was gone. With the Dodgers coming within one victory of making that happen last season, league officials and television partners had the chance to prepare for two possibilities for the start of the World Series. The uncertainty of what date to promote, and the need for alternate travel plans and hotel blocks, left the parties with the thought that a fixed date for the World Series remained a better plan.
The World Series this year is set to start on Friday, Oct. 24, with a possible Game 7 on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The wild-card round starts Tuesday, Sept. 30, with the division series round starting Saturday, Oct. 4. The teams with the top two records in each league earn a bye in the first round and advance directly to the division series.
If the postseason started Tuesday, the Dodgers (68-51) would be the No. 3 seed in the NL, behind the Milwaukee Brewers (74-44) and the Philadelphia Phillies (69-49). The wild card teams, in order of seed, would be the Chicago Cubs (67-50), San Diego Padres (67-52) and the New York Mets (63-55).
In that scenario, the Dodgers and Mets — the NLCS combatants last season — would meet in the wild-card round this season.
Lakers and NBA fans in general will get a quick view of two of the league’s longtime greats when LeBron James and the Lakers open the regular season against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21 at Crypto.com Arena, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter told The Times on Friday.
The game will be nationally televised on NBC and it will give Lakers fans a chance to see Luka Doncic’s new and trimmed body.
According to those people, the Lakers will play the Houston Rockets and newly acquired Kevin Durant on Christmas Day at home, one of five games on the holiday. That will give fans another chance to see the league’s veteran superstars go at it again.
The NBA will release the full schedule soon.
The Lakers will start training camp Sept. 29 and will play six preseason games.
The first preseason game is against the Suns at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs on Oct. 3. The rest of the preseason game are: at Golden State on Oct. 5; against the Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 12; against the Suns in Phoenix on Oct. 14; against the Dallas Mavericks at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Oct. 15; against the Sacramento Kings at home on Oct. 17.
ISRAEL is set to tell civilians in Gaza they have until October 7 to evacuate before they launch a full military occupation.
The Israeli security cabinet have approved a plan which will see the IDF march through Gaza City in a major final push to eliminate Hamas and secure the remaining hostages.
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Smoke rises after Israel targeted the area near Abbas Junction in western Gaza CityCredit: Getty
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Civilians flee through rubble in Gaza CityCredit: Getty
October 7 marks exactly two years since the terror group first launched an evil assault on Israeli civilians which killed over 1,200 people.
The IDF will try to move the population in Gaza City to the south of the Strip before commencing with its assault.
It is widely understood the plan will continue until every region in the Gaza Strip is under Israeli control.
The move is aimed at smashing the last remnants of Hamas’s grip on the war-torn enclave before handing it over to allied Arab forces.
While Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer slammed the decision as “wrong”, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the only plan to real security for Israel was through total military control of Gaza’s remaining territory.
He said his country was “well on our way” to ensuring Gaza “doesn’t pose a threat to Israel again”.
Despite authorising a full military occupation, Netanyahu stressed that Israel does not intend to re-establish long-term rule over Gaza.
Instead, he floated the idea of transferring control to Arab states or or “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday: “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.
“We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas.”
Israel’s cabinet also signed off on five guiding principles to conclude the war — a roadmap that leaves no room for compromise with Hamas.
First and foremost is the disarmament of Hamas.
Israel has made it clear that the terrorist group must be stripped of its weapons entirely – not just weakened, but dismantled – to prevent any future attacks on Israeli civilians and to break Hamas’ military stranglehold on Gaza.
The return of all hostages, both living and dead, is a non-negotiable pillar of the plan.
Israeli leaders have stressed that no resolution will be accepted unless it includes the safe return of every captive held in Gaza.
About 50 hostages are still held in Gaza — with officials estimating only 20 are alive.
Negotiations for their release broke down in July, and with each passing day, pressure builds.
Shocking videos of frail hostages and starving children have fuelled global outrage, even as Israel insists Hamas is hoarding aid to feed its own fighters.
Another central principle is the demilitarisation of the Strip.
Beyond just disarming Hamas, Israel seeks to eliminate all terrorist infrastructure – from weapons factories to underground tunnels – that have turned Gaza into a launchpad for attacks.
The goal is to create a buffer zone of peace, free from rockets, terrorists and threats.
Israel also insists on maintaining security control over Gaza.
While it has no desire to govern the territory, it does intent to ensure that no hostile elements can regroup or rearm.
That means a continued Israeli military presence and oversight, likely through a security perimeter, to prevent Hamas or any similar group from returning.
Finally, the war will only end once an alternative civil administration is in place — one that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
Israel wants to see a neutral, functional governing body installed, ideally backed by moderate Arab states, capable of running day-to-day life in Gaza without posing a threat to Israeli citizens or enabling terror.
This vision aims to create a new future for Gaza’s people — free from the terror, tyranny, and corruption of Hamas rule.
More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
By the looks of the first trailer for “Bugonia,” Emma Stone’s latest collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos will be just as brilliantly bizarre as its predecessors.
“Bugonia,” an English-language remake of the South Korean sci-fi comedy “Save the Green Planet!,” follows two conspiracy theorists who believe Stone’s high-powered chief executive character is an alien planning to destroy planet Earth — so they kidnap her.
Stone and Lanthimos have previously worked together on “The Favourite” (2018), “Poor Things” (2023) and “Kinds of Kindness” (2024). “Bugonia” marks their third consecutive film in three years.
The trailer — released Thursday by Focus Features — opens with a voiceover, a metaphor and a shot of a beehive. “The workers gather pollen for the queen,” Jesse Plemons, who worked with Lanthimos and Stone in “Kinds of Kindness,” says as the trailer cuts to Stone’s swaggering CEO.
After a quippy kidnapping montage with Plemons and Aidan Delbis’ characters set to Green Day’s “Basket Case,” Stone is shown lying unconscious in a bed. Jarring chords alternate with action-packed footage of fist fights and police chases, all framed in Lanthimos’ quintessential style.
“How can you tell she’s an alien?” Delbis asks. Plemons replies, “Well, the signs are obvious.”
The conspiracy theory — and the truth about the CEO’s extraterrestrial status — remain anything but obvious in this initial teaser; fans will have to wait for the film’s release.
“Bugonia” is set for a limited run on Oct. 24 before expanding wide Oct. 31. Stavros Halkias and Alicia Silverstone round out the cast.
The original “Spider-Man” trilogy, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, is returning to the big screen with a special addition.
For the first time, “Spider-Man 2.1” — the extended edition of “Spider Man 2” — will be playing in theaters in 4K in a limited engagement presented by Fathom Entertainment. This version, released on DVD in 2007, features eight minutes of new footage, including a fan-favorite scene in which J. Jonah Jameson, played by J.K. Simmons, tries on the Spidey suit.
More than two decades and 10 Spider-Man movies after the original trilogy premiered, “Spider-Man 2” consistently ranks among the best of the franchise by critics and fans. Starring alongside Maguire as Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man) are Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane “MJ” Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn and Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavius.
“The success of ‘Spider-Man’ in 2002 helped launch the modern era of super hero films. To this day, Tobey Maguire’s take on Spider-Man resonates across generations,” Fathom Entertainment’s Chief Executive Ray Nutt said in a press release. “At Fathom Entertainment, we celebrate fandom and I am delighted that ‘Spider-Man 2.1’ in 4K will make its theatrical debut, a true gift for longtime fans and a thrilling discovery for new ones.”
“Spider-Man” will play in theaters Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, “Spider-Man 2.1” on Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, and “Spider-Man 3” on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5. Tickets will be available at Fathom Entertainment and participating theaters July 25.
Other films soon returning to theaters with Fathom Entertainment are “Clueless” (June 29-30), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (July 13-16) and “The Sound of Music” (Sept. 13-17).
