stuff

If our waking hours are a canvas, the art is how one fills it: tightly packed, loosely, a little of both. At a time when they were both 40 and the art scene in ’70s New York was in thrall to street-centered youth of all stripes, real-life writer Linda Rosenkrantz asked her close friend, photographer Peter Hujar, to make a record of his activities on one day — Dec. 18, 1974 — and then narrate those details into her tape recorder the following day at her apartment.

The goal was a book about the great mundane, the stuff of life as experienced by her talented confidants. In Hujar’s case, an uncannily observant queer artist and key gay liberation figure planning his first book, what emerged was a wry narrative of phone calls (Susan Sontag), freelancing woes (is this gig going to pay?), celebrity encounters (he does an Allen Ginsberg shoot for the New York Times) and chance meetings (some guy waiting for food at the Chinese restaurant). The Hujar transcript, recovered in 2019 sans the tape, was ultimately published as “Peter Hujar’s Day.”

Now director Ira Sachs, who came across the text while filming his previous movie “Passages,” has given this quietly mesmerizing, diaristic conversation cinematic life as a filmed performance of sorts, with “Passages” star Ben Whishaw perfectly cast as Hujar and Rebecca Hall filling out the room tone as Rosenkrantz. (They also go to the roof a couple of times, which offers enough of an exterior visual to remind us that New York is the third character getting the time-capsule treatment.)

From the whistle of a tea kettle in the daylight as Hujar amusingly feels out from Rosenkrantz what’s required of him, to twilight’s more honest self-assessments and a supine cuddle between friends who’ve spent many hours together, “Peter Hujar’s Day” captures something beautifully distilled about human experience and the comfort of others. For each of us, any given day — maybe especially a day devoid of the extraordinary — is the culmination of all we’ve been and whatever we might hope to be. That makes for a stealthy significance considering that Hujar would only live another 13 years, succumbing to AIDS-related complications in 1987. It was a loss of mentorship, aesthetic brilliance and camaraderie felt throughout the art world.

Apart from not explaining Hujar for us (nor explaining his many name drops), Sachs also doesn’t hide the meta-ness of his concept, occasionally offering glimpses of a clapperboard or the crew, or letting us hear sound blips as it appears a reel is ending. There are jump cuts too, and interludes of his actors in close-up that could be color screen tests or just a nod to Hujar’s aptitude for portraits. It’s playful but never too obtrusive, approaching an idea of how art and movies play with time and can conjure their own reality.

The simple, sparsely elegant split-level apartment creates the right authenticity for Alex Ashe’s textured 16mm cinematography. The interior play of light from day to night across Whishaw and Hall’s faces is its own dramatic arc as Hujar’s details become an intimate testimony of humor, rigor and reflection. It’s not meant to be entirely Whishaw’s show, either: As justly compelling as he is, Hall makes the act of listening (and occasionally commenting or teasing) a steady, enveloping warmth. The result is a window into the pleasures of friendship and those days when the minutiae of your loved ones seems like the stuff that true connection is built on.

IF your heart races at the thrill of a massive bargain, prepare yourself. 

Shoppers are in a frenzy over a chain of retail outlets where you can snag Amazon customer returns and overstock for an unbelievable fraction of the price. 

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TikTok user ‘meganmariac’ posted a video of her haul from one of these locations, often referred to as a Trade Outlet. 

Her video, which showed aisles filled with discounted goods, quickly racked up 180,000 views in less than 24 hours. 

Meganmariac explained that she was initially on the hunt for a few personal bits, but the sheer volume of discounted goods – especially in the kids’ and tech sections – was impossible to ignore. 

A toy originally priced at £30 was just £5, while an iPad case (RRP around £20) was a ludicrous £3. 

You can find entire sections dedicated to children’s books, games, and paint-by-numbers sets for as little as £2, making these stores an absolute cheat code for Christmas and birthday gifting.

She also grabbed a £45 wireless camera for just £5, and a fancy smartwatch that would normally cost around £90 was only £20. 

Even health and beauty items, like a box of Vitamin C and Hyaluronic Acid serums retailing for around £33, were down to a mere £6. 

Her ultimate haul of an iPad case, a screen protector, and some adorable croc charms came to roughly a tenner.

The Golden Rule

If you’re expecting a curated retail experience, think again.

“It’s really overwhelming. It’s so busy here,” Meganmariac admitted.

This is the liquidation zone: the home of customer returns, minor packaging damage, and overstock. 

Many of the best items are still sealed in plain brown delivery boxes, which means shoppers have to check the tiny labels to be sure of what the item is. 

Where to find them?

While there are many places that sell liquidation stock, the specific “Trade Outlet” chain meganmariac visited has become famous for its Amazon-heavy returns. 

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If you’re based in the North West of England, you’re strategically placed for a bargain dash.

The chain has several locations, including major sites near Chester Gates (often situated opposite a Costco), Liverpool, and Trafford Park.

Tony Shalhoub is loath to compare his upcoming CNN series, “Breaking Bread,” to the travel food shows hosted by his frequent collaborator Stanley Tucci, who directed him in the gourmand classic “Big Night.”

“I don’t consider myself a foodie,” Shalhoub says in a video interview. “He is the ultimate foodie, amazing chef. He really knows what he’s talking about and I don’t know anything.”

But Shalhoub, best known these days as one of the stars of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” makes up for his lack of knowledge with utter enthusiasm. As host and executive producer of “Breaking Bread,” premiering Sunday at 9 p.m. Pacific, he traipses the globe trying different breads and bread-related products while uncovering stories of how these staples relate to migration, labor and his own family history. In fact, the legacy of Shalhoub’s father, who settled in Wisconsin after leaving Lebanon, is present in multiple episodes. The elder Shalhoub’s love of the stuff served as one of the inspirations for the whole enterprise.

“We were eating most often bakery bread rather than just commercial store-bought packaged bread, and he really had a great appreciation for it and wanted to model that for us,” Shalhoub says.

Still, Shalhoub’s goals go beyond food porn. Days before the premiere, Shalhoub spoke about why he sees “Breaking Bread” as being about something bigger. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

How did doing a food show even come to you?

Well, I was so enamored of Stanley [Tucci’s] show.

I was going to ask if Stanley had something to do with it.

We never really talked about it a lot, but I’ve been inspired by Stanley for so many things. But even prior to his travel food show [“Searching for Italy”], a nephew of mine [Michael Matzdorff], when I lived in Los Angeles, came to me and he was making bread at the time. This was way before the pandemic, when that became the thing to do. We got into talking about bread, and I was so impressed by what he was doing in his own kitchen, and he just casually mentioned, “Wouldn’t it be cool to explore bread making all over the globe?” We got a pitch together. It didn’t really get a lot of traction then, and this was a couple decades ago, but the idea stayed with me. I mentioned it to another friend who’s a producer on the show, Tamara Weiss, and she just kind of had this great idea to reformat it, and I guess the timing was right.

Was this your nephew that appears in the Tokyo episode or a different nephew?

This is an older nephew than that. I have many nephews and many nieces and they’re all geniuses. But there’s another leg to this too, aside from my fascination with bread and bread around the world. I’ve been acting for so many years and felt very fortunate with all of the breaks that I’ve gotten. But I’ve been starting to feel a little bit like I wanted to reconnect to the world again, in some way. When you are working and your experiences are mostly coming through scripted, mostly fictional stuff, after a while, there’s that possibility that you start to feel a little disconnected from actual life and the world. That also was one of the main drivers here. I wanted to meet new people, travel to new places or even familiar places, but with a different point of view. In a lot of ways, it’s been eye-opening. The food component aside, I’ve found it’s been really good for me. You get out of your own head and out of your own sphere, and you’re reminded that there’s so much else going on out there.

How did you choose where you were going to go? So many of the places have a personal connection for you: You said you wanted to start in Lebanon, where your father is from, but the political situation didn’t allow for it so you went to Brazil, where there is a large Lebanese population. You spend time in New York, where you live, and Wisconsin, where you are from.

We initially had a list of about 12 different locations, and some of those were locations that I just thought, “Boy, it would really be fun to travel there.” When we got into it with CNN, you know, especially for the first season, they wanted for me to have a personal connection to each of these locations. We gave them a list of about 10 places, and they chose six. So obviously New York, because this is now my second time living here in the city, and I love it. I consider it my home and where so much of my career has taken place. I think Marseille, because even though I traveled to France several times, is a place where my father, when he was immigrating from Lebanon over a hundred years ago, as many immigrants did, had to stop in Marseille in the process. We’ve always been curious about that part of his journey because we knew about his departure from Beirut, and we knew about his arrival in Ellis Island, but we didn’t know about the middle part of his journey. So we were able to explore that and get some more new information about that.

Members of your family also show up, including your daughter Josie Adams and another nephew. Why did you want to involve them?

Whenever there’s a discussion about bread or about food in general, it mostly stems from or grows out of my childhood, growing up, my parents, my other older relatives, and I guess that’s the closest connection for me. It has been such a part of what connects us all.

Tony Shalhoub with his daughter Josie Adams and pastry chef Pierre Ragot in the Marseille episode of “Breaking Bread.”

(CNN Original Series)

How did your relationship to bread, clearly something you love, change over the course of making the show?

The main takeaway was that the show, for me, really became more about the people that I met than the product itself. There were familiar things, some of them done in a kind of innovative and new way and other things that I had not experienced before or tasted before, but [it was] really more about the people and their devotion to that work and the reasons that they become so obsessed and so devoted to that kind of work. For me, the show really becomes about those stories and those histories, whether it’s a family history or a story about immigration or a story of a war-torn country. To be really frank about it, bread is really more the vehicle that brings us into these other discussions.

I want to say this in a very tactful way, but the risk of doing this kind of show is that there is a point, I believe, of diminishing returns when we talk about food. This is my fear. It was like, will someone stand up and say, “Stop it.” There’s so many important things that are going on that deserve our focus and our attention, but because we’re talking about food, it’s inevitable because we have to have it every day. It sustains us, and that’s all fine and good, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I want bread to be that thing that sparks other conversations.

In the Marseille episode, you uncover part of your father’s story, discovering details of his trip to America in the municipal archives. What was that experience like?

It was quite moving and also doing it with my daughter and having those discussions with my daughter. She didn’t know my father because he passed away before she was born. But I don’t think I would’ve had the opportunity or the access to uncover these things had I not been doing this show at this time in that city. It would’ve just gone undiscovered and unknown.

Obviously, you’ve eaten on screen before, that’s part of an actor’s job, but did you think about how you were going to react to what you try?

I didn’t really think about it or plan it. I wanted to figure out ways to avoid or sidestep stock reactions. “God, that’s delicious.” Of course, that’s what everyone says when they’re eating something exciting and new. But I was really trying to stay open and rather than using words, a lot of times I just felt I let it go into my body and my body kind of did the work.

There’s a moment when you almost do a little dance.

Because some of this stuff just transcends words.

Was there something you tried that truly surprised you?

Certainly, I think given the amount of pastry I consume and have consumed in my lifetime, I thought that Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread scones were kind of a revelation. I’ve made scones. I’ve had scones. I love them, but this was revelatory. In Brazil they couldn’t grow wheat for a time, and before they were importing it, they were relying on cassava flour everywhere. They make a cheese bread. They were making it out of cassava flour, which is delicious, not heavy, and no gluten and all of that, and with cheese. Somehow miraculously, you’re eating these things and you’re never feeling full or bloated.

PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers have had an illness running through their clubhouse lately.

And on Wednesday, it forced an alteration in their pitching plans.

While Shohei Ohtani was in the Dodgers’ lineup as designated hitter for their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the two-way star was scratched from his scheduled pitching start at PNC Park after feeling “under the weather” the past few days, according to manager Dave Roberts.

“When you’re sick and potentially dehydrated, the tax of pitching in a game wasn’t worth it,” Roberts said.

Instead, Emmet Sheehan will take the mound for Wednesday’s game, while Ohtani’s next pitching appearance will be pushed to “sometime this weekend” against the Baltimore Orioles.

“Just to give him a few more days to recover,” Roberts said.

Ohtani’s sickness certainly didn’t seem to hamper him at the plate Tuesday, when he had two doubles and a career-high 120 mph exit velocity on a solo home run –– his 46th of the season and 100th as a Dodger.

However, Roberts said Ohtani’s pregame catch play on Tuesday was cut short, and that the risk of overexerting the reigning National League MVP by having him make a full-length start Wednesday wasn’t worth it.

“The toll of taking four or five at-bats versus pitching five innings, there’s no comparison,” Roberts said.

Ohtani’s symptoms have included chest and sinus “stuff” as well as “a deep cough,” Roberts added.

Several other Dodgers players have dealt with similar issues recently. Max Muncy was so sick last week, the team sent him home to rest and delayed the start of his minor-league rehab assignment to this week.

“We’re trying to manage it,” Roberts said. “But there are guys that are just not feeling great right now.”

Late night has a new tone in 2025, and Greg Gutfeld is the one setting it, one unpredictable quip at a time. Rewriting the rules and bringing his signature acerbic style to “Gutfeld!” on Fox News, his show is drawing in more than 3 million viewers nightly, making it the most-watched show at the edge of prime time at 10 p.m. Eastern time / 7 p.m. Pacific time, airing over 90 minutes earlier than such hosts as Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon

Stacking up gigs, he’s also the resident wild card on the network’s hit show “The Five,” and he hosts the new reality game show “What Did I Miss?” on Fox Nation, which was just renewed for a second season. Gutfeld isn’t just leaving his mark on the network; he’s reshaping it.

Before he became polarizing to some, and well before his New York Times bestsellers and his night of reminiscing on Jimmy Fallon’s couch, Gutfeld was climbing the editorial ranks at magazines like Men’s Health, Stuff and Maxim. His biggest break came when he landed the very late slot hosting his own Fox News show, “Red Eye,” which would set the stage for his runaway success.

Taking nothing too serious while being surrounded by complete seriousness, and with “Gutfeld!” pulling in some of the strongest ratings on TV, he’s proving that irreverence can be its own kind of relevance. His refusal to put so-called untouchables on a pedestal has everyone taking notice, and like him, loathe him or don’t know what to think about a grown man obsessed with unicorns, there’s no denying that Gutfeld has turned having a good time into a full-time job. And he’s just getting warmed up.

How do you find out you’re No. 1 in the 10 p.m. timeslot ? Is there a cake and a massive check?

It’s more brought to you and then happens over time. I get ratings every single day, so I was able to watch us win. I guess I wasn’t that surprised by it; I just knew that it was going to take time. I thought, yeah, maybe in a couple of years, but it was in like a matter of months.

For old–school fans of “Red Eye,” “Gutfeld!” feels familiar, with the blended panel that’s always down to have a good time. But now everyone gets more comfortable chairs, which is nice too.

I agree. “Gutfeld!” is basically “Red Eye” but for everybody. Red Eye was operating on the assumption that you really had a select group of people awake at 2 or 3 in the morning. It wasn’t trying to be a cultlike pleasure; it just happened to be that way. We did want it to be for everyone, though. Now we have 10 times the viewers and we’re No. 1, so in my mind I’m going, I want the same sensibility, but I don’t want to completely confuse the viewers. I realize that my humor on “Red Eye” was deliberately obtuse in some ways, and not really deliberately. It was just surreal and bizarre, and maybe that won’t fly in prime time or late night, but like “Red Eye,” our show now is as interesting and unpredictable as that show was. And that’s 90% of the fight.

There’s definitely an unpredictability theme going on because “The Five” can get somewhat fiery at times, but not for the reasons one would think.

With “Gutfeld!” and with “The Five,” I really push the concept of teasing, because when I genuinely like somebody, I tease them. When everybody is together teasing each other, it’s a very fun thing and the viewers are in on it. On “Red Eye,” we were all basically roasting each other, and on my show, we’re all making fun of each other, some more than others. On “The Five,” of course, I needle Dana [Perino] and Jesse [Watters], they needle me, I go after Jessica [Tarlov], she makes fun of us all — we all do it, and I think that’s really the secret sauce to the success of “The Five,” “Gutfeld!” and why “Red Eye” was so beloved. You felt like you were with the people. It was like a perverted version of “Friends.”

There really is this vibe that, no matter what gets said, when the camera goes off you’re all knocking back a few together.

Yeah, I think the key is that nothing you say should warrant an apology. Meaning, if I were to insult you, you’re not going to demand an apology from me. When somebody wants an apology for a comment I always ask them, “How would that apology sound? I’m sorry that the jokes I made hurt your feelings?” How insulting is that to that person you’re apologizing to! I’m sorry I hurt your feelings with this insult. It’s like the people that are demanding an apology don’t even see how absolutely insulting it is that they are asking for it.

Some people really write their own headlines. I imagine yours ramped up after you took “The King of Late Night” joke and ran with it?

I’m trying to think where “the king” came from, and I think I have to credit Dave Rubin. I think Rubin was on during the first week of the show and said something like, “You’re going to be the king of late night. You’re going to be No. 1.” I don’t like saying stuff like that because then it’ll just be thrown back in your face, but he was right! Then, of course, I had to put it on my book cover. I don’t even know how that all happened, but putting it on the cover of my book was just, like, this audacious and ridiculous thing, having me on the top like I’m a skyscraper where King Kong swatted down people.

Silly is definitely your lane. What do you think the term “late night” even means anymore? It used to be pretty neutral, and now it’s almost like you better choose a side before you watch this comic make their TV debut!

Yeah, it kind of became defined as maybe a person who wanted to go to bed angry with somebody who wanted to go to bed happy. One thing that I always want to do is not send people to bed enraged. Sure, maybe you’re sad that Biden lost, but we’re going to have so much fun, and this is going to be great! And then Trump wins. This is going to be so much fun, and this is going to be great! So, we’re going to have fun, and things are going to be great no matter who wins or loses. I’m not going to let that impact the time that we have. I think doing a late-night show that makes everyone feel bad is a disservice. I don’t understand that. That’s when you have people switching the channel to come to us. They didn’t even know that we existed until then.

What a shakeup that channel flip caused and, also, it’s pretty monumental because the viewers are staying.

You know, for a long time they couldn’t even mention my name and it was a personal thing for them, but then I think they realized that all I did was point out what was missing. I mean, they gave me the opportunity by not addressing most of the country, and it was there for the taking. There was literally free money on the table, and so I took it, and I showed [mainstream media] that they don’t own the culture. I think it’s not just about late night; it’s about all of culture. It’s the ability to tell people, you aren’t the cool kids at the table anymore. You took people for granted, you insulted everybody else, and we’re the ones now who are having fun.

Seeing you on Fallon also looked like a lot of fun. You could seriously feel your excitement as you told him your drunken story of meeting him. You think he’d ever come on ”Gutfeld!”?

It was fun! It went the way I think we both wanted it to go, which was like an old-school TV segment you would have seen on Carson. Just two people having a fun conversation. I probably talked too much, but I had to tell that drinking story because I’ve been telling that story for years, and the only person I hadn’t told that to was Jimmy. So yeah, we were both happy about it, and it’s good to see two industry people in whatever “supposed rivalry” who genuinely like each other without that other bull—. I haven’t asked him to come on, though. Our show is a little different because if you come on, you’re on for the whole hour. You’re also on with other people so it’s kind of a bigger ask of someone, but the president did do it so…

From the outside, it appears that Ralph Barbosa has it all.

Aside from A-list comedian status hanging with superstars like Dave Chappelle, he’s known to show off his garage full of his favorite cars (even a few that actually run, he says), and he has a brand new comedy special on Hulu, “Planet Bosa,” that premiered earlier this month.

But following the release of his new hour, Barbosa claims he’s “broke.”

For comedians, specials aren’t just a celebration of your success, they’re also a funeral for your best material. Though he’s dubbed his latest trek across the country the Bean Without a Cause Tour, he’s also back to square one — a comic without new material, or at least not much of it. “I’ve got about 10 minutes [worth of jokes] to my name, I’m broke — comedy-wise, I’m broke,” he says with a sly grin. “It’s the funnest place to be.”

It’s a feeling most comics can relate to, though few in the last couple years have been on the ride Barbosa’s been on. Coming out of relative obscurity from the Dallas comedy scene, he garnered viral fame by being dissed and then apologized to by comedy legend George Lopez, who didn’t know who he was at the time despite Barbosa being at the forefront of the next wave of Latin comics, thanks in large part to a breakout set on Don’t Tell Comedy. Garnering nationwide buzz since his debut Netflix special “Cowabunga,” his latest hour on Hulu finds the 28-year-old reaching the top of his game.

Aside from getting more comfortable on stage, the spark of energy in this new phase of his career is a welcome surprise from a guy whose schedule barely leaves time for sleep. Yet somehow he’s still managed to squeeze in a second side career working on cars on his YouTube Channel Formula Bean. Recently, Barbosa spoke with The Times about finding his comfort zone in comedy and touring in honor of friend and fellow comedian Ken Flores, who was set to tour alongside Barbosa and comedian Rene Vaca before his tragic death earlier this year. He also discusses one of his more important challenges, writing cleverly authentic jokes about the shocking ICE raids that have led to widespread detention and deportation of immigrants. But it wasn’t just a laughing matter for Barbosa, who also helped people affected by the raids for a period of time by donating money to people who reached out to him directly through social media.

“I don’t like that people are getting separated from their families when they’re hardworking people,” the comedian said. “They’re people who go to a whole new country to learn the language and a whole new environment, in search of a better life, and it’s considered illegal.”

Usually when we do these interviews about comedy specials, they happen before the special is released. Now that “Planet Bosa” has been out on Hulu for almost two weeks, what’s it been like seeing the reaction to it and did it match what you were hoping for?

A lot of my fans have been watching it. There’s been a few people that reached out to me saying that they found me through [watching it], which feels really good — it’s what you want from a special. I feel like Spider-Man on “Spider-Man 3” when everybody’s cheering his name and he’s like, “They love me!” It feels good.

When I talked to you a couple years ago, it was right before your first special, “Cowabunga,” and I noticed with “Planet Bosa,” the energy just feels different. You’re more animated, you’re doing voices and stuff that I think people maybe weren’t used to seeing from you. How did you wanna change up your style or advance it this time around?

I think I just got more comfortable. When I did that first special with Netflix, I was really super nervous. I’d never shot a special before. Everything that’s been going on in my life, I feel like it came at me really fast. I feel I’m still very — especially compared to other comics — I’m very much like a rookie comic. Especially a rookie as in like a full-time comedian working in the industry. So like that first special, I was really nervous, I was very tense. I still had a lot of fun with it, don’t get me wrong, but I was really sticking to the script. By the time we taped this special, I’d been on the road so much, and my feet were a little more wet, so I was just more comfortable. So I think that one is me being myself more, this “Planet Bosa” is just like me being myself more.

What’s cool about what’s going on now in comedy with I feel is a very strong wave of Latin comedians like you, Rene Vaca, you had that obviously with the late comedian Ken Flores. What’s it like to be able to have that group around you of comedians?

I’ve always been a little introverted, though, especially with other comics, like I get kind of nervous. Rene helped me get out of that. Rene and Ken were always super close and they were always inviting me to stuff and I would always be too nervous to go. I used to be really intimidated by them. But once I met them and hung out with them a couple times, I realized that we’re a lot alike. Like we were the exact same age, the three of us. The three of us were all born in ‘96. I feel like we shared a lot of the same fears and anxieties, a lot the same stresses and family situations. I consider myself very lucky to be able to hang out with them. And I’m very lucky to still get to hang with Rene.That dude’s a fool, man — I love him.

“By the time we taped this special, I’d been on the road so much, and my feet were a little more wet, so I was just more comfortable,” Bosa says when talking about his latest hour on Hulu. “So I think that one is me being myself more, this ‘Planet Bosa’ is just like me being myself more.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Obviously, it was rough going on that tour with Rene because of the loss of Ken who was going on the road with you as well. But given what you guys had to go through emotionally and sort of mentally to press on, was it like looking back on completing that tour and doing things the way that Ken would have wanted?

I felt like that was our way of letting Ken get his proper rest. We found out Ken passed away on the day we were supposed to sign the paperwork to finalize all the tour details, which was heartbreaking. He passes away right before we’re supposed to start this tour together, the three of us. And now as we’re dealing with that within those same few days, we had to make a decision. They were pressuring us to make the decision do we still wanna do the tour or not. And so you don’t even wanna talk about that stuff. But I think me and Rene both knew that Ken would have wanted us to do it. Ken would’ve probably been really ashamed of us if we got all sad and just didn’t do it. Also I think it helped out his family a lot because we still gave his cut to his family. So I think we needed to do that for Ken. And I mean, it was still a fun tour. It was bittersweet, because every time we’d have a really fun night and we’re all laughing, we’d all have a moment where we knew it would be that much better if Ken was also here. But I know he was there in spirit, you know what I mean? I think Ken is anywhere Rene is. I think those two are inseparable. So anytime we’re with Rene, I still feel like Ken’s there too.

Why do you feel like the perspective you’re bringing along with Rene as the next generation of Latin comedians is important to be heard at a time in this country with so much going on politically with immigration?

I don’t necessarily think it’s important to get my voice out there but I do like making jokes about [ICE and immigration] because that’s like the only way I know how to bring attention to it. I’m not a big political dude or anything like that, but yeah, I’ve made jokes about things like immigration stuff, ICE stuff. But I guess that is my way of getting attention on that issue. I would like people to get attention on it. I feel like there’s certain topics, certain subjects that you can’t avoid after a certain point. We should talk about it, or we should at least put it in the faces of the people who aren’t gonna talk about it. Like if you’re not gonna talk about it that’s fine too, but you at least gotta hear about it.

“It was bittersweet, because every time we’d have a really fun night [on tour] and we’re all laughing, we’d all have a moment where we knew it would be that much better if Ken was also here,” Bosa says about missing his late friend and fellow comedian Ken Flores. “But I know he was there in spirit.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

One thing you mentioned that you were doing for a period of time was to help people affected by have family members detained during ICE raids by donating money to people who contacted you on Instagram asking for help to pay their bills. What inspired you to do that?

What I ended up doing is just sending hot dogs from Five Guys to all the families in need. I sent out over 180 hot dogs — I’m kidding. No, I sent out money. I hope it helped people out. I hope I wasn’t just getting scammed the whole time. I’m sure I got scammed by a good number of people. But I let people know that if they were affected by the ICE raids in any way and were behind on rent or groceries or if maybe the main provider in someone’s house was taken away or just going through something like that just to let me know and I’ll send what I can. I didn’t think I’d get as many messages as I got — I got a lot. I got to as many as I could and I sent out a lot of money before it started getting a little dangerously low on my end. Like, what’s the point of having money and having fans if like other people can’t enjoy it too? So I’m sorry for those of you that I wasn’t able to get to, and I hope the ones that I did get to were helped, even if it was just a bit. I don’t like that people are getting separated from their families when they’re hardworking people, they’re people who go to a whole new country to learn the language and a whole new environment, in search of a better life, and it’s considered illegal. Like I said, I don’t know about laws and government. I’m sure someone’s watching this thinking I’m just an ignorant idiot, but I don’t know, man. It just seems f—ed up to me.

“I don’t like that people are getting separated from their families when they’re hardworking people, they’re people who go to a whole new country to learn the language and a whole new environment, in search of a better life, and it’s considered illegal,” Barbosa says in regard to the recent ICE raids across the country.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

It’s also about being able to deal with the situation by laughing about it. And that even includes making jokes about not being considered “Mexican enough” by immigrants and getting fed up enough to say “Go home! Well, not to your home.”

I think I fall under that category, there’s a saying in Spanish — “ni de aquí, ni de allá.” It means “not from here or from there,” it’s like the middle ground… I feel like it’s given me perspective — I hope it has at least, I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t know when I’m being ignorant or not. That’s why I tell people don’t take me too serious, because I don’t really take myself too seriously.

I don’t know how you really can as a comedian. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself, right?

That’s what I’m saying. But people still get angry in my comments just cause I make stupid jokes — I don’t understand it.

Is there any key piece of advice you’ve gotten from a comedian that you’ve looked up to that has helped you in your career?

Yes and no. Because every comedian’s so different… So not everybody’s advice works. It could sometimes work for you. My favorite advice has probably been from [Dave] Chappelle, “You just gotta keep getting on stage. Just keep getting out on stage. Keep working on material.” You gotta get the reps. There’s no shortcuts to it.

Even though you’ve been doing it now so much, has there been a time on stage, more recently, where you’re nervous?

I’m always nervous, and I’m always messing up jokes. I don’t think the audience can always tell, but in my mind, I’m messing them up.

You’re very even keel on the surface, so the fact that you say that is also kind of surprising.

Nah, I’m up there freaking out, man. Well, in a good way, you know? It’s fun. I’m always nervous. But it’s part of what makes it fun.

And when you’re not on the road, I know you’re working a lot with cars. Can you talk about your YouTube channel Formula Bean that’s all about fixing up old cars?

Over a year ago, I started hanging out with an automotive content creator. His name’s Luis Cisneros, the dude’s crazy smart. He’s showing me how to work on my own cars and he would make car content about it. And I asked him if I could make content with him too. I feel like everybody’s a content creator nowadays. I feel content is key, whether it’s, whatever type it is. I have a lot of fun working on cars and recording us doing stupid things with cars. So we made a YouTube channel called the Formula Bean. And we named it that because Formula One is like the pinnacle of automotive racing, like top of the line cars, top of line drivers, top of the line engineers. But ours is more Formula Bean because it’s just a couple of Mexicans in a garage on some Facebook Marketplace projects. The stuff we do, I think it’s stuff that most people can watch and be like, “Oh, I can learn how to do that easy.” So I’m hoping that’s what is getting across.

Comedian Ralph Barbosa

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Do you feel like cars and comedy have some sort of correlation, like in terms of just working on them, or do you keep it like totally separate?

Nah, I keep it totally separate. I need something different than comedy so that I could continue to enjoy comedy. I get tired of stuff fast, man. If I’m really into one thing — I can hyper-focus on it. I’ll zone in on this one subject for a while, but I can’t keep it long-term. I need to do cars and zone in on cars for like a good month and a half, and then I need to go back into just straight up comedy mindset.

Never a combo? I was thinking like a Jerry Seinfeld like “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” type of thing?

I mean maybe if a comedian wants to come hang out, but I’m not gonna talk a whole lot of shop …

No “Comedians in Cars Getting Frustrated”?

Nah. I need cars to completely distract me from comedy so that I can come back to comedy with fresh eyes.

You mentioned that you only get about an hour and a half of sleep a night. When do you rest?

Whenever I just crash out, like randomly — and people get mad. Cuz they don’t know I guess but like I’ll be falling asleep at random events. I’ve never been the type of person like I can just put on my pajamas and lay down in the bed. I feel unproductive. I feel I need to go until I’m done thinking or until my brain just goes kaput. So even though we’re working on stuff, I feel like my mind is always thinking about other stuff when it can. I don’t really knock out until my body’s just like, “alright f— this, bro, I’m done.”

You’re on your second special on a major platform, you are selling out all over the country. Is there more that you feel like you still want to do?

I need a new hour, that’s all I know right now. I need a new hour of jokes. I got like 10 minutes to my name. Comedy-wise, I am broke. This is the funnest place to be, square one.

Try as one might to keep Nico Iamaleava under wraps, the media viewing sessions at UCLA’s football training camp shorter than the lifespan of a soap bubble, several trends have emerged.

The Tennessee transfer unquestionably has a strong arm. Every pass is thrown with purpose and usually on target.

The wiry 6-foot-6, 215-pound redshirt sophomore has a quick release. When he faced heavy pressure during the only team period open to reporters Saturday afternoon, Iamaleava smartly and swiftly completed a short pass when no better options were available.

The guy can improvise. Scanning the defense for a weakness, Iamaleava scurried up the middle for a touchdown, making the right decision on what appeared to be a run-pass option play.

All of this shows exactly why his arrival might have so drastically altered the team’s trajectory.

“He keeps living up to expectations every day,” wide receiver Mikey Matthews said. “He’s a really good leader, and he just pushes us every day as an offense.”

Coach DeShaun Foster said one of the things that has impressed him about his new quarterback is his determination to win, even during competitive periods involving one-on-one battles.

“You can kind of see his juice going,” Foster said, “and, you know, jawing a little bit with some of the guys on defense that he knows.”

If things had gone differently, Matthews might have teamed with Iamaleava at Tennessee. Unlike UCLA, which struggled to identify top high school talent under coach Chip Kelly, the Volunteers offered Matthews a scholarship out of Mission Viejo High. A tight connection between Iamaleava and Matthews had formed through seven-on-seven tournaments and high school games.

“We already had, like, built that connection just beforehand,” said Matthews, a transfer from California who posted career highs with 32 catches for 272 yards and one touchdown last season. “So when I knew he was coming here, it was just like a blessing, just happy to have him here and just knowing that he’s going to give me that rock whenever, and knowing that he’s going to throw that ball. So it was cool just to have him here.”

Matthews has an Xbox in his hotel room and a new roommate in defensive back Brett Barry — “That’s my dawg now,” Matthews said — to learn about. There are so many possibilities to keep the wide receiver busy late into the night.

His top priority is inactivity. All he wants to do when his final meeting of the day ends around 9:30 p.m. is see how quickly he can get into bed before waking up for the next meeting.

“Once I’m done with meetings,” Matthews said, “I’m brushing my teeth and going right to sleep. I’m tired.”

It would be easy for fatigue to set in as the Bruins approach the final week of training camp in Costa Mesa. A schedule rife with practices, meetings and recovery — not to mention bonding events such as a beach day and karaoke — has left players sinking deeply into their hotel beds.

But there’s an upside to so much football for players who embrace every X and O. Matthews said the wide receivers were staying after every practice to catch at least 100 passes from a ball-launching machine.

“We all love football,” Matthews said, “so it’s not like we’re complaining, and while we’re doing this, while we’re doing that, it’s everyone just locked in, heads down, and we’re all just grinding.”

As the Bruins approached the final week of training camp, Foster said he wanted to know who had fully grasped the nuances of the way the team wanted to run things.

“Who really knows the playbook in and out, you know?” Foster said. “Let’s get the coaches on the side and let’s start getting into more scrimmaging and stuff like that.”

Linebacker Jalen Woods said a Saturday afternoon practice spanning nearly 2½ hours might have been the longest of camp, just part of Foster’s efforts to simulate a game-like environment with three weeks left before the season opener against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl.

“I feel like for us to be ready for a game,” Woods said, “like, we need these long practices.”

The bonding has also had its perks. Foster identified freshman defensive lineman Robert James III, who will be sidelined indefinitely by a lower-body injury, as the team’s best singer. Players have also performed other impromptu requests in an effort to bond.

“It’s beneficial that we do stuff like skits, and stuff like that, like doing funny stuff here and there to show everybody’s personality on the team,” Woods said. “Just a side that we don’t see, like on the football field. So, it’s basically like getting to know your teammates, and I feel like it’s going to pay dividends in the long run, trying to make a push for a championship.”

Etc.

Safety Key Lawrence suffered an apparent right leg injury early in the practice session and had to be helped off the field and into the trainers’ area. … Foster said offensive linemen Courtland Ford and Reuben Unije, who were limited in practices earlier in the week, were managing “a little bit of wear and tear.” Offensive lineman Yutaka Mahe, recovering from a lower-body injury, is on schedule to return soon, Foster said. … As of Friday, UCLA’s new practice fields on campus remained a big pile of dirt. Foster said the team had plenty of options, including Drake Stadium and the intramural fields, if the new practice fields were not completed by the time players returned to campus next weekend. … Wyatt Mosier, a redshirt sophomore linebacker, has been awarded Nick Pasquale’s No. 36 as a tribute to Mosier’s ability to embody the spirit of the late wide receiver. Foster said he wanted “somebody that was gonna come out here and leave everything on the field, and that’s the way that Wyatt practices.” … As a thank-you gesture from UCLA in response to recent wildfires, first responders can get $4.73 tickets for the season opener.

Even if you’re not sure you’ve seen Alan Tudyk in the numerous films or TV shows he’s appeared in, you’ve definitely heard him. Tudyk has been endearing audiences with his vocal stylings ever since 2002’s “Ice Age” — he voiced characters like the Duke of Weselton in “Frozen,” Heihei the rooster in “Moana” and King Candy in “Wreck-It Ralph.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Still, many fans know Tudyk best for his sci-fi and genre roles, including his four-season run as Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle of Syfy’s “Resident Alien,” which comes to an end with its final episode on Friday. “It’s a tough goodbye,” says Tudyk. “Fingers crossed for the reboot ‘Resident Alien versus Predator.’” In the meantime, you can catch him as Gary in 2025’s “Superman” and as K-2SO in “Andor,” for which he recently netted an Emmy nomination, as you await the handful of upcoming live-action and voice-over projects Tudyk has in the works.

We caught up with the busy actor to discuss his perfect L.A. day, which would involve, first things first, coffee. “I have to say that the last thing that Charissa [Barton, his wife] and I are thinking of when we go to sleep is, ‘I can’t wait to have more coffee tomorrow,’” he admits. “It’s such a beautiful promise for a new day.”

Also vital on any great Sunday is time with Charissa and their dogs, Raisin and Clara, a lot of delicious gluten-free food, shopping, writing time and a car nap. And then there’s their crucial tradition: a music listening session leading up to a very important decision. “I choose a summer song every year,” he said. “It’s down to the final. There’ve been songs that come and go all summer long that are potential songs. We choose the summer song, and to celebrate, we go eat some more.”

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

7 a.m.: Coffee and a dog run in the Hollywood Hills
I bounce right out of bed, and I have some coffee that I make at home, Intelligentsia Coffee with oat milk. I use a frother, and a little bit of granulated monk fruit sugar on top. I love that stuff. I feed my dogs, Raisin and Clara. And then we go for a run in the Hollywood Hills, near the Hollywood sign up in the Beachwood Canyon area, around where people rent horses to go horseback riding. Raisin, a terrier mix, is 15 and a half. She has run those hills her whole life; she’s chased coyotes over the edge. Just disappears into the brush of the canyon and comes back smiling. She’s 10 pounds. And Aunt Clara, a 20-pound goofball cockapoo, stays by my side because half of her is an obedient dog and the other half is afraid. But Raisin is in charge of the world, and she can do what she wants.

9:30 a.m.: Two (gluten-free) breakfasts at Honey Hi
We come back home, I quickly shower, and my wife then wakes up, because she sleeps longer than me. And we all go to Honey Hi, a gluten-free breakfast place, mainly. We can bring the dogs, as long as they’re on leashes. Although, yeah, Raisin prefers to be carried, especially after an hour-long hike chasing coyotes.

I order two breakfasts, because I’ve been jogging and I’m hungry and all I’ve had is coffee, which seems really like a bad idea. It sounds like a recipe for a stomachache. I get the community bowl, which is just so very healthy and tasty. And also the pancakes, because one breakfast isn’t enough. I eat half the pancakes and my wife eats the other half. So it’s really just one and a half breakfasts.

11 a.m.: A stop at Wacko
We go up to Wacko on our way back home. It’s over on Sunset Boulevard, where Sunset and Hollywood kind of become one, right around Vermont. Wacko is a store that sells collectible stuff, but also a lot of books. If you ever want to get a cool book for somebody that’s more like a picture book or an artist book or a coffee table-type book, they have those. And in the back is La Luz de Jesus Gallery. We always go in there and check out what local artists are being hung.

11:45 a.m.: 15-minute car nap
We come back out to our car and turn on the air conditioner, and we have a good little 15-minute nap, to get the energy to drive. And nobody even bothers us, and we’ve found great parking. It’s a perfect day.

12:15 p.m.: Coffee No. 2 and some bagels
On our way home, we stop at Blue Bottle Coffee on Hillhurst. There’s a Pop’s Bagels truck that parks outside of that coffee shop up until about 3 p.m. every day. And they have gluten-free bagels. So we’ll just grab some of those for later, and we get a second coffee — a nice oat milk latte. I get like three to four coffees a day.

1:30 p.m.: Writing time at home
We love our house, so we’re probably going to spend a little time at home. The dogs nap. I write, and my wife reads. Writing always makes a day better, so let’s do one hour solid. When you get done, you’re like, OK, you’ve got to come back to the world.

3 p.m.: A perfect burger for a perfect day
Then it’s time to eat more. Oh my God. We have to eat. We drive to Crossroads on Melrose and have that burger of theirs. It’s on their weekday menu, but on this magical Sunday, let’s say they happen to offer their weekday menu. It’s like an Impossible vegan burger, but it tastes just like a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s, with a gluten-free bun. And the fries are delicious. You also want to get the kale Caesar salad on the side. It’s just fantastic. We decide to splurge and get their vegan chocolate sundae.

4 p.m.: Coffee No. 3 and shopping at Dover Street Market
We should probably get some more coffee, and good thing there’s a Blue Bottle just off Melrose. Then we go to the Arts District downtown, to this cool clothing store called Dover Street Market. Some people will say, “Alan, but aren’t you old? Why would you be shopping at Dover Street Market? Those are really hip clothes.” Look, first of all, Charissa pulls off a lot of really hip stuff, and I can almost keep up with her. So there’s stuff for people in their fifties, and we find those items and we buy them. They’ve got stuff from really hip Japanese brands and local fashion people, and they’ve also got stuff that’s like skatewear. I don’t skate anymore, but it doesn’t mean I can’t wear some skate brands now, because I left a lot of the skin from my knees and elbows in ditches and on streets and launch ramps back in the ‘80s. Skate or die. Which at this point, if I did skate, I would die.

So we go there and we shop and spend a little too much money. And there’s Rose Bakery in the back, and they have a strawberry cake that is gluten-free and delicious.

6 p.m.: Crown the 2025 Song of the Summer
We take the cake that we bought at Dover Street, and we go sit in the car and listen to music while we eat cake and trade songs back and forth between us, deciding on the song of the summer. This summer’s vibe for me — because it’s been such a crazy time in the world, I need an escape from it — I really have been trying to find songs that take me away from everything. It’s between “Punkrocker” [by Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop], the song on the credits of “Superman”; “Chaperone,” from Mermaid Chunky, and “Pick Up the Phone,” by Sofi Tukker. And although “Pick Up the Phone” almost edges it out, “Chaperone” wins the day because of the madness of the summer of 2025. You need something that matches the madness but chooses absurdity, and it really does a great job.

7 p.m.: Pork chop and peaches at Manuela
Since we’re downtown, we go to Manuela. It is so very good. I get the pork chop. So if anybody was reading this thinking, Oh, he’s all about the vegan, hell no. This is the moment. The pork chop at Manuela is on the menu at all times, and it is fantastic, and especially great right now because they serve it with fresh peaches. It’s like a whole peach. And Charissa gets something with fish. Charissa has a nice glass of white wine, and I have some silly mocktail that isn’t too sweet, because I’m driving. On the way home, on Hillhurst near Franklin, we’ll stop at Alcove Cafe and Bakery, which has the best gluten-free carrot cake you could ever put near your face.

9:30 p.m.: Cake and Colbert in bed
We take the cake home with us, and in bed we watch Colbert and eat cake and then brush our teeth because there’s been so much cake. And then we will be up for another hour, but I don’t want to get into it what goes on. But that’s still part of the day after Colbert leaves.

A slow-paced, fact-based period drama of war and love in precolonial Hawai’i, “Chief of War,” premiering Friday on Apple TV+, presents co-creator and star Jason Momoa as the late-18th century warrior Ka’iana in a story set at the intersection of the island kingdoms and the arrival of European colonists. It’s clearly a passion project, and like many passion projects, it can go overboard at times, grow overstuffed, not to say oversolemn — though solemnity, to be sure, is appropriate to the history. But the passion shows through, and the stuff is interesting — nothing you see everyday, for sure.

Hawaii, of course, was a cultural touchstone, an obsession among continental Americans, long before it became the 50th state. Ukuleles. Steel guitars. Elvis Presley in “Blue Hawaii” and “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” not to mention “Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite.” The Brady Bunch traveled there, and so did Dennis the Menace in a comic book I once owned. “Magnum P.I.,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “The White Lotus,” Season 1. Hawaiian Punch (created 1934), which mixed orange, pineapple, passion fruit, guava and papaya flavors, and is still available at a store near you in at least 14 flavors. Tiki bars. Suburban luaus. Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, where the birds sing words and the flowers croon, presented by Dole. It goes on and on.

Momoa, who was born in Honolulu, raised in Iowa and returned to the islands for college, slipped into show business by way of “Baywatch Hawaii,” followed by the Oahu-set hotel drama “North Shore.” He played an alien in four seasons of “Stargate Atlantis,” Conan the Barbarian, Aquaman, of course, and twice hosted “Saturday Night Live.” (And recently Ozzy Osbourne’s swan song concert “Back to the Beginning.”) It’s not surprising that he’d want to stretch a little, to step away from genre projects, and represent the roots of his people in a respectful manner. One would call “Chief of War” well-researched, even if one was not at all aware of how much research was done. The ordinary viewer may need to take notes to keep things straight; titles notwithstanding, I wasn’t always certain what island we were on, especially since characters might be living on or aligned with another, and because within an island, various “districts” might be at war, intramurally, as it were. (I did take notes, and I’m still a little confused as to exactly what some of them were after.)

A comparison to “Shogun” is as good as inevitable, given the subtitled dialogue — most of the series is performed in Hawaiian — the encounters with outsiders, the ambitious monarchs and the warring factions. In the latter respects, the series also resembles “Game of Thrones,” where Momoa spent two seasons as chieftain Khal Drogo. And its opening might make you think of “The Lord of the Rings,” as a woman’s voice sets the story (a prophesied king will unite the endless, ending “a cycle of endless war”), introducing the island kingdoms of Kaua’i, Hawai’i, Maui and O’ahu, “separated by cunning chiefs and powerful gods.”

We’re introduced to Ka’iana, a Maui war chief who has left that island, and more to the point, deserted its army, to live a peaceful life on Kaua’i with his two brothers Nahi’ (Siua Ikale’o) and Namake (Te Kohe Tuhaka) and significant others Kupuohi (Te Ao o Hinepehinga) and Heke (Mainei Kinimaka). On the whole, given what follows, one would call this the superior lifestyle, and I would have been happy just to spend a little time in this world, with its plant-based architecture and fashions and cheeky local children getting into Ka’iana’s stuff. But like a retired gunslinger in a western movie, circumstances will not let him rest. (He will, in fact, sling a gun before the season is out.)

Kaina Makua and Luciane Buchanan also stars in “Chief of War.”

(Nicola Dove/Apple TV+)

“A war chief who runs from war — you are a chief of contradictions,” says Kaʻahumanu (Luciane Buchanan), a young Maui woman Ka’iana meets in a cave while he’s on the run, where she’s lying low from her councilor father (Moses Goods), who means to ship her to Hawai’i to marry her to Kamehameha (Kaina Makua), in charge of the “god of war,” a sort of military good-luck charm whose possession will be a major issue, though Kamehameha’s own inclinations bend toward peace. But with crazy villains like King Kahekili (Temuera Morrison) and Keoua (Cliff Curtis), not to mention some rogue white sailors with their own dreams of conquest, that may have to wait.

A contemporary account describes the real-life Ka’iana as “near 6 feet 5 inches in stature, and the muscular form of his limbs was of a Herculean appearance,” which is basically typecasting for Momoa. In many ways “Chief of War” is another superhero role for him, if a more emotionally busy one. He’s the best fighter by miles, can catch a spear in his head, ride a shark (a drugged shark, but still) and whip out a laser stare calculated to make his enemies quake. But he also must grapple with family business, love stuff and getting people to listen to his better ideas.

Circumstances will lead Ka’iana into the ocean and onto a British sailing ship, where he will travel to Alaska and the Spanish East Indies, learn all about guns, which he regards as a potentially useful invention, and to speak English — John Young (Benjamin Hoetjes) a marooned sailor taken into the community, is teaching it back on Hawai’i, and soon many characters are speaking English, even when it doesn’t make any practical sense. And in a story in which “pale-skin” colonists meet and exploit Indigenous populations, white racism necessarily gets a licking — “They do not see you as people,” says Tony (James Udom), a Black man who befriends Ka’iana on his accidental voyage — including an actual licking.

Injecting a strain of anticipatory feminism, Momoa and his collaborator Thomas Paʻa Sibbett have taken care not only to incorporate women into their testosterone-heavy world (including Sisa Grey as a street-smart Hawai’ian expat), but to give them interesting things to do — Kupuohi “was once a chiefess of war,” Heke wants Nahi’ to teach her how to fight — and wise things to say, e.g., “Men train their whole lives to be warriors but they fear being wrong more than they fear death.” (So true.) There are gay characters, too, presented without comment.

The actors are appealing when they’re meant to be, and very much unappealing when they’re meant to be, but they’re all excellent (including the nonprofessional Makua). The pacing can be pokey — elegiac if you prefer — between the big action scenes, which can be disturbingly violent. (It can also be very violent when someone’s just trying to make a point.) Filmed across Hawaii and New Zealand and thoughtfully designed, it’s always a pleasure to look at, notwithstanding some dodgy CGI in the volcano scene. (Yes, there’s a volcano.) There is one red-hued orgy scene (denoting villainy) too many — which is to say, there’s one. The score, by Hans Zimmer and James Everingham, is Hollywood-obvious, and the series as a whole is not immune to corniness — but that is sometimes just another word for love.

With the City Section now having more girls flag football teams (93) than 11-man teams (71), the growing popularity of the sport is clear. But the sport faces a huge challenge when official practice begins on Aug. 8 — rule changes.

Confusion among all the stakeholders — coaches, players, officials, parents — is certain to take place in the early games.

That was evident during a meeting on Wednesday. City Section coaches received a briefing from Nelson Bae, the section’s rules interpreter. There were so many questions that City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos had to halt them or the meeting would have lasted for hours. Coaches were told to submit their questions later.

A national rulebook was established by the National Federation of State High School Assns. and some of the changes are massive, such as the addition of punting and screen blocking.

“Crazy stuff is going to happen,” Bae told the coaches. “All of us are going to have to adjust. I’ve already seen some things, ‘This is going to be a problem.’”

Screen blocking could be a vocal point of confusion because, as Bae said, penalties could be called on every play similar to holding in 11-man football. No contact is allowed when blocking but deciding who made the contact and who receives the penalty will be the judgment call that could have parents yelling in the bleachers if they don’t understand the correct interpretation.

Coaches are having to train players not to use their hands and rushers can’t run into moving screens or a penalty is supposed to be called.

“Go around,” Bae advised.

It will be confusing in early games, particularly until everyone adjusts.

There will be four playoff divisions, up from three last season, as the sport enters its third season in the City Section.

Coaches have been seeking out soccer players to serve as punters. Prepare for the unexpected this fall.

MILWAUKEE — Clayton Kershaw has been an All-Star 10 times before.

But no selection surprised him quite like this year’s.

Included on the National League All-Star team as a “Legend Pick” by Commissioner Rob Manfred in recognition of his career accomplishments, Kershaw did not get any advance warning from Manfred or anyone in the league office that he would be in the “Midsummer Classic.”

When manager Dave Roberts gathered his Dodgers team to announce the club’s All-Star selections on Sunday, Kershaw forgot that the “Legend Pick” — which has been used in the past for players such as Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera — was even a thing.

Thus, when Roberts announced Kershaw’s name, the 37-year-old was caught more than a little off-guard — having made just nine starts this season since returning from offseason toe and knee surgeries.

“Obviously, I don’t deserve to get to go this season, haven’t pitched very much,” he deadpanned. “I don’t know if Doc was going for the surprise factor or not. But I had no idea until he said it.”

But by Monday, the meaningfulness of what he described as a “tremendous honor” had also set in, with Kershaw expressing gratitude for what will be his 11th career selection, tied for the most among active players with Mike Trout.

“You never take for granted getting to go to an All-Star Game, regardless of the circumstances,” Kershaw said. “At the end of the day, it’s weird but cool, so I’m just going to enjoy it.”

While Kershaw’s limited workload would normally not warrant an All-Star selection, his stats haven’t been too far off that pace this year: A 4-0 record, 3.43 ERA and 1.254 WHIP in what is the 18th season of his future Hall of Fame career.

“I think there’s some good and some bad,” Kershaw said of his season so far. “I wouldn’t say happy, but I wouldn’t say disappointed either. I would say kind of right in the middle.”

The highlight of the campaign, of course, came in Kershaw’s last start, when he became the 20th pitcher in MLB history to record 3,000 career strikeouts.

But at this stage of his career, Kershaw’s real satisfaction has been with his health — finally past the various back, elbow, shoulder, knee and toe injuries that had plagued him over the last several seasons.

“I think the biggest thing is just the mental toll [that takes on you],” Kershaw said. “Anyone that has been dealing with stuff, I think it’s always in the back of your head. You wake up and you test it and you move around and you test it to see if it hurts, see how bad it hurts. [Now], instead of wondering if you can pitch, it’s just a matter of how you’re going to pitch. I don’t think I took into appreciation the mental toll that takes over time. So to just worry about pitching is nice, for sure.”

It has also allowed Kershaw “to get the reps and go back out and be able to feel OK in between starts to work on some stuff,” he said. “Figure out some different things mechanically and pitch-wise and stuff.”

Long-term, Kershaw still hasn’t decided if this will be his final season.

“I don’t know what is going to happen in the future,” he said. “I really have no idea when it comes to the years beyond this one. So I’m just trying to enjoy it, be part of a really good team this year.”

When it comes to next week’s All-Star Game, he isn’t even sure if he’ll pitch in the showcase exhibition, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta.

“I’d love to pitch but I don’t want to take an inning away from somebody who’s never done it before or this is their first year or whatever,” he said. “I’ll enjoy just to hang or pitch or whatever.”

On Monday, Kershaw’s focus was instead on his final start of the first half: A scheduled Tuesday outing against the Milwaukee Brewers and their 23-year-old rookie starlet, Jacob Misiorowski.

Kershaw, 14 years Misiorowski’s senior, laughed when asked what it’s like to be the elder statesman in such high-profile matchups now.

“I saw a couple highlights [of him], know he throws hard,” Kershaw said. “But so does everybody. Except me.”

Weathered and bumpy, the wall hidden among the surplus clothing stores of the Fashion District was hardly the perfect canvas.

But artist Sloe Motions’ vision for the memorial mural in honor of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna following their deaths in 2020 brought the stretch of Main and 14th streets to life with vibrant hues of purple and gold.

One of the most well-known Kobe murals across Southern California, the art piece — outside Jimmy Jam T-Shirts — was the backdrop for a commercial for Super Bowl LVI featuring Vanessa Bryant and has drawn fans from near and far.

For years, the mural remained untouched — an unspoken mark of respect for the artist and the subject but one that abruptly ended this year.

In late March, someone tagged the artwork with large bubble letters outlined in black and filled in with white — a similar style to other street tagging visible across the city.

Sloe Motions went back to work, painstakingly restoring the mural. There was much fanfare in downtown when the new mural made its debut in late May. But within a few days, it was again defaced. The artist is disappointed but vows to restore it once again — this time in a new location.

“This one has a lot of meaning to it, so it hurts me that people would do something like this where they’re disrespecting the Bryant family. It just exposes these people’s demons,” Sloe Motions said.

Graffiti has long been an element of Los Angeles life, and residents of downtown are used to tags as part of the landscape. This is, after all, the place where taggers coated the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza high-rise complex with graffiti, generating international attention and debate about the line between art and vandalism.

But the treatment of the Kobe tribute surprised Sloe Motions.

“This isn’t just another Kobe mural. It’s a memorial,” he said.

Street art has long been a part of the culture of Los Angeles, where murals — sanctioned and unsanctioned — and graffiti harmoniously share canvas space. Some abide by the unwritten code that you don’t cover someone else’s art. Others take a more autonomous approach, creating what they want where they want.

“Great cities have great public art,” said Wyland, a Laguna Beach-based artist who has painted murals across the world. “This Kobe mural, it’s become part of the fabric of Los Angeles. And for someone to come in and destroy it like that doesn’t make any sense.”

Los Angeles is known as a city of murals — some of which remain respectfully untouched for years, while others like the Kobe memorial are a seemingly irresistible target for taggers. There was a time when some property owners believed hiring the right muralist to grace your walls — or including a portrait of the Virgen de Guadalupe — could keep taggers away. But not anymore.

In many ways downtown Los Angeles is the perfect gallery for viewing street art, turning nondescript buildings into colorful canvases that tell the story of the region.

Ife Ewing, co-owner of Jimmy Jam T-Shirts, says street art has changed in the 13 years her business has been housed on Main Street.

James Ewing, co-owner of Jimmy Jam T-Shirts, looks at a mural Wednesday of Kobe and Gianna Bryant that has been vandalized again on the side of the business at 14th and Main streets.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“Before, it was isolated to designated areas,” she said. “It’s a different breed of artists now. They have no respect for business owners, property owners. It’s disrespectful. You have to call it what it is, it’s just disrespect.”

Sloe Motions is far from the only muralist to feel burned.

Judy Baca’s famed mural of a female Olympic runner is beloved, even though it has been hit by taggers in the past. Then in 2019, the mural — part of the 1984 Olympics art movement — was mysterious whitewashed, sparking outrage. Metro eventually admitted one of its graffiti abatement contractors had covered the mural and vowed to restore it.

“They would rather paint on the mural than see even a mark of graffiti on the mural,” Baca said at the time.

The latest vandalism to Bryant’s mural felt like another blow to the area.

A post on June 3 from the DTLA Insider Instagram account summed up the situation simply: “We really can’t have nice things.”

The mural image is a spin on a photograph capturing a sweet moment during the 2008 NBA Finals when the Lakers legend — a proud “girl dad” — leans down and kisses the side of his smiling toddler’s head as he cradles her in his arm during a news conference.

Sloe Motions was drawn to the emotion in the photograph — the purity of a father’s love and a daughter’s admiration for her hero. It was captured years before Gigi started playing basketball, showing off her own version of her dad’s envied fadeaway jumper.

Next to them, the words “Mambas Forever” with an infinity symbol are painted in purple and gold.

Bryant, 41, and 13-year-old Gigi, along with seven others — John Altobelli, 56; Keri Altobelli, 46; Alyssa Altobelli, 13; Christina Mauser, 38, Sarah Chester, 45; Payton Chester, 13; and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50 — died Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter Zobayan was flying crashed in the hills of Calabasas.

After the initial vandalism in late March, Sloe Motions had sought donations to help cover the cost of restoring the mural in the current location, hoping to preserve the spot for the Bryant family.

“There’s just a lot of meaning at that wall,” he said.

Lakers star Luka Doncic’s foundation quickly jumped into action, donating $5,000, the full amount needed, to a fundraiser to help restore the art piece.

In late May, Sloe Motions posted on Instagram that the mural was finally finished. He’d added a few additional touches, painting the No. 8 on Gigi’s jersey, an homage to the number that Kobe wore for the first 10 seasons of his career.

A week later, the new details were still visible but under the scrawl of white paint.

On June 4, television news cameras were positioned near the mural, and passersby stopped to assess the damage. A jumble of bright white paint cut across the image, and heavy white dots covered Kobe’s and Gigi’s eyes.

“This time, they really went heavy,” Sergio Bautista, 35, said as he stood in front of the mural. “It’s sad to see.”

Sky Hendrix, who was in the area filming a music video with a friend, expressed his disbelief.

“That’s disrespecting the dead,” Hendrix said as he took in the scene. “Who would do that? He’s the GOAT and she’s just a little girl.”

Despite the vandalism, Sloe Motions showed no real sign of anger as he talked about the future of the art piece somewhere else where more people could view and appreciate it. He said he sent “prayers” to the people who vandalized his work.

“Nothing’s forever, and that’s the beauty of this stuff,” Sloe Motions said. “Some stuff could last a minute, some stuff could last a day, some stuff could last years.”

Times photographer Genaro Molina contributed to this report.