SPOTLIGHT

FASCINATION OF ORCHIDS INTERNATIONAL SHOW AND SALE

You see them every Mothers Day and prom night. Their fragrant beauty

has inspired artists, jewelry designers and writers. There’s just

something about orchids -- their fragile look, their soft feel, their

decadent smell -- that captures the imagination.

Which is why there exists the Fascination of Orchids International

Show and Sale at South Coast Plaza. The annual event brings together

those who sell and those who buy these flowers in one place for four

days.

Part of the orchid’s mystique lies in their exotic quality -- orchids

only grow naturally in tropical climates. Then there is the rarity of

certain types of the flower and the obsession some people have for

getting them, discussed intensely in Susan Orlean’s “Orchid Thief.”

If you ever wanted to grow orchids or just see a whole bunch of

varieties outside a botanical garden, now’s your chance.

FYI

Where: South Coast Plaza Crate & Barrel/Macy’s Home Store Wing, 3333

Bear St., Costa Mesa

When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10

Cost: Free

Contact: (714) 964-3265

Meet some funny ladies who strip

‘FUNNY LADIES: WOMEN WHO WRITE THE COMICS’

The women behind some of the funniest characters in the comics will

talk about their “stripping” at 7 p.m. Thursday during “Funny Ladies:

Women Who Write the Comics” in the Newport Beach Central Library’s

Friends Meeting Room. The program will feature a free screening of a

46-minute documentary about some of America’s most popular women

cartoonists.

FYI

Where: Newport Beach Central Library Friend’s Meeting Room, 1000

Avocado Ave., Newport Beach

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Cost: Free

Contact: (949) 717-3801

DON’T FORGET

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The Rams and the Patriots will face off

for a 3:15 p.m. kickoff at the Superdome in New Orleans. Super Bowl XXXVI

will be broadcast at 3 p.m. on local Fox affiliates.

PLANNING AHEAD

‘SWAN LAKE’

American Ballet Theatre’s “Swan Lake” will open the Orange County

Performing Arts Center’s 2002 Dance Season.

Tuesday, Feb. 12

NUMERICALLY SPEAKING

400: The tons of steel that will make up South Coast

Repertory’s new Julianne Argyros Theatre, scheduled to open in October.