Chicago writer-actor-director Harold Ramis died Monday. He was 69. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images hide caption

In Oatman, Ariz., burros are likely to nuzzle with tourists and are notoriously difficult to move out of harm's way. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Foreign subsidies encourage Hollywood studios to move film work abroad —The Hobbit, for example, was shot in New Zealand — but that can make visual effects jobs unstable back in the U.S. AP/Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

Possessed by Paul James is the performing title of Konrad Wert, a country-folk artist from Austin, Texas. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

The Seattle tunneling machine known as Bertha, which started its task in July, is now stuck 60 feet underground. Ted S. Warren/AP hide caption

Blake Bailey has written biographies of John Cheever, Richard Yates and Charles Jackson. Mary Brinkmeyer hide caption

Samba isn't just for the musicians who work the scene in Rio. Singer Maria Rita is from São Paulo in southern Brazil; she recorded a samba album several years ago and will release a second this spring. Tribo Productions hide caption

Fists balled and feet planted, cabaret legend Elaine Stritch powers through a song with her longtime music director, Rob Bowman, in a scene from Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. Isotope Films hide caption