The Rock is solid on the Hub

With only a few days left of filming for the Disney flick "The Game Plan," the film's star, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and 8-year-old Madison Pettis, who plays his on screen daughter, shot scenes at makeshift studios in Westwood. During a break yesterday, The Rock told us, "It's been fantastic. I've really enjoyed Boston." Barring the need to reshoot scenes, director Andy Fickman and his crew will soon finish 12 weeks of filming that took them across the region, including Gloucester, Worcester, Framingham, Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre, Gillette Stadium, and the Gypsy Bar. Though he claims he's "a lay-low type of guy," The Rock nonetheless attracted attention whenever he ventured out to the area's eateries. "I do love going out to restaurants to eat," he said, "and Boston's got a lot of good ones."

A friendly tribute to Styron at the BPL

It was only a matter of time before the literary world started celebrating the remarkable life and work of William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who died last month at 81. PEN's planning a memorial in New York in the new year, but a few of the writer's friends and family are getting together in Boston next week. Organized, in part, by ardent Styron admirer author Jennifer Haigh, the Dec. 13 event at the Boston Public Library will include remarks and reminiscences by ART founding director Robert Brustein, critic Gail Caldwell, Suffolk University dean Ken Greenberg, and perhaps even Styron's old Provincetown pal Norman Mailer. Haigh, who'll read from "Lie Down in Darkness," told us it's been a privilege to plan the tribute.

Local pros give kids some holiday cheer

You won't hear the Hub's star athletes uttering "Bah, Humbug" this holiday season. Members of the Pats, Bruins, and Celts all hit the street yesterday to spread a little cheer. Ty Warren and a few of his Patriot teammates held their annual "Shop with a Jock" at the Bob's Store in Framingham, giving 25 lucky kiddos from the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club $300 each to spend however they wanted. Meanwhile, Celts Ryan Gomes, Kendrick Perkins, and Rajon Rondo were at Dick's Sporting Goods in Natick, where kids from Team Works Boston got $100 gift cards. And in Woburn, Bruins P.J. Axelsson, Brad Boyes, Phil Kessel, and Glen Murray went on a spending spree at Target, buying toys that'll be delivered next week to local hospitals and family shelters. . . . More than a dozen wannabe dancers showed up Sunday to shake it for Martii Garcia, the Saugus gal who's putting together a Pussycat Dolls-style dance revue. (Garcia was a finalist on Diddy's MTV show "Making the Band 3.") Besides strutting their stuff to Diddy tunes, the girls filled out a questionnaire that asked: "Will you be willing to change your hair color if need be?"; "age (be honest)"; "will you be comfortable wearing sexy clothes for performances?"; and "have you ever been convicted of a felony or do you have a pending criminal or narcotics case?"

The dashing Matthew Fox may be best known as Dr. Jack Shephard on ABC's "Lost," but he was in town yesterday to talk about his new movie "We Are Marshall," which opens Dec. 22. Also starring Matthew McConaughey, the movie is about Marshall University's attempt to rebuild its football program after 75 people were killed in a plane crash 36 years ago as the team was returning to West Virginia from a game. . . . Speaking of "Lost," the show's executive producer, Carlton Cuse, and his wife, Christiane, a former Dana-Farber patient, have donated a tour of the hit show's set in Hawaii for the cancer institute's "Online Holiday Auction." Bidding for the tour, which includes plane tickets and a hotel stay for four days, was at $10,000 yesterday. Other items on the auction include a lunch with Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino that had a $2,700 bid, two season passes for the 2007 Patriots season ($6,000), and a weekend trip to Florida for a Jacksonville Jaguars game ($3,600.) . . . Boston event planner Bryan Rafanelli will be up early tomorrow preparing five trees for a segment on holiday decorating tips and ideas on CBS's "The Early Show." Rafanelli will be at the show's outdoor studio on the edge of NYC's Central Park at 4 a.m. for the segment slated to air between 8 and 9 a.m. . . . José Feliciano will join conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops for the "Holiday at Pops" concert broadcast Dec. 16 on WBZ-TV. . . . Tennis legend Billie Jean King was spotted working out at the Boston Harbor Hotel's health club Monday before her induction into the Northeastern Center for the Study of Sport in Society's Hall of Fame.

Meredith Goldstein of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.