Full Stack, My Lovely
The tension builds steadily in Michael Connelly’s latest mystery, “A Darkness More Than Night.” Take the scene in which retired FBI Agent Terry McCaleb, a heart-transplant recipient, walks into an L.A. diner. First, he downs the 27 pills that his doctors have him take twice a day. Then he orders a large stack of pancakes with melted butter, an order of well-done bacon and coffee. I swear, I never thought he’d get out of the place alive.
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VALENTINE’S DAZE: Our offbeat gift ideas (see accompanying) for today include:
* Some roses that could require deodorant.
* A very cold bathing suit (submitted by Betty Guile of Van Nuys).
* A piece of ruby and diamond jewelry--but where do you hang it? (Pat Davey of Northridge)
* And a wax offer that might appeal to Long John Silver (especially if a half-eyebrow job was thrown in).
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ODD COUPLE: The L.A. Daily Journal, noting that YourMobile.com allows cellular phone owners to download songs to replace their annoying rings, suggested some ditties for areas of the legal profession.
They included:
* General counsel--”Help,” the Beatles.
* Criminal defense--”I Fought the Law,” Bobby Fuller Four.
* Immigration law--”Born in East L.A.,” Cheech and Chong.
* Family law specialist--”50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” Neil Simon.
Stop the music! I’m pretty sure that the songwriter was Paul, not Neil.
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THEY KNOW THE TRICKS: The Kaplan/Newsweek 2001 guide, “How to Get Into College,” includes a chapter on “Merry Pranksters” that spotlights Caltech and MIT.
This is interesting because those are the two schools that were picked to overhaul the nation’s election machinery after the presidential debacle. They’re looking at the idea of re-engineering voters’ punch cards, etc.
And, as Newsweek reports, Caltech in particular has shown it can work magic with cards. Like those used in halftime stunts.
In the 1961 Rose Bowl game, some Caltech students rigged the halftime show so that unknowing students from the University of Washington spelled out, not their own school name, but “Caltech.”
And the card stunt depiction of Washington’s Husky mascot came out looking like a Caltech beaver.
I’m going to be suspicious if my 2004 election ballot carries the likeness of that beaver.
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BEACH CREDITS: Struck by Oscar fever, this column is offering a series of lists of movie lines that mention local cities. The first honoree is Long Beach:
* “Get out of Long Beach tonight”--Rival car thief’s order to Nicolas Cage (“Gone in 60 Seconds”).
* “Let’s go to Long Beach!”--Sharon Stone, telling writer’s block victim Albert Brooks that the city’s aquarium will inspire him (“The Muse”).
* “He’s in Long Beach, isn’t he? Relax.”--Barbara Stanwyck, telling lover Fred MacMurray not to worry about her husband (“Double Indemnity”).
* And finally, there’s this exchange in “The Blue Dahlia” in which Veronica Lake explains to hitchhiker Alan Ladd why she’s driving to Malibu.
Lake: “I flipped a coin. Heads I go to Malibu, tails I go to Laguna.
Ladd: “And what if the coin rolls under the davenport?”
Lake: “I go to Long Beach.”
miscelLAny:
Driving down Wilshire Boulevard, Judy Stuart of Brentwood spotted a vacant storefront. The only thing the former tenant had left behind, she noticed, was a sign: Survival Insurance.
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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.