Life in Los Angeles Gets Three Cs, According to the Movies

The titles of three current movies set in L.A. are “Criminal,” “Cellular” and “Collateral.” I guess they do pretty much sum up life in L.A.

Not another sex scandal in sports? No, it was a slight slip of the tongue by Fox Sports Net anchor Van Earl Wright the other night when he said an Angels player with a sore arm was being checked out for “carnal” tunnel syndrome.

Mobile planter? On the Westside, of all places, Norm Sklarewitz noticed an odd-looking vehicle that was in the left-turn lane but didn’t have its turn signal working (see photo). Wonder if the driver could have been Audrey II, the man-eating plant from “Little Shop of Horrors”?

The owner and pet who bathe together ... : “I do hope there are separate facilities,” commented R.J. Finnegan of Buena Park, after reading about an offer directed at animals and/or humans (see accompanying).

Splinterville has come a long way: That was the nickname bestowed on Santa Monica College by students after the devastating earthquake of 1933 reduced the campus to a collection of tents and bungalows.

SMC, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is quite a bit spiffier these days and was named one of the top 10 two-year schools in the nation by Rolling Stone magazine.

The school has a prominent list of alumni, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Dustin Hoffman, singer Rickie Lee Jones and astronaut Walter Cunningham, not to mention headline-makers Monica Lewinsky and Heidi Fleiss.

Not sure which of the above will be attending the celebrations.

Rebel without a hook shot: The most famous alumnus ever to play a sport at Santa Monica College later became a pretty well-known actor: James Dean. Hardly as riveting as he was later on the screen, the 5-foot, 8-inch guard frequently wore his glasses during games. He didn’t play much -- witness his performance against Riverside College (see accompanying). But his coach told biographer Ronald Martinetti that Dean was “a tolerably good guard” and “a leader who went for the ball.”

Age-old wisdom: I accused a movie-preview invitation of redundancy for specifying that children under 7 were not admitted, nor were infants.

B.J. Ahlen of West L.A. commented: “This wording isn’t as stupid as it sounds. Many mothers think that infants don’t count because they don’t need separate seats.” Well, maybe the “infant” wording wasn’t, as I guessed, a reference to grown-up Hollywood crybabies.

TV talk: Everything on the tube has to be packaged, even sports. So ABC referred to its National Football League opener as a “Special Thursday Night Edition of Monday Night Football.” It got a bit confusing, especially when broadcaster Al Michaels (my old classmate at Hamilton High) assured viewers there would also be a “Monday Night Football” game this week.

He meant next week -- next Monday. I think.

miscelLAny: In today’s installment of the name game, Chris Wash of Manhattan Beach watched a TV interview with a hurricane expert identified as Christopher Landsea.

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.