This California-Nevada Competition Could Turn Grizzly
A daring border crossing? In a new campaign of ads and billboards, Nevada officials allege that the bear on California’s state flag has fled to the Silver State, along with several California businesses, weary of high costs (see photo).
Responding to Nevada’s taunts, one California official told Associated Press: “We know where the bear is. He’s visiting California’s innovative companies, its world-class universities, its Nobel Prize winners, its research and development labs.”
I believe the bear also visited the swimming pool of a Monrovia resident a few months ago, but, heck, it no doubt needed a break from its hectic pace.
Chasing the, uh, news: Researching L.A.’s love for televised police chases, writer Tad Friend was with a KTLA Channel 5 helicopter crew in October when word came in that actress Lindsay Lohan had been in a car crash on the Westside.
Friend, in the latest issue of the New Yorker, goes on to recount this off-camera conversation between the assignment editor at the station and the cameraman in the helicopter:
Editor: “I know it’s a long shot, but check the street for a skinny, movie-star-looking woman. Channel 2 says she and her assistant ran into an antiques store across the way.”
Cameraman, zooming in on one young woman in dark glasses near the scene: “Problem is, every girl on the street kind of fits the profile. How’s this?”
Editor: “She’s wearing Uggs. Those are so last year, couldn’t be her.”
Unclear on the concept: The New Yorker cited a study that said that 64% of those questioned believed they could successfully elude the cops in their cars. What made the finding so remarkable was that those who were questioned were all car-chase suspects already behind bars.
We’re No. 1: Symbolizing L.A.’s position as the freeway-chase capital -- 5,596 police pursuits in 2004 alone -- a South Bay bar once hung out this come-on (see photo).
More cop stuff: James McElmell of Long Beach found a sauerkraut dish that would catch the eye of law enforcement (see accompanying).
How’s that again? Math teacher Jeff Chatham of Santa Monica gave failing marks to the calculations in one ad (see accompanying).
miscelLAny: Among the alternate Oscar categories offered by the magazine Hollywood Life is “Least Credible Casting,” with such nominees as:
* “Jennifer Lopez as a dog-walker who can’t get a date in ‘Monster-In-Law.’ ”
* “Lindsay Lohan as a good driver in ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded.’ ”
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.