Steve Lopez had a poll last week. He wanted to know who the worst Angeleno was and now he doesn't like the answer:

OK, so here we are in Greater L.A., with its long, dark history of land and water grabs, legendary air pollution, assassins, serial killers and gang kingpins, and according to last week's Talk Back to Lopez poll, the worst Angeleno of all time is:

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?

Does anyone out there know any history?

In fairness, he's an impotent incumbent who's only accomplishment is getting Mirthala Salinas transferred to Riverside. OJ is in jail, which makes him not an incumbent. The number two on the list was Rep. Henry Waxman, so that should tell you something. People who vote in online polls hate the home team.

Hat tip LA Weekly and photo credit Glitterati

Previously on FBLA:

Author Dani Shapiro penned an essay in the LAT about how writing is now supposed to be profitable.

She writes:

If they were enrolled in medical school, in all likelihood they would wind up doctors. If in law school, better than even odds, they'd become lawyers. But writing school guarantees them little other than debt.

And:

The 5,000 students graduating each year from creative writing programs (not to mention the thousands more who attend literary festivals and conferences) do not include insecurity, rejection and disappointment in their plans. I see it in their faces: the almost evangelical belief in the possibility of the instant score. And why not? They are, after all, the product of a moment that doesn't reward persistence, that doesn't see the value in delaying recognition, that doesn't trust in the process but only the outcome. As an acquaintance recently said to me: "So many crappy novels get published. Why not mine?"

We'd put money on this being a panel at the LAT Festival of Books now.

When did colleges start encouraging this stuff?!

Apparently the late Chris Farley wore his Marquette Rugby jacket in Tommy Boy. He's an alum. If you're eligible the application is here.

This is a credit where credit is due story. Basically, Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger wrote a piece for the LAT in November last year titled "Runaway Toyota cases ignored." They reported that there have been 19 deaths and scores of injuries due to Toyotas seeming to accelerate on their own. After it was published Irv Miller VP of Environmental & Public Affairs for Toyota wrote:

Today the Los Angeles Times published an article that wrongly and unfairly attacks Toyota's integrity and reputation. While outraged by the Times' attack, we were not totally surprised. The tone of the article was foreshadowed by the phrasing of a lengthy list of detailed questions that the Times emailed to us recently. The questions were couched in accusatory terms. Despite the tone, we answered each of the many questions and sent them to the Times. Needless to say, we were disappointed by the article that appeared today, and in particular by the fact that so little of our response to the questions appeared in the article and much of what was used was distorted. Toyota has a well-earned reputation for integrity and we will vigorously defend it.

Cringe.

As CJR's Dean Starkman points out the LAT stuck to their guns under fire. Then as NYTPicker points out, NYT suddenly started paying attention to the scoop, never noting the champion of the story was from the other coast and some other newspaper.

The media gets criticized for when they get it wrong, but rarely when they get it right. There's no hyperbole in saying this investigative (read: expensive) piece saved lives. Great work Vartabedian and Bensinger.

Also, just because the NYT pretends they're an island with no counterparts, doesn't mean its true.

Our thanks to our tipster for this story.

The Wendy McCaw saga continues, AP reports:

An arbitrator has rejected the Santa Barbara News-Press' $25 million claim against its former editor and ordered the newspaper's owner to pay more than $900,000 in fees stemming from their dispute.

Arbitrator Deborah Rothman said Ampersand Publishing, parent company of the News-Press, believed it "lost prestige and credibility in the Santa Barbara community" from comments former editor Jerry Roberts made, and it went after the journalist in a "scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners, go-for-broke fashion." She said the company spent about $2.4 million litigating the claim against Roberts.

Rothman decided that Ampersand should pay nearly $750,000 in legal fees Roberts incurred and about $167,000 in arbitration fees and expenses. Her 68-page decision was made available Friday; a judge will have to decide whether to confirm or vacate the judgment.

And:

"The award is a decisive victory for ethical journalism," Roberts said in a statement. "Ethics, not money, was always the issue for me."

Now we just have to wait if a judge confirms the amount. Wow, even their media brawls up there are PRICEY. Yeesh.

Previously on FBLA:

In case you missed it, the band who wrote the theme songs for all of CBS's hit CSI shows played said songs at half time. To recap, CBS ran a bunch of CSI promos during the Super Bowl and got a mention in the song set by The Who.

This is why they're "America's Most Watched Network" - synergy!

The reports are that David Letterman wanted to do this bit because he thought it was funny and it means nothing to him beyond that. That's Letterman's side. Jay Leno has an image problem. He also doesn't like to not be the funniest person in the room. He must have struggled with this one.

Previously on FBLA:

Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC, Tiny Dupuy of FBLA, Whatshisname of Can't Remember, and Mickey Kaus of Slate.

FBLA's Tina Dupuy met LA Times columnist James Rainey at Mika Brzezinski's book party this past Wednesday, and engaged in a lengthy discussion about the state of local print media - i.e. gossiped like schoolgirls.

You can learn a lot from Twitter. We had no idea it was Mika Brzezinski Day yesterday. Does that mean we all get belittled by Joe Scarborough for an hour? The councilman mentioned above is Tom LaBonge. Do we just let anyone from New York who's on TV and wrote a book have their own day now? What are we Cleveland?

Pic after the jump.

continued...

We asked our favorite local short filmmaker Andy Cobb (AKA The Mouthpiece Theater Killer) what he thinks of LA Mags short film contest, "Get LA."

"This contest is a cool deal," Cobb tells FBLA. "Everybody shoots in LA but pretends it's not even there--like LA's supposed to just be a place that can pass for other areas of the country without ever probing what LA itself is about."

He continues, "This contest is a great chance to do just that. And it'll be a great chance for David Arquette and Eric Garcetti to enjoy the same film without it being raunchy hard-core foot fetish pornography. Don't miss out, filmmaker-types."

Contest info is here.