Archives: December 2012

A most important detail is being underplayed in the first wave of media pick-ups this afternoon of a Coastline Pilot item about a fracas at a Laguna Beach Jack In the Box involving a pair of former professional hockey players. The alleged drive-through madness happened on the night of December 21.

As in, who needs an anciently foretold end to civilization when all manner of civilization has already been lost? From Andrew Shortall‘s report:

The incident reportedly occurred when a cab in which [former Anaheim Duck] Jean Francois Jomphe and [one-time Toronto Maple Leaf] Richard Anthony Costello were riding pulled into the Jack In the Box drive-through line, cutting off a VW Jetta carrying a group of young adults.

“One of the kids [in the Jetta] did a hand gesture like, ‘Hey, what’s up’ and Jomphe got angry, got out of the cab and went to the guy,” Laguna Beach Police Capt. Jason Kravetz said. “Costello went to restrain him, but he’s pretty upset and shatters the back window.”

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It took Loyola Marymount University English professor Linda Bannister roughly ten years. But beginning next spring semester, the fruits of her labor will finally be on the school’s curriculum: the option for students of a journalism minor.

Up until now, LMU has offered only a Journalism Certificate. The minor will come in especially handy for students planning to apply to graduate journalism school and has been designed to also serve the university’s social justice mission. From the school’s recent announcement:

According to Bannister, the minor will require 21 units including four required courses: “The Language of Journalism” (or “Writing for Journalism”), “Journalism: New Media,” one course in community journalism or specialized journalism and one 400-level Capstone course with backpack journalism and long-form focus.

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Kevin Boie is shifting to a city with no NFL football team. On the other hand, he’s doubling his immediate NBA cheering options and will soon be able to see first-hand what a properly motivated Lamar Odom can accomplish on the hardwood.

Boie is the new director of digital content for ABC7 in Glendale. He starts in January after five-plus years as a senior Web producer with FOX 4 KDFW and another five before that as the managing editor of the news website nbcdfw.com (previously nbc5i.com).

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Take my column, please. That has pretty much been the approach espoused by WEHOville.com publisher Henry “Hank” Scott with his weekly column “Ask a Gay.”

Patterned after OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano‘s “¡Ask a Mexican!,” Scott’s tongue-in-cheek responses to emailed questions from readers are a bold and brash attempt to connect with a major part of the WeHo constituency. Is it working? We’re not sure, but the format certainly has fun leapfrogging over usual letter-from-the-publisher boundaries. Here for example is how Scott began a recent response to a woman asking whether celebrities still need today to worry about staying in the closet:

So you’re asking me if Tom Cruise is gay? Don’t know. Haven’t slept with him. And seriously, he’s so not my type (I like ‘em edgy and have a thing for shaved heads)…

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This seems like a no-brainer. Especially for an alt-weekly always on the lookout for additional ways to get its hooks into a readership hungry for good eats, great events and the ease of quick-scan capsule reviews.

Starting in the new year, LA Weekly will adopt a zero-through-five-stars rating scale for restaurants. As Jonathan Gold‘s 2012 replacement Besha Rodell explains, the idea took root during her whirlwind LA spring job interview and city tour with food editor Amy Scattergood:

At one restaurant, we ran into one of the city’s best-known chefs. He had no idea who I was, of course, or why I was there. But he and Amy got to talking about the subject of star ratings. The LA Times had just abandoned its long-standing star system, and the chef bemoaned the loss.

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Unlike other airline mags, the in-flight mag of American Airlines publishes twice a month, maintains a blog and keeps up its social media presence. “We’re trying to entice people to stay with American Way and use it as a go-to source for travel info even if they’re not on a plane. You can still go to the website and get useful information,” said executive editor Adam Pitluk. “We actually interact with our readers.”

With 90 percent of the magazine freelance-generated, there is ample opportunity for bylines at American Way. “We have our writers we like to kick stuff to,” said Pitluk, “but the best thing to do to break in is read the magazine and pitch specifically to that section. One thing I can’t impress upon enough is to not pitch a standard, stereotypical travel magazine story like a museum roundup. If you’re trying to break in, that’s not the way to do it.”

Find out the right way to get an editor’s attention in How To Pitch: American Way. [subscription required]

The Orange County Register got a little extra Christmas gift yesterday from Washington D.C.’s Newseum. The following handiwork of reporter Karen Kelso and photographer Leonard Ortiz received via Facebook the institution’s stamp as “Best Christmas front page:”

The photo was taken on December 20 at Huntington Beach, with a GMA crew apparently crashing the scene. Doing the holiday honors above are The Kringle Group head honcho (and Hollywood Christmas parade St. Nick) Tim Connaghan and a two-year-old reindeer named Tundra. (The surfer in the background is a great SoCal touch.)

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A week after Jack Klugman‘s 90th birthday this spring, Hollywood Reporter awards analyst Scott Feinberg conducted a 45-minute video interview with the beloved Quincy M.E. and Odd Couple star at the actor’s San Fernando Valley home. The May 2012 session was, by all the indications, Klugman’s final such conversation.

It was Feinberg’s turn on Christmas Eve to discuss this interview as part of the BBC News’ coverage of Klugman’s passing. He pointed out that Klugman, one of “the last of the live TV generation,” tied Burgess Meredith for the most appearances on Rod Serling‘s Twilight Zone series.

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One of the more entertaining ways to crunch website analytics at the end of a calendar year is to take a look at search queries that were phrased in the form of a question. These types of pathways are extra emphatic, a Web search tool for those who want to confirm something very specific.

In 2012, the winner in the FishbowlLA Q-category was CBS LA weather forecaster Jackie Johnson. Four of the top 20 search-engine questions that led people to our site this year were about her, or more precisely, her significant other:

Jackie Johnson married? (#7)
Who is Jackie Johnson married to? (#12)
Who is Jackie Johnson engaged to? (#15)
Is Jackie Johnson married? (#19)

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Once again this holiday season, they’re everywhere on the American pop culture firmament. Martin Short hosted SNL’s Christmas show; Seth Rogen is road-tripping on the big screen with Barbra Streisand; and Cirque du Soleil is winding down Iris at the Dolby Theatre.

To celebrate the contributions of these and many other south-of-the-border entertainment industry Canucks, the British Columbia duo of Ian Ferguson and Leslie Bland are preparing the 2013 book and documentary double whammy Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood. As they recently explained to a reporter for their Victoria hometown newspaper the Times-Colonist, the goal with the doc is to have fun:

In lieu of typical talking-heads footage, they plan to shoot conversations with stars engaged in activities, such as potential sequences in which Lost star Evangeline Lilly would point out Canadian stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. If he’s available, Short might speak while shooting pool, or Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek could chat while slapping pucks around.

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