Over brunch at Fat Cat’s Cafe in Avila Beach — our FAVE hang-out on the Central Coast — son revealed that Lindsay Lohan had been on the Cal Poly campus a few days earlier, filming a movie. Hubby and I then inquired if son had actually SEEN her. Regrettably, no, but several of his friends DID get walk-on parts as extras in some of the scenes.
“Did they get to say anything?” I asked.
Son said no, they were only used in the crowd shots, which, however, did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm.
He also revealed that he’d just seen Smokin’ Aces (personally refuse to watch anything Ben Affleck, son displays commendable independence by continuing to patronize aforementioned actor’s vehicles) and Ghost Rider.
Drove home, opened papers the next day and saw that Ghost Rider had opened HUGE– another feather in the cap for Nic Cage, who’s evolved into one of our generation’s most enduring leading men (Who would have thought???)
Meanwhile, back to news of the Central Coast. In the San Luis Obispo County Tribune, which I always buy when I visit son, there was a front-page article about student rowdiness during the (just ended) annual Mardi-Gras, with accompanying pic of student (female) being led away in handcuffs. In the Letters page, however, this peevish comment from one Ronald Mac of Paso Robles:
I’m tired of hearing about the SLO Mardi Gras riot. A few unruly college students and a couple of thrown beer bottles do not constitute a riot. Los Angeles’ Watts area was a riot.
Ha ha ha ha! Very well put, Ronald!
Finally, in other news closer to home, our local weekend Examiner trumpets: STANFORD, UCSF GARNER MILLIONS IN STEM CELL CASH.
An accompanying chart breaks down the allocation of funds (and this is only the first round, with more sure to follow):
Stanford University: $7.6 million
Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Where the hell is this??): $5.9 million
UC San Francisco: $4.2 million
UCLA: $4.1 million
UC San Diego: $3.6 million
Stanford cleans up AGAIN. This is getting boring. Everyone knows their grant writers are the best. And along with the grant come budget items for equipment, hiring of staff (with benefits), etc. etc. The juggernaut rolls on.
Why is Cal Poly nowhere on this list???
Here are the runners-up:
UC Irvine; University of Southern California; The Salk Institute; UC Riverside; UC Santa Cruz; UC Berkeley; UC Davis; Scripps Research Institute; Buck Institute for Age Research; Human BioMolecular Research Institute; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research; Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles; UC Merced; City of Hope
