ARTS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 22, 2000 - 1 - Oscars found in trash; essentially echoes nominees The Associated Press LOS ANGELES -Two men who worked for the trucking company hired to deliver Academy Awards statues were arrested for stealing the 55 Oscars, all but three of which were found over the weekend beside a trash bin by a man scavenging for valuables. Police said Monday the two men hoped to profit from Hol- lywood's most valued trophy. Bruce Davis, Academy executive director, said the 52 statues recov- ered look fine and some probably will be awarded Sunday. If any are "nicked or dinged, they will not be used," Davis said. Police said the Oscar theft was an inside job involving two 10-year employees of Roadway Express, the * company hired to deliver the stat- ues. Anthony Keith Hart and Lawrence Edward Ledent were arrested Saturday and booked for investigation of grand theft. They were being held on $100,000 bail each. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could com- ment. Anonymous tips received Satur- day led police to the suspects, but detectives would not elaborate. "They did it for profit. They thought they could make money," police Detective Marc Zavala said. In one of the oddest presentations in Oscar history, officers wheeled two carts loaded with the statues into a news conference by police Chief Bernard Parks. Officers slipped on rubber gloves to remove six of the Oscars from their packag- ing and set them on a table. Detectives and Academy officials said they did not know the where- abouts of the other three Oscars. The gold-plated statues are 13 1/2- inches tall and weigh 8 1/2 pounds each. The 55 statues cost about $18,000 to manufacture. The Oscars were shipped March 3 from manufacturer R.S. Owens of Chicago and arrived at Roadway Express' warehouse in Bell, Calif., on March 8. It is the same community where 4,000 Oscar ballots were misplaced at a postal facility earlier this month, forcing the Academy to print new ballots and extend voting by two days, to this Thursday. Jon Gerloff, security manager for Road- way's western division, said the company believes Hart and Ledent made off with the statues the same day the shipment arrived. With some Oscars already in the Academy vaults and the new statues being made by R.S. Owens, orga- nizers now have far more than they will need for the big night. "We have enough for about three years," said Academy President Robert Rehme. The Academy was just glad to have the statues back and remained hopeful the missing three would be found. "It's been an enormous distrac- tion," Davis said. "It's nice to know there's not going to be a flood of them on the black market." The statues were found Sunday night by Willie Fulgear, who had been scavenging trash bins for valu- ables and called police to report the discovery. "I've got more Oscars than any of the movie stars," said Fulgear, who hopes to collect some or all of a $50,000 reward put up by Roadway Express. Gerloff said Roadway Express had not figured out whether Fulgear would receive some of the money. Rehme also said the Academy had not decided whether to invite Fulgear to the Oscars, though Davis said that "would make kind of a satisfactory conclusion to the whole thing." Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times The real Erin Brockovich, at right, with her boss, attorney Ed Masry 'Erin Brocko""Avich' -m-o r than just ;a nacb e matingian 0 The Baltimore Sun While the Discovery Channel has been busy thawing out woolly mam- moths from frozen tundra this win- ter. it's become what you might call hot stuff itself elsewhere on the TV and radio dial. Recent network TV shows and a heavily played pop single by the Philadelphia-based Bloodhound Gang hav e celebrated the more prurient side of those Discovery nature shows: the mating sequences. For instance, in Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch," radio lis- teners and MTV viewers hear front- man Jimmy Pop's deadpan monotone croon this refrain over and over: "You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals. So, let's do it like they do on the Discovery Chan- nel." "The Bad Touch" has become one of the most requested songs on Washington-based alterna-rock sta- tion DC 101. and the video of the monkey-suited band has become a regular on MTV's "Total Request Live." Meanwhile, on a recent episode of Fox TV's "Malcolm in the Middle." Malcolm's middle-aged parents got a bit, um. carried away while watch- ing a Discoverv documentary. For its part, the Discovery Chan- nel appears unfazed by the attention being paid to what some wags have termed "kitty porn." "It just goes to show how the Dis- ie for both ,R 'Discovery' covery Channel has disseminated into the popular culture," said Dis- covery's director of publicity, Karen Baratz. That's certainly seems true in the case of "The Bad Touch." The song's lyrics (described on the band's website as "one-half wit, and one-half half-wit") also make pop culture references ranging from Rip Taylor to Lyle Lovett to "The X- Files." But rhymed as it is into the song's catchy hook, the Discovery Channel stands out. About that hook: Some radio sta- tions have been reporting a rumor that Discovery Channel employees have been buying up the Blood- hound Gang CD to keep it out of the hands of the public. "I would be extraordinarily surprised if that were true," Baratz says, pointing out that such a strategy would probably only boost radio play. Besides, she says, the Discovery Channel has no probe lem with the song. "People sort of chuckled when they first heard it, but that was all"I she says, noting similar reactions to mentions of animal mating scenes and Discovery on "The Simpsons" and "Friends." Does that mean Discovery might consider jumping on the bandwagon itself, and perhaps promoting the sexual aspects of its programming? "Absolutely not," Baratz says. "We'retoo busy thawing mammoths, and that sort of thing is way out of the ballpark of what we try to do." Los Angeles Times Erin Brockovich is now a Holly- wood name, but the morning after the glitzy premiere of her movie she wasn't sleeping in or drinking celebra- tory champagne from a crystal flute. She spent Wednesday morning in the emergency room with her feverish daughter, like any typical parent, even one glorified on movie posters and bus placards. And in the evening, at a fund-raiser and early screening of "Erin Brock- ovich," the film that tells her story, she had no entourage and trod no red car- pet, just the speckled one at the United Artists Oaks Mall Theater in Thou- sand Oaks northwest of Los Angeles. She's still the same Erin Brockovich she was before Julia Roberts wiggled into the tight skirts and cleavage-reveal- ing tops Brockovich is known for and became a character at once smart, out- spoken, tenacious and driven to justice. You'd guess the real Brockovich would be impossible to fluster. Almost. At the premiere in Hollywood, "I was literally shaking," said Brock- ovich, still an investigator at the law office of Masry & Vititoe in the Los Angeles area. "I've never, ever seen anything like it: The people, the attention, the cam- eras," she said. "One of the photogra- phers said, 'Come up closer.' And I said, 'No, you scare me. But she hadn't been afraid of wear- ing a body-hugging dress with two cutouts in the midriff, a dress she pulled out of her closet just before the premiere. The stress of celebrity had made her lose weight, and the previ- ously planned dress had to be ditched. It's a long way from the dusty streets of the California desert community of Hinkley, where Brockovich did the unglamorous work of legal investiga- tion, door-to-door and through mud and muck, years before the case and the Universal Pictures-Columbia Pic- tures movie made her rich. The movie tells the story of how the twice-divorced mother of three with a daring fashion sense and dogged persistence helped win a 5333 million lawsuit against PG&E, accused of poisoning the town's water. Even as the movie is unveiled, litigation on the PG&E case contin- ues in Hinkley. But because of her new celebrity (including a cameo as a waitress in the film), she can no longer go door to door investigating. And for the moment, she has to play movie star. "I don't want to get sick of it," Brockovich said. "It's a great opportu- nity to send our message. Everything in the movie is true." 7 [Martha Cook Building Apply now at the Law Library *non-Law Students *Law Students *S.I. Students Apply in person: Room S-180 in the Law Library's under- ground addition, 8-noon and 1-5 Monday through Friday. AA/EOE C" " ~i~e6 Celebrate our multi-culturalism Join us for tea and food with an international flavor Friday, March 24 3-5 pm U. I REC SPORTS INTRAMURALS The University of Michigan Department of Recreational Sports INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM WHAT'S HAPPENING F 0 TABLE TENNIS SGLS & DBLS ENTRIES DUE: Thurs 3/23,4:30 PM, IMSB ENTRY FEE: $5 for Singles $9 for Doubles TOURNAMENT DATE: Sat 3/25 Sports Coliseum - 0 SOFTBALL Spring Term ENTRIES TAKEN: Thursday 5/4 ONLY 5:00 PM, IMSB ENTRY FEE: $55 per team MANAGER'S MEETING: MANDATORY Thurs 5/4, 5:00 PM, IMSB NIKE NIKE PLAY BEGINS: Sun 5/7 Elbel Fields i NIKE SAND VOLLEYBALL Spring Term ENTRIES TAKEN: Thursday 5/4 ONLY 6:30 PM, IMSB ENTRY FEE: $40 per team MANAGER'S MEETING: MANDATORY Thurs 5/4,6:30 PM, IMSB PLAY BEGINS: Tues 5/9, Elbel Courts 3-on-3 BASKETBALL Spring Term ENTRIES TAKEN: Thursday 5/4 ONLY 7:30 PM, IMSB ENTRY FEE: $20 per team MANAGER'S MEETING: MANDATORY Thurs 5/4, 7:30 PM, IMSB PLAY BEGINS: Tues 5/9, Elbel Courts ' . ' ' " ° ., ' "' ,a E _ to > ,, More than 1,21 ® Day andes * Accelerate f or get I POWERBAR I___________L ,. :, . R ,. ..' t 5: n3: