Eccentricity

Metta World Peace proudly brags about his hometown of Queensbridge, N.Y. So much so that he even asked TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager to say "Queensbridge" after a post-game interview. But during the Lakers' film session on Saturday, World Peace mimicked what many Angelenos do when it's not a perfect beach-weather day. They freak out. And in World Peace's case, well Pau Gasol's explanation via Twitter explains it all. "How about @MettaWorldPeace jacket!?!" Gasol tweeted . "He was cold and he put it on for a video session!

Assessing Chris Holmes' place in popular music often results in cinematic comparisons. "He has a Zelig-like ability to insert himself into any event that matters," explains Greg Kot, music critic for the Chicago Tribune. "He's Forrest Gump for all these little subcultures," notes Brian Liesegang, former member of alt-rock hitmakers Filter and Nine Inch Nails and Holmes' current partner in the band Ashtar Command. Holmes agrees. "I've lived my life on the sidelines of all this stuff that's happening" he says.

Calling all geeks: Here's a site where you can share, find or discuss all those trips to your local dairy or wig museum. Name: http://www.nerdydaytrips.com What it does: Offers up funky pit-stop options for road trips in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and more. What's hot: Anyone can add their favorite quirky exhibits and locales to this user-generated map of eccentric museums and pit stops. It's global, so you could plan a trip to Jaipur, India, around a visit to the Jantar Mantar, a collection of architectural astrological instruments, or travel to Arcachon, France, to see the tallest sand dune in Europe.

It was a natural reaction after 9/11: Protect the nation at any cost. But a survey of homeland security projects by Times staff writer Kim Murphy reveals that the "any cost" rationale has resulted in unnecessary and eccentric responses to the possibility of a terrorist act. Congress should block such projects in the future. For example, Murphy told of a grant for anti-terrorism equipment to a county in Nebraska, which received thousands of dollars for cattle nose leads, halters and electric prods — in case terrorists waged biological warfare against cows.

The darkly funny Australian charmer "Griff the Invisible" introduces its titular hero to us as nighttime caped crusader first, mild-mannered daytime office drone second. But writer-director Leon Ford also peels back third and fourth layers to star Ryan Kwanten's lonely vigilante — it seems there's more constricting him than his tight black suit — and that speaks to something more psychologically worrying about the secret existence Griff has created for himself. When he meets cute, in-her-own-world weirdo Melody (Maeve Dermody)

French filmmaker René Féret's mutedly effective 18th century-set drama "Mozart's Sister" takes a historical truism that the legendary composer's five-years-older sister Maria Anna, or "Nannerl," was a musical prodigy in her own right before the glare of baby brother's genius and gender mores cut short her ambition — and imagines the circumstances surrounding her retreat from the limelight. While on a royal court tour of Europe, 14-year-old Nannerl (subdued beauty Marie Féret, the director's daughter)

For thousands of years, the high, arid San Luis Valley has spawned tales of the strange and the fantastic. Native Americans called it the Bloodless Valley, setting aside their weapons as they made vision quests up sacred Blanca Peak, the great sentinel of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains whose bony spine winds dramatically from southern Colorado to Santa Fe, N.M. Later inhabitants noted a peculiar energy attributed to a combination of wind,...

For many seeking privacy and space, the high desert of the Antelope Valley is an oasis from the urban density of the rest of Los Angeles County. Lots are large; neighbors are few. Many residents chafe at restrictions, such as zoning and permitting laws, that they consider onerous and irrelevant. But few have defied those regulations like Alan Kimble Fahey , a determined eccentric who has spent years expanding his house on 1.7 acres in Acton into a colorful extravaganza of structures with wings and bridges, a tower and a yurt-turned-aviary for his chickens, turkeys, and hens.

Like most outsiders who get into the wine business, Mark Tarlov, the guiding force behind Evening Land Vineyards, had much to learn about the ins and outs of running a winery. So he surrounded himself with smart people, learned the lessons he needed to learn and then, almost immediately, seemed to forget them. Instead of one winery, for example, Tarlov now has three, in two states (Oregon and California) and on two continents (the U.S. and France). He makes mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ?

Once again the season of Hollywood awards shows ? the kind we like to both jeer and ogle ? has kicked off with the Golden Globes. The show is a concoction of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. ? winner Christian Bale was brazen enough to quip that he left press junkets asking "Who were those awful characters?" ? and has only become a big deal because the public's appetite for celebrity watching has become so insatiable. Its place in the pantheon of awards shows is not as an arbiter of art. It's an opportunity to glimpse a full red carpet of TV and movie stars, a raunchy host and some off-kilter behavior.