Reindeer

The wilderness of northern Sweden, where Will Ferrell ate grilled reindeer eyeballs with adventurer Bear Grylls, seems like a long way to go to promote a movie. But that's where the men were for 48 hours in early April, where the subzero temperatures made laughable the idea of spring. Their trip is chronicled on an episode of the Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild" series that debuts at 10. Ferrell, whose "Land of the Lost" opens Friday, climbs out of a helicopter by rope ("Mommy!"

This is no bull; you can take part in the inaugural Running of the Reindeer. In an homage to Spain's Running of the Bulls, visitors to downtown Anchorage's annual winter festival, the Fur Rendezvous, will get the chance to run shoulder-to-shoulder with reindeer. About a dozen reindeer will be set loose Feb. 24 on snow-packed, fence-lined 4th Avenue, and joined by people who will pay $20 to run with the reindeer. "I think we'll have to turn people away," said Bob Lester, a local disc jockey who came up the idea.

Staff writer Chris Erskine, on assignment in Alaska, blogged a letter to Santa about reindeer appearing on local menus (latimes.com/reindeer). Here are comments we received: I'm just back from Alaska and noticed that what they're selling as reindeer sausage is made up mostly of beef. Richard Miller -- We're planning a trip to Alaska in July. Is there anything else to eat besides reindeer and salmon? Laura Ridnor -- Yes, some of us eat moose, salmon, caribou, bear.

Re "It's no winter wonderland," Dec. 13 Your article reports that Cairo is "no winter wonderland." My wife and I lived in Egypt and celebrated four Christmases there. We bore in mind that the Egyptian environment is not unlike the area where Christ was born. The Holy Land is not known for reindeer, sleighs, elves and snow-covered pines. (The celebration of a candle-lit tree originated with pagan tree-worshipers. The tradition was popularized in England by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's German husband.

Bob Hicks is taking a uniquely Alaskan gift to a Christmas party in New York: hot and mild sausages made with reindeer meat. "I'll tell them it's Rudolph," Hicks, a retired lawyer who moved to Alaska in 1971 from the Boston area, said with a devilish grin inside the bustling Alaska Sausage & Seafood shop. Behind the counter, workers hustled to fill holiday orders, including the ever-popular all-reindeer package. Across Alaska, restaurants offer reindeer sausage year-round.

Alina Mezner stood in front of the new exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo, scrutinizing the beige and brown furry, hoofed animals basking in the fine wood shavings of a canopied corral. Until that moment Friday, Mezner had thought the four-legged creatures were some kind of Christmas hoax. "I thought they were deer they stuck antlers on," said the 35-year-old mother of two. Yes, Alina, there are reindeer. In fact, four of them are at the L.A.

A TV reporter whose run-in with a reindeer in Fairbanks, Alaska, gained national attention says it's given her a new respect for the impact of television. Meghan Stapleton of KTUU-TV in Anchorage said she's received e-mails from friends she hadn't heard from in years after footage of her encounter with a young reindeer named Blitzen at the Santa Claus House in the North Pole was shown on NBC's "Today" show, among others.