Spin

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick's return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a stock car ended in a hard crash less than halfway through Saturday's Indiana 250. Patrick, the former IndyCar driver who now races in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series, was running about 20th when the top five race leaders made pit stops. Patrick remained on the track and was running behind Reed Sorenson. As the two entered Turn 1 on lap 39 of the 100-lap race, Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet tapped the back of Sorenson's No. 98 Ford, sending Sorenson into a spin.

In bike-unfriendly cities such as Los Angeles, people who love cycling speak in wistful tones about a faraway place where the bike reigns supreme. Go to Amsterdam, they say. In that mecca of the bike, you will find special roads set apart for cyclists, protected from the dangerous automobile by concrete barriers. But more than that, you will find a city where biking is part of everyday life. A city where executives, working stiffs and hand-holding lovers all pedal side by side. Pete Jordan, a native Californian, went to Amsterdam several years ago on a biking pilgrimage.

Almost before he had taken his last spin, there was a video posted on YouTube of Cal State University Chancellor Timothy P. White break dancing in front of hundreds of appreciative students at the Dominguez Hills campus. It follows the video of him doing the Harlem Shake with students at Cal State East Bay in February and considering - but deciding against - climbing a rock wall at Cal State Sacramento in March. White came to Dominguez Hills on Tuesday as part of his promise to visit all 23 Cal State campuses during his first year on the job. So far he's been a big hit, approaching students in food courts and classrooms to hear their stories and ask whether they are supported and challenged and familiarizing himself with the larger campus community.

What do the Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and California trial lawyers have in common? All think the news media no longer cover the universe -- or their corner of it -- adequately and all have hired journalists of their own. Sorry I couldn't provide a snappier punch line. But the latest journalism innovation -- in a season of unending innovation -- is no joke: Those who once were merely subjects of news coverage increasingly will be looking for ways to write the story themselves.

They may rationalize to their heart's content, but spin controllers are just one more manifestation of a clay-footed power structure manipulating an increasingly powerless, frustrated public. ALLAN RABINOWITZ Los Angeles

Re "Military rebuts media on Iraq," Nov. 2 So now some of our tax money is going to be spent by the Pentagon to make sure that we all hear the preferred spin on news of the war. Where have we heard about this tactic being used before? Was it Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union? EMMAGENE COFFEY Palos Verdes Estates

I've read many an article on the plight of "street people" and people living in poverty. None has touched a response in me as Ray Perez's Jan. 25 article, "Well-Heeled Befriend Down-at-Heels." Three cheers for the group Street People in Need. And three cheers for SPIN's church, Our Lady Queen of Angels. I, too, feel that if we look each other in the eye, get to know each other and then try to help, solutions will come. Solutions that have evaded us in the past. LAURETTA CALLENDER Cypress

Neal Gabler notes that spin doctors and speech writers are now commonly credited in the press (Opinion, Feb. 15). Thus the American public is now aware of disinformation in the news. He concludes that by this loss of innocence we have "paid the bill" for the glut of fabricated information now jamming the news media. Gabler is partially right. We feel a great sadness at acknowledging that our leaders twist the truth, and that the press dutifully reports fabrications as news. But he has failed to account for the practical gain we have received by being informed of that fact.

As the major Hollywood studios line up for and against Redbox, Paramount Pictures is playing it down the middle. The studio, owned by Viacom Inc., has signed a first-of-its-kind trial deal guaranteeing that its titles will be available from the fast-growing $1-a-night DVD rental company through the end of the year. During that time, Paramount will study the effect of Redbox rentals on its total home-entertainment revenue, examining whether there is any decrease in the sales of its DVDs at Wal-Mart stores that house Redbox kiosks.

Long before the age of computer-generated special effects, Marcel Vercoutere helped create a scene widely considered among the most terrifying in movie-going history. In "The Exorcist," the 1973 horror film that became a pop-culture phenomenon, the head of a helpless young girl twists completely around as a young priest battles the demon that inhabits her body. With its wild, animated eyes, the life-size robot used as a stand-in for actress Linda Blair was built by Vercoutere, the film's special effects director, with help from its chief makeup artist, Dick Smith.

You won't be surprised to hear that a movie called "Fists of Legend" boasts plenty of hand-to-hand (and foot-to-body) contact. But the title of this overlong yet involving Korean actioner is a wink too. It refers to a fictional TV show that recruits middle-aged citizens to relive their high school fighting days in hyped-up mixed martial arts battles, all for the chance at fleeting reality fame and quick cash. Lured to perform are three long-estranged buddies - noodle shop-owning widower and ex-boxer Deok-kyu (Hwang Jung-min)

If you were trying to conjure up a perfect group cardio workout, it just might look like one of the classes at ElliptiFit. Classes at the boutique fitness studio in Los Angeles offer a low-impact, full-body workout. There's upbeat music. Individualized instruction. It's all over in a brisk 45 minutes. And, best of all, classes take place under low lights, so you don't have to worry about sticking out like a sore thumb if you've never seen an elliptical machine before, much less danced with one. ElliptiFit is the brainchild of owner and head fitness instructor Annette Comerchero, who says her goal was "the best possible workout you can get, in the shortest amount of time possible, having the most fun. " Check, check and check.

Bobby Brown has taken the turnstile approach to jail, serving his 55-day sentence with only eight hours behind bars Wednesday. Just when he thought he was in, they pulled him back out again - or something like that? The R&B singer will now spend eight days wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, according to L.A. Now , which reported that county probation officials decided to go the monitoring route. Prior to that, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had said Brown was likely to serve only nine days max because of overcrowding and time off for good behavior and the like.

AUSTIN, Texas - Of Danny Boyle and Rick Smith's many musical collaborations, DJ'ing a party at South by Southwest should have been the simplest. After all, the “Slumdog Millionaire” director and the producer-keyboardist from the English techno duo Underworld have worked together in the past on such ambitious and varied projects as the sprawling 2012 Olympics opening ceremonies in London and the grotesquely memorable toilet diving scene in “Trainspotting,”...

Built Custom Burgers, a new burger joint by The Counter will open by March 15 near the University of Southern California campus. Like The Counter, the new 1,800-square-foot space that seats up to 40 people will offer customizable creations with a lower price point and a fast-casual format. But the new Built Custom Burgers lets guests  choose their burger toppings while the burger's being made. You can also create your burger online and swing by to pick it up. All the burgers will be quarter-pound patties, as opposed to The Counter's third-pound, two-thirds-pound and 1-pound burger options.

They're not the Emmys or the Oscars, and the gift baskets aren't full of expensive goodies. But for the people who break into television and radio programming every so often to tell you how traffic is on the 405 and 110 freeways, this was their day in the driver's seat. It was the annual Golden Pylon Awards, which were dished out today at Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in the Grove. Pylon is the fancy word for traffic cone, which for drivers always signals trouble ahead.

There's no more Time Inc. at Time Warner. Time Warner said it is spinning off its Time Inc. magazine unit -- home to such titles as Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune -- into a separate, publicly traded company. The move comes after talks to merge Time Inc. with Meredith Corp., another magazine publisher, collapsed. “After a thorough review of options, we believe that a separation will better position both Time Warner and Time Inc.," said Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, who added that the move will allow the company to "focus entirely on our television networks and film and TV production businesses" and give Time Inc. "the flexibility and focus of being a stand-alone public company.

The underwhelming numbers for Warner Bros.' "Jack the Giant Slayer" this weekend remind us that Hollywood executives are masters of public-relations hustles -- and rarely is that talent more dramatically displayed than in the wake of a box-office bomb. You will never hear a marketing or distribution executive publicly admit the truth: Our movie truly stinks, and we're amazed anybody even showed up. Instead, you will get all manner of excuses, fabrications and fibs. They generally can be divided into distinct categories of spin.   VIDEO REVIEW: Nothing magic about 'Jack the Giant Slayer' Here's our look at eight ways studios dissemble when the numbers don't turn out as they had hoped.