Wild Blue Yonder

The air above the Rose Bowl was even busier than usual, which meant the game needed air-traffic controllers as much as officials. Circling during the first quarter were three airplanes, three helicopters and two blimps. There could have been more, but a pregame flyover by a stealth bomber was scrapped because of poor weather.

"Fly Girls," premiering Wednesday on the CW, is a reality series that follows five female flight attendants for Virgin America. Let me apologize in advance for the metaphor now arriving at Gate 8: It never gets off the ground. Notwithstanding a few apparently real tears and a bleeped expletive spoken in possibly real anger, the show is made of clearly concocted crises nearly from takeoff to landing, with little to offer beyond a long, though not penetrating, look at its attractive leads.

Twenty years ago, there was Brian Wilson. To find the inspiration to write further hits for the Beach Boys, he needed to wiggle his toes in a sandbox under his piano. Last Thursday, there was Steve Vaus. To find the inspiration to write a theme song for the Blue Angels, which will be heard for the first time publicly today during the Miramar Air Show, he needed to jet through the sky at more than 700 m.p.h.

Pushups, chinups, obstacle courses, survival courses, 4 a.m. reveille, yes sir, no sir -- they're all going to be part of Jordan Finn's vocabulary when he arrives this summer for basic training. He signed a commitment to play basketball for the Air Force Academy last November. A 6-foot-4 senior guard at Etiwanda, Finn gave no hint to his coach, Dave Kleckner, that a military career was in his future. "I would never have guessed it," Kleckner said.

'Most people in this country support a strong national defense and want their political leaders to do so. The military-industrial complex is not a conspiracy imposed on this country but a community of interests, backgrounds, professions and ideologies. . . . The members of this broad defense network believe they are contributing to a strong national defense. And they all work hard on their contributions."

Once upon a time, in the wonderful world of wizards, witches and whimsical goblins, lived Wyona, the weirdest witch of all. Wyona wiggled and waddled as she walked. She wore her witch's hat tipped over her wild eyes. She had a broom made of magic wood and straw. The broom would whisk her wherever she wished. Her broom had all the modern features, like a radio and satellite guidance system and an electronic wand.

Cmdr. Robert Clement wants to know how he can explain to his 9-year-old daughter why the Navy has relieved him of his command after 17 years as a pilot "Backers of Fired Miramar Pilot Call Him a Scapegoat" (Aug. 5). He is certain that he did nothing wrong when he allowed his gallant aviators to wave banners suggesting a proclivity for oral copulation and a desire for a sex change on the part of a congresswoman, and in fact he believes he exhibited "leadership qualities" and defended the Constitution when he encouraged this behavior.

"Off we go into the wild blue yonder . . . . Climbing, uh, into the, um . . . . Dum-dee-dum, diddle-dee dum dum dum dum. . . ." That--plus two verses of "Bless 'em All" and maybe some grubby words to the tune of "Sweet Betsy From Pike"--is about the limit of most anyone's knowledge of songs the Air Force sings. It might even be the full extent of public curiosity for the topic.

The ice--a one-sixteenth scale frozen replica of Miss Liberty--was hot stuff: The unveiling, a few hours after that of her more durable sister on Liberty Island in New York, was for many the climax of the Newport Harbor Art Museum's "Liberty Celebration," Thursday night at the Newporter Resort. The fireworks display, on the other hand, was cooled by high winds. Bombs burst intermittently in air above the Back Bay.

As far as writer-director Roland Emmerich is concerned, the Ice Age is a state of mind. Refusing to be tied down by either sense or sensibility, his "10,000 BC" is as crazy as it wants to be, plundering the past and other movies with that peculiar Hollywood combination of the earnest and the preposterous that can result in the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Outrageous and outlandish, Emmerich's "10,000 BC" is easy to mock, but it is so cheerfully shameless and terminally silly -- who knew that woolly mammoths were used to build the pyramids?

As far as writer-director Roland Emmerich is concerned, the Ice Age is a state of mind. Refusing to be tied down by either sense or sensibility, his "10,000 BC" is as crazy as it wants to be, plundering the past and other movies with that peculiar Hollywood combination of the earnest and the preposterous that can result in the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Outrageous and outlandish, Emmerich's "10,000 BC" is easy to mock, but it is so cheerfully shameless and terminally silly -- who knew that woolly mammoths were used to build the pyramids?

After more than four decades, the Van Nuys Airport air show took its final bow Sunday, ending an annual celebration of the region's contributions to aerospace, general aviation and America's military might. Against a backdrop of cloudy skies and American flags fluttering in a gentle breeze, Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas, whose district includes the airport, sparked gasps of surprise during an opening ceremony address when he said: "This airfest may be the last of its type."

HE came upon America with all of the grace and finesse of mad cow disease, catching us off guard as we strolled through life, whistling a little tune. He was just another mouthy DJ at first and then, like a microbe suddenly identified under glass, he became (run, scream!) Howard Stern. And now he's infecting outer space.

Once upon a time, in the wonderful world of wizards, witches and whimsical goblins, lived Wyona, the weirdest witch of all. Wyona wiggled and waddled as she walked. She wore her witch's hat tipped over her wild eyes. She had a broom made of magic wood and straw. The broom would whisk her wherever she wished. Her broom had all the modern features, like a radio and satellite guidance system and an electronic wand.

Since the infancy of manned flight, Orange County has been a proving ground for those magnificent men and women in their flying machines. That proud heritage is being celebrated in "Take to the Sky: The History of Aviation in Orange County," an exhibit of photographs, signs and other memorabilia at the Old Courthouse Museum in Santa Ana.

EIGHT MILES UP, THE BEAUTY AND RISK ARE SEDUCTIVE. TOWERing clouds frame the Owens Valley, and Mt. Whitney looks like a speck in the haze. All is quiet except for the occasional radio transmission and rush of air along the carbon-fiber wings. Airspeed, altitude, rate of climb and position must be checked constantly and adjusted. The mental focus is so sharp, there is nothing except flying. Up here, above 40,000 feet, the wild blue yonder is just that in a sailplane--wild.