Weekend in L.A.

:: Eric Garcetti's proposal to exempt owners of hybrid vehicles (like the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid) elicits mostly a yawn from Angelenos, according to the L.A. Times.

At least in the Larchmont neighborhood, where the paper accosted motorists looking for spots: Many spoke admirably about the proposal's environmental benefits. But when asked whether the perks would wean them from gas guzzlers, most said the few extra coins were unlikely to sway them.

:: Speaking of car woes, I sent my Honda CRV to the shop Thursday for body repairs (thanks to last week's accident in Los Feliz, our very own automotive Bermuda Triangle). Rented a car through Enterprise, which gave me a Jeep Liberty. Not a fan. Too bumpy and boxy. And in a strange design feature, the window controls are down by the cup holders, not the actual door.

Just a day later, I heard this news via NPR: Some 2003 model CRVs have been known to catch fire after a routine oil change.

Hmm. I may be giving the body shop a call soon. "Guys, while you're at it, can you fix the feature that causes my car to explode?"

:: 40th Birthday. Pomegranate Juice. Mysterious "abortion." Ambulance. Hospital Stretcher. Police. Handcuffs. Ahh, just another day in the life of Courtney Love.

:: Decided not to try out to appear in the third installment of "The Apprentice." (Third installment? Yup, the second one's already shot and in the can. Keep up, people!) But apparently plenty of Angelenos tried their luck, according to the Daily News.

Donald Trump and the "Apprentice" crew, including uberproducer Mark Burnett, will actually be at the Century Plaza Hotel this afternoon for a session during the semi-annual TV Critics Assn. press tour.

Oh, that thing again? Yup, it's day three of the press tour, and I'm coming atcha live from the Century Plaza's press room, where I doubt these computers were meant for blogging. But what the hell -- it's Saturday.

In case you forgot, press tour comes twice a year, in January and July. TV crix from around the country traipse down to L.A. and set up shop for two weeks, as one by one the broadcast and cable networks pimp their new wares. And atone for their sins. (NBC's Jeff Zucker is still offering up mea culpas for "Coupling.")

PBS (you remember them? Yup, they still exist. You just haven't watched it recently.) showed off their stuff on Thursday and Friday, and now we're in the midst of day one of the NBC portion.

Click on over to Variety for all the insanity. Like a description of the orange and blue tie Jeff Zucker is wearing. OK, not really.