INSIDE SCOOPS

Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff

It might be a flick about cheerleaders, back-stabbing, love gone

wrong, bad attitudes and big hair, but somewhere in the midst of “Bring

It On” is a football team from Costa Mesa. It turns out the featured

cheerleading squad is from a mythical high school in San Diego, some

place called Rancho Carne. The school boasts a top-rated cheer squad and

one heck of a dismal football team. At one point in the movie, the San

Diego team takes a pounding from a team identified in the movie -- and on

the scoreboard -- as being from Costa Mesa. Whether that would be Costa

Mesa High or Estancia is unclear because the uniforms matched neither

school. All we know is that the final score was 45-0 ... with Costa Mesa

on top.

Close enough

How do the lifeguards know when it’s time to tell people when to get

out of the water during a storm? On Thursday, when a freak thunderstorm

rolled right over the pier, it wasn’t difficult to make the decision.

Newport Beach lifeguard Lt. Dave Wenger said a bolt of lightning zapped

so close to the lifeguards’ tower that their radios went fuzzy with

static and the hair on their arms stood up.

A passion for theater

Want to know why Timothy L. Strader, a partner in Koll Center Newport,

didn’t want Newport Beach’s Planning Commission to postpone a decision on

his 250,000-square-foot project Thursday?

Say no and we’ll understand. But we’re going to tell you anyway that

his wife had theater tickets that coincided with the commission’s next

meeting on Sept. 21.

Not any theater tickets, mind you. The Straders will attend the

Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany. Residents of that town have

enacted the life of Christ since at least 1633, when they vowed to

produce the play once a decade to be saved from the plague.

Interested in going? Well, this year’s performance is sold out, and

you better start sending in your ticket requests for 2010. But the

Straders might bump into at least one familiar face at the play. Carol

Hoffman, the Irvine Co.’s vice president for community relations, will be

there, as well.

The school district wows us again

In an attempt to dazzle residents with its new customer-friendly

attitude, the information technology department of the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District is creating a new Web directory -- it’s called

the WOW Book.

Start looking online soon for a complete directory for your everyday

questions. It will have phone numbers, calendars, forms -- anything you

may need. Coming soon to the computer in your home.

We have only one response: WOW.