Adding insultto invasion:Mick LaSalle of the San...

Adding insult

to invasion:

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle notes in his review of “Independence Day” that space aliens in the film attack three U.S. cities on the Fourth of July--Washington, New York and L.A. “There’s your tip-off,” LaSalle writes. “If the aliens would rather visit L.A. than San Francisco, you know they’re not out for a good time.”

SPEAKING OF STRANGE PHENOMENA: If there were a July 4 onslaught from outer space, do you think it would be preceded by widespread power outages--around, oh, July 2 or so?

HIGH ANXIETY: We don’t know how “Independence Day” ends. But here’s how celluloid space invaders get their comeuppance in some other movies:

* “The Thing” (1951): The thawed-out spaceman is electrocuted.

* “War of the Worlds” (1953): The Martians fall prey to Earth’s bacteria (but not before wiping out L.A.’s City Hall).

* “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (1956): The alien ships, sensitive to sound frequencies, are bombarded with ultrasonic guns, causing them to suffer numerous crashes on a big day for SigAlerts.

* “Invasion of the Saucermen” (1957): The little green visitors are wiped out by teenagers who bombard them with high-intensity car headlights. (Today, teenagers could do the same with rap music.)

* “The Blob” (1958): The jelly-like creature, who has a big growth spurt after his meteor lands here, is frozen by carbon dioxide fired from a fire extinguisher (by Steve McQueen, no less).

A HARD ONE TO SWALLOW: Florence Bowles found a menu listing for a really tough piece of meat in a Valley newspaper. Looks like you’d need a toothpick to get the splinters out.

AT LEAST IT DOESN’T SAY DEAD-END: Mary Ann Shaffer of Manhattan Beach noticed a sort of symbolic traffic sign--at least for a mortuary.

miscelLAny

In this heat wave, Paul Mantee of Malibu couldn’t help but wonder if the flier in his restaurant menu was a weather report. It said, in big letters: “Desert Today.”