If Critics’ Goal Was to Get His Goat, They Missed

This sound familiar? Frank Gehry’s design of a World Cup of Hockey trophy (see photo) has been slammed by critics, who compared it to everything from a blender, a vase and a squashed beer keg to two mating jellyfish skewered by a trombone.

A WCH official defended the design, telling the Toronto Star that he commissioned the Santa Monica architect because he didn’t want a trophy “that would look like all the others. We wanted his vision.�

The Canadian-born Gehry, a longtime hockey fan, shrugged off wisecracks about the copper-nickel-urethane object, which goes to the winner of the eight-nation hockey tournament.

“Sometimes my work looks a bit strange at first,� he said.

You’ll recall that when his design for the now-famous Disney Concert Hall was unveiled, it also drew criticism, with one critic saying it looked like a shoebox that someone had stepped on.

Anyway, I think a squashed beer keg would be an apt design for a hockey trophy.

More food for thought: Specials for today’s guide to adventurous dining (see accompanying) include:

* A burger that isn’t ashamed of the frying pan (Doug Schiller of Riverside).

* A cup of fruit that has seen better days (Mark Blinoff of Alhambra).

* A discount on what must be an elephant-size package of bacon (Wilbur Welch of L.A.).

As the Palisades Turns: Here’s the latest episode of the soap opera of a certain affluent Westside community, as recorded in the anonymous letters section of the Palisadian-Post:

“I recently received an e-mail from an acquaintance asking me if I would cook and deliver a full meal for another Palisades family who recently had their third child.

“I subsequently discovered that the family is fine, all members are present and healthy, but the mother is too tired to cook and is sick of the meals that their live-in nanny prepares, and they are asking other Palisades families to cook for them!

“After cooking, cleaning and looking after my own family business, I will e-mail back my acquaintance what I do after a long day: Order take-out.�

Crime log: USC’s Daily Trojan reported that a student and a security guard got into “a fight outside of the Delta Gamma sorority house ... when the student threw a flower at the guard.� Peace!

miscelLAny: “The Da Vinci Code� is a best-selling mystery that disputes some long-held Christian beliefs about the life of Jesus Christ.

But that’s not the only shocking part.

The book’s main character also claims to have seen a DVD of “The Lion King,� which, when freeze-framed at one point, shows “the word ‘SEX’ ... clearly visible, spelled out by floating dust particles over Simba’s head.� Is nothing sacred?

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at [email protected].