The California Milk Advisory Board issued a press release today denying that it's planning to shoot its "Happy Cows" commercials in New Zealand.

The press release, which you can read here, says only a small portion of the soundstage work for the commercials will be done in New Zealand. The exterior shots that show California really will be California, and not New Zealand, as suggested in a Nov. 13 Los Angeles Times story. The CMAB said 90 percent of the money spent on the ads will be spent in the Golden State.

So there.

• Mark Your Calendars for 6 p.m. Friday, when local author Peter Wright will sign copies of his short-story collection, "Triumphs and Tragedies," at Sue's Java Cafe, 1712 Churn Creek Rd. in Redding.
• Unfriend is the word of 2009, according to the folks at the New Oxford American Dictionary. "Unfriend," which means to remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking site such as Facebook, was picked over such contenders as "teabagger," "birther" and "tramp stamp." I really like "funemployed." USA Today has the full story here.

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