LOS ANGELES - Levi Johnston was looking and acting mighty "Hollywood" Monday when he arrived -- late -- for his "After Love" video shoot with Minnesota's Brittani Senser.

Johnston's gray sports coat was so shiny his dark glasses might have been needed to reduce the glare off that garment and his, ah, thin gold chain. You could almost hear former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, maternal grandmother of Johnston's baby boy, sarcastically pretending to be him and asking: Does this make me look cheesy or what?

Senser's Minnesota team was busy explaining away Johnston's tardiness after one member of the entourage said Johnston's being late was just "Levi being Levi."

Moments later, someone else averred that Johnston wasn't late, the director of the video had changed the time Levi needed to be there. Uh-huh. Nobody gave the woman who appeared in charge of makeup that memo, as she repeatedly came outside inquiring about Johnston's ETA. "He needs to go directly to makeup," she said urgently.

Janet Charlton of janetcharltonsholly wood.com, who put me up during my brief West Coast jaunt, spent part of her workday Monday calling me with updates on Web reports about Johnston's movements around L.A., allegedly while being tailed by paparazzi. Charlton said if the paps really want you, they don't lose you. So it looks like the shooters weren't too interested in this country boy Thrilla from Wasilla.

You will only see one camera guy with Johnston in my WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of Levi's arrival at the manor where part of the music video was shot. I assume that camera guy was affiliated with this purported reality show (which we hope will be more successful than one of Johnston's marriage proposals); the show will capture Johnston making his own mayoral run in Wasilla, where Grandma Palin got her start in politics.

He should be a shoo-in for Palin's support when she realizes that a run for public office by the high school dropout is likely to be the most ambitious chapter in Johnston's young life -- since, that is, he became an accidental relative by conceiving a baby with Palin's daughter Bristol, leaving her an unwed teenage mother.

TMZ was very interested in my Johnston arrival footage. By turn, I'm intrigued by somebody from Senser's camp apparently leaking (and probably for a price) the purported story line of her music video (www.tinyurl.com/22vy3ro), which contributed to the demise of Levi's second engagement to Bristol.

Thurl Belfrey of MN Finest, the company producing and managing Senser so brilliantly, was crystal clear regarding his fears about any part of the video ending up on the Web prematurely. "If [we're not careful], this video footage is going to be everywhere," Belfrey said. "That's why we are being so guarded. We expect this to be a pretty big deal."

It's a big deal because Thurl's brother Roy Belfrey was a marketing genius to go after Johnston to play Senser's love interest in the video about a mother who does not like her daughter's boyfriend.

If the TMZ treatment is accurate, the mother is pretty devious. Getting police to play a hand in pressuring the young man not to continue the relationship?

Thurl told me they are in preliminary talks with Eminem about a Brittani collaboration.

A side note: Levi Johnston's manager/bodyguard Tank Jones appears to be under the illusion that he runs the sidewalks of L.A. because he bosses around Levi.

Sensing that Jones, who has a growing reputation for being a piece of work, might try to take my video, I got the heck out of Dodge. There were one or two more clips on my tape that were a lot more precious than my footage of Levi.

Kim and Serena sightingOn the way to meet Brittani Senser's team at Ketchup after Sunday's 2010 Teen Choice Awards, I stumbled across a pack of paparazzi outside another nearby restaurant, Il Sole.

Unlike my time with Tank, these paps would not acknowledge my existence, saying nada as I asked the name of the celebrity they were staking out. The crowd of paps and fans grew rapidly, probably the result of Twitter, so I stuck around to see who turned up.

Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams! All dolled up they strolled out of Il Sole, no bodyguards in sight. The tennis champ/fashion designer was making sure nobody stepped on her right foot, still in a cast because of recent foot surgery.

Showing the Kardashian-Williams footage to Senser, I learned that she almost wore a similar dress to the awards before settling on a Christopher Straub number. Lucky choice.

How I met ...Neil Patrick Harris was a member of a party of four dining Tuesday at Pizzeria Mozza.

There's nothing on the "How I Met Your Mother" star and "Rent" director's ActuallyNPH Twitter account about his dinner. How does Mozza make that pizza dough with the puff pastry quality? All one waitron told me is that this pizza was a multi-day project. So is puff pastry!

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.