Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

• DID U C OPRAH 2DAY? OMG SO GR8! OOPS G2G, PPL R B-TING SUM GUY UP TTYL!
• Pasadena ain't your ashtray. So tonight their city council meets to vote on a massive smoking ban that will prohibit puffers to indulge in their habit in almost any public place.
• Hey, what's the latest on the upcoming SAG/AFTRA contract talks? Deadline Hollywood Daily has an open letter released by the AMPTP on that very topic.
• What area is finally becoming what its planner imagined, almost a century after its inception? Hint: It's cool, hip, trendy, and happening. Did you guess Culver City? (We didn't either, but the LA Times tells us why we're wrong.)
• The Santa Ana Discovery Science Center's plans to encase show-elephant Tai in an orb of soap were popped by activists protesting the stunt as cruel. Now, word has it the stunt will be done after all, but privately, and by invite-only.
• From the SoCal Sportsmanship Files: "Former Angel Scott Spiezio pleaded guilty Monday morning to misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and hit-and-run with property damage stemming from an accident Dec. 30."
• Like ohmigod, okay! Totally rad! The Daily News takes a stroll down memory lane, aka Ventura Blvd, as the flick Valley Girlturns 25. Now she's a 40-something Valley Woman, like, okay?!