Miscellaneous: June 2009 Archives

• DCist was shocked when a Metro train car derailed, slamming into another waiting train, killing nine people and injuring dozens others. An investigation continues, but cracked rails have been found.
• Gothamist has now seen it all: An SUV driver, who allegedly assaulted a cyclist, apparently claimed the cyclist caused damage to his SUV—you know, because the cyclist slapped the vehicle since it was illegally in a bike lane, about to hit cyclist.
• Torontoist, on the eve of Pride, took a detailed look at adoption by same-sex couples in their city.

       

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Two minutes of your time to check out something wonderful. Reminded us of the White Stripes Lego video of "Fell In Love With A Girl".

Mike Tyson is back. His documentary, Tyson, released in April won over critics and fans alike for it's brutal honesty. Earlier this month, the "Baddest Man on the Planet" was once again on the big screen in the surprise hit of the summer movie season, The Hangover, singing a Phil Collins tune and punching Zach Galifinakis. Today, gamers will find Mike on the shelves at their local retail stores as he graces the cover of EA Sports' Fight Night Round 4 alongside the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali.

If The Cottage’s proximity to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Oki’s Dog is a deterrent rather than a boon, then I would caution you against setting foot in this unpolished gem of a dive bar. If, however, you are one of the elite few who crave trans fats and public humiliation in equal measure, then where the hell have you been, soul mate? Pull up a stool, plug that frown with a Miller High Life and prepare to be awed by the breadth of the bar’s song selection, the enthusiasm of the crowd and the lenience of the conspicuously posted “No dancing” policy.

The true story of seven eight strangers picked to live in a spacious Ikea furnished home for the price of free in exchange for having their every move, mistake and makeout session taped returns tonight at 10 pm. For its 22nd installment, MTV's Real World decided to bring its confessional, cameras and cast of beautiful young people to the booze drenched beaches of Cancun.

• LAist watched as the Lakers won the NBA championship then as people "celebrated" by vandalizing, looting, smashing, and burning things in Downtown L.A.
• Gothamist had its full of the controversial, from a scandalous Calvin Klein billboard (with threesome) to the killing of Canada geese, in the name of airline safety.
• Seattlest went 29 days without rain, and girls went feral and old men turned on each other.

Welcome to Father's Day 2009, a Father's Day in the midst of a recession. According to an April article in the Financial Times, men lost almost 80% of the over 5 million jobs that have disappeared as the industries hit hardest by this recession, construction and manufacturing, are staffed primarily by men. Cynically, many industries might be laying off more men than women because women are (unfairly) paid less than men.

       

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "like" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. And if you really like what you see, why not Tweet it or post it to your Facebook? Share the love!

These days we're all a-Twitter about food on wheels. From comforting classics like ice cream novelties to tacos with an Korean twist, we seem to love the idea of finding food on our own two feet and the vendors' four wheels. But before Los Angeles was a tangle of freeways and cars getting food items from a truck was actually a way of life. While some of us may still live in neighborhoods frequented by produce and grocery trucks issuing familiar beckoning musical calls, beeps, and horn toots, once upon a time in L.A. our city's bread and other baked treats could be found driving around SoCal 'hoods in the form of the Helms Bakery Coaches.

The following post is from our advertiser, 500 Days of Summer. This is a story of boy meets girl, begins the wry, probing narrator of 500 Days of Summer, and with that the film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair. Tom, the boy, still believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer, the girl, doesn’t. Not at all. But that doesn’t stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman - not that he minds any of that — but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world. Fox Searchlight Pictures presents 500 Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. In select theaters July 17. Visit the OFFICIAL SITE for info about free screenings in your area!

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email.

OK, it's a promotion. And for a reality show at that. It's all about MC Hammer’s new show “Hammertime” which will air on Sundays on A&E. But they're still dang cool. The Hammer pants dancers who flash-mobbed the Sunset Live store last week were back to entertain club-goers on Santa Monica Boulevard. Now if they really wanted some publicity, they would put MC Hammer in the line-up. Woah woah woah woah!

If "Smokey and The Bandit" featured Colonel Sanders .... He seems to call The Chicken Shack home. We hear their Peruvian chicken is pretty tasty too. FYI: LAist loves Peruvian chicken.

Anson is a veteran of the entertainment industry who was previously a development executive at Paramount and is currently a producer at a production company under Dreamworks. The Hollywood resident recently linked up with Jay Louis aka Douchebag1 (read LAist's interview with Jay) to bring the online phenomenon that is HotChicksWithDouchebags.com to your TVs with the hilarious new MTV show "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" which premieres today at 5:30 p.m. In the words of Jay, "HCwDB goes televisual, bitches."

• Bostonist went to the Boston Pride Parade and saw everything from Batman and Robin to dancing lifeguards. Oh, and a local sports team swept its rival.
• Chicagoist was all about artifacts this week: the collection of Italian artifacts worthy of Indiana Jones a local man had stashed in his house and an old photo of Bulls Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose flashing an alleged gang sign.
• SFist reacted to the city enacting the toughest recycling and composting laws in the U.S.

       

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "like" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. And if you really like what you see, why not Tweet it or post it to your Facebook? Share the love!

In Los Angeles, we knock things down. We build them the way we like them. We believe in creating a world the way we think it should be. It's this ethic that has destroyed some of our more famous landmarks, Pickfair was dismantled by Pia Zadora, the original Brown Derby may, at the time of this writing, be a dry cleaner. In a place where people come to reinvent themselves no one has much time for old stuff.

Thanks to Rachel Maddow for tweeting about the corporate anthem from Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom. It's quite remarkable.

              

It's one of the city of Los Angeles' better ideas: an interconnecting network of trails in the equestrian friendly Northwest Valley. The 117-acre Palisades Park--not to be confused with the one in Pacific Palisades or in Santa Monica--is one of the many, stretching close to three and a half miles from Tampa Boulevard to Reseda Boulevard between the Limekiln Canyon Trail and the ones in Eddleston and Aliso Canyon parks.

• Gothamist was mesmerized by the amazing story of a cat who survived a 26-story fall from a lower Manhattan apartment building. And the cat's name is Lucky!
• SFist asked members of the gastronomic elite to reveal their favorite junk food.
• Torontoist took a look inside the spectacular Airbus A380—the world's largest passenger plane.

       

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "like" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. And if you really like what you see, why not Tweet it or post it to your Facebook? Share the love!

       

We've spent a bit of time on Catalina Island lately, enjoying the food and drink, checking out the "nightlife," or taking in its newest nature trail, but we thought we'd give you one more glimpse of the beautiful place, this time with a little romance in mind. Enjoy these serene black and white shots of Avalon.

     

Yesterday was officially National Doughnut (or Donut) Day, but there's no reason to not carry the spirit of celebration over to your weekend, which is why today we're looking at the story behind one of our city's most well known structures.

Let me start with this: there is no pain-free way to get your pubic hair ripped out by the roots. So don’t get your hopes too far up. But there is a way, recently publicized by a briefly considered ban on bikini waxing in New Jersey, to rip it out a touch more easily. Sugaring is an age-old hair removal technique that Lina Kennedy, owner of Alexandria Professional products, will be bringing to Los Angeles this summer. Similar to waxing in that it yanks hair out, sugaring uses natural ingredients and purports to be less painful.

June 3, 1943 marked the start of just over a week of violence on the streets of Los Angeles that would come to be known as the Zoot Suit Riots. You may have hummed along to the old Cherry Poppin' Daddies song of the same name, but do you know the story?

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email.