Results matching “resolution”

As many Americans are preparing to bid adieu to the season with Labor Day weekend, those of us lucky enough to live in this part of the country have several more weeks of warm weather to frolic in. Even so, there are some of you who have thought, “I should go to the beach this summer” and it’s still not too late. With the holiday weekend around the corner, we at LAist figured that you same-sex loving guys out there would appreciate info on where gaze upon gym-toned bods without fear (Lady-loving ladies, we’re open to a similar post just for you).

• They finally voted: "The Los Angeles Board of Education has voted to adopt a resolution that could turn a third of the schools in the nation's second-largest school district over to private operators."
• Momentum is building for high speed rail between L.A. and San Francisco.
• Speaking of other forms of transit, the Bicycle Film Festival begins tomorrow!

If it's broke, fix it, right? Only what happens when the people who are supposed to fix it are the ones who broke it in the first place? And they happened to have run out of the money it's going to likely take to do the fixing? Easy solution: Sell management of the school(s) to the highest--well, "superior"--bidder.

              

I'm a Harry Potter fan. I've read all the books and have enjoyed watching them come to life one by one on the big screen. Still, I'd sooner re-read any of the books than watch one of the movies a second time. The Harry Potter movies have somehow lacked that magical element that transports you right into the Wizarding World, as well as much of the wit and humor that make the books so much fun. But with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- Merlin's Beard! -- I think they've finally got it right!

       

There was a belief a few years ago -- as cheap cameras and Final Cut Pro gained real traction within the filmmaking community -- that we were at the dawn of a cheap indie revolution. Affordability was going to allow new talent to finally be seen and recognized. In some cases that happened, but mostly this surge in access resulted in a colossal amount of dull movies. Thankfully, a micro-budget film still punches through occasionally and restores one's faith in the premise that you don't need a huge amount of money to make a good film.

Ann Yu wins Weirdest Teenage Rebel Award hands down. When she was sixteen her parents banned her from the high school orchestra in Las Vegas because she was too dedicated to the violin. She would practice long into the night, making sure she always won first chair, and her parents had to fight with her to go to bed. By the time she was thirteen, Yu had acquired scabs on her chin due to her diligent playing. It got to be too much for them and they forbade her from playing the high school orchestra. Having acquired a driver's license, Yu joined a local rock band. "That's where the idea to be in a band sprung from. I realized you didn't need a whole orchestra to make music." All these years later, Yu is still just as passionate to her art. (Her parents have finally come around to the idea.) Her latest band, LoveLikeFire' s debut album will be out in August, but is already garnered some heavily positive praise from critics. Yu was kind enough to speak with us about her upcoming debut yesterday evening. Here is some of what was said.

Since 2002, the National Park Service has been tracking Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, studying their movements, pinpointing their ranges and observing how human development impacts their population. Twelve have been tracked in that time with some remarkable finds.

The state parks that are proposed to be cut are quite beautiful and very popular--still, if they close, it's not like there's nothing left. State parks make up 23% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, leaving a good amount of acreage to the National Park Service and another state park agency local to Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (note that there is a considerable amount of private land within the Nat. Rec. Area, too).

It was back in 1992 when the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan went into effect, setting course for the city of Los Angeles to preserve the historic 1924 drive through a set of land use regulations and improvements. Among those was the Core Trail, some 22 miles in length, roughly from near the Hollywood Bowl to Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Approaching 20 years since it became law, some are wondering why nothing has been done.

The city council has once before stepped into world affairs by denouncing the War on Iraq. Tomorrow, Councilman Bill Rosendahl will ask his fellow politicians to support a resolution to "condemn the Iraqi government for failing to stop, and call on the United States government and the mainstream, media to draw attention to, the systematic and brutal torture and murder of gay men in Iraq," according to a news brief sent out today. “This an outrage,” said Rosendahl, who is the only gay councilmember. “The annihilation of our people, ordered by religious decree in a nation where our troops have sacrificed their lives to restore religious freedom, is appalling. The Iraqi government must stop it, and the United States government must exert its leadership and pressure the Iraqi government to do so in a loud and unequivocal voice... The media has a moral obligation to draw attention to this torture and genocide. It is unconscionable to sit by silently.” The resolution is embedded below:

Commence humming the theme to ESPN's beloved SportsCenter...NOW.

Since 1989, SRVS Charge Inc. and its multiple affiliates (listed below) cheated 6,000 customers each year with overpriced and substandard home repair work across the state. Basically, they company, owned and managed locally in Burbank, would take out full page ads that looked like a page with different companies advertising, but every phone number listed went to a central call location. Work that didn't need to be done was completed and charged for--if a customer disputed the bill, SRVS would put a lien on the house.

It's an election that's not much talked about. Next Tuesday, voters of the 26th State Senate district (map) will go to the polls and choose one of eight candidates to take the seat once held by the now County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. That means residents from Hollywood, Los Feliz and Silver Lake to South LA and Culver City are all called back to the polls twice in the same month. "Just two freakin’ days after this last election — I find yet another official sample ballot," huffed Will Campbell at Metblogs. "Owing to how only a whopping 15% of those voters registered bothered to cast ballots Tuesday, I get the feeling this race might literally be decided by one of the eight candidates’ mothers."

As expected, the drama behind David Beckham's status with the L.A. Galaxy was brought to resolution Sunday afternoon when the Galaxy confirmed the extension of Beckham's stay in Italy.

• Robin Williams needs heart surgery. Not funny
• All you folks who want, but can't justify purchasing Amazon's Kindle2, just go buy an iPhone or iPod Touch. Amazon opened their e-book libraries to the devices.
• When Congresswoman Diane Watson (a UCLA Alum) made a resolution to honor USC's football team for its 2008 season, things got a little... heated.
• Girl Scout Cookies aren't just made for snacking. James Woodfork, the chef at The Clubhouse, at OC's South Coast Plaza ,and a team of local culinary students have turned the classic cookies into delectable desserts.
• Did you see the Proposition 8 debate or were you blacked out like LA Snark?
• Responding to the Sheraton LAX to rescue people in two stuck elevators, Los Angeles Fire Department officials noticed smoke coming from an underground parking structure. What they found was a blown transformer that caused a power outage leaving three people stuck in one elevator and another person in a second elevator, who was still stuck for a longer period of time, but rescued soon after. No one was injured.
• Curbed LA says one way to gauge the safety of your neighborhood is by the graffiti.
• A two car crash left one motorist hospitalized today with serious injuries. The wreck happened on South Hacienda Boulevard, which were shut down for a while around 3 a.m.

Both the California state Assembly and Senate today voted in support HR5, which "challenges the legality of Proposition 8, the voter-approved initiative that declares that marriage is defined as between only a man and a woman," reported the Sacramento Bee.

Tonight marks a big debut in late night TV with the start of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon". While we were concerned with the departure of Conan O'Brien from "Late Night", we think he can be very successful in the earlier slot. Jimmy Fallon, at 34 years-old, will be bringing some youth to the time slot, although both Carson Daly and Conan O'Brien were younger when they started their stints on late night television.

After negotiations hit a stalemate back in November, the Screen Actors Guild and representatives from Hollywood studios announced yesterday that "they will meet for two days next week," according to abc7.com. (SAG's site says they were to meet in Sherman Oaks last week, and has not been updated to reflect yesterday's announcement.) In the time since they last met to hash out a new deal, things have been rocky for SAG and its leadership. Murmurs about impending strikes and the lack of resolution prompted teamsters and members of the stagehands' union to picket outside SAG headquarters on Wilshire Blvd. this week. SAG also fired their top man, Doug Allen, when he was unable to make anything happen, either. Allen favored a strike, but many believe that is not going to happen under new leadership.

In 2005 the Living Things exploded out of St. Louis with their major record label debut Ahead of Lions. Their ferocious, unapologetic rock instantly won them praise by critics and fans. Unwilling to take what was happening under the Bush administration, the Living Things wrote songs that grabbed politics by the throat. The band is made up of three brothers, Lillian Berlin, Eve Berlin, Bosh Berlin, and their friend Cory Becker. Shortly after their success The Living Things picked up and moved to Los Angeles.

This month, the ScientIST has been focusing on how to make you better in 2009, whether it’s changing your eating habits or getting yourself to the doctor for a checkup, and this week’s column is no different. Face it kids, it’s finally time to quit smoking.

When was the last time you had someone give your lady parts a good once-over? And by “someone,” I mean an individual with a medical degree from an accredited university. That’s right; it’s time for us ladies of Los Angeles to schedule our yearly gynecological appointment, affectionately known as “the Annual”.

Happy 74th Birthday, Elvis! If you were alive today (oh wait, conspiracy theory #1445 says you are alive), you would have loved this cupcake with one of your favorite foods that we just tasted at Crumbs Bake Shop.

Does anyone else hear the overwhelming sounds of silence? Where once elipticals whirred and treadmills whizzed, now there are only crickets. From Santa Monica to Echo Park, aerobics studios are feeling a chill wind blow. It seems, friends, as though no one can afford their gym membership anymore. But an empty wallet is no excuse for clogged arteries, and in fact, exercise will get your mind off depressing stuff like that pesky recession. Here are some ways you can keep your resolution to get in shape without breaking the (already broken) bank.

When Theresa Andersson was eighteen she left her native Sweden on a romantic whim and moved with her boyfriend to New Orleans to form a band. The romance fell apart, but by then Theresa had fallen in love with the city and it's vibrant music scene. A little more than a decade later Andersson has written her fifth studio album, Hummingbird, Go! to great critical acclaim with Rolling Stone calling her a "spacier, sultrier Feist."

The holidays are over, the merriment has ceased, and that means that reality now rears its ugly head. It's time to make resolutions to be better this year than we were last year, or any other year, or ever will be in the future. For a lot of us, this means promises to get healthy. Well, LAist believes in you, and so for the month of January, we'll be running articles on health, wellness, and fitness to help make sure those promises aren't empty. Good luck, and godspeed. - Health Editor, Jessica Pauline

As part of their series The Masters of Disaster: The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Cinema, the American Cinematheque is screening the 1975 flick The HIndenburg tonight at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theatre. The description: "Director Robert Wise helmed this film about the Hindenburg conflagration touched off when the German zeppelin landed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. George C. Scott is a conflicted German security officer aboard, Anne Bancroft is a wayward countess, William Atherton a possible saboteur, Roy Thinnes a fanatical Gestapo officer and Charles Durning the Hindenburg's captain." Tickets are $10.

On New Year's Eve I found myself in the fortunate position of being invited to two parties. One was being held at the swanky Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, well known playground of the rich and famous. The other had an Old Hollywood theme and was thrown at the ancient Vogue Theater, which is no longer a theater but remains an icon (and is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in Hollywood.) The two soirees were four blocks from each other on Hollywood Blvd, but the price of admission cost ten times more at one than the other.

If you can't absorb Suze Orman's sage advice because it gets lost in the shrillness, this video may be the answer. Steve Martin and Amy Pohler ponder getting out of debt the obvious way.

If it was your New Year's Resolution to see more art and do more cultural activities, then this is just good timing. January is now LA Arts Month, celebrating that--yes, yes we do have art, even sometimes internationally recognized more than it is locally.

What better way to celebrate the birth of baby New Year than with emerging talent? This week, the Egyptian hosts the 4th Annual Focus On Female directors, a shorts program spanning animation, environmentalism & waxing. Considering how Hollywood lauds female filmmakers as it casts them aside (witness the recent debacle), nights like this are vital opportunities to support double-X auteurs. For those more interested in emerging technology, the Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Fest continues through Sunday. Its scattershot schedule pairs surrealist animation with disaster doc, drunken comedy with disabled veteran, and male orgasm with ancient earthquake. Something for everyone!