Attorney General Jerry Brown recently announced that the State of California has filed a legal suit against Countrywide home mortgage lender for deceptive lending practices that has caused thousands of foreclosures. Brown cites that Countrywide routinely failed to explain complicated and expensive mortgage terms to consumers -- a practice that encouraged borrowers to agree to completely unaffordable mortgage terms. But according to several lending professionals working in California State (who requested that their anonymity be... [continue]

Last weekend, National Geographic, the National Parks Service, California State Parks Department, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy sponsored a BioBlitz biodiversity census to count the many different plant and animal species living in the Santa Monica Mountains. During the 24 hour non-stop species inventory, 200 scientist-lead teams of volunteers from the greater Los Angeles community documented 1,364 species of flora and fauna. Among the different species inventory teams was a Griffith Park bat-seeking expedition... [continue]

The Lunar New Year has officially started, and pigs are like soooo last year. To usher in the Year of the Mouse and Rat, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles is hosting the 109th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and festival on February 9th and 10th. Performers from Beijing will lead the parade, followed by assorted city officials (Villaraigosa et al.), Mickey Mouse as grand Marshall, flower drum dances, a plethora of beauty queens,... [continue]

These neighborhood projects are a heck of a lot of work. All of the writing, research, fact-checking, map-making, walking around, metro-riding, photographing, uploading, downloading, sun-block wearing, and image re-sizing is not easy. Trying to maximize my lazing potential, I volunteered to document the Jewelry District figuring that the neighborhood's mere six square blocks shouldn't be too much work. I got off the Metro thinking "I've been here a million times, I know where the... [continue]

These sugar cookies are light and yummy. But that isn't why I make them. I make them because the recipe calls for decorative icing. Which means I can write subversive sayings and cuss words on them in viscous sugary goodness. Cookie Ingredients: 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup butter, softened 3 ounces cream cheese, softened 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 of an egg yolk, slightly beaten (save the... [continue]

Photo by blueiron9 via Flickr. I'm thankful that my mom always confuses Thanksgiving with Columbus Day, and then makes lasagne instead of turkey and pumpkin pie, and then says: "Puritans. Columbus. They're both genocidal land-thieves. Now shut-up and eat your lasagne or I'll tell all your progressive friends that you came over for Thanksgiving dinner." I'm also thankful for my Mommy Dearest DVD....... [continue]

"Welcome to My Home." Written, directed, produced, and starring Brenda Dickson. Part I... ...and Part II. Last Autumn I ate so much Halloween candy, Thanksgiving Tofurkey, and Happy Birthday Jesus grocery store sheet cake that I gained five pounds in two months. This year I'm determined not to let that happen again, so I have decided to start a preemptive diet and exercise plan right now before the holiday fattening season is in full...... [continue]

While it is hard for most to understand or imagine, once you have become entrenched in the archipelagic enclave of skyscrapers and bona fide mass transit that is Manhattan Island, it is difficult to leave. For a New Yorker, geographic displacement can fester into a self-induced internalized affront (even if just for a few short days). But the compelling lure of a free trip to Los Angeles to accompany my aunt on a business trip...... [continue]

Last Sunday, September 23rd, Dr. Jane Goodall head-lined the International Day of Peace with Roots and Shoots, a global network of youth dedicated to protecting human rights through environment-centered campaigns. Children marched with giant home-made peace puppets as environment and human rights organizations were on hand to provide information and network with locals. Goodall mingled for a while, greeting children and petting dogs before leading the Peace Dove marchers through Griffith Park. After demonstrating...... [continue]

The TelePromTer-readers and out-of-touch-hate-mongers of the mainstream media thought that they were being super-cool by discussing/bitching about the presidential candidate debates that were posted on YouTube. So since that new, interesting, and youth-vote promoting aspect of the next election has been talked to death by the talking-heads, I have found these candidate related webpages to occupy me during my early in the ante meridian down-time: At SuperBook.com, you can go to their "Exotic Lines"...... [continue]

Dr. Jane Goodall. Photo courtesy of Roots and Shoots. This Sunday, September 23rd, Dr. Jane Goodall (primatologist, ethologist, author, researcher, and United Nations Messenger of Peace extraordinaire) be speaking at Griffith Park as part of the Roots and Shoots Fifth Annual Peace Day. Dr. Goodall, who is most famous for her research on chimpanzees in Gombe, will be leading a parade of giant home-made dove puppets and speaking at this free all-ages event. Roots...... [continue]

I am not a fan of Britney Spears, but I do have respect for her. No really. I do. I think it was pretty damned smart of her to totally whore herself out to the entertainment industry like there was no tomorrow, make loads of money, and then happily retire after a few short years of work. The Britney business model let her quit working while she was still young so she could have...... [continue]

Loose Change, 2nd Edition So here it is. The sixth anniversary of September 11th. I don't know how you feel about that. I was raised in lower Manhattan, so I am, as I am sure you can imagine, very sentimental and sad today to say the least. But saying that I am "sad and sentimental" is an understatement. I am also angry and frustrated. Even after six years and one cross-country move to get...... [continue]

Quiz Question: So it is four in the morning, September 1st, the bars have long since stopped serving alcohol for the night, and you've had too many of those in-lieu-of-booze Red Bulls, and you are wide awake. What should you do next? Should you...? a) go home and watch television until you pass out on the sofa b) go to the after-party of your friend's friend c) stumble around the streets of West Hollywood for...... [continue]

"Constance" by Mr. J. Medeiros of Echo Park Being stuck on the Hollywood Freeway during rush hour, trapped in a metallic expanse of automobiles, counting the minutes of your life that you will never get back on the dashboard clock is a nasty predicament to be in...But that isn't the kind of traffic I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the human traffic -- the trafficking of people. Human cargo. Coerced labor. The exploited... [continue]

I lived in New York my whole damned life up until l made the move to Los Angeles in 2006, and even though I've been here at least a year already, I still get harassing phone calls from my friends that entail the sentence "yo, what you got over there in la-la land that we ain't got here in the greatest city in the world?" I've gone through the natural beauty, beaches and mountains,...... [continue]

Today is what would have been the anniversary of Charles Bukowski's 87th year on this planet, had he not passed away in 1994. I really wish I had it in me to writing something amazing in honor of the man, but I'm not sure it can be done. What can you write about a man who revolutionized literature with a style that has yet to be rivaled? All I can think to do on...... [continue]

I don’t know who first said “never judge a book by its cover,” but I think it is safe to assume that for a theatre junkie such as myself, that a play should never be judged by its title. I mention this because as I go through my weekly play-picking ritual, I tend to avoid attending any and all plays that are about love and romance. It just seems to go against my bitter,... [continue]

Tonight marks the first night of the Perseid meteor shower's peak viewing season in North America. Up to sixty meteors per hour will steadily begin appearing in tonight's August 11th sky around 10:00 PM, and will continue to make their presence known at least until Monday's dawn on August 13th. The Perseid meteor shower is named after the Perseus constellation and is essentially just a really long trail of cosmic debris. The shower is expected... [continue]

The Idiot Box portrays the structural demise of a group of Friends-esque roommates living in an alternate realm of televised situational comedy (complete with predictable jokes, stereotypes, accepted sexism, and laugh tracks) that slowly collapses under the weight of the crude reality of the modern human condition. This Open Fist Theatre production has all of the traditional markers of a really good drama: Michael Elyanow's new play is a carefully crafted quagmire of complex, yet... [continue]