Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody... [continue]

The Advocate, a pro-life student-run UCLA magazine, released it's quarterly issue (.pdf) this week with an investigative report on sketchy fundraising practices at Planned Parenthood. Their lede reads: Over the summer, The Advocate investigated the financial dealings of Planned Parenthood and made some shocking discoveries about the clinic-owning “nonprofit.” We obtained the information by having an actor call clinics across the country and pose as a donor. The actor who called, The Advocate’s advisor, communicated... [continue]

It was almost a year ago that LAist was blown away by the US Sumo Open at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The day of amateur sumo wrestling action, yakisoba noodles and free sake made us understand why the sport is followed so religiously in Japan. With the lousy weather keeping us homebound this weekend, it seemed like a good time to start researching the 2008 event, as we’re anxious to see the return... [continue]

This afternoon, a news story attributed to Hollywood Reporter claimed: "L.A. professor triggers Myanmar Web shutdown." We're all too used to the sensationalist tendencies of today's media, but this headline is completely unfair and potentially devastating for Ryan McMillen, professor of English at Santa Monica College (or as the accuse-then-verify media reported, "professor of history"). The story isn't on the Hollywood Reporter Web site but it is credited as such by Reuters, WashingtonPost.com, and --...... [continue]

As Kanye West says in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, "Hip-hop is the only sport of music. Rock artists aren't thinking about each other to that extent. And these are like the championship moments." Today is that championship moment Kanye is talking about, as both he and 50 Cent, two of the biggest names in hip-hop are dropping albums on the same day. This kind of thing happens a lot, actually it has... [continue]