Chris Bell (center) with his brothers Mike “Mad Dog” Bell (left) and Mark “Smelly” Bell (right) Filmmaker Chris Bell set out to make a film about heroes and found himself in the center of the steroid debate. His documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* explores the world of bodybuilders, sports, and how performance enhancing drug use is viewed in the United States. The story of his childhood and his brothers' weight-lifting careers are the centerpiece of......

The Flat Stanley project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a Canadian schoolteacher. The project is based on the title character in Flat Stanley, a 1964 children's book. In the book, Stanley Lambchop is squished flat, which gives him unique abilities, like being able to slide under doors and travel in envelopes. The project is intended to increase literacy and educate children about geography. Classes participating in the Flat Stanley Project make their......

If you didn't see this video from earlier this week, it's a good laugh. From Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's YouTube page: "Just before the Michigan Primary this week, Matt Romney decided to take a some pressure off his dad with a little comic relief. Those that know him recognize that he loves a good practical joke."......

There are less than two weeks to go until OMG Tuesday!, when almost half of America will likely decide on what Democratic nominee will butt heads with the next Republican nominee. But, while the presidential election gets most of the attention, there are seven propositions on the Feb. 5 ballot this year covering a wide range of issues that could affect this state in lasting and meaningful ways. In the last three weeks, we......

"Ducttape Superhero" by The Eye of Brad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but......

When the UC Board of Regents held a meeting this past Thursday, students and staff were on hand to express dismay with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recently announced proposal for increased fees, enrollment limits, and salary freezes. According to the LA Times, the organized protest included approximately "50 students carrying protest banners" who spoke out about the possible fee hikes because of the troubled state budget. Students feel it is not right for them to have......

While the presidential election is the sexy supermodel on the Feb. 5 California Primary ballot, there are seven propositions on the ballot this year with issues ranging from transportation funds and community college funding to term limits and gaming. In the last two weeks, we acquainted ourselves with: Proposition 91 and, Proposition 92 This leads us to our next stop on this Tour de Propositions to explore the intricacies of 93, which mainly covers term......

MUSIC Tonight at the Jazz Bakery is the The Alternative String Group, an ensemble of students from Robert Anderson and Jacob Szekely's music school in West Hollywood, The String Project | Los Angeles. Both studio musicians who have worked with the likes of the Dakah Hip-Hop Orchestra and SuperNova, the two have put together a conservatory that is pretty high tech with their interactive music lessons, recording and filming them for student's personal analysis.........

Federline family values: Fading pop diva and the ex-Mrs. K-Fed who sent law enforcement and the paparazzi into a tailspin last night has lost visitation rights to see her two sons, a court ruled today. Sole custody has been temporarily award to her babies' daddy, meanwhile, Britney remains involuntarily hospitalized. What is it going to take to get Ms. Spears back on track? The homicide tally for 2008 moves up another notch with the reporting......

Phew! Today, be thankful this is not you. Apparently, Arnold Schwarzenegger said this at one point: "I love Thanksgiving turkey... it's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts." Parking in Beverly Hills is now a little better, just in time for Holiday shopping. Four parking structures will double their free parking from one to two hours. Residents, merchants and New York City retailers are rejoicing. 167 people in Riverside County......

You'd think that two years after the slow-as-molasses response that President Bush was justly criticized for in the wake of Katrina, that he would have learned from his mistakes and treated the most recent California fires the way a leader should: quickly, decisively, and compassionately. Instead, he flew out to Cali on the fourth day of the fires (progress from the five days that it took him to set foot in the Gulf Coast......

Los Angeles is cleaning up after a wet weekend that drenched the southland and knocked out power to thousands. Want asthma? LAUSD is building seven new schools near freeways, despite scientific studies saying such construction could damage the children's lungs. Huell Howser is here. That's amazing! The city's neighborhood councils could be in for some major changes. Maybe now, you'll actually understand what they are. A Los Angeles man suspected of shooting his pregnant girlfriend......

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"......

About the above photo by Jonathan Alcorn: "Sept 15 2007 Los Angeles, CA - A firefighter was injured in a fire that broke out tonight in a single-story commercial building in East Los Angeles and produced a plume of smoke visible throughout the Los Angeles basin, a fire official said. The fire was reported at 6:17 p.m. at 2840 E. Olympic Blvd. and extinguished after an hour and 45 minutes." Don't forget to enter......

The MTA will be testing a new 65-foot-long prototype bus - which can hold up to 131 sitting and standing passengers - on the Orange Line busway for one year starting this week. Nicely done: L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon drafted a measure 2 months ago that would've drastically reduced traffic congestion on one block of one street in Panorama City - namely the one where his house is located. Who's down with Gov.......

See the 1995 60 Minutes segment about the horrendous Red Line subway construction. Apparently, in democracy you cannot run against your boss' political allies without getting fired. That's what happened when city councilman Ed Reyes fired his office manager after she lost the 2005 election to Jose Huizar. She sued. She won. All the Wilshire Blvd. bus lane info you could want. The Zaca wildfire has been going for a month and now Governor......

While Sacramento scrambles to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for public transportation and other programs around the state, a serious group of underground marijuana professionals are offering to pay at least a billion dollars in taxes, if only California would legalize pot. A coalition of California marijuana growers and dealers has offered Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger one billion dollars to solve the current state budget crisis. The group, calling itself Let Us......

Could changes finally be coming to Sepulveda Boulevard after more than eight long years of debate? Who knew comic book fans could be so violent? Times reporter Geoff Boucher was attacked covering Comic-Con this past weekend. Sounds like a good idea: Hollywood residents are turning to birth control pills to control the pigeon population. Al Gore's son pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana and other drugs this morning. Seriously, you guys deserve it: members of......

A teacher friend of mine recently mentioned she was preparing an 80s theme party for the graduating seniors of her school. I asked, "Why 80s?" She replied that the seniors were born in 1989 and thus, they were the very last high school class to be born in that decade. I just about spit my drink all over her. I'm aware that we all age, but it still surprises the bejeezus out of me......

Local video blogger and LAObserved contributor Jacob Soboroff was featured last week on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. Jacob is part of the the Why Tuesday? campaign:American voter turnout is so low that we lag behind almost every nation on Earth in voter turnout. So, in 2006, we set out on the road with a video camera to find the answer to a simple question: why do we vote on Tuesday? We asked dozens of......

- City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo vs. District Attorney Steve Cooley. Ehhhh, both are whiners. - They say Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has wanderlust and doesn't pay attention to the issues at hand. He's a Leo -- save that wanderlust for us in the Sagittarius clan. - Worst reason not to ban smoking: "... it's kind of stupid because so many people smoke [in Glendale]." Uhhhhhhh. - Al Gore's youngest daughter got married last night in Beverly......

After requesting a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to increase regulations on vehicle emissions in 2005, (so California might implement a law, passed in 2002 requiring reduced emissions for 2009 cars, light trucks, and S.U.V.’s) Governor Schwarzenegger decided waiting was for sissies, and today in Beverly Hills, pulled out a lawsuit. The five year delay was caused by the E.P.A., claiming it didn’t have jurisdiction over auto emissions, and lawsuits from automobile manufacturers......

We may have naysayed in the past, but it looks like the Olympic movement for LA is finally coming together -- with some help from the movie industry. Apparently, the 18-34 demographic is losing interest in the games -- so LA is committing to bringing it back, by presenting us with this video produced by Dave Stewart (of The Eurythmics) called Battle Olympia: After the jump, a snippet of the Southern California Committee for......

Worth Repeating has a story about how two gay dudes from West Hollywood got all uppity about a Fatburger poster. Here is an email from one of the gay dudes describing the events:When West Hollywood-based spouses and screenwriting team David A. Lee and Daniel Vaillancourt walked by their neighborhood Fatburger restaurant on Sunday January 14, 2007, they were shocked to see a poster introducing the company's new Baby Fat Deal in the window. Its tag......

Today everyone's second favorite movie-star turned governor of California was sworn in to office for his second first-and-a-half term as California government. Among controversy that he did not make appearances as scheduled in the last couple weeks because of his injury and a cavalcade of performers, speakers, and more balloons than one could shake a stick at, Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again officially the governor of the great state of California. NBC more than......

Do you have State Farm Insurance? Your rates might be finally going down. (SFV Biz Journal, Registration Required [but worth it, it's free]) What if the City threw a $60,000 meeting and no one showed up? It just might happen at the next Congress of Neighborhoods. (CityWatch) 2006 brought the hottest summer ever for Los Angeles. Too bad we didn't pass Prop 87 and are all still using our cars and polluting the skies,......

- California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has surgery on his broken femur that got busted during a ski trip in Idaho. No word if he had any other work done while under the knife - ABC News - Angels give $6.5 mil to Shea Hillenbrand to play first base. Shea was the fella who wrote "the ship is sinking" on the Blue Jay blackboard before he was traded - ESPN - LA's richies give more......

It would have been difficult to call the winner on this one: Sun Valley’s Ski Mountain defended its black diamond title this past Saturday against Governer Re-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger in what many are calling a surprising defeat. The Governor came in strong early in the first round, seamlessly gliding through the many obstacles that Sun Valley Mountain set in his path. Schwarzenegger’s speed and power were more than enough to get him through the......

- LAFD Chief will probably fire himself today - LA Times - New MagLight flashlight capable of lighting things on fire - Extreme Geek - Local blogger Perez Hilton sued for $7.5 million by a group of paparazzi companies for illegally using their photos on his often unfunny and callous gossip blog - TMZ - Will Eddie Murphy return for Beverly Hills Cop IV? - Ain't It Cool - George Clooney will star in......

From when the polls open until they close, there will be one cable outlet showing non-stop Arnold Schwarzenegger, at no cost to the incumbent Governor. Encore Action, channel 532 if you have DirecTV, will be having an Arnold Marathon today with a nice little rotation of Terminator, T2, and Conan The Destroyer. Interesting day to play these fine films all day and all night. Encore is owned by Starz, which is owned by Liberty......