Dear LAist, I come here every day and sometimes I read something that isn't even happening in LA. What gives? Curious in Culver City Dear Curious, Like the city of LA itself, LAist is influenced by news and events all over the world. True, we specialize in bringing you the news of the greatest city in the world, Los Angeles, but sometimes we will tell you how stinky Florida is, how great Las Vegas......

At LAist, we've done everything to convince ourselves that we're not missing out (tho we could use the rain) by steering clear of SXSW (did somebody say 5 weeks 'til Coachella?). Enter our new buddy Finetune. This music-streaming app, a veritable iPod shuffle for the world to share, combines Pandora's music recommending capabilities with Last.fm's social scene and takes the "Web 2.0" look, tagging and sharing mechanisms a step further. So take a break from......

At LAist we've had some pretty cool contests over the year. We have given away box seats to the 'Bowl (including parking and picnic baskets), we gave away New Year's Eve tickets to see the Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley, we gave away tickets to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers play at the Roxy, and last week we gave away hella cds and one lucky winner will get to see a Luscious Jackson......

LAist could have seen the Jesus & Mary Chain in 1986 but they played on Good Friday at the Santa Monica Civic and we were all, "if you see a band called the Jesus & Mary Chain on Good Friday you're gonna go to Hell." But we loved the band, and with each new album we loved them more and more. Quasi-gothic take on Brian Wilson is how it always felt to us. Beautiful......

At LAist, we believe in literacy and we believe in the power of the printed word. And, we love books. If you feel the same way and want to meet others who share your feelings, head on over to the West Hollywood Book Fair tomorrow. From the official site: Join more than 300 authors, 100 exhibitors, and 25,000 guests at the 5th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair. This year’s Book Fair will include an......

The hounds will be out for blood in tomorrow's paper after Darren Dreifort blew a second game in the eighth inning since the Dodgers gave up Guillermo Mota. Dreifort had a 5-3 lead going into the eighth, before the Reds came back to win 6-5. At LAist, we acknowledged that the riskiest part of Paul DePodesta's deadline deals was giving up Mota. But let's hope Jim Tracy and the Dodgers realize one thing: Darren......