Calabasas' soon-to-be-newest resident, Britney Spears, is now an Aunt. Jamie Lynn popped out her baby girl, Maddie Briann, this morning. Lynn, the millennial face of teen pregnancy, went into a Mississippi hospital at 4:30 a.m. and gave birth a few hours later. She had announced her pregnancy back in December around the time that Juno was making headlines, sending parents and Nickelodeon lovers into a tailspin and setting off a string of hand-wringing (rightfully so)......

Photo by _ gianni's_ photography _ AKA *Prime Imagery* via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr In part to honor the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and in part to "increase the peace" a 40-hour moratorium on violence goes into effect for the City of Los Angeles starting at 6:01 p.m. tonight. Do your part! Because "You can't fire me...I QUIT!" lacks that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, perhaps? An employee in......

Pop the pink champagne and slip on that tiara to help welcome the arrival of 2008's first celebrity socialte and rock star spawn, Harlow Winter Kate Madden, who came into the world at the nicest hospital money can buy, aka Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, today. Harlow's mommy, 26-year-old Nicole, is now free to return to her pre-pregnancy and eerily thin body weight. Let's just hope she doesn't take any parenting tips from fellow fan of the......

For this evening, a selection of gentle acoustic guitars to assist in warming your bones by the fire. Acoustic instruments made of wood just fit the theme - the yule log, the Christmas tree, toy horses, and now, the wood stove where Sufjan Stevens' presents end up - oops! JOHN RENBOURN - I Saw Three Ships Renbourn, one half of the formidable guitar section for British psychedelic-folk pioneers Pentangle, gives his take on the......

Dear Tony Pierce, can you please tell your new employers at the LA Times to fix their streaming American Express advertising pop-up so that it does not crash my brand-new computer every five minutes? Thank you, signed, LAist.com. When we are not struggling to cope with adverse side-effects of inexorable technological progress, we are keeping track of the striking writers' negotiations with venture capitalists to begin producing Internet programming. Baby needs a new pair......

Helena Bonham Carter and her boyfriend, director Tim Burton, both Golden Globe nominees for Sweeney Todd welcomed their second baby together, a girl, in London this weekend - People What better way to get attention than talk smack about some Hollywood heavyweights? Rupert Everett is starting trouble by talking about how Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have turned into "tragic paradies" of the icons they once were- StarPulse Britney Spears's home away from home,......

Admit it. We have all done it one time or another. Re-wrapped something that ran counter to our oh-so-fabulous taste and passed it along to some unsuspecting schmuck &/or loved one. It's not very nice. It reeks of cheapness and laziness. Still, in a recent survey more than half of the Americans polled said they re-gift regularly and unashamedly. Hey, we all got our reasons: couldn't make it to the store in time for......

Police are searching for an 11-month-old girl who was allegedly taken from her North Hollywood home last night. The suspected kidnapper, Raul Carillo Alderete, was already wanted by Pomona police on suspicion of kidnapping, raping, and torturing the girl's mother and was profiled last month on America's Most Wanted. The LA Times reports:According to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Kate Lopez, Alderete went to the home of his child's mother near Sherman Way and Lankershim......

While I deeply love many different kinds of Christmas music, this is one form that tugs hard at the heartstrings. Soul music is just a perfect vehicle for the kind of unironic SINCERITY that I want from a good Christmas song, that makes their heartwarming messages hit home completely. Here's a few to put your mind at ease. BIG DEE IRWIN & LITTLE EVA - I Wish You A Merry Christmas An oldie but goodie......

The Geminid Meteor showers are set to peak this week, especially on Thursday and Friday. Um, great date night, anybody? Astronomers studying the phenomenon, David Levy and Stephen Edberg, are terribly enthused: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor.' Those guys are serious!!! "The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing......

Saturday mornings in the 70s and 80s were defined by Schoolhouse Rock -- the mix of catchy songs and cartoons that served as infotainment for impressionable young minds (like yours truly). Now the Greenway Arts Alliance has brought the familiar pop tunes back for the enjoyment of Baby Boomers, Gen Xers -- and their kids -- to enjoy. The Schoolhouse Rock Live! musical revue is couched in the premise of schoolteacher Tom's (Eduardo Enrikez)......

So I think I can safely say, having viewed it twice now, that Jason Reitman's Juno is the newest addition to my list of favorite movies. Okay, yes, it may be a pretty "rosy view of teen pregnancy", as my friend declared, but the humor, the characters, and the crazy dialogue ("You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put......

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Sweet P has designed club wear, sleepwear, and retro inspired pieces. She sites John Galliano, Marni, Chloe, Phillip Lim, and Balenciaga as favorite designers. Combined with her childhood love of Sonny and Cher and passion for surfing and motorcycles, she represents the fun side of Southern California culture. Her first Sweet P collection will be available in February 2008. On Project Runway week one, Sweet P wowed the......

Tonight is the most excellent show, Open Road on KCRW, which begins at 9:00 p.m., ending at midnight. DJ Gary Calamar mixes roots of Rock, Country, Jazz, Blues, and Soul with new releases that you can most see on his peer's lists. Calamar got his start at KCRW as a volunteer, moving his way to DJ after literally begging on his knees to Chris Douridas for a show. Douridas made a great choice. 1)......

Even my beloved Thursdays are starting to fill up with reruns. We do have a great Fellini movie on tonight though, so open a fine Chianti (or my preference of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo) and drink it all in. Also kids, the Style Network notified me that they are looking for folks for a new reality show. Here's the deets: If your business, club, band, school, organization, or team is in need of a make-over then apply......

It's sexy, it's sacrilegious, it's scandalous, and it's just in time for Christmas. LA's hottest art curator Lenora Claire has done it again with a new collection of saucy art pieces guaranteed to get folks hot and bothered. Mixing Christmas themes with ample female breasts and featuring the work of Austin Young, Kitten Natividad, Buff Monster, and our fave the Gay Bigfoot, among others, Claire chose not to rest on her laurels of the......

Diana & Alice Bag circa '78 I almost didn’t go to see Ann Summa’s Los Angeles punk photo exhibition at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica. No offense to the once, raw obscure photographers who happened to be at the right place at the right time 30 years ago, snapping amazing images of once, raw obscure bands. Your recognition is well past due. It’s just that there’s been a plethora of punk picture/art/flyer/book exhibitions......

Monday Eliot Tiegel presents The Latinization of America 6:30pm @ Book Soup Judith Freeman discusses and signs The Long Embrace 7pm @ Vroman's Roz Chast discusses Theories of Everything 7pm @ Central Library Robert Kuttner in conversation with Arianna Huffington about The Squandering of America 8pm @ James Bridge Theater, UCLA Tuesday Cesar Millan presents Be the Pack Leader 7pm @ Borders, Pasadena Frank McCourt presents Angela and the Baby Jesus 7pm @ Borders,......

Mashed potatoes are one of then few dishes I can't live without on Thanksgiving. Luckily, it is super-easy. Just make someone else peel the potatoes. Peeling is an easy thing to do while watching TV, so recruit those football fans. You can also peel them Wednesday, and as long as you keep them covered with water, they will not discolor much. I don't do the green bean casserole thing. It's a love-it-or-hate-it dish. I......

But first - Kobe vetoed a trade! Baseball in the Coliseum - Just after it was announced that the Red Sox will open the exhibition season against Oakland in Japan, the Dodgers confirmed that the defending World Champs would play three games against the Blue Crew. The cool part? One of the games will be in the Coliseum as part of the Dodger's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Yes, it can be configured that way......

The more we learn about the Temecula shooting that left five people dead, the sadder the story becomes: three of the victims of Sunday's shooting were a mother and her two teenage daughters; the remaining two dead were the mother's boyfriend and his son. A group of men in a Honda Civic opened fire on the driver of a truck on the 91 freeway today; road rage may be the culprit. The victim sustained......

Nick Hogan has been criminally charged with reckless driving because he was drinking before his August car crash. Another faux- celeb headed to the clink? - TMZ Bitch Fight! George Clooney and Fabio get into a physical fight after Fabio's ladies were taking pics of Clooney and his gf at El Coyote restaurant - Defamer Britney Spears's nearest and dearest, the few that are left, claim its not drug use thats causing her irrational......

There was a welcome flight to quality this weekend as movie-goers finally gave some love to a good flick. American Gangster blasted its way to the top with an impressive haul of 46.3 million dollars. Bolstered by positive reviews and the stellar box-office power of Denzel Washington, Gangster should continue to thrive in the coming weeks. Jerry Seinfeld's initial foray into the motion picture business can certainly be called a success. Despite mediocre notices,......

If the name Chris Palko doesn't mean anything to you, follow these steps: Step 1) Get a fucking time capsule or something close to it --hell, go to the bank drive-thru teller if you have to and steal the bank drive-thru's tube-capsule. Step 2) Write down the name Chris Palko on some deposit slips you prolly stole as well in the process. Step 3) Rush home and prepare to bury this capsule --to be......

To no one's surprise, Saw IV handily topped the box office this weekend with a haul of 32.1 million dollars. It's the third consecutive year that a film from the Saw franchise has won the Halloween weekend. I'm sure we all know what to expect next year. Dan in Real Life had a reasonably good debut, taking in $12M and re-establishing Steve Carell as a box-office force after the disaster that was Evan Almighty.......

Looking for something fun to do this crisp Monday night before Halloween? Look no further, one of our favorite independent design companies, Enchanted Royals, who we highlighted almost a year ago for their adorable hand painted sneakers, T-Shirts and baby onesies, is having their website launch party tonight in Chinatown. Started by designers Haley Thompson and Dara Weinberg, Enchanted Royals shoes and clothing are whimsical, personal, and unique- perfect gifts for the upcoming holidays.......

Comedian Jen Kirkman doesn't think humanity could handle world peace. After all, there's people who can't even handle raising kids and keeping track of whether they live on a flat or round planet. And the fact that those people are on TV while a comedian capable of telling stories as hilarious, unique, and honest as Jen's is not is plain wrong. Sure, Jen's been on VH1's Acceptable TV, Comedy Central's Premium Blend, and provided......

While the Great UCLA Versus USC Debate may never reach a resolution (those damn Trojans are too hard-headed and engorged with pride to recognize true superiority when they see it), all Californians can hold their heads up with pride thanks to our excellent universities. I don't know if you noticed the recent Washington Monthly ratings of the nation's top schools, but they're giving the U.S. News and World Report a run for their money.......

To no one's surprise 30 Days of Night topped the box office this weekend, though its 16 million dollar take hardly qualifies it as a hit. Year-over-year, it is the fifth down weekend in a row and relief doesn't appear to be in sight for a few more weeks when American Gangster and Bee Movie should pull some asses into seats. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? held up fairly well in its......

The Angel City Drive-in is more of an abandoned lot in downtown LA than a traditional drive-in - but what a better place to watch Evil Dead and Evil Dead II? Tonight! Gates open at 6:30pm Evil Dead 8pm Evil Dead II 9:45pm - Food provided by Weeneez . Walk in/Bike ins Welcome . DJ Morgan plays swell tunes before and after the feature . FM Transmitter puts the sound into your car! .......