Tonight we say goodbye to McNulty, Bunk, Freaman, Greggs and the rest of the cast of The Wire Back in June 2002, a crime drama from the minds of former Baltimore Sun writer David Simon (who spoke at USC earlier this week) and former Baltimore police officer Ed Burns made its debut on HBO. The Wire was more than just another cop show, it was an examination of both sides of the Baltimore drug......

For those us who don't have HBO on Demand, we are just two days away from the season premiere of the fifth and final season of The Wire. Today, we're closing out our series of interviews, which has included Tristan Wilds and Andre Royo, with Jamie Hector who plays the king of the drug game on Baltimore's West side, Marlo Stanfield. Are you going to miss working on this show? Definitely, I have enjoyed......

Sunday marks the return of HBO's The Wire. To get you ready for the premiere of the fifth and final season of a show that TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Slate and the San Francisco Chronicle have all called "The best on television" LAist has lined up interviews with three members of the show's incredible cast. Be sure to check back tomorrow and Friday. Our series begins with Tristan Wilds, who we were introduced to in......

I know I’m about as consistent as the Lakers in doing these things. So here are my quick takes of all of the Sunday games. There’s a quarterback who breaks records, a team that finally does something with a kick off, a team that will not live in infamy and a bunch of ugly games that made me really happy to be huddled in my bed with the heater on. Cleveland Browns over Buffalo......

To prepare for this interview, I scoured my closet for my pair of unwashed lucky socks, put on some Dog the Bounty Hunter ondemand, and tried to ignore the fact that his girlfriend is "shnacky", as I like to say. Yucko the Clown is a regular guest on "The Howard Stern Show", a stand-up comic, and the co-creator of The Damn Show later 'ported' to MTV2 as Stankervision. Currently he's touring with the Killers......

Whitney Bedford is a truly unique artist. Her subjects- shipwrecks, pirates, and impending disaster, are far from the norm of what L.A based painters are doing these days. In her most recent exhibit at Cherry & Martin, Bedford takes on one of the biggest celebrities of the roaring 20’s Harry Houdini. The life-sized images in ink & oil on paper catch the showman mid –escape, in his most harrowing moments. Some of the lines......

The Art Dump wants you to send them a zine you've made and they'll send you one that they've made back....

Angels 18, Orioles 6 - Anaheim and Baltimore have combined for a whopping 39 runs in the past two game. The Halos had 18 last night, thanks to 13 walks and 3 errors given to them by the Orioles. Baltimore was so bad on defense that their offense hammered Kelvim Escobar for 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings and he still got the W. Vladimir Guerrero went yard, as did Brandon Wood -- for the......

As ugly as the Monday night games were, they sure did get exciting at the end. The Ravens had eight plays inside the Bengal’s five-yard line with just over two minutes left in their game and failed to score. The 49ers whose offense struggled most of the game drove 86 yards in their final drive for a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left in the game. Cincinnati over Baltimore 27-20. One of the cardinal......

That opening game of the NFL was a kick in the nuts, wasn’t it? The Indianapolis Colts proved their defense wasn’t a mere fluke in last season’s playoff by only allowing the New Orleans Saints offense to only score a field goal in their 41-10 blowout. At least I was right about the Saints having a pretty porous defense. With the exception of the Reggie Wayne fumble that was taken for a touchdown, no......

The movement to recall LA Westside Councilman Jack Weiss is going strong with close to half the signatures necessary already in. The Governator wants HIS healthcare plan enacted, Democrats be damned! The Big One could be up to 15 times larger than the 1994 Northridge earthquake, according to a newly released study by USC geologists. Why not try your hand at naming chef Alain Giraud's newest brasserie? The second in a series of "All-American......

The Dodgers have a certain way of making me look like a complete asshole. Just when I proclaim that it would take a miracle for the Dodgers to make the postseason, the offense explodes as if some saintly being was guiding them in the outfield. You know, they should make a movie about that. Against the Phillies on Wednesday the Dodgers scored 15 runs in an obvious show of laziness since a horrible Texas......

Dodgers 5, Pirates 4 - Brad Penny was taxed for four runs in six innings, but Los Angeles cashed in with three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to keep his record at 7-1. Andre Ethier hit the two-run shot that put the Dodgers ahead for good. Grady Little watched most of the game from the clubhouse after arguing with the ump in the fourth. He's the fifth major league manager to......

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam died yesterday in a car crash in Menlo Park, CA. He was 73. Halberstam’s work as a journalist ranges wide and delves deep. He covered the Korean War, the Vietnam War and civil rights but he was also fascinated with the humanity and spectacle of sports. He did not simply document the history he lived through – he explained complex societal constructs and cultural shifts in a way that anyone......

Today - Thursday - March 1st, 2007 Ducks @ Kings (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) College Basketball: UCLA @ Washington State (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Survivor: Fiji (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Someone has a tantrum on the island. Swinging (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Series premiere Scrubs/30 Rock (NBC, 8-9:00 p.m.) New episodes. Larry King Live (CNN, 9:00 p.m.) Reporter Bob Woodruff Ace of Cakes (Food Network, 10:30 p.m.) Off to Baltimore. If only this show had the balls......

- Robert Adler died this week at 93 years old. He invented the wireless tv remote a little over 50 years ago, finally giving men an important responsibility around the house - AP - When Britney Spears shaved off all her hair yesterday, did she do it because of all the constant attention from the paparazzi? And if so, why didn't she move back to Louisiana for a spell? - Celebrity Baby Blog -......

It’s Tuesday night, which means you better “Check Yo’Ponytail” at Safari Sam’s. They knocked us out with their Los Angeles debut at Spaceland this summer, and with a bigger fanbase and nastier lyrics, we’re sure Spank Rock, Baltimore’s raunchy street brats, will do it once again. Bringing Miami booty bass, dirty east coast beats, and lottsa dirty words, Spank Rock’s mind bending hip-hop will show Los Angeles how to do it right. Check Yo’......

- The Simpsons have their Tire Fire, LA has its Tire Store Fire - LAFD blog - Some Hollywood women too Busy to shave their armpits? Say it ain't so! - Reuters - Martini Republic asks "who's the bigger idiot, Instapundit or Bill Kristol?" Which makes us finally understand that IT WAS A CONTEST ALL ALONG! - Martini Republic - Mom calls cops on her 12-year-old son for opening his videogame before Christmas -......

If you’re hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs “so are you nakie” to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

- Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson has a MySpace - MySpace - South Central's The Game finds long-lost sister thru MySpace - Spin - TBS to use MySpace to host an online Comedy Contest - TV Week - "The OC" season premiere to appear on MySpace before TV - Monsters & Critics - Alleged MD rapist identified using MySpace - Baltimore Sun - 13 yr old girl uses MySpace to pretend she's a teacher.......

As the Pogues ramble through the US on their current tour (hopefully not their last), they bring THE perfect band to open for them: Murder By Death, who are out of Baltimore. Enjoy tonight's Midnight Movie with a pint and a smile and if you see LAist at the Wiltern on 10/19 rocking out at the beer stand, don't be surprised.......

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key watched a failed British Navy attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Due to heavy storms and crappy equipment on both sides, neither the Americans defending the fort nor the Brits trying to attack it so they could continue sailing into Baltimore Harbor did much damage on each other, but Key was inspired when he saw a huge flag rise from the US fort......

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there's a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by......

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the......

Here are a few live music options for the old and jaded, desert-averse people. Fri 4/28 - Wilderness / Year Future / Parts & Labor @ the Echo ($8) – Willing to fight the Gnarls Barkley crowd at the Roxy? Didn't think so. Baltimore’s Wilderness are beloved in the indie community. They’re post-punk inspired, but not in an insipid way (think Fugazi and PiL not She Wants Revenge and the Bravery). Year Future are......

Gram Rabbit Cultivation (Stinky) – They’ve got a unique sound (kind of like Calexico mixed with trip-hop) and they’re from Joshua Tree. This is their second release and they’re performing live at Tower Sunset on 4/20 at 6:00 PM and the Echo on 4/21. Listen to some tracks on MYSPACE. Languis Other Desert Cities EP (Pehr) – Highly recommended new release from an under-appreciated local band. If you haven’t seen or heard them since......

Terrace seating at last night's Minimalist Jukebox concert was like bleacher seats at a baseball game - a bit unruly. Well, unruly as a classical concert can get these days at least. Terry Jennings' (1940 - 1981, born in Eagle Rock) String Quartet begat another piece in the audience. The "drone-inspired, modal, repetitive," extremely quiet and delicate work gave room for a chorus of antiphonal coughs, throat clearing and shuffling feet. These small, but......

Men's Fitness magazine announced the top 25 fittest and fattest cities in America. Baltimore (huh?) beat out cities like Honolulu, Colorado Springs, Tucson, San Francisco and Seattle to claim the top spot. Where did LA rank in the top 25 fittest, you ask? Well, it didn't. It made the other list. The city of supermodels -- a/k/a liposuction central -- ranked as the third fattest city in America, only topped by Chicago and Las......

If you're like me, and you love both NFL Football and the city of Los Angeles, the last decade has been tough. Without a team to root for (I go for the nearby Chargers as a temporary fan), LA football fans have simply been longing for the next team to waltz through our doors. Based on reports from last week's NFL owners meetings, it looks like we'll have to wait longer. The NFL is......

The Los Angeles Times has a series of articles this week on LA surviving ten years without NFL football. Today's edition in the series, is about former 49ers and Browns executive Carmen Policy, and how he might be the savior LA has been looking for to bring us back a team. Come on! Enough already! How many more saviors can we take? Add Carmen Policy to a list that includes Jerry Jones, John Elway,......