Want a Wii this holiday season? Well toooooo fuckin bad. The best you can hope for is a rain check certificate that will entitle you to a console at some point in January. Even the Wii people themselves are now admitting what a mess they've made of manufacturing this thing. Two members of a terrorist cell have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to wage war: the splinter group was "was poised to attack......

Why do all these songs about frostbite conditions sound so wonderful in sun-drenched shirtless reverb? Ever try pushing a sled through sand? I don't recommend it. But I heartily recommend each of the following experiences. Don't worry, we'll get to more Beach Boys later on, today (with the exception of track four) it's all about those chiming guitars. THE VENTURES - Sleigh Ride This comes from their fantastic Christmas album, one of the greats......

Former major leaguer Mark Littel doesn't have balls of steel, but he's got a product that would convince you otherwise. Watch as he takes a direct hit in his, um, strike zone from a pitching machine. On purpose. Without flinching. Littel is promoting the Nutty Buddy as the best athletic cup known to man. He's sunk $40,000 of his own money into the project (designed with the help of a couple golf balls and......

Any bicycle commuter in this city knows the wonderful secret about it: parking is abundant. Hi Mr. Tree, I'm going to latch onto you. Hello Mr. No Parking for Street Cleaning Sign, thanks for letting me lock to you and park here when cars cannot. And let's not forget that bicycle valets are becoming a more popular concept. Photo by uccloud9 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr......

On two different days, in two different articles the LA Times profiles two mass bicycle rides. On one side, the large and boisterous Midnight Ridazz who mostly stick to Los Angeles city streets. On the other is the Santa Monica Critical Mass. The outcome? Los Angeles is chill when it comes to dealing with the group rides. As for Santa Monica, as usual, everything from the height of your front yard hedges to a......

Los Angeles CityBeat's Greg Katz asks Tom LaBonge why cyclists can't ride through the Griffith Park DWP Light Festival and Tom almost completes a sentence before simply dodging and deflecting and offering more hollow promises for the future. Greg asks "You’re a bike advocate, a Griffith Park advocate, and you want to fix gridlock. Why can’t you bike through the Griffith Park DWP Light Festival while there are cars there?" Tom responds "The impact they......

For the past two weeks Councilmember Tom LaBonge has been proudly welcoming visitors to the 12th Annual LADWP Holiday Light Festival at Griffith Park, announcing with a straight face that this year's Festival demonstrates the DWP's commitment to a "Greener LA." Tom deserves credit for maintaining a straight face as he makes this outrageous claim because this Festival is far from Green! Granted, there is a lighting display at the entry that clearly states "DWP......

Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by LAPD officers (and their subsequent acquittal) sparked the Los Angeles riots in 1992, was shot late last night, according to San Bernardino police. King was shot in the face and arm with a pellet gun (LA Times) or perhaps a shotgun (KNX, USA Today) while riding his bike home to Rialto. King, the 42-year-old man who gained national fame when his 1991 beating by Los Angeles police was caught......

1. In N' Out I've been training for the LA marathon for the past month and once a week, after a super hard run, I reward myself by ordering a #3 w/onions. Seriously, how could a "fast food" hamburger taste so good? And it's really not that bad for you. If you order a burger combo with a diet coke, you'll consume less than 550 calories. It's totes a win-win situation. 2. Bros Because......

A rare closeup of the bass as we continue with the Red Thing series. It is always attached to the things he loves best: The Boat, the bike, and the bass. I like how the red on the side of the bass head continues the red theme, and how the tuning pegs look humongous. There is not much else to say about the Red Thing. The Red Thing simply IS. Watt is back in......

As I previously mentioned, the red thing is a recurring subject of Watt's photos. Here it is hanging from his handlebars. So I asked Watt what the deal was with the red thing. I asked him if it had some kind of symbolism or if it was a good luck charm. He told me the package said it has no magical properties, it just claimed ...but it make you look good.........

There are many different ways you could have heard of Tinariwen by now - even if you don't keep up with world music, you could have heard Henry Rollins play them on Indie 103.1, or read that they opened for The Rolling Stones, or heard that Thom Yorke was inspired by one of their guitar riffs while writing 'The Clock' on Eraser. Not your usual buzz band, Tinariwen are part of a nomadic desert......

How does something like this happen? It happens when a sober person accidentally crashes into a drunk person."[Actor Gary Collins] was not at fault in the accident," [Officer] Harding said. "The other motorist failed to yield to oncoming traffic and collided with Collins' vehicle." The actor's sports utility vehicle subsequently crashed into two parked cars, Harding said. "Officers smelled alcohol on his breath and initiated a field sobriety test, which he failed," she said. Collins......

We listed tomorrow's Choppercabra costumed Halloween ride in our Weekend Halloween Guide, but this one takes some courage to post about because of where it's located. We'll let Midnight Ridazz explain: This ride will take you to two haunted houses. Don’t worry about the haunted houses, worry about where the haunted houses are located. Yes your worse nightmares are about to come true. Oh it looks all pristine, with nice houses and manicured lawns,......

Can we please do the OPPOSITE of adding fuel to these fires? A Sun Valley day laborer has been charged with arson after he was caught attempting to start a blaze in the Woodland Hills area earlier this week. Do you use your cell phone? Of course you do. The future of this important device lies in the hands of visionaries, such as the ones who are attending MobileCampLA on Sunday. And you too......

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! .......

Tonight at 8 p.m., those wanting to make a statement about the environment will be turning their lights off for one hour for Lights Out Los Angeles, a city and county wide energy conservation event. Some think it's completely idiotic, some are excited to participate. One 19-year-old, who spoke to the Daily News, has the right spirit. "I'll just ride my bike with a battery-operated light ... or go to someone's house and get......

LAist had the opportunity to catch up with Jonny Coleman, curator of Art Crawl X and also founder of Found Gallery in Silverlake this week to ask him some questions about the art walk this weekend, what not to miss, and why this art walk is sure to kick ass. What is Art Crawl X? Art Crawl X is the tenth annual art walk on the Eastside [excluding downtown]. The Crawl includes both conventional......

Dear _____, Cool! I'm totally in and excited to see you this weekend too! Yeah I totally heard all about Art Crawl X and am excited to check it out. Isn't it something crazy like over 25 galleries and stores all around Echo Park, Silverlake, Los Feliz and Atwater Village are participating and holding shows and exhibits and stuff? And like at night some are having bands perform and tattoo stations and I heard......

There's so much to love with this picture, taken by Sundogg using his Canon 10D. It's just perfectly framed, cropped, exposed, everything. But the best for us, is something that can't even be controlled, and thats the little kid's open hand as he appears to change the song on his little Shuffle. Actually we like pretty much any picture where someone is riding their bike and not being honked at by a bus or......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own......

Volume at the Los Angeles port, the biggest in the U.S., is expected to drop for the first time in four years. Experts attributed the decline to the slumping housing market and continued loss of confidence in imported goods. I don't pretend to be an expert, but we'll cheer up when they stop putting plastic in their toys. A woman was arrested and charged with murder, stemming from an incident in which she allegedly......

Over 1,300 illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported over the course of the past two weeks -- many are convicted criminals but many are just undocumented workers. No word on whether or not their bones will be used to build a road to nowhere. LA City Council Member Greig Smith makes a weekly public transportation effort -- but most city movers and shakers do not. LA CityBeat examines what kind of example is......

LAst Night's Action - There was no local sports action on Monday, so LNA is basically taking the day off. Instead, here's a "PSA" which shows you why racing down a mountain on a bike at over 100mph is stupid. At least wear a full helmet, OK? [Video NOT for the squeamish.] Today's Action - Uh-oh! Two days in a row without any major local sports! What ever will we do? Actually, we're really......

Justin Timberlake @ Staples Center Cheap Trick @ Bike Fest, Bonelli Park (San Dimas) Pink Martini @ Hollywood Bowl The Spazmatics @ Dragonfly VHS or Beta @ The Glasshouse Handsome Furs, Johnny and The Moon, Nico Stai @ The Echo Hello Menno, Io Perry, Mike Stinson, Alina Simone, Icebird @ Spaceland Letting Up Despite Great Faults, The Henry Clay People @ All Star Lanes......

It seems the Bush's appointed Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, has something in common with Mayor Villaraigosa's appointed Department of Transportation head, Gloria Jeff: both are for goods movement, but not always for the people. Luckily, Jeff has not started any major wars with bicyclists like Peters' has, according to an article in Salon, with her current political rhetoric:In an Aug. 15 appearance on PBS's "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," Peters spoke against a proposal to......

Sex is something that drives us, empowers us and gets us into really stupid situations with people we have no business seeing naked. Jen Sincero is the bestselling author and sexpert with the carnal knowledge you need. Ask her your questions (all are posted anonymously). Cuz there's no such thing as being too good in bed. Dear Jen, I’ve been in love with my neighbor since we were 6 (we’re both 21 now). We......

There is probably no room for car drive-in RSVPs (their blog says they only had 10 spaces left on Thursday) but the organizers at Angel City Drive-In encourage walk-ins and bike-ins for this downtown event next to the Alexandria Hotel. In fact, there is also a post-event 8-mile bike ride through downtown with a "biker gang" dressed in Pee Wee Herman gear. For the screening, bring chairs and/or blankets and alcohol if you need. Food......

In order to cover the costs of their $600-million-plus priest abuse settlement, the Los Angeles Archdiocese is selling off its Santa Barbara convent, leaving the nuns with no place left to go. Aw, how cute, the 818 thinks it's just like the 310! The San Fernando Valley may be getting a 747 area code overlay in the very near future. Are we seeing a theme here yet? A thirteen-year-old boy was killed by an......

About the above photo: Painting by local artist John Schlue who will be showcasing his newest work at Truxtop Gallery with the opening reception on Friday Sept 7th. The International Space Station, Jupiter, Mars, Venus all viewable from LA this week according to today's release of the The Griffith Observatory Sky Report. 274 homicides so far this 2007. LAPD released the latest crime statistics today showing that violent and property crime is down compared......