Thousands of innocent Angelenos are expected to perish today when a highly advanced robot civilization descends on Westwood. However, the carnage is not expected to ensue until 8:15 p.m. so you'll have most of the day to get your affairs in order. That's right, the LA Film Festival is celebrating the glory of independent film with a mult-theater premiere of the multi-million dollar budgeted Transformers. Indie favorite Michael Bay directs. If such esoteric fare......

Mark Wahlberg lights up TV screens this week as Shooter reaches the DVD shelves. I don't know about you, but this tale of double-crosses and revenge had a distinct late 80s/early 90s vibe to it for me. Did Sly pass on this script 20 years ago or was it Steve in '95? For those of you who want to see Samuel L. Jackson in full-on Samuel L. Jackson mode, pick up Black Snake Moan.......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

- On his blog, Matt Welch often frowns on MLB teams giving huge sums of money to over-30-year-old baseball players (because they're fragile), so when 31-year-old David Beckham hurt his knee today, we thought of Welch cackling from his ivory tower - LA Times - For the second year in a row there was a fatality at the LA Marathon. This year a 50-year-old bicyclist had a heart attack and died at S. Catalina......

A Word Or 30: A wall of repeats ends a fairly good week of new TV. They had to pull celebrity commentators off of Anna Nicole's coffin today, leaving nail marks on the lid. Tonight - Friday - March 2nd, 2007 Sharks @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Kings @ Lakers (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) 38th NAACP Image Awards (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Hosted by LL Cool J Las Vegas (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) Ed thinks about......

When I heard there was a movie coming out about a black man who chains a nymphomaniac white girl to a radiator to save her from herself, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to see Black Snake Moan, by Craig Brewer, the same writer/director who gave us Hustle & Flow last year. Brewer brings us another portrait of the dirty South filled with characters who must piece together their battered lives in the hopes......

UPDATE: FUCK YEAH! I have confirmation from an unnamed but reliable source that Quentin Tarantino will indeed be programming the New Beverly for March & April. It's no rumor. It's reality. Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino himself will be taking over programming at revival house The New Beverly for March and April as a way to promote the upcoming release of Grindhouse, which hits theaters on April 6. Supposedly the Q-Man will be showing......

It may not be the best film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, but Black Snake Moan, director Craig Brewer's follow-up to Hustle & Flow, definitely has the best tagline. Even if it doesn't lead to an Oscar-winning comeback for mark Christina Ricci,* who spends a good chunk of the film chained to a radiator in her underwear, she can always cherish this stylish yet practical knit cap emblazoned with a silhouette of her......