Mere hours after we interviewed Veronica Belmont last month, news broke that she was leaving the daily video podcast she helped launch -- Mahalo Daily. Soon enough, Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs, Inc. and CEO of the people-powered search engine Mahalo, announced an American Idol-esque contest to find the next host of the Mahalo Daily vlog. As dozens of potential hosts lined up to audition in side Mahalo HQ in Santa Monica, we grilled Calacanis......

Clinton Sparks smashing it up at Hard Rock Hotel's Body English every Saturday night If you aren't familiar, Clinton Sparks has rapidly risen from the basement of his mother's house in Boston to an elite DJ, producer and on-air personality. Recently, the host of the nationally syndicated Smashtime Radio and producer of numerous classic mixtapes like the first two volumes of the "We Got it 4 Cheap" series by The Clipse and The Re-Up......

We ran into two of our favorite LA-based music bloggers, Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard and Ashley Jex (Jax) of Rock Insider at SXSW last week. We ducked behind The Mohawk, where Aquarium Drunkard cosponsored the Hot Freaks! day party featuring performances by Jens Lekman, Film School, British Sea Power and more. In the 8-minute video above Justin and Jax discuss their SXSW highlights, favorite acts coming up on the LA scene, the influence......

Los Angeles police arrested a 21-year-old Loyola Marymount student last night, 11 hours after an anonymous post threatening to kill "many people" appeared on a college gossip blog. "I am going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by the police," read an entry posted Saturday morning on the user-generated gossip site JuicyCampus.com, according to the Loyolan. LAPD investigators and university officials traced the......

Michael Bauer, he of the infamous review of Los Angeles restaurants, just posted this response on his blog: I figured I was treading into a tsunami when I wrote about the Los Angeles restaurant scene in Food last Wednesday. I knew some would disagree, but I had no idea what I wrote would be construed as dissing our sister city to the south. Several people sent me the links to comments on LAist and......

If you missed your soaps this week, and if your ex is actually complying with that restraining order, you may be missing out on your daily dose of drama. Well, if the three-dimensional world has been too uneventful of late, I can assure you the fur has been flying in cyberspace. And if I may be so bold to ask, please grant me one giant, all-encompassing (sic) for this post. This week, Martini Republic,......

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask the MACist, the column where I answer your Macintosh, Macintosh-related and other technology questions with hopefully more clarity and insight than you could ever need. We'll get to your questions in a moment but first I just want to thank those of you who sent well-wishes to me during my bout with pneumonia last week. I'm happy to say that I'm well on the road to recovery......

View Stats on LAPD Video Wednesday: Around 3,500 Thursday: Around 4,000 Friday: Around 27,000 Monday: Over 677,100 Disappearing Act Sean Bonner of Metroblogging LA writes an op-ed on an editorial about Use of Force on LAPD's blog. As of this publishing, the LAPD's editorial is missing. No distractions for you! Many corporate-based Internet filters block YouTube, and City Hall is no exception. But the fact that it took hours to see the video within......

There are many great photographers in Los Angeles. LAist isn't afraid to pick favorites, and our two favorite photographers right now are The Cobra Snake and Malingering. We enjoy both of these artists because they celebrate LA fashion in a unique and sometimes hilarious way. The Cobra Snake uses fancy cameras and glamourous locations, whereas Malingering uses inexpensive equipment and photographs in very mundane places like Venice Beach and Third Street Promenade. While Cobra......

Back in February, I got an e-mail with the subject line, "blog tip." With a link to the blog, all the e-mail said was, "just some information - nothing flashy. Glad to know you. LACN." Overtime, the anonymous LACityNerd became an authority to all things, city of Los Angeles. I don't know who the nerd is. I don't even know if the nerd is a male, female, child or beast. All I know is......