Tonight - Friday - January 26th, 2007 Paris (the City) Marathon - Paris, When It Sizzles / An American In Paris / To Paris, With Love (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) A mental vacation for you. Winter X Games (ESPN, 6:30 p.m.) Skiing, men's Superpipe final, Snowmobile SnoCross Women's Final - the Australian Open (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.) It's Sharapova vs Serena Kings @ Canucks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Charlie Rose (PBS, 11:30 p.m.) Oscar nominees Dame Helen......

Some of you don't like seeing birthdays. Welll, we think it's kind of sad to only pay attention to people when they die (Gordon Parks, Chris Penn). We'd like to give folks a little nod while they're alive. So as we wish them happy birthday, join us — or just don't read it. Emmanuel Lewis will always be small, even as he turns 35 today. Rapper Lil' Bow Wow is (almost) all grown up —......

He may not be as widely known to current Angelenos as recently-departed Chris Penn, but Los Angeles lost one of the people that lifted the city beyond tinsel to the relative esteem it now holds as cultural mecca. Otis Chandler, former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, died at age 78 this morning. To truly appreciate Chandler's importance, reread The Powers That Be by David Halberstam. Not surprisingly, the LA Times was the first on......

The LA County Coroner has announced that Chris Penn died of heart disease. Some prescription medications — particularly a cough syrup — may have been a factor. Apparently Penn's death in Santa Monica was atypical; a Department of Health Services Report finds that people in poorer areas of the county, like South LA and Lawndale, are more likely to die prematurely from stroke and heart disease. A 6-year old California boy is the successful......

We aren't the only ones sorry to see Chris Penn go; there have been tons of tributes and goodbyes. Still no news of what might have been the cause, but according to the Santa Monica Daily Press, some neighbors thought he was staying up late and acting erratically. Hey, blogland is all about erratic behavior and late nights. There are also a couple of lighthearted conspiracy theories (Harvey Keitel, a disgruntled date). Someone noted......

Tonight and tomorrow the New Beverly screens Grizzly Man, directed by Werner Herzog, and Incident at Loch Ness, which stars him riding around the foggy loch in a boat. And because we live in LA, where cool and strange things happen, Werner Herzog himself and Loch Ness' director Zak Penn* will be at the theater tonight, talking about their movies. If it's eligible, we're guessing Herzog is hoping for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination;......

43-year old Chris Penn was found dead in his Santa Monica apartment today. What killed Nice Guy Eddie Cabot? Nobody's saying. All that's been reported so far is "no signs of foul play." (update: Tuesday night, according to imdb, he was born in 1962. Now it's been changed to say 1965. Maybe he was just 40 after all). We always had a soft spot for Sean's younger (but not little) brother. How do you......