Science and art rarely mix. And yet, despite the near polar opposite natures of these two fields, there's something that makes a collaboration between science and art undeniably captivating. Perhaps it's because behind the often sterile and calculated shell of the world of science, there lies the same human stories we find in every other area of life. And while we regularly see tales of greed, corruption, triumph, racism, fame, and passion acted out......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

I’ve been hearing about Civil War reenactments for a while now, but until this year I had no idea there was one a few miles from LA County. According to the official event website, this particular reenactment (hosted by the Richmond Howitzer Battalion) is the largest in Southern California. The participants, many of whom are veterans, pay the expenses themselves and the attention to detail is amazing. This year, the event took place Nov.......

Monday Shalom Auslander presents Foreskin's Lament 7pm @ Vroman's Valerie Plame Wilson presents Fair Game 7pm @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach Barbara Firestone presents Autism Heroes 7pm @ Dutton's Slash presents Slash 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Lawrence Wright presents The Looming Tower 7:30pm @ UCLA Tuesday David Plante, with host Mark Danielewski, presents ABC 7pm @ Book Soup Michael Lent presents Christmas Letters from Hell 7pm @ Vroman's Tommy Lasorda & Bill Plaschke......

Ken Burns debuts his latest documentary, The War....

At 87, esteemed American author Ray Bradbury is in the twilight of his life – and his latest play Green Town serves as an homage to his childhood -- with the requisite Bradbury twists, of course. Green Town consists of three vignettes set circa 1929 that focus on fantasy and the whimsical. In the first, 14-year-old Ralph Spaulding (Anders Asbjornsen) can feel something exciting coming on the noon train. He races home to his......

We were a bit apprehensive – OK dreading – reviewing Janis Cooke Newman’s Mary: A Novel (MacAdam/Cage) when it first arrived at our doorstep. It had everything going against it – not only did it weigh in at three pounds and a hefty 707 pages, it was also a work of historical fiction (read: 50-50 shot of being boring) about Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. But Newman’s first novel – she also authored the memoir The......

Thank goodness documentarian Ken Burns has shifted his focus away from serious (read: B-O-R-I-N-G) topics like the Civil War, baseball and jazz and shifted it towards topics of true national importance such as: who should Jim date on The Office? (Personally, I think the choice obvious. Pam is beige and spineless. She deserves that big, dumb loser ex-fiancee of hers. Not only is Karen 10 times hotter than Pam, Karen actually WANTS to be with......

Recommended After Innocence - Jessica Sanders directs this documentary detailing the stories of seven men who were wrongfully imprisoned for decades (some of them on death row) before finally being exonerated by DNA evidence. The Amazing Screw-On Head - This animated 30-minute pilot (I can only hope there will be more episodes) based on the comic book by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is full of awesome animation (it closely mimics Mignola's style), witty dialogue,......

You couldn't ask for a better director than Guillermo del Toro -- visually inventive, intellectually nimble, devoted and self-effacing -- but with his latest film, Pan's Labyrinth, his technique outshines his film making, and the result is a movie that's more admirable than it is enjoyable. There's enough in Pan's Labyrinth to make it worth watching, because even on his worst day (Blade II) Guillermo del Toro brings more to the table than 90%......

- Following up on Monday's story about a female high English teacher who was accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her teen male students... today we got a message from someone close to Alyssa Johnson who said that he had a better photo than the mugshot that we posted. And sure enough, on the right you will see the picture that was sent to us and sure enough Ms. Johnson does......

- Ashlee Simpson's redesign isn't all that bad, but we still lurve her sis - CityRag - Take Amtrak to Santa Barbara and get hotel discounts - LA Times (h/t green la girl) - Is Borat the reason that Pam Anderson is single and ready to mingle? Very Niiiice - Defamer - Good thing Tom Waits reads LAist and the paper or he wouldn't have known that our girlfriend Scarlett is going to cover......

As you may already know, LAist likes to showcase neighborhoods that are unique, interesting and fun to go to. There are a lot of those in LA and we are lucky because of it. We also like to highlight places, restaurants or stores that go the extra mile to ensure that the customer gets what he or she wants and leaves happy. This time around its a store that caters to the comic book......

Checking out the rants & raves board on Craigslist, LAist found out that May 1 has been designated "A Day Without An Immigrant." The organizers are setting up a nationwide general immigrant strike and boycott. The website actionla.org gives details on the coordinated boycott which is being organized around four points: "No Work, No School, No Sales, and No Buying." According to ActionLA: We will settle for nothing less than full amnesty and dignity......

Hillary Clinton caught flack last week for saying that the U.S. House of Representatives "has been run like a plantation." But was that the start of some sort of trend? We were reading the LA Weekly's review of Jamie Foxx's CD Unpredictable. Writer Ernest Hardy first gives props to Foxx... The problem here is not a lack of talent. From his days as Ugly Wanda on In Living Color to his eponymous sitcom, and......

Whether your side claimed victory or conceded defeat, those of us who choose to publicly proclaim our politics to friends and strangers alike are faced with an odd dilemma. How long should you leave that bumper sticker on, or leave that sign in the window? Do you trash the political t-shirts amassed over the course of the campaign, should you continue to wear them with pride, or are they headed straight to the personal......