Thursdays have returned to boring-ness what with "Lost" on hiatus. Tonight we have the return of Earl which does look funny. Other than a couple season finales the evening is relatively empty. Supposedly MTV is celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Yo! MTV Raps" with all kind of reruns etc. but I can't find the goddam things in the online schedule in between all the reality programming. If you are looking for more music TV, I......

Spike has a new, totally original show that is essentially 'Cops' for the Drug Enforcement Agency and it has the totally original name 'DEA'. “Television viewers will get the same unprecedented access to the inner workings of the DEA as our camera crews – the raids, the risk and the danger,” said Al Roker, executive producer (Al Roker??!! He's so effing hardcore). “When you watch ‘DEA,’ you will feel like you have gone undercover.” This......

Photo by highervision via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr This evening a public viewing will be held for slain LA High football star Jamiel Shaw, with funeral services to follow tomorrow. Shaw's tragic murder has prompted many LA residents to refocus on the senselessness of gang-related violence. Go, stop, go, stop: Commuters northbound on the 57 and the 605 transitioning to the 210 westbound this morning were greeted by the new traffic......

Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr One of the gunmen involved in yesterday's Glassell Park shootout has been identified as a member of the Avenues gang. Daniel Ivan Leon was killed by police following his participation in a fatal drive-by shooting that claimed one life. Ok, so there wasn't anyone jumping onto the 110 Freeway today, but there was a police pursuit on the......

Rollin' out the Red Carpet |Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr The 80th Annual Academy Awards are this weekend and it's time to break out the ballots and play the at-home game, which is probably second only in fun to making booze-enhanced color commentary from the couch for the red carpet arrivals. (We'll leave you to your own devices on that one.) So let's......

Photo courtesy of travelin librarian via flickr One of my favorite films of 2007 arrives to DVD today, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I know what some of you are thinking--why would I want to watch a documentary about grown men competing at Donkey Kong? To that question I can only say, "Trust me. You won't be sorry." Like all great films, King of Kong is about much more than its......

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate After successfully resuscitating his Rocky franchise last year, Sylvestor Stallone tempts fate again today by bringing the world a new Rambo movie titled, er, Rambo. Something tells me it may be tougher sledding this time around since John Rambo is hardly a beloved character in the same vein as Rocky Balboa. Personally, I think the franchises should be fused: Rambo versus a Drago/Clubber Lang hydra in a fight to the......

"No Country For Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," and "Atonement" all received nominations for Best Picture this morning, as the Academy Award nominations were announced in Beverly Hills. "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood" are the front runners with eight noms apiece, including a Best Actor nod for perennial Oscar fav Daniel Day-Lewis, and directing nominations for the Coen Bros. and Paul Thomas Anderson. While Javier Bardem was recognized......

There's only one 1/2 hour of TV I'm looking forward to tonight and it's on NBC. Out of some desperate need I've turned to Kenny vs. Spenny (which debuted on Comedy Central a couple weeks ago) but I scored the Season 3 DVDs which includes the hilarious "Who Can Make the Best Porno" competition which resulted in the first sketch comedy porno ever (although, it could be argued, that the majority of porn is sketch......

The past year has given us two searing portraits of the human crisis in Darfur: Darfur Now and The Devil Came on Horseback. Tonight on HBO, a worthy third film joins them. In Sand and Sorrow, director Paul Freedman and narrator George Clooney follow John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nicholas Kristof as they explore the tragedy of the genocide in Sudan. They journey through refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border, visit mass graves inside......

Two of the four big summer three-quels hit DVD shelves today. Neither is worth your money. Better to spend it on La Vie en Rose, featuring one of the best performances in years by the amazing Marion Cotillard. Better yet, make it a French double-feature and pick up Paris Je T'Aime, too. If you haven't yet, invest a weekend watching Berlin Alexanderplatz. And, yes, it will take the whole weekend. Christmas and South Park......

Nick Hogan has been criminally charged with reckless driving because he was drinking before his August car crash. Another faux- celeb headed to the clink? - TMZ Bitch Fight! George Clooney and Fabio get into a physical fight after Fabio's ladies were taking pics of Clooney and his gf at El Coyote restaurant - Defamer Britney Spears's nearest and dearest, the few that are left, claim its not drug use thats causing her irrational......

In a shocking upset, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married easily topped the box-office with a much higher than expected $21.5 million haul. Ordinarily, I'm on the side of the underdog, but Perry's movies are so aggresively mediocre that I'm not looking forward to the glut of his product that is now certain to follow. Then again, Why Did I Get Married is hardly worse than The Game Plan which finished second in......

After a raucous couple of weeks we're settling in now. We know what sucks (Moonlight and about a jillion other programs) and what's pretty good (Chuck and just a handful of others). It's a matter of choosing a couple to follow now as we wait for the delayed series like Nip/Tuck, etc. 7:00pm The Pride of the Yankees TCM - The Gary Cooper classic is followed by Anthony Perkins in Fear Strikes Out, yes, it's......

There was a time when I thought Ben Stiller was one of the more inventive comic minds in the business (consider these hilarious shorts as proof--1,2,3,4,5,6). He can still be funny (witness his brilliant turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm), but it seems like he mostly wants to play it safe now. Let's hope that The Heartbreak Kid is a return to old form, both for Stiller and the inconsistent Farrelly Brothers (who direct). Swedish......

A recent 911 call about George Clooney's motorcycle crash in New Jersey has been made public. The operator seems quite confused - TMZ Uh Oh - do we have another celeb heading to rehab? Pamela Anderon's friends are concerned about her hard partying ways, drinking and doing damage to her liver when she already has Hep C (Thanks Tommy) - NY Post Bridget Moynihan poses for OK magazine with new baby boy, John, fathered by......

Too many train crashes! Today saw the second Gold Line crash this month, this one being the worse of the two. The Blue Line was involved in a crash earlier this week as well as a Metrolink train yesterday. Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who claims co-workers fed him dog food-laced spaghetti settled with city council today for $1.43 million dollars. Will it be a cozy night indoors as it rains outside? Yep. Pretty......

Believe it or not, Ocean's Thirteen actually out-Grindhouses Grindhouse. Not in violence or cursing or explosives per se, (it does have a PG-13 rating), but in hearkening back to the good ol' days when movies were fun, dagnabit, Clooney and co. have Tarantino beat. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Thirteen is the most kinetic and most fun of the Ocean series, and there are far worse ways you could spend two hours......

Ocean's Thirteen Music from the Motion Picture David Holmes Warner Bros./ WEA There's no way I thought I would like this cd. There's no way I wanted to like this cd. But it's good. I've been listening to it all day. And I hate myself for it. Clooney, Pitt, Damon... none of them need any more love. They're more handsome and rich than anyone deserves to be. And making a trilogy of films starring sharp-dressed......

After a week without a sequel, we're back at it with the lovable scoundrels of "Ocean's 13". Sure, watching the same group of guys we've seen plunder Vegas and steal a Faberge egg plan another elaborate heist is rehashing already trodden ground, but I'll be damned if it isn't a good time. Add to that a torture-porn and another insufferable CG toon about penguins and we're in for an interesting weekend. Ocean's 13 -......

A Word or 26: Welcome to the land of reruns and late night TV. Someone give me a heads up on other stuff on basic cable that's perhaps worth watching. Tonight - Tuesday - June 5th, 2007 Dodgers @ Padres (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Twins @ Angels (Fox Sports, 7:00 p.m.) On the Lot (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) The first 5 finalists present their films. The Sea Wolf (TCM, 8:30 p.m.) Edward G. Robinson stars in......

The plucky underdogs are front and center this weekend during a brief break between the summer sequel heavyweights. They’ll be trying to steal what little bit of box office they can post-Pirates, pre-Ocean. Have to move fast though, Clooney and his Ocean’s crew seduce your ticket dollars next week with their sensitive eyes, well-tailored suits and charmingly witty speech-cadence. Knocked Up - Seth Rogen accidentally impregnates Katherine Heigl during a one-night-stand (I should be......

Hey LA, Welcome to the Stanley Cup Finals! The last time hockey was seen nationally on a channel that you're familiar with was May 19th on NBC. Of course, as everyone knows, that game between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres went into overtime. And somehow, during the overtime, the pucks of hockey were magically transformed into the ponies of the Preakness. In case you’re still wondering who won that series, the Senators......

One of the coolest, most classic things about that most classic of old-school Hollywood restaurants, Dan Tana's, is that the servers will toss your Caesar salad for you right at your table. The white-clad waiters wheel the whole station out on a little wooden cart, and fling those frilly romaine leaves about with a kind of carefree showmanship. Besides the tart, creamy taste of freshly made dressing, what puts their salad over the top......

Way back in the day LAist got crappy grades in high school so we had to do a few years over at Santa Monica College. One of our favorite classes was Cinema because due to the proximity of Hollywood, pretty much all of our Cinema teachers were former industry insiders or historians who knew about everything. We ate up those classes with a spoon and couldn't believe we were getting college credit for learning......

Too often one walks into Ralph's Grocery in Sherman Oaks store at 1 or 2 am to find porn stars shopping. andPOP reports that Body & Soul Tattoo at Ventura Blvd./Van Nuys Blvd. "has been inundated with new customers since the pop star's impromptu visit." The local Business Improvement District (BID) and Chamber of Commerce owe Britney Spears a thank-you letter. Daily News thinks celebrities feel comfortable flipping out in the Valley. Interesting observations,......

Jennifer Aniston has not-so-secret nose job - TMZ Everyone is still pissed at Isaiah Washington - perezhilton All the rehab residents are pissed at Lindsay - glitterati George Clooney and Pam Anderson are an unlikely couple - daily dish Baby Spice is Preggers - Dlisted Britney's back at work with the tots - celebrity baby blog Madge and fam hit the red carpet. Her daughter has pretty hair. - A socialite's Life Photo by: Noeluap's......

Tonight - Monday - January 2nd New Series Alert: "Dirt" premieres on FX tonight. They've been pushing this series for months now, effectively ruining my viewing of "Nip/Tuck" with their incessant Peter Gabriel-soundtracked promos. I wasn't a fan of Peter Gabriel in the first place so that didn't help. Since FX hasn't thought it fit to send me a preview of upcoming episodes I'll have to get creative here. Courteney Cox looks hot and......

Rande Gerber not only married supermodel Cindy Crawford and is BFF with George Clooney, but he also opened the chic Stone Rose Lounge in the Sofitel Hotel last Spring on Beverly and La Cienega. If you want a cool, low profile yet still Hollywood-esque spot this is it. Swanky but not pretentious, the space is large and filled with lots of Hugh Hefnerish red couches to lounge on (hence the name), cocktail waitresses at......

Today - Thursday College Football: California vs. Texas A&M (ESPN, 5:00 p.m.) the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl from San Diego "City of God" (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) Hardcore gang action in Rio - heavy duty violence College Basketball: Washington @ USC (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) College Basketball: Washington State @ UCLA (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Road Trip with Huell Howser. (KCET, 9:00 p.m.) Huell Goes to Chico! Inside the Actor's Studio (Bravo, 9:00 p.m.) Eddie Murphy......