This was taken on Friday at the Los Angeles Anime 2008 convention. Enough said. Photo by Sklathill via Flickr......

For this evening, a selection of gentle acoustic guitars to assist in warming your bones by the fire. Acoustic instruments made of wood just fit the theme - the yule log, the Christmas tree, toy horses, and now, the wood stove where Sufjan Stevens' presents end up - oops! JOHN RENBOURN - I Saw Three Ships Renbourn, one half of the formidable guitar section for British psychedelic-folk pioneers Pentangle, gives his take on the......

Read our exclusive LAist interview with G4TV's Olivia Munn to find out how she feels about playing Gay Chicken with Kevin Pereira, living in Los Angeles, and making out with her spray-tan lady...

Fire up your Nimbus 2000 and fly to the Biltmore! So. Cal. Pagan or just Pagan Curious? Either way, put down that turkey leg and skip those crowded malls, the 9th Annual Pagan Days Fest is this weekend at The Millenium Biltmore Hotel, 506 So. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, 90071. This witchy convention, organized by those crafty folks at Panpipes Magickal Market Place, begins Friday night with a (ticketed) meet and greet dinner and......

The WGA has just announced that they will go on strike beginning first thing Monday morning. The WGA West is currently holding a press conference and its members are in the midst of being notified. Last night, over 3,000 members of the guild crowded into the Los Angeles Convention Center for a standing room only meeting at which they were told that the negotiating committee was unanimously recommending a strike. A council of the......

Hollywood remains in a state of flux as it waits to see whether or not writers will trade in their pens in favor of picket signs. The contract between the WGA and the AMPTP expired at midnight last night with little fanfare other than continued antagonistic rhetoric between the two negotiating parties. Discussions yesterday were again fruitless, and mired in the contentious atmosphere that has been a constant since bargaining commenced. The day began......

Today's Daily News discusses yesterday morning's Congress of Neighborhoods where city's 89 neighborhood councils met in a convention style environment to learn skills such as media relations and working with city departments. Throughout the day, one major focus of chatter surrounded how to "wield their increasing influence." The Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council recently succeeded in a community effort in halting a Home Depot from coming to their neighborhood. The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council is......

This sounds fun... or not: the Apartment Owners Association Convention is this week at the convention center downtown. Here's another fun fact: they will be discussing how they can get the California rent control laws abolished, according to a number of housing advocate groups, including the locally based Coalition for Economic Survival and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, in a press release this week: Dozens of seniors, elected officials, mobilehome tenants and tenants’ rights......

Those of you who've been following the presidential race as closely as I have (and, really, who hasn't?) are no doubt aware of the conventional wisdom surrounding Hillary Clinton's candidacy – namely that she now appears unbeatable. Pundits and reporters alike have been buzzing about her insurmountable lead – often clocking in in the high double digits – over her next two closest rivals, Obama and Edwards, for what has seemingly been weeks now.......

Hear that sucking sound? The media's commitment to learning from its many recent mistakes in reporting ethics and the semantics thereof is again being sucked out of the collective memory hole. Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina survivors were initially referred to by numerous media outlets as "refugees." While "refugee" can be inferred to be descriptive of one who "takes refuge," the fact is that -- at least since the 1951 approval of the UN Convention......

Guitar Hero was in full-effect at E-For-All I must admit that after three bleary-eyed, sore-footed days stumbling around the Los Angeles Convention Center like Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas -- to objectively write about the E For All experience is difficult. On one hand, the inaugural show has been rightfully panned by most mainstream media outlets for a variety of reasons. Many big gaming companies, Sony, Microsoft, Activision, and Square to name a......

Ninitendo Wii demonstration units at the 2007 E for All Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center Nintendo extended an invitation for a female writer from LAist to meet Perrin Kaplan , VP of Marketing for Nintendo at the E for All Expo. I sent my R.S.V.P. and planned to check out the latest games and technology that Nintendo has to offer. Now I should tell you that I know next to nothing about......

Sure, the inaugural E For All doesn't really hold a candle to the bloated spectacle of old E3, but then again, the new low-key Santa Monica-based E3 doesn't hold a candle to the old E3 either. And sure the big guns (Sony, Microsoft and Capcom) didn't show up, the LA Convention Center's South Hall is only half full with exhibits, crowds have been disappointingly light and the power went out Friday night, ending the......

Brady Westwater at the blog, LA Cowboy, asked some fair questions on his blog yesterday about the former head of the city’s transportation department, who was fired last week: “Why Did The Press TOTALLY Fail Us On The Gloria Jeff Disaster?” After some research, he found that “not a word was ever printed about her past” – if that’s true, Gloria Jeff is in the wrong business. Get this woman to a PR firm......

Wired Nextfest in Los Angeles....

Don't forget to enter our Arcade Fire ticket giveaway contest for their Thursday appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. Lobster Festival in San Pedro continues through tomorrow, as well as WIRED Magazine's NextFest at the convention center. Immigrant experience, community and the "delirious noble dream." LAist Editor-At-Large Carolyn Kellogg reviews 'The Last Chicken in America: A Novel in Stories' by Ellen Litman for the LA Times. Long Beach is the first to begin mandatory water......

Starting today and running through Sunday, WIRED magazine is kicking off NextFest, a four day festival of technology, business, and innovation at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The festival will feature a series of exhibitions and events featuring all things tech. From the website: "WIRED's vision of a new World's Fair, WIRED NextFest is a four-day festival of innovative products and technologies that are transforming our world. This year's NextFest in Los Angeles features......

Best headline, as found at the California Progress Report: "Scientific Study Reveals That Conservatives Lack Brain Power – Unable To Break Bad Habits, Correct Mistakes." Yesterday's tentative ruling on an Echo Park apartment rent control lawsuit has "implications for about 26,000 people who live in rent-controlled buildings and receive federal subsidies." So far, the people are protected. The only major event for the Los Angeles Fire Department was a morning crash between a Gold......

It has been two days, and the dust still hasn’t settled from the embarrassing MTV Video Music Awards, which both the media and public seem to agree was the worst one ever. The reasons for the disastrous show range from the lackluster performance of Britney Spears to the confusing jumble of special performance spaces to the unhinged antics of Kanye West, Kid Rock, Tommy Lee, et al. But I know better. I also know......

Today the worst president ever got to share his thoughts on the worst AG ever, and the lies seethed out like snakes from Medusa's slithery scalp. This morning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he will leave the Department of Justice after two and a half years of service to the department. Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle, and I have reluctantly accepted his resignation with great appreciation for the......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Had Las Vegas been imagined by a bunch of nerds instead of alcoholics and real estate speculators, it'd probably look a lot like Comic-Con. Far more than the name suggests, Comic-Con is not simply a comic book convention anymore. Over the course of two decades, it's become a four-day PG-13 style orgy of audiovisual overstimulation combined with an obscene amount of stuff - comics, movies, games, costumes, posters, gadgets, paintings, and tens of thousands......

It's a full moon and the earth is shaking. Three small quakes within a hundred miles of Los Angeles in the past hour alone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site. Perhaps unscientific -- though seemingly never "gamed" or exagerrated -- is the USGS "shake map" at right. Within 30 minutes of tonight's 3.2 magnitude shaker centered near Granada Hills, over 700 people went to the site to report shaking intensity. Hover over the......

Many are aware of Damien Goodmon's inspirational transit project, Get LA Moving. Now, with the advent of the Google 'My Maps' Feature, anybody can dream up their Los Angeles transit plan. And that's what Chris Gerstle has done by creating the Dodger Blue Line:My conceptual subway line: "The Traffic Dodger; Dodger Blue Line.". Features access to many popular attractions, notably: Dodger Stadium, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Hollywood, L.A. Live, Staples Center, Convention Center, Union......

Everybody's favorite "spoiler" third party candidate, Ralph Nader, may be gearing up for yet another encore in the forthcoming 2008 presidential election. According to a recent article in USA Today, Ralph Nader "told the Green Party's national convention that he is considering a 2008 presidential run." Apparently not yet satisfied with having already helped cost two prior Democratic nominees the presidency, Nader is primed and ready for another go if he deems it sufficiently......

Thousands of video game addicts, cosplayers and booth babe fans shed tears last year when the Entertainment Software Association announced that it would be scaling back the size and focus of future E3 Expos. The game industry and fan bacchanalia had previously attracted a record attendance of over 60,000 visitors and 400 companies in 2006. Instead of being held at LA's own Convention Center, the "more intimate" show will take place this year in......

And I'm not talking about the good kind of of bust. It all started on that fair day in April when I noticed the seductive billboard just west of Coldwater Canyon on Ventura blvd. You know, right next to that sketchy Days Inn that's so awkwardly placed in between the trendy Il Tramezzino and 24/7 Twain's? Anyway, it advertised a vague yet intriguing event known as Erotica LA. Naturally I felt it to be......

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. I’ve always been a huge breakfast fan. Favorite meal of the day. Breakfast for dinner? Tight. Eggs, potatoes, pancakes, sausage, it doesn’t matter, it’s all tasty. However, when I think about breakfast restaurants, the places that come to mind are typically diners, bakeries, or......

Attention all gamers: Guess what, there’s a new video game expo in town. No, I’m not talking about the enormously underwhelming downsized version of E3, but an aptly titled “E for All” convention. Amidst the drug-infused connotations of the show's title, E for All will be a more consumer-based spectacle geared directly towards nerdy and sexy gamers alike. From the E for All website: “Entertainment for All™ Expo (E for All) is the event......

Written and photographed for LAist by Cecil Castellucci, author of The Plain Janes and Beige. More pics available here. The force was strong with everyone at Star Wars Celebration IV. There really was a lot to do, which is a quality problem to have at a convention. Besides the Vader Project, which, by the way I am still totally obsessed with I can't say I did much more than walk around, buy a dark side......