In other news, a desperate NBC has ordered a pilot of the BBC's cars & celebs series, Top Gear. The show has been running on BBC America for a couple years now, I've seen a few episodes, notably one with Ewan McGregor. The show may be amusing depending upon which celebrities they line up, but it's no American Idol. Again, instead of coming up with something original, we're forced to watch rebranded concepts from overseas.......

a writer's perspective It’s hard to believe that this is already Week Seven of the strike. No one’s talking about ruining Christmas anymore. They’re just talking about how they’re going to celebrate. (lots of eggnog and homemade gifts) After a much needed sabbatical, I was back on the picket line for the last day of marching before the Holiday break. To commemorate the occasion, I sign up for a marathon walk/picket organized by a......

He plays the part on TV but Drew Carey is not all games all the time. The host of both The Price is Right and Power of 10, Carey moonlights as one of Hollywood's most visible Libertarians (see also: Clint Eastwood, Trey Parker, Jason Reitman). Starting today, he's taking it broadband via the Reason Foundation's new online video channel "for free minds and free markets," Reason.tv. "We need Reason to help fight the stupid drug......

Consolation Prize of a Lifetime - Al Gore is a man of peace and gets the homepage of Apple.com all to himself -- should we expect the iAl to come out by the holidays? The Catalina Island Avalon city employee who beheaded a deer and left it in a soccer net is definitely not getting any peace prize. There was another suspicious package today left around City Hall, forcing street closures and the evacuation......

On Today's LAist poll, the majority of readers say yes to separating the Purple Line from what some dub as the Pink Line, which would serve the transit-ready WeHo. Keep those votes coming in! After Sherman Torgan's unexpected death last week, the New Beverly reopens tonight. Come on. Give them some love. You know you wanna. If you want to be able to afford living in Downtown LA, maybe the could-be-passed-into-law 250 sq. ft.......

- Michael Moore says Harvey Weinstein begged him not to expose Hillary - WaPo - LA City Council gets behind high speed rail - Bottleneck Blog - The LA Weekly has a writer in Europe following Pearl Jam - LA Weekly - Two masked men stab and rob a former cop in North Hollywood - Daily News - NBC sells reruns of The Office and My Name is Earl to TBS. Syndication already? -......

Sea Level Records Going Away Party: Division Day, Switch @ Safari Sam's Gwen Stefani, Akon, Lady Sovereign @ Verizon Skinny Puppy @ Henry Fonda Lynda Carter @ Catalina Bar & Grill Missing Persons @ Malibu Inn John Butler Trio, Kaki King @ The Wiltern The Samples @ Hollywood Park Bobby "Blue" Bland @ Vault 350 Agent Orange @ Anarchy Library Carina Round @ Amoeba Greg Proops, Aimee Mann, Drew Carey @ Largo Angry Samoans,......

Roger in accounting shows up at the office every day before 7:00 am and leaves the office at 3:00. This is because Roger works in Culver City, but lives in Riverside and these are the most effective hours for him to try to alleviate some of his crappy ass commute. Roger is not alone. And now, with the help of the am 640 radio duo, John & Ken and the Reason Foundation, he has......

Brian Doherty of Reason just wrote a big honkin book about Libertarianism. He will be signing "Radicals For Capitalism" tonight at 7pm at Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd., W. Hollywood), talking about, reading from, and answering questions about all things Libertarian. We were lucky enough to get all the dumb questions out of the way for you. LAist: The Dems are the Left, the Repubs are the Right, what are Libertarians? Brian Doherty: Libertarians......

Eddie Izzard, Drew Carey @ Largo Chuck E. Weiss @ Highland Grounds Corinne Bailey Rae @ John Anson Ford The Be Good Tanyas @ El Rey Airpushers @ El Cid Go Betty Go @ The Derby Merchants of Moonshine @ Alpine Village Hawthorne Heights @ Grove of Anaheim Say Hi to Your Mom, Metal Hearts @ Spaceland The Kooks, Chin Up Chin Up @ Safari Sam's Kennedy, Peachcake @ Key Club You Army, Attic......

One Hollywood star. One latenight talk show host. A sold-out audience full of rapt fans. And what was it all for? A book. Craig Ferguson's book, a novel called Between the Bridge and the River. The Tuesday night event was part of the excellent interview series Writers Bloc. Last night they presented Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes) with Ann Taylor Fleming. You might know Craig Ferguson as the host of the Late Late Show on......

THURSDAY • Spaceland Productions presents Calexico at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre tonight at 8 PM. Tickets are $22 advance, $24 day of. • Drew Carey headlines the High Times Comedy Night at the Hollywood Improv tonight at 8 PM, featuring Greg Proops, Gary Gulman, Doug Benson and Louis Katz. Click here to see our list of events for the week.......

We're glad the weekend has done that wondrous, clock-work thing again by showing up just when we need it to. Years ago, when weekends meant early shifts at undesirable jobs, or, maybe worse, late night shifts at even less desirable jobs, we didn't feel the love for the weekend. But we're one of the Monday-Friday work week folk, and weekends are about rest, fun, friends, and, more often than not, food. When we were......