You can almost feel the grit coming off this picture | Photo courtesy of Lionsgate Entertainment I've always thought it was a shame that Jason Statham got stuck in the ghetto of glossy, empty action flicks. You'd never guess it by watching The Transporter 2 or Crank but Statham can be a legitimately good actor. I'm glad to see him in The Bank Job, a re-telling of the 1971 Baker Street bank robbery. Director......

Don't try this at home -- or at the Civic Center Metro Station. / Photo by puck90 via LAist's flickr pool. TRANSIT TALK Metro is studying alternatives for connecting the Gold, Blue and Expo lines through downtown Los Angeles. This study will examine linking the future Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension (near the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station) and the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Tonight Metro will update the public on the project and allow......

Only a few more years of this before the Oscars moves out of Hollywood and Cirque de Soleil moves into the Kodak Theatre for a permanent show in 2010. Luckily, six days until the big event and impacts particular to tonight are minimal. From 10 p.m. tonight to 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, closures include Hollywood Blvd. from Highland Ave. to Orange Dr., part of the Hawthorne Alley on the east side of the El Capitan......

Samantha Sidley and Alex Silverman at their Silver Lake rehearsal space | Photo via their MySpace page Alex & Sam may be a duo in title, but their fairly large band, sometimes up to twelve-members on stage, is quite a force of music that just puts a smile on your face. You can't really corner them into a jazz-blues rock or straight rock category. All we can say is that on stage, they've got......

You still have time to take part in the Lunar New Year festivities in Chinatown today! CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE RAT The annual Lunar New Year Festival continues today in Chinatown. Catch pan- Asian entertainers including Chinese acrobats, as well as Thai dancers and Taiko drummers. Food, games, children’s activities, and more will also be on tap during the free festival. Until 5 p.m. // Chinatown // Free FUNDRAISER BASH! OPEN BAR! The......

WGA Bests: Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Comedy Series, Drama Series The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) didn't hold a gala ceremony this year (who can afford a gown when you're not getting paid?) but they did take a break on the East coast from discussing the possible end of the strike to announce the winners of their annual awards. This year's very informal and somewhat unusual gathering "was decidedly looser than past ceremonies and......

Photo courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment Joel David Moore is one of those character actors whose name you can never place but whose face you recognize instantly. He often works in broad comedies (Dodgeball, Grandma's Boy) and--let's be honest--his characters are usually not the sharpest tools in the shed. Given all that, I was surprised by the radical and dark departure taken in his latest film, Spiral, in which Moore not only acts, but......

Photo courtesy of Picturehouse Entertainment After the awful Fred Claus, Vince Vaughn owes us some laughs and Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland might be just the ticket. It follows Vaughn and four hand-picked comedians as they cross the country to play an exhausting 30 shows in 30 nights. There are a bevy of on-stage celebrity cameos and Vaughn never lets his out-sized persona......

Unless you've been in a coma for the past few weeks, the Super Bowl is on Fox tomorrow afternoon around 3ish. But we heard an annoying tidbit the other day and just needed to ask, "Why?" As in "Why is Ryan Seacrest drawn to red carpets like my dog is to the patch of grass at the end of my street?" Yup, the KIIS-FM DJ and American Idol host will be doing the pre-game......

Cranes along Vine St. in Hollywood | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Today, Councilman Eric Garcetti delivered the annual State of Hollwood address at an event organized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He dedicated the address to Johnny Grant, who passed away earlier this month, and spoke about what makes a great neighborhood, at-risk youth tragedies and all that has been great and to be great for Hollywood. Here are excerpts from the address......

The fountain at the LA Central Library is rather strange and fantastical "I'll have a footlong Subway club on white, hold the mayo, and GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" Police are looking for the man who held up a Subway sandwich store at gunpoint Monday on Beverly in the Wilshire area. The owner and manager of a Burbank apartment building was found liable for their role in the murder of one of his tenants, who......

Artist Rendering Courtesy of Union Restaurant & Lounge Even more restaurant news is coming down the wire -- earlier today, we checked out some early reports on Bond St in Beverly Hills, and now we hear that developers The Valencia Group will be transforming Downtown's historic Union Bank building into The Union Restaurant & Lounge (it's all about the restaurant-slash-lounge concept nowadays, isn't it?). So, yes, Downtown will have another fancy-schmancy dining space; the......

Johnny Grant was found dead tonight, around 7 p.m., on a bed at the Roosevelt Hotel where he lived on the 14th floor in a suite.Grant, 84, has been one of Hollywood's most enthusiastic supporters for more than 50 years. Grant got his start in entertainment by hosting a daily radio show in New York City for servicemen and women during World War II, and later co-hosted the first national telethon ever produced to help......

A different kind of web-server: Los Angeles based social networking site MySpace is getting served with subpoenas in the case of the teenager who committed suicide following a friend fake-out that was allegedly helmed by a classmate's parent. All I wanna do is BANG BANG BANG BANG! and take your...Fritos? Two Lancaster gang members have been convicted for killing a kid over his junk food. Laquane Keith and Reno Williams shot and killed 18-year-old LeMarcus......

Hey check it, yours truly was invited to contribute some commentary to this ABCNEWS.com article (I'm on page 2). Thanks for your support! So the Golden Globes got canceled and now maybe the Academy Awards will get canceled and this is conflicting me. On the one hand I will have a whole bunch more free time (hours upon hours) to watch my Tivo'd episodes of Grape Ape but I will have so much less lousy......

With yesterday's revelation that all 72 actors nominated for the upcoming Golden Globes are expected to not attend the January 13th ceremony, the appeal of the telecast comes sharply into question. The decision was made by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in order to show solidarity to their fellow strikers, and was announced by their union president Alan Rosenberg, who said: "After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the......

Happy New Year from LAist and your brand new Food Editor! I've arrived home refreshed from a fantastic vacation in the Philly/New Jersey area, and now I'm revved up and ready for the New Food Year. It was difficult to leave Philadelphia and its fabulous dining options behind (cheesesteaks are only the tip of the iceberg), but nothing beats Los Angeles for its range of offerings. Here's my wish list for places to go,......

Sunday marks the return of HBO's The Wire. To get you ready for the premiere of the fifth and final season of a show that TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Slate and the San Francisco Chronicle have all called "The best on television" LAist has lined up interviews with three members of the show's incredible cast. Be sure to check back tomorrow and Friday. Our series begins with Tristan Wilds, who we were introduced to in......

Record shops and CD purveyors are going the way of the 8-track. Joining the now-defunct ranks of Aron's Records, Rhino Records and Tower on Sunset is the Virgin Megastore. The rent's too high (tell us something we don't know!) And maybe, the sluggish music sales don't help much, either. According to a Los Angeles Times story today: Another one bites the dust. The Virgin Megastore on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, just down the......

After a year of working together, it appears that Adam Carolla and Danny Bonaduce do not get along, resulting in Bonaduce's removal from morning radio, and reassignment to an affiliate station in afternoons, Perez Hilton says. Radio-info.com posted the following chronology of events:- On 12/10, there was a lead in bumper that said "Only four more days of Danny Bonaduce .... for us at least" - On 12/11, Carolla and Bonaduce threw small shots at......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

He's gone to Middle Earth and now he's back again: Peter Jackson has finally agreed to executive-produce not one, but TWO films of "The Hobbit." New Line Pictures, which produced the massively successful and critically acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" films, had originally dumped Jackson from the "Hobbit" sequels because of ongoing disputes over profits Jackson claimed he was owed for "The Fellowship of The Ring." But this morning's press release declares that all litigation......

I think reasonable people would agree that Deadwood was one of the best shows on television over the last few years. It never got the pub that The Sopranos did, but I know which show I was more excited to see (Tony Soprano's lucky he never had to face Al Swearengen). And while John from Cincinnati was confusing as hell sometimes (okay, most of the time), I still tuned in for every episode. Anyway,......

I have said it before and I'll say it again, the best designers on Project Runway this season are from Los Angeles. In my holiday wish, I see Rami Kashou, Sweet P, and Kit Pistol in the final three and visions of their collections on the runway in the finale. Christina Scarbo A.K.A. Kit Pistol created her alias during her time studying and working in Italy. You can find her designs at Jack Henry Couture......

KITSCH: The Charles Phoenix Holiday Jubilee returns to REDCAT for the next four evenings. LA kitsch expert Charles Phoenix brings together an evening of live comedy, including the Bob Baker Marionettes, roller rink organist Dominic Cangelosi and a few other surprises. The entertainment's all in combination with his "Retro Holiday Slide Show," comprised of slides he found at area thrift shops and flea markets. 8 pm // REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall //......

LATimes.com is well aware of the conflicts that come with contextual advertising -- no ad box appears alongside search results for terms such as "porn" or "sex," for example. But, for now at least, "freaky big, cartoon like muscles" are only a click away....

Ike Turner, ex-hubby to Tina Turner and a "rock and roll pioneer", died this morning in his northern San Diego county home. The cause of death is not immediately known. Despite winning a Grammy this year in the traditional blues category ("Risin' With the Blues") , being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and known for having the first rock 'n' roll record ("Rocket 88," 1951), Turner's image is marked in the media......

Approximately 5,000 people came to the Gibson in Universal City and paid between $25-$250 to hear presidential hopeful (and TRAILS the California frontrunner, if you believe recent polls) Barack Obama explain why he's in the race. His speech brought tears from women, commanded several standing ovations, and even made this little kid near us shut his trap for 45 minutes. Bon Jovi wannabe's The Goo Goo Dolls played, James Brown wannabe Ne-Yo performed, and......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

Because he's too shy (and way too busy) to announce it here himself, I am proud to do the honors: Zach Behrens has officially accepted the Editor position here at LAist and he'll be starting on December 17th. BloggingLA has the announcement, as well as a nice picture of the new editor's "Sexy Face." That's how you get your Canadian fanbase, Behrens!!! Rain. Please. Rain. Effects of the strike are starting to ripple out......