LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts... more ›

This is your last warning. Don't go posting those Oscar screeners on the Internet. Not now, and not ever! After all, you could end up like Salvador Nunez Jr., a 27-year-old Norwalk resident who was charged today with copyright infringement. Nunez allegedly got DVD copies of Flushed Away from his sister, who has the privilege of reviewing cartoons for the Academy. The MPAA knows this because they imprint digital watermarks on all screeners in... more ›

Recommended Dixie Chicks - Shut Up & Sing - Remember when rugged individualism was the hallmark of the "American character"? Remember when that individualism was defined by a willingness to speak your mind? Remember when criticizing your governmental overlords was a patriotic duty? Yeah, me neither. But maybe country music trio The Dixie Chicks were trying to recall that mythologized frontier spirit when lead singer Nathalie Maines criticized President Bush for launching the Iraq... more ›

The "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act'' "A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming... 'Incandescent lightbulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications,'' California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine [D-Van Nuys] said on Tuesday."(New York Times) Let... more ›