a writer's perspective Back on the picket line after the holiday break, and it feels like the first day back at school. People are happy to see each other. Everyone is refreshed and rejuvenated, and spirits are high, despite the fact that it’s 6AM and seems to be about 14 degrees outside. It’s hard to believe that it’s already Day 64 of the strike. It’s been 31 days since the AMPTP walked out of 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,......

Officer, police thyself: Sherrifs are looking among their own ranks for DUI-free behavior this NYE. And they're looking at you, too, pal. Drive safe, designate a driver, take the Metro, or call for a Tipsy Tow. The darkest hour is just before dawn--but not on our freeways. 4.2 million Commuters in the Southland get a start on their daily drives before 6 o'clock each morning, proving there are increasingly fewer "good times" to get on......

Christmas Eve is here. And today is no time for cynicism, irony or nastiness of any sort. Time instead to make something nice to eat, clink your glass with a loved one, and count your blessings with total sincerity. Preparation is over. The moment to let it go and be happy starts now. To help set the mood, we offer twenty of the most joyous, uplifting, totally Christmasey of all Christmas songs known to man.......

Dear LAist, One of my friends is dating a football player. The season is over and after he gets back from Hawaii he will probably spend a lot of time at our condo. The big problem is he's a BIG guy. Like, huge. There's no way he can be comfortable using our toilet. Is there a seat or a toilet accessory that we can get for him so he might invite some more of......

Donning a trademark jumpsuit and moon-man helmet, Cee-Lo Green of Gnarles Barkley emerged on stage at USC's Galen Center to the tune of a surging, epic, space-odyssey instrumental. Touting the merits of Danger Mouse, Feng Shui, and Crown Royal, our weeblesque hero warmed up the enthusiastic crowd with a string of pervasive, electro-rock/neo-soul, head boppers. Threatening that the party might get “off the chain” to a bunch of arty-indie-college-punks was certainly the booze talking,......

I think this should be part of new regulations on sobriety tests. Counting down from 60. Because apparently it can be difficult, like standing on one leg and saying the alphabet backwards. But on the other hand, who the hell counts down from 60? For New Year's Eve? I might not remember every single countdown I've ever been to, but I'm pretty sure they all started at 10. Which makes more sense today than......

Oops. Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover A 35-year-old woman was kidnapped yesterday afternoon as she left her nurse's job at a patient's house near Vanowen and Whitsett in North Hollywood. A few hours later she was abandoned in the backseat of her car, still alive and bound with duct tape, in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Valley College, near Fulton Avenue and Burbank Boulevard. During the kidnap, she was stripped......

Why is this LAist reader smiling? Maybe it's because she's going to the Flaming Lips + Gnarls Barkley + Cat Power show tonight at the spanking brand new Galen Center at USC. And she won the sweet new dvd 40 Bands 80 Minutes about the punk rock fest that went down at Il Corral this year. And she won the hilarious new dvd of stand up comedy by Pablo Francisco "Ouch - Live From......

Dear LAX, We sit here in O'Hare Airport in Chicago using WiFi, which you cannot even offer to us. We sit here in O'Hare Airport and it's pretty, it looks clean and is running smoothly. We sit here and are happy the train runs directly to the airport, not a mile or half short. We sit here in O'Hare Airport and they even have a dinosaur!!! Please fix yourself and Happy New Year, LAist......

If your eyes are heavy-lidded and your soul willing but your body non-compliant this fine New Year's LA Day, you might just be someone who subscribes to the ol' "Hair of the Dog" theory of hangover curing. That dog didn't so much bite us as perhaps nibble us last night, as we kept things fairly mild at our own small cocktail gathering last night, so we don't need to take any kind of cure......