Incredible detail and artistry can be seen in this giant Koran If old and rare books are your thing, you're in luck this weekend. The 41st California International Antiquarian Book Fair opens at 2pm today and runs through Sunday. Ever wanted a first edition of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep? Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? The first three Harry Potter books? This is your chance! Over 200 exhibitors from all over the globe will be......

It was a great year of new books, re-discovered books, and books we meant to get to last year but didn't. The end of the year is nearly here and before we look forward, we'll take a look back. Last week, LAist Editors shared their favorite books of 2007. This week, a few LAist Contributors share their favorite book they read this year: Who: Christine Ziemba What: The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan Why:......

Online book retailer Amazon.com announced today that they have purchased an original, hand-written and hand-bound copy of J.K. Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," a book of children's stories that plays a major role in the plot of "The Deathly Hallows." The book, one of only seven made, was auctioned off in London at Sotheby's for 1.95 million pounds. Proceeds from the auction are going to The Children's Voice Campaign, a charity that benefits......

The Harry Potter series of films may be due for a bit of a letdown now that the books are all done and the secrets are out. Nevertheless, something tells me I'll be curling up with the family to watch Order of the Phoenix over Christmas. If Paul Greengrass isn't the best director working right now he's definitely on a very short list and Bourne Ultimatum is the proof. What was Vanessa Hudgens thinking?......

It's nice to see the largest newspaper west of the Mississippi delving into the breaking news concerning the alternative sexuality of a fictional character. While the hills were alive with fire, while the nation is at war over lies, the Times wielded its muscle to contact Andrew Slack of the Harry Potter Alliance who helped them read the writing on the wall regarding the fantasy wizard dude and who he liked to hold hands......

Ian McKellan has got to be bitching his agent out this very second -- in an appearance at Carnegie Hall last week, J.K. Rowling revealed that Professor Albus Dumbledore, the late great headmaster of Hogwarts was actually -- gasp! -- a gay! Newsweek magazine broke the story: One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually,"......

Jessica got rufied and gang-raped. A Harry Potter-loving nerd beat up his sister then killed himself. And a deranged student fired off a semi-automatic weapon into the cafeteria of a high school. Yes, it was a busy day in hell, as told by the cast of Hollywood Hellhouse. But it was all in a day’s work. Created by Maggie Rowe, Hollywood Hellhouse is a spoof of Christian-themed haunted houses that are put on by......

For what seems like the first time in years, The Simpsons actually exceeded expectations. The first movie of America's first animated family took in a whopp(er)ing 71.8 million dollars at the box office this weekend, demolishing even the most optimistic of estimates. Credit Fox's clever marketing campaign and the opportunity to finally see Bart's shrimpy doodle. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry finished a distant second, making 19 million bucks to raise its......

Here are a few choice picks for your gaming pleasure, courtesy of the good people at Gamespot: Nintendo Wii Mario Strikers Charged (Sports) Nintendo DS Picross DS (Puzzle) Sony Playstation Portable Brave Story: New Traveler (Role-Playing) World Championship Cards (Strategy) PC Combat Mission: Shock Force (Strategy) Ride! Carnival Tycoon (Strategy) MAC Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Adventure) Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars (Strategy) Photo by DsWii via flickr......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry eked out a win this weekend, just besting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The moronic Sandler vehicle earned 34.7 million versus 32.1 million for the latest, infinitely superior Harry Potter installment (now at 207.5M). My guess is that the release of Deathly Hallows cost Order of the Phoenix a second consecutive weekend crown (I still can't believe that Voldermort turned out to be Harry's......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

- JetBlue to match Virgin's prices to NYC - The final offer has been submitted by the union of clerks for the LA and Long Beach Ports. If not accepted, strikes could begin Monday, stopping work for 40% of cargo container traffic in the country. 15,000 longshoremen of a different union have also agreed to honor the picket lines. - West Adams, or WeAd is the black WeHo. - Harry Potter Fools! Why wait......

Why wait until you get home to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when you can read it on the sidewalk moments after purchase? That's what these three decided to do. And after a few pages in, what's the Harry Potter review? "Pretty good." That doesn't sound like much of an enthusiastic answer, but give 'em a break, they were at Borders in Sherman Oaks by 5:30 a.m. Luckily, it wasn't an all-day......

Since it is the last Harry Potter weekend, allow me to open with a relevant quote from the late (or is he?) Albus Dumbledore, "I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being--forgive me--rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger." This sentiment applies very well to Milos Forman and his new movie, Goya's Ghosts. In his long career, Forman has directed numerous superb films, deservedly winning Oscars for......

Harry Potter is a touchy subject these days. The books have been around for so long, that kids who once loved Harry Potter are growing increasingly embarassed by that fact and now distance themselves from the teen magician. Still older kids -- like, say, ADULTS -- have followed every book with a frenzy and will no doubt join in this week's madness as Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows hits stores all over LA.......

- Do you think Jamie Oliver is cute? We do. We also think he's a great cook. Check out this clip featuring his Lamb Curry Song. Curry looks great, the singing? Not so much. - EaterLA has worked itself into a frenzy over two new celeb chef restaurants: here's their first peeks into Craft LA and Osteria Mozza. So far Craft is winning the war of the reservation line. - Jonathan Gold loves The......

Monday Jackie Collins presents Drop Dead Beautiful 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Howard Frank Mosher presents On Kingdom Mountain 7pm @ Vroman's Dana Bedford Hilmer and contributors present Blindsided by a Diaper 7pm @ Dutton's Tuesday Sisters in Crime Los Angeles present LAndmarked for Murder 6:30pm @ Los Feliz Public Library Fayla Reiss presents Knitovation 6:30pm @ Encino-Tarzana Public Library Amy Cohen presents The Late Bloomer's Revolution 7pm @ Book Soup Floyd Landis presents Positively......

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix blew away not only the competition, but its own previous franchise records this week with a 140 million dollar opening 5 days. Expect Potter mania to reach its full flowering later this week when the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, reaches stores. Transformers held steady at number two, dropping only 49% from the previous week (movies typically drop well over 50%......

Last night I got a ticket at the last minute to go see Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, because my rabid Potter fan of a friend had discovered the release was bumped up from the 13th, (although the posters everywhere had not been changed). And while I'm not quite rabid, I did want to see it. It was a 10:30 showing at Grauman's Chinese Theater and I was still blissfully lounging......

While rightly lauded for originating The Office, I think Extras is Ricky Gervais' true masterpiece. I mean, how can you possibly top Harry Potter flicking a rubber into Dame Diana Rigg's hair? I'll tell you how--have David Bowie improvise this song for Gervais' hapless Andy Millman. Unfortunately (really unfortunately), Gervais decided against another season of the show, but Season 2 is now available on DVD. Buy it. Watch it. Live it. What else is......

I've recently discovered a new paperback series worth checking out if you're into fantasy at all (I grew up on it but have since dropped out, leaning more towards magical realism these days). My stepfather, the original Peter Gibbons, is forever burning through fantasy, sci-fi, and WWII books, and after failing to completely immerse me in Battlestar Galactica, (I just can't stand that blond lady), his next project was to get me into Naomi......

The Harry Potter marketing onslaught has begun in earnest – and the latest film in the franchise doesn’t even open for two more weeks. Right now, there are more products being plugged by the boy wizard on store shelves everywhere, thanks to Tinseltown’s magic marketing. And even this muggle bought into the hype. I paid $1.99 for 1.6 oz. of "Bertie Bott's Beans" in a box -- that works out to almost a nickel......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

So there we were. Granted putting ten pounds into a five pound bag, trying to fit too many things into a Friday night but we were fairly convinced we could do what we always do - outsmart LA traffic and when there are moments where the congestion breaks up, well, gun it. Friday was not one of those nights. Maybe it was because it was Friday the 13th. While it has never served as......

Word is that 16-year-old Emma Watson, who's made her mark in Hollywood playing Harry Potter's galpal Hermione Granger, is sick of the role. She's balking at signing on for the last two Harry Potter movies. Matters probably didn't help much last week when a 20-something stalker approached Watson at school to chat about the films. According to a Guardian article: It seems to have been Grint [Ron Weasley] himself who sparked off the speculation......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not......

17-year-old actor Daniel Radcliffe has been stirring a media frenzy by participating in a nude photo shoot to promote his role in the London revival play "Equus". Radcliffe is most known for his breakout role as the main character of the Harry Potter series of films. The Tony award-winning play tells the story of a stable-hand who has an erotic obsession with horses and a psychiatrist who deals with treating him. In the photos,......

Tonight - Friday - January 26th, 2007 Paris (the City) Marathon - Paris, When It Sizzles / An American In Paris / To Paris, With Love (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) A mental vacation for you. Winter X Games (ESPN, 6:30 p.m.) Skiing, men's Superpipe final, Snowmobile SnoCross Women's Final - the Australian Open (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.) It's Sharapova vs Serena Kings @ Canucks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Charlie Rose (PBS, 11:30 p.m.) Oscar nominees Dame Helen......

Harry Potter 7 is going to be named "Harry Potter and the Who Really Gives a Sh*t Except for Everyone including my Ex-Girlfriend" More important headline news from CNN: Monica Lewinsky received her masters degree in psychology. No one really cares except for every national news outlet. Study: Teens Getting High on Legal Drugs. Fact: Teens are getting high on whatever they can get. Hilary Duff drops restraining order against photographer...yawn. Everyone's favorite, Fox......