So, you know how MTA is considering ridding our freeways of carpool lanes? One outraged blogger blames Bush because, "local officials in the MTA are being forced to take a more free-enterprise approach to freeway management in order to qualify for federal transportation dollars." In a move designed to empower local Iraqi municipalities, the US Army is planning on concentrating its forces in Baghdad as the army continues to draw down its forces after......

You either love it or you hate it outside the holiday season, what with those vibrantly colored and ceaselessly cheerful international dolls singing about smiles and world peace and love and stuff. So how about when Disneyland's iconic "It's a Small World Ride" decks its halls Christmas-style? This video was taken last year on the ride. (We call it 4:20 Video Time for a reason, folks.)......

In an editorial yesterday, the Daily News let its readers know that the Department of Power and Water's union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, failed to sue the paper twice and agreed to pay $17,213 for legal fees. Why? Because they wanted to stop the Daily News from publishing the names, positions and salaries of department employees. Why publish this info anyway? They found that DWP workers earn an average of......

International markets are like a culinary Disneyland. I can waste hours wandering the aisles, peeking into jars of unfamiliar grocery items, buying things that I don't know how to cook, and exploring brave new worlds of snacking. Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon at the Armenian market, Nature's Pride Golden Farms. Most of the products are Russian, with a few British items thrown in amongst the American and Mexican groceries. Let's take a look around!......

Before we all start shaking in our Ugg boots, rest assured that the mecca of trend and materialism known as The Grove has been spared from international threat. The LA Times is reporting that 20 year-old Jarrad Willis of Melbourne, Australia, has been arrested by authorities in his home country for allegedly threatening on a blog to cause some kind of harm to The Grove. He's been charged with something called "creating a false belief"......

The 4th annual international food bloggers holiday fundraiser, Menu For Hope, kicks off its twelve day run Monday. The virtual event is hosted by Pim Techamuanvivit, who runs the food blog Chez Pim and whose desire to help out those devastated by the tsunami five years ago in Southeast Asia led her to devise Menu For Hope. Last year US$62,925.12 was raised through the event, and was donated to the UN World Food Programme. Here's......

Today, December 5th, is the 4th annual International Day of the Ninja. While we don't recommend taking swords to work, come nightfall, you can let out your inner ninjutsu at the El Rey Theater on Wilshire. Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine of Ask a Ninja will host. The Ninja awaits your questions, so don't be talkin' like a pirate. Get there early for special guest performances from funnyman Patton Oswalt and the hilarious audio-visual offerings......

There's no such thing as a quiet Monday in this town. Here's a quick look at what's happening: FILM: If you're a historic film buff, then head over the Academy Linwood-Dunn Theatre for A Century Ago: The Films of 1907. The event celebrates the year 1907 and its developmental contributions to motion pictures with a program of selected films. The evening will present a partial survey of turn-of-the-20th-century international filmmaking with trick films, actualities, primitive......

Over 10,000 people are scheduled to march today along Hollywood Blvd., and Grammy-award winning singer Alicia Keys will sing in support of the WGA strike which is now into its third week. Beginning at the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. at Ivar Ave. at 1pm, members of the Service Employees International Union, California Nurses Association, Teamsters, actors, musicians, elected officials will join the striking WGA members. Keys is planned to perform at 1:15pm for about......

Its no wonder that Puffy AmiYumi are the huge international superstars that they are because even though they sing in a language you don't understand, they are irresistibly charming and their songs will be stuck in your head for days. I guess it was an all ages show. I was standing next to the most angsty 12-year-old girl i have ever seen, but her along with everyone else had their fist pumping perpetually through......

The very popular (and rightly so) Museum of Tolerance is pissing off its neighbhors. Since the museum opened 14 years ago, it has steadily gained worldwide mentions. Yet, all the visitors that arrive because of those those international mentions have the residents who live near the museum in a tizzy, claiming their West LA neighborhood has become a nightmare of big bus traffic, blocked streets and stolen parking spaces. All of this, they say, they......

"This is not. . . targeting or profiling. It is an effort to understand communities." Police Chief William J. Bratton defending a LAPD counter-terrorism program that uses "U.S. census data and other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and then reach out to them through social service agencies." [LA Times] "Over my dead body." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on any limit of his goals of expanding the LAPD. A fiscally conservative and wary City......

After the successful release of their new album "Honeycreeper", international pop duo superstars Puffy AmiYumi are touring some West coast cities inlcuding the Key Club in Los Angeles November 16th, and the House of Blues in Anaheim November 18th. Puffy AmiYumi epitomize the phrase "I'm huge in Japan", but they don't just stop there. They're huge everywhere. It's as if the Beatles were two Japanese chicks, and started mashing out records in the mid-90s. They're......

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), unprovoked shark attacks have been growing steadily over the past century. This statistic is good enough reason for me to never go into the ocean higher than waist-deep, ever again. Ironic, for a person who moved from chilly Boston to sunny L.A. in order to live the breezy, beach-y life. But the kid in me that walked by the covers of Jaws 1-3 a few too......

This past Sunday I dropped by a fundraiser event for Barack Obama in Koreatown, invited by my friend who works for Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas. Not really having kick-started my analysis of candidates out there yet, my only real knowledge of Obama, silly as it may sound, was that he is a) Democratic and therefore b) NOT BUSH. Hey, these are the important things. Although we had difficulty parking, and we basically had to cram......

8th Annual Festival de los Gente Saturday the 27th 11am - 10pm and Sunday the 28th 11am - 8pm On the streets of LA at the historic 6th street bridge Festival de la Gente is a community-based Event in a Historic Venue featuring Live Entertainment, Arts and Crafts altars, in a carnivale-like atmosphere for families with children. The event will feature live music, art exhibits, teatro performances, storytelling, arts and crafts demonstrations and traditional latin-American......

In honor of FITLA (International Latino Theatre Festival of Los Angeles), we're doing a mostly Latin theme to our theatre picks this week... En Un Sol Amarillo/In A Yellow Sun (Memories of an Earthquake) A 1998 earthquake in Bolivia ripped apart the country – and the political aftershocks made a terrible situation even worse. This drama features actual testimonies and imagery to shed light on the devestation and corruption that followed. Performed in Spanish with......

What happens when you run one of the largest, "extremely lucrative" networks of invite-only, torrent-based music piracy? Interpol comes knocking at your door. Next thing you know all of your properties, including that covert warehouse in Amsterdam where your server is based, are seized in a raid-like manner. As though you were exporting/importing pounds of Class A drugs. Last night around 2 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, OiNK was officially taken off the web. By......

Brangelina are going into business together- the two have signed a deal with HBO to produce a drama series about, what else, international aid workers - Hollywood Reporter Iggygate isn't even close to being over - sources say Iggy wasn't the only pup Ellen Degeneres has passed along to staff members over the years - Page Six Soap star Nathaniel Marston was hospitalized after attacking three people with a crate, breaking one's leg this weekend......

If you leave any lights on tonight between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., your house is going to burn down because the DWP is going to oversurge the system to punish people who hate the environment. Just kiddin', but keep Lights Out LA in mind when the clock strikes eight. If you put your mind to it, anything can happen, right? Ventura County's chief executive, Johnny Johnston who is retiring, is credited with returning......

An incredible game took place in Los Angeles last night, and it had nothing to do with the Staples Center, USC, or Kobe Bryant. In fact, the two teams facing off had nothing to do with LA or even the United States, really. The Coliseum played host to the national soccer teams of bordering nations Mexico and Guatemala, and true to past instances when Central American squads play in the States, heads rolled in......

Interpol the international police organization is everywhere (186 member countries), even though you never really take notice of them. So it’s fitting that the post-punk rock band of the same name has reached similar ubiquitous status, though dipping still ever so slightly below the radar. But now it appears the secret is out. Ever since Interpol announced the release of Our Love to Admire in May, they’ve been scouring the world, touring virtually non-stop.......

A water main break has closed the northbound and southbound lanes of Sepulveda at Century and is estimated to reopen at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning according to a press release just released by Caltrans:Los Angeles – The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announces that a Department of Water and Power (DWP) 36-inch water main break has caused the closure of northbound and southbound Sepulveda Boulevard at Century Boulevard in Los Angeles. Estimated duration of the......

View Larger Map They are on trial, facing possible felony charges if convicted, for unauthorized access to city's computer system in order to make traffic even worse at four busy intersections last year August. Who are they? Meet Gabriel Murillo and Kartik Patel, both in their 30s and both high level Department of Transportation transportation engineers with the Automated Traffic Surveillance Center.Prosecutors said the men changed computer codes preventing transportation managers from reprogramming and reactivating......

Chivas USA 0, FC Dallas 0 - LA's top team hasn't lost since July, earning a draw last night with Dallas. Brad Guzan had his MLS-leading 12th save to increase Chivas' lead in the Western Conference to four points with two games left to play. Unfortunately, Chivas was unable to capitalize on a one man advantage for the last ten minutes of the match. Warriors 119, Lakers 106 - Ahhh, preseason. 14 of 15 Lakers......

Art walks, Food fairs, fashion, and film. It's fall in LA, and for another weekend we can forget about our lack of playoff-worthy baseball teams and professional football and take advantage of our final three weeks of Daylight Saving Time. The fun begins tonight, so you best start the weekend now. Downtown Art Walk Thursday, Noon - 9 p.m.: On the second Thursday of every month, Angelenos stroll up and down Spring and Main......

All My Children (AMC) is really starting to piss me off. I am not a big soap fan, but my mother started me watching AMC when I was a little kid. So I have watched the characters grow up, get married and have kids in their little imaginary town of Pine Valley. Over the years, I have learned the basic rules of life in Pine Valley: 1. No wedding goes uninterrupted 2. No one stays......

Halloween could bring a mixed bag of tricks and treats. The Writers Guild appears to be getting ready to go on strike at the end of the month which means that many shows might be affected in serious ways, while some might not even see the light of day. By Nov. 1, nets will have enough episodes of current shows in the can to get them through mid-January. But the February sweeps would be......

If you're a local sports fan, hopefully you had Columbus Day (International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People, whatever) off to nurse a wicked hangover. In fact, maybe you should take tonight off from Sports Center, too. It's Leif Erikson day. Honest. Even George W. Bush knows that (and don't worry, he's probably not working today, either). Maybe it wasn't the worst, but it was up there. T.J. Simers hit the nail on the......

Disneyland in Anaheim may have the exclusive and secret Club 33, but your chances of experiencing it is slim -- you've got to have the money, the "in" and the location (above the Blue Bayou, look for the door with the number 33 on it, then knock, someone might open it up... and yes, when we ate there, it was damn good). That's why Disney World in the "other" Orange County is much better......