This year's prize winner is JR, an anonymous French street artist whose black-and-white portraits have been appearing across Los Angeles in recent weeks. We'll find out at 5pm exactly what JR's wish is (watch it live here). But what we do know is that he'll kick off his wish tomorrow at Phantom Galleries in Long Beach and you're invited. more ›

Ed Helms, a breakout star from The Hangover and regular on The Office, plays Tim Lippe, a naïve insurance salesman from small-town Wisconsin who finds himself far out of his comfort zone when he heads to an industry convention in Cedar Rapids. He’s there representing his company BrownStar Insurance, its logo complete with a Vonnegutesque asterisk in the B, should you not get the joke in the phrase alone and need a visual. It’s not the kind of thing Lippe would pick up on; he’s oblivious to the fact that back in Brown Valley, he’s surrounded by a-holes. Lippe has some growing up to do, and though it isn’t an easy process, it is pretty hilarious. Even if you’ve never taken a business trip like this, and especially if you have, you’re going to find entering into the world of the “ASMI” convention scene an amusing escapade. more ›

Attendees will be privy to a an organic & sustainable wine, spirit and local food tasting and organic food truck cuisine. There will be a silent auction including works of art by Shepard Fairey and others as well as travel, spa, fashion and other lifestyle items from environmentally sustainable businesses. more ›

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Blue Drums® in conjunction with Miles Davis Properties, LLC unveiled a limited-edition snare drum at the Vic Firth booth during the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) convention last Saturday in Anaheim. Only fifty (50) Kind of Blue (KOB) 50th Anniversary snare drums are being produced by Blue Drums® in association with Miles Davis Properties, LLC. more ›

What else can I say about Iron Man that I didn't say in my rave yesterday? According to the great Nikki Finke, it looks like it's going to be a monster hit so I guess I don't need to encourage you to go see it. I'll actually be seeing it again this weekend because I failed to stay through the entire end credit roll and see the rumored Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) cameo at the end. Don't make the same mistake. more ›

I won't keep you in suspense a moment longer: is a rousing start to the summer movie season. It succeeds not only as a visually dazzling popcorn movie, but as a human drama about a man forced to finally consider his former and future place in the world. Great credit must be given to two crucial players in the film: director Jon Favreau and the wildly counterintuitive choice of actor Robert Downey Jr. as the film's hero. more ›

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Despite SXSW starting up this week with 100+ Los Angeles based bands heading over there, residencies are growing stronger and more venue-diverse across the line, especially on Monday nights where the volume makes it hard to choose from. Here's to a great month of residencies, rock on. more ›

Ray Bradbury, Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Harryhausen discuss their work 7:30pm @ Mystery & Imagination Bookstore more ›

Live, from in front of our television set, it's LAist's Oscar night liveblog extravaganza. more ›

Today marks Jackie Robinson's 89th birthday, and the Dodgers are celebrating it by educating the youngins. more ›

It’s kinda quiet on the event front, a perfect day to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. But if you're into going out tonight: more ›

We have all heard quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech. Few people have had the opportunity to hear the speech in its entirety. Delivered at the 1963 March on Washington, this speech helped to establish King as a national figure and proponent of ending social injustice through civil disobedience and nonviolence. The following year, in 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize. It is worth taking the time to listen to this speech, whose message is still relevent and inspirational today. more ›

You know you want to...so you may as well do it. Star Trek: The Tour has docked on the Queen Mary. Beam yourself up and get yourself to Long Beach to see exhibits from all five TV shows and each of the 10 movies, including Captain Kirk's chair. Bring your Vulcun ears and your Klingon-English dictionary and get into whatever character, or warp speed, you want. more ›

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Orange County's fast-food favored son, Carl Karcher, died yesterday at the age of 90. more ›

I've managed to avoid watching NFL playoffs and college bowl games but I'm getting worn down, I'm tellin' ya. If I got the Fox Movie Channel I would watch Less Than Zero tonight at 7pm because I'm just about as strung out as Robert Downey Jr.was in that flick. I'm not begging for the writers to capitulate, I want them to win, I'm just begging the networks to send me some shite to write about. Didn't you guys put stuff out on DVDs for the holidays? I'm sure that there's plenty of folks walking around with unused balances on their gift cards that would drop some cash on some of your repackaged programming. more ›

Who has been the most potent force in filmmaking over the last twenty years? Steven Spielberg? Tom Hanks? Tom Cruise? Joel Silver? How about John Lasseter? His Pixar films have enjoyed unparalleled critical and commercial success since the debut of Toy Story in 1995. Tonight at the Egyptian you can see the whole story of Pixar unfold when the American Cinematheque screens The Pixar Story. Featuring never-before-seen material from the Pixar library, archival animation... more ›

He's 30, he spells his name funny, when he's not injured he's tearing the cover off the ball, and he's got a gun for an arm. If he passes his physical Andruw Jones will be on the happy end of a $36.2 million, two-year contract to play for the Dodgers. But should Dodger fans be happy about another outfielder, especially one who had such a miserable season last year (.222 batting average, .311 on-base... more ›

No one likes the stigma of saying they live in Van Nuys, so they chip away making their own new neighborhoods. To that, Councilman Tony Cardenas, who we admittedly give a hard time to on this site, said something that is right on target about this so called community pride: "If I had that many people show up to a community cleanup or an anti-prostitution night out it would do much more than changing... more ›

In the world we live in now, Pixar is nothing less than an institution. Every film it releases is an event and each of them receive excellent reviews and make piles of money. Of course, Pixar wasn't always so admired and ubiquitous. It was once a money-losing division of LucasFilm that was sold off to Steve Jobs for a paltry 5 million dollars. All of this is laid out in a behind-the-scenes feature on... more ›

Tim Minchin may very well be be the funniest comedian you've never heard of. Already wildly popular in the UK and his native Australia, Tim makes his U.S. debut tonight in New York before heading west and playing shows next Monday and Tuesday at the ACME Comedy Theatre here in LA. Tim's blend of piano-driven pop songs and razor sharp comedy yields songs that range from a love song for an inflatable doll to a... more ›

Sick of it All, Madball, Last of the Believers, Down to Nothing, Viva Hate @ Key Club more ›

Tell me this isn't the best single and video of the year more ›

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... more ›

The cultural diversity that exist in just about every nook and cranny of this country sometimes blinds people of the ignorant, immature, and, in some cases, overtly racist actions of our more idiotic counterparts. We, Americans, like to think that we’ve come a long way since the 1960s and that the battles to destroy prejudice is somewhat obsolete, but every so often high profile cases, like that of the Jena 6, comes along and kicks us in the ass reminding us that we still have a long way to go. more ›

Ducks 4, Kings 1 - After Los Angeles shocked Anaheim 4-1 in Saturday's season opener in London (yes, London), the defending champs showed who really is king. Despite 10 goals in two days, British fans were reportedly most excited about a good ol' fashioned hockey fight. Welcome back, NHL. Welcome back. A's 3, Angels 2 - The AL West champion Halos hit a skid when they clinched the pennant, but they saved face in their... more ›

Yesterday, September 20th, was the day that Mychal Bell was to be sentenced after being found guilty as an adult on the charge of aggravated battery. Prosecutors were asking for a sentence of 22 years at one point, then reduced it to 15 years. Last Friday the appeals court overturned his conviction. The court determined that Bell, who was 16 at the time, should not have have been tried as an adult. In spite... more ›

So I went to see Band of Horses and Dinosaur Jr. a week ago at The Wiltern, mostly to see the former because they have become one of my all time favorite bands, Everything All The Time certainly one of my desert island albums. But I was also excited to see Dinosaur Jr., because, although I have to admit I never heard much of their music, "Feel The Pain" is actually one of my... more ›

The season 3 premiere of FX's It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the pick of the night. This is arguably Danny DeVito's best work since L.A. Confidential and his best comedy work in almost 20 years. While it's true that since it's cable the cast can say "shit" and "asshole" but that's not a gimmick the show relies on too much. What the show does follow is what made Seinfeld a success - it's a... more ›