Newspapers, like the LA Times, will be very very different in a few years. Hear it from the Times' editor in chief tonight. / Photo by Omar Omar via flickr. BENEFIT* Buy a date for a great cause. Team in Training's Westside Marathon & Triathlon Teams are hosting a "bachelor auction" tonight to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Check the beefcake at www.bachelorforbid.com. How can you resist such descriptions like: "Joel is a......

The American Institute of Architects-LA hosts a panel discussion tonight called "Rethinking the City." / Photo by Peggy Archer via LAist's flickr pool. TALK The American Institute of Architects-Los Angeles chapter is hosting a panel discussion “Rethinking the City.” It’s a conversation about how enlightened policy and design can revitalize economies and create a truly sustainable community. Panelists include: Cecilia Estolano, CEO of the Community Redevelopment Agency/Los Angeles; Helmi Hisserich, LA deputy mayor for......

Junot Diaz at the Hammer Museum/Osmany Rodriguez for LAist The thing about author Junot Diaz is, one minute he’s on the phone with you, rapping about meringue, Malcolm X, comic books, and how shit never gets done on time in the Dominican Republic – and the next minute, he’s winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He describes himself as just another ordinary, poor immigrant......

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: I read the home......

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is always kicked off by a ceremony that awards one book in each key category with a Book Prize. The nominees in each category were just announced and we're both thrilled and a tad flummoxed by some of their picks, listed below. We're mostly pleased to see that the usual suspects, who have made up every other book awards list this year, are noticeably absent. This list doesn't......

Despite being considered as quirky nonsense, the mystery of freakish falls from the sky has become a regular occurrence over the years, and Los Angeles hasn't been exempt from such bizarre downpours and surreal showers. The setting was the Santa Monica Freeway, near Crenshaw Boulevard. The date December 19th of 1984. The weather was poor to say the least as traffic began to build on the freeway after severe storms battered the roads and heavy......

Don't try this at home -- or at the Civic Center Metro Station. / Photo by puck90 via LAist's flickr pool. TRANSIT TALK Metro is studying alternatives for connecting the Gold, Blue and Expo lines through downtown Los Angeles. This study will examine linking the future Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension (near the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station) and the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Tonight Metro will update the public on the project and allow......

Louis Allen as Christopher Walken and Amy Kelly as Robert DeNiro/Photo courtesy of Patrick O'Sullivan. COMEDY* All About Walken: The Impersonators of Christopher Walken is back on a new night and new venue (running only on Thursdays until April 3). Conceived and directed by Patrick O’Sullivan, the comedy show has an entire multiracial cast playing the same guy (Chris Walken, duh) picking up his tics and cadences to a tee. Tickets go fast for......

Photo of Jeff Koons' 'Tulips' at BCAM by pink_fish13 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr As reported this morning, the body of a dead woman was left in a van with the windows down in a spot reserved for police in Pomona. The police told the owners of the car to pick it up or it would be towed. Oops. Now, SFist is reporting a similar case where police impounded a van......

Photo by Steve Rhodes via Flickr A swipe from back east today shows that the NY Times couldn't help but point out the frequency the LA Times names a new head honcho; a headline in today's paper reads: "New Top Editor for Los Angeles Times, the 4th in 3 Years." Ouch! (Hey, we noticed our own local Daily News getting snarky in their headline last night!) The announcement that Russ Stanton, who has been......

The Lakers aren't the only team with a new big man. The Los Angeles Times just added local icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to their roster of bloggers. Among his early advice to readers? Shoot the skyhook: "The 50-plus player can still run with a younger crowd at the park or fitness club, but it's best to avoid knocking around in the mosh pit under the basket. One trick the guys won't see coming? The skyhook .........

Both the Democrat and American Independent parties held open primaries on Super Tuesday. Voters who declined to state an affiliation were handed a "nonpartisan" ballot and were allowed to select a presidential candidate in either of the open primaries. The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that a large number of those voters in LA County may have failed to mark a special bubble on their ballots which could mean their votes won't be counted:......

Don't forget: LAist Super Tuesday Election Party tonight at Seven Grand! Details and RSVP here. Did you have any problems voting in Los Angeles today? The Los Angeles Times and LAist report on problems in the precincts, especially for non-partisan voters. Is it still a long strange trip if it's only just begun? The last remaining members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting tonight in San Francisco to show their support for Obama. The......

RUDY GIULIANI leaves after announcing that he has dropped his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination and is now supporting JOHN McCAIN at the RONALD REAGAN Presidential Library where the Republican Debate is being held. Don't forget to join the LAist staff next week at our Super Tuesday Party at Seven Grand in downtown Los Angeles! Come out to drink with us, watch the primary race unfold, and even tell off your least favorite......

The Daily News has more details on those marijuana vending machines. Besides, you know, the fact that they are TOTALLY AWESOME! A rash of gang violence in Watts since the weekend has led to two shooting deaths and the injury of at least 13 others. Yahoo is not doing so well: a major drop in fourth quarter profits is going to mean layoffs somewhere in the neighborhood of of 7% of the workforce. Four......

Yes, we know that rainy days and Mondays can get you down. And doubly so today. But you can turn that mood around by stepping out tonight to one of these great events. Just watch for puddles. TALK Jill Leovy probably writes the Los Angeles Times best blog (excepting LAist’s own Adam Rose, natch). She chronicles almost every murder in LA to give a human element to what would be another crime blotter. Tonight Leovy’s......

TALK What’s up with all the development in Downtown LA? What’s it going to look like in 5, 10 or 20 years? Moderated by Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times architecture critic, ALOUD at the Central Library features panelists Lauren Bon, Tom Gilmore, Martha Welborne and James Von Klemperer, AIA to discuss all things Downtown and development. 7 PM // ALOUD at the Central Library: Mark Taper Auditorium // 631 Fifth & Flower streets, LA......

TALK CalArts and USC have a joint program at REDCAT tonight titled, “Listen Again: Music You Should Change Your Mind About Right Now.” A great panel of writers, musicians and scholars discuss the current state of pop music and celebrate the release of the latest scholarly writings on music issued by the Experience Music Project. Panelists include Neal Pollack (alternadad.com), Ann Powers (Los Angeles Times), R.J. Smith (Los Angeles magazine), Oliver Wang (Soul-sides.com, CSU-Long Beach)......

Tonight’s the next installment of the LA Phil’s Concrete Frequency series, but here are other options we've dug up for your going-out pleasure: DANCE Hollywood Ballet is LA's own modern ballet ensemble. Tonight's show includes premieres of "RQ 21," set to sections of Mozart’s Requiem; "Ghost Frog," set to music by Parisian jazz guitar virtuoso Pascal Vaucel; lyrical/Middle Eastern fusion dance set to the ballet music from Verdi‘s Aid. Dancers from the troupe’s pre-professional group,......

If you want to do something else tonight besides the mind-numbing seventh season opener of American Idol, here are a few options: WORDS Nobel Prizewinner Mohammad Yunus has a conversation with Rick Wartzman, director of the Drucker Institute, Claremont Graduate University (and former editor of the Los Angeles Times' West) on "Creating a World without Poverty." The evening will focus on questions like: "What if you could harness the power of the free market......

The law has always struggled to keep up with the fast-paced, ever-changing world of the internet. A federal investigation of fraud involving MySpace could set important legal precedents. The case brings up issues of first ammendment rights versus prosecution of harassment and other cybercrimes, as well as the question of jurisdiction in cyberspace. According to the Los Angeles Times, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles has issued subpoenas to MySpace and related parties in......

In a couple hours, the Iowa caucuses- or Hawkeye Caucii, if you prefer- will be starting, and that means we're off to the races for a new President. Are we the only ones screaming WTF at this? Why on Earth does Iowa get to have such a crucial role in our electoral system. Why on Earth should a state with about a fourth of the people of L.A. County get the first say in who......

There are two media stories in January's Los Angeles Magazine that everyone should read. One is about the Santa Barbara News-Press debacle. The other is a little closer to home -- a profile on Jill Leovy of the LA Times' The Homicide Report (subsequently, NPR interviewed Leovy on The Bryant Park Project). The blog, which set out to cover every homicide in Los Angeles County, is one of the most genius blogs out there,......

For those of us not stuck on the 15 to Vegas, here's what's going on around town tonight: FILM The So Bad It's Good Film Fest presents the movie that showed how crazy Joan Crawford really was: Mommie Dearest. But it's "Faye Dunaway's over-the-top performance in the lead role has become legendary." There are prizes for the best Joan Crawford costume at the show: dinner for two at Saddle Ranch Chop House and a guest......

If you want to drive the 91 Express Lanes during peak, peak rush hour, it's going to cost you. A lot. From today's Los Angeles Times: Starting next week, Friday-afternoon commuters on the eastbound 91 Express Lanes will have to dip deeper into their wallets to escape endless congestion on the Riverside Freeway. The $10 toll is among the highest in the nation and comes nine months after the boost to $9.25. It will......

The famed Vanity Fair Oscar party location and Power Hollywood hang-out, Morton's, has shut down for good, and the space will be cleared out by January 2nd. Word has it the space will soon be transformed into an oh-so-trendy SoHo House (yes, like the one in that "Sex and the City" episode. The Los Angeles Times reported last month: "For the last 14 years, it has been the site of arguably the hottest Oscar-night party......

Record shops and CD purveyors are going the way of the 8-track. Joining the now-defunct ranks of Aron's Records, Rhino Records and Tower on Sunset is the Virgin Megastore. The rent's too high (tell us something we don't know!) And maybe, the sluggish music sales don't help much, either. According to a Los Angeles Times story today: Another one bites the dust. The Virgin Megastore on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, just down the......

The Los Angeles Times is predicting that we can expect gas prices to continue climbing, possibly hitting $4 a gallon in 2008. Citing high demand and persistently strong crude oil costs, it is estimated that prices will hit $3.40 a gallon by next Spring (which is not that far off from the $3.10 charged at Mobil this morning, or the $3.22 advertised at Shell). According to the Energy Department, as quoted in the Times, "The......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

Details continue to emerge about the strange case of the woman whose body was found at a towyard the day after she died in a car crash in the San Fernando Valley. The woman had been driving with her son, who now claims that his epilepsy caused him to crash the car -- and to forget he had his mother in the car with him. He believes a seizure may have led him to......