A review of Adrian Tomine's new graphic novel, Shortcomings....

On Halloween, pornstar and director (not to mention a former girlfriend of Howard Stern Show staffmember JD Harmeyer) Kimberly Kane (MySpace) celebrated the release of her Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie Triple Ecstasy with a party at the self-described "industrial disco-tech" Das Bunker (MySpace) in Los Angeles. Among those in attendance besides Vivid-Alt head Eon McKai (MySpace) and director Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala (MySpace) were pornstar-turned-photographer Gia Jordan (MySpace), former porn journalist(?) Luke Ford, and starlets Sasha......

Yesterday commenced with an LA bang. I started off at the Indaba music loft again because they have been hosting a plethora of good (free!) shows. There's something comforting about watching bands from someone else's living room. I showed up around mid-day to catch one of my favorite LA bands Division Day. Front man Rohner Segnitz and the boys ran through a pleasant acoustic set. With drummer Kevin Lenhart on shakers, Division Day sounded......

We get a lot of announcements in our email box throughout the week. A lot of press releases, tips, and nudes from the ladies. Thank you. But the other day we got a very interesting one from Scion announcing an art exhibit curated by one of our favorite magazines, Swindle. Maybe you've seen the really well-done hardbound (and recently also in paperback), colorful books, basically, that Shepard Fairey puts out when you least expect......

Dan "Shoe" Hsu knows video games. As the Editor-in-Chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the most popular magazines in the world of gaming, it's part of his job. Shoe, 35, first dove into video game coverage in 1996. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in Statistics, he sent query letters to 30 different organizations in the rapidly-growing industry. "I was looking for a job, any job in the game......

I have just spent the last two weeks researching and cataloging every single Thai restaurant in Thai Town. I have driven up and down Hollywood Boulevard more times than a horny john. I have eaten every kind of Thai food. I have eaten boar, crunchy frog, durian, horrible purple salted crab and some things I cannot even pronounce. So this morning I finished my last graveyard shift for the weekend, and with some relief, I......

Via Ideal Bite, a daily green e-mail tip, comes this thought: We know you aren't into porn. But your "friends" can save paper and plastic by feeding their fetishes via this neat, new doohickey called the internets. (The rest of us can get our PG-rated magazines, movies, and music online.) That feels common sense, but we didn't know that "less than 5% of paper used to produce magazines is recycled." We also didn't know......

Mikel of the Airborne Toxic Event (on the right) One of our favorite magazines, Interview, has this thing where they get actors to interview other actors or singers to interview other singers. We think it's cool, so last week we did it with The Fuxedos and Renfield, and today we get to do it with Mikel of the Airborne Toxic Event and Sara of The Happy Hollows. The Happy Hollows play tonight at the......

The attendees of Safari Sam's tonight will leave the Sunset Blvd club in the wee hours and they might have a few things to say about the evening, but "boring" wont be a word you will hear. With a lineup that begins with Renfield, followed by Quazar and the Bamboozled, and then The Fuxedos, the closing band Uncertain is going to have some strange and unusual acts to follow. One of our favorite magazines,......

Leslie Landis is an enigma, wrapped in a vintage coat, eating a hot dog, wrapped in bacon. This LA-based interior decorator with rising “it-girl” status has gained widespread attention for her fiercely held aesthetic and unmatched intellectual understanding of design. She boasts a devout social following that rivals Andy’s Factory, and her Silver Lake bicycle gang is not to be trifled with either. Leading the ascent of LA’s art elite with a modern bent that......

Ever since I went on vacation in March and found myself flying through four books in four days, I've realized how much I miss actually sitting down and reading real books. Not magazines, not updates on my RSS feed, but a real book. In that regard, I've been fairly indiscriminating in making every effort to cross the gamut from classic to bestseller to inspirational. But even better, I've found the first great beach read......

Last Wednesday’s show at the Billy Shire Gallery in Culver City had all the elements needed for a typical Los Angeles VIP event – work by a world renowned artist (Tim Biskup), a celebrity host (JJ Abrams), sponsorship from two hip brands (Vanity Fair and Helio), and a roster of guests most people only read about in the usual arts & culture magazines (Matt Groening, Mark Ryden, Adele Mildred, and Shepard Fairey, among others). The......

I live in East Hollywood. I get my mail at the Los Feliz post office. The neighborhood sign near my apartment says Little Armenia. My zip code says 90027. You'd think a magazine called Los Angeles would know which part of the LA I lived in. But perhaps the publication is outsourcing its subscription-hustling duties to the same guys covering the Pasadena city council meetings because not only did Los Angeles mail me an......

We don't like to post rumors but we know you'd hate us if we sat on our hands as juicy stuff filled our In Boxes and we didn't let you know that something could be excellent. So now that Coachella has come and gone, we can admit to being wrong about Gwen Stefani being there, but be pleased that we told you that Scarlett Johansson would be singing with the Jesus and Mary Chain......

#162 Florida Marlins has the lowest value of any major league baseball team at just $244 million, Dodgers are worth $632 million - AP #163 A panther in Central Florida was killed by vehicle this week, the seventh in Florida this year. 11 were killed last year. Wait, panthers are just cruising around out there? - AP #164 The University of Florida is being accused of stealing Gatorade from Florida State - Fanblogs #165......

Paris Hilton Ordered To Court For Allegedly Violating Probation A judge on Tuesday ordered hotel heiress Paris Hilton to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on May 4, when she could face jail time for allegedly violating her probation in a reckless driving case. After a lengthy private conference with attorneys from both sides, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer said Hilton would be "required to attend" the next court date. Los Angeles 2016 Reacts......

Photo by The Spinosaurus @ Flickr Tom LaBonge Proposes Smoke Free Parks Los Angeles Councilman Proposes Smoke-Free Parks Los Angeles parks may be headed for smoke-free designation if City Councilman Tom LaBonge has his way. Sam Zell's bid for Tribune Co. is valued at $33 a share Chicago billionaire Sam Zell's bid for Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns the LA Times, is valued at roughly $33 per share. The Man Behind Motor Trend Magazine Dies......

Ian Svenonius AKA David Candy AKA the lead singer of D.C. punk bands Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up and most recently Weird War, has published The Psychic Soviet, a book of essays and articles that dwell on "the use of rock 'n' roll and art by the ruling class" and "the sinister machinations behind popular fiction, film, and television serials" (that's according to the good folks at Second Layer Records). Published by Drag City, The......

We'd like to start this week's run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn't for them, the rest of us wouldn't be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he's working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur,......

Colin Meloy might look like just another guy in line at Radio Shack, but he knows no fear. After being called out by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report for utilizing his trademarked Green Screen effect, Meloy upped the ante -- and on December 20th on Comedy Central, we will all benefit from the “Decemberists vs. Stephen Colbert Guitar Solo Challenge.” Meloy also accepted LAist's dare of handing over a Top 10 best CDs......

Is LAist stoked that Tiger Woods is back, and black, and Asian? Of course. What could be finer than the dominance of minorities in traditionally white sports? World peace perhaps? That'll never happen. What about a humane wage for hard-working people who make shoes for a company who flinches when it only makes $377 million of profit in a quarter? We have nothing against capitalism or paying people from around the world a fraction......

- First four minutes of Borat - above, friend - Los Angeles agrees with Rush Limbaugh when he accused Michael J. Fox of going off his meds to make a pro-stem cell research political ad - CBS2 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Aaron Spelling, Gene Simmons, Charlie Sheen, Brad Pitt, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Matt LeBlanc, Tommy Lee, Jack Nicholson, Dan Aykroyd, and Kevin Federline all make their way into the new book "Hooking Up: You'll......

Dear Reader, This is my last LAist Interview. I have appreciated all your feedback, but I'm especially grateful to all the interviewees who graciously gave me their time and knowledge. Writing this feature validates my belief that everyone in LA has a fascinating story to tell and an interesting opinion to share. I'm confident that Tony will lead LAist on to bigger and better things, including more riveting interview features. It's been a fun......

Zach Brooke @ Hotel Cafe Josie Cotton, The Leadership Crew @ Knitting Factory Brutus Gets the Girl @ Fais Do-Do Batlord @ Malibu Inn Don Caballero, Zombi @ Spaceland Oh No Oh My @ The Echo Skye, Joe Purdy @ Troubadour Mamadou Diabate @ Skirball The Watkins Family Hour @ Largo Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys @ Amoeba The Pets, Disalto, Hypnogaja, Rkyves @ Whisky The Magazines, XRAYOK @ Lava Lounge The Pretty......

Business 2.0 seems to confuse being successful and getting major ad dollars on a blog with becoming mainstream. Although we can see their 1.0 thinking, the gloriously lo-fi NSFW Fark turning mainstream? Not farking likely, fellas. Boing Boing, a four-person operation that bills itself as a directory of wonderful things, is on track to gross an estimated $1 million in ad revenue this year. The digital-media news site PaidContent.org, headquartered in the second bedroom......

by Lisa Brenner I have a theory about Atlantis. Somewhere below the ocean, a 24 hour mega-convenience store, (think, Mall of America meets 7-11) exists in all its undulating, aquatic majesty. Shrimp slurpees and jellied fish line the aisles. Muzak’d Donovan plays on a loop. Sea cucumbers shoplift dirty magazines, and Hammerheads loiter out in front, smoking the coral reefer. Clearly, Atlantis is a rough place. But mayhaps my theory of the deep is......

Today is Charles Bukowski's birthday. Los Angeles' greatest poet lived to 119 years old. He carried an axe and led his blue ox around with a choke-chain that he'd release whenever someone stepped to him. He worked for the LA post office for decades and drank and worked and wrote at night and drank some more and sometimes got sleep before he went to work. Even though his fine book "Post Office" told the......

Now a “career woman", Leilani Wertens searches for the perfect meal during her lunch hour in an oft neglected part of Los Angeles—the newly revitalized downtown district. Read about her weekly culinary adventures on LAist. by Leilani Wertens A sign at the entrance to a cobbled alleyway (Harlem Place Alley) is the only clue that Lost Souls Café lies just ahead. Grasping for the handle of what appeared to be a back door, I......

Let's face it, Angelenos, we're all a bunch of gossips. How else to explain that peculiar L.A. habit of looking up at each new customer who crosses a restaurant's threshold, assessing their attractiveness and/or celebrity. In certain dining establishments around West Hollywood, the atmosphere is akin to a high school cafeteria. One keeps expecting restaurant patrons to break out in song like in that scene in the film, “Gigi,” where guests seated at Maxim’s......

The kiss of death of relationships appears to be having an MTV reality show about your wedding or your first year as newlyweds, it appears, as today Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro have announced they're headed for divorce. MTV is reporting that Electra's rep confirmed the rumors that have been plastered across gossip and celeb magazines for months, that the pair of Carm and Dave are now single. Navarro, the co-host of NBC's "Rockstar"......