Shadow & Light in Little Tokyo | Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist's Featured Photos pool on Flickr. Monday Jeremy D. Popkin presents Facing Racial Revolution 7pm @ Dutton's Tuesday Alan Corey presents A Million Bucks by 30 7pm @ Book Soup Christopher Rice presents Blind Fall 7pm @ Borders, West Hollywood Wednesday Milo Martin presents Poems for a Utopian Nihilist 7pm @ Book Soup Leslie Lehr presents Wife Goes On 7pm @ Dutton's Josh......

Photo of crowd at Los Angeles debate in January by shredded77 via Flickr Last Friday, Sarah Miller's Open Letter to Barack Obama in the LA Times Opinion section caught my eye. Got me thinking. Had me nodding my head. I'm not the only one, as the comments on her letter are getting heated. As an Obama supporter, she raised some concerns about his seeming inability to be concrete and clear about how he is......

Get your green drink on tonight. WORDS Author and USC professor Gina Nahai and actress Bahar Soomekh (Crash) read from Nahai’s latest book Caspian Rain – about a family falling apart just before the Islamic revolution in Iran. Immediately following, there’s a discussion of the changing lives of women of the Middle East, and relationships between Iran’s Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as how these communities interact in Los Angeles, “home to the largest......

After debuting last week on the Internet, Jackass 2.5 is coming to DVD tomorrow. I'll be watching, laughing and drinking--in that order. If you missed Eastern Promises in theaters, pick it up immediately. Viggo has never been better. I enjoyed The Kingdom, but I think I would have preferred the original ending (spoiler warning!). The Heartbreak Kid was funnier than critics gave it credit for and had the best last line of any movie......

This LAist poster trudges through Union Station every day for work. Usually the long hallway that connects old Union Station to Gateway Plaza is bland, beige and just plain boring. But once in awhile, some advertiser will cover the walkway with wallpaper for eye candy for tired commuters. Recently, Starbucks commandeered the area to wish everyone a good holiday season. And this morning, we finally noticed it. Move over Santa and elves -- there......

It's Veterans Day, and, to commemorate, let's check in on Iraq and see how some Veterans-to-be are doing. Turns out, things weren't so festive today there. A civil war continues to rage and officials announced that, with the 853rd death this past week, 2007 is now the deadliest year yet for American troops in the ongoing Middle East quagmire, surpassing 2004's total of 850. So far, 3,860 U.S. soldiers and 4,164 coalition troops from......

Don't get me wrong, I love Beirut, but last Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend at Harmonia Mundi to the pre-screening of GYPSY CARAVAN...When The Road Bends. Written and directed by Jasmine Dellal of Little Dust Productions, the film is a documentary about five bands that play different kinds of Gypsy music, who united for a highly successful 6-week tour across North America. Descendents of the Roma, a group......

Artist: Warren Zevon Album: The Envoy Label: Rhino re-Release Date: 03/27/2007 Three and a half years after his death, Rhino has rereleased Warren Zevon's sixth album, The Envoy. An unlikely rock and roll star, the sometime Californian and LA denizen had risen to pop status with his 1978 release, Excitable Boy, but he had experienced some major alcohol and substance abuse rollercoaster rides since that peak. 1982's The Envoy was probably his most brilliant......

A fairly mundane week of new releases. Hannibal Rising has a definite Queen of the Damned stench to it. Never saw the original Eating Out but folks sure are lining up to buy the sequel. Sharon Stone's beaver in glorious 1080i! Wayne Knight's accompanying flop-sweat in glorious 1080i! Will probably hold off on buying the Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition since I hear the Superman Double Ultimate Collector's Edition is coming this Christmas. Kevin Dillon's......

John Marshall Evans became the US ambassador to Armenia in August 2004. Six months later he visited California and was convinced by Armenian-Americans here to cut the political B.S. and simply say that the 1.5 million Armenians who were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Turks from 1915 and 1923... were indeed victims of genocide. Today President Bush will tapdance around the word in fear of insulting our ally Turkey, a......

A shadow falls on the moon during a lunar eclipse seen from Vodno Mountain, south of Macedonia's capital Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) I know, I know... This is LAist's second photo essay on this weekend's lunar eclipse. But I love astronomical phenomenon so much, I just couldn't resist. Besides, it was the first total lunar eclipse in three years. According to the AP, "Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth passes between the sun and......

UCLA Men's Basketball is NO.2 in the Nation -- According to the AP and Coaches polls. The Bruins came out strong at home this past Saturday against the Stanford Trees Cardinals. The Ohio Buckeyes comfortably sit at No.1 following their victory against Wisconsin on Sunday. Our friends over at USC moved up to No.23 following an impressive season both at home and on the road. The Bruins finish their season undefeated at home and......

Look. We know how it’s going to go down. By this time tomorrow, Oscar nominees will be announced and madness will ensue. There will be the campaigning amongst friends. The mad dash to see the films you haven’t seen. The endless questioning about who should win, who shouldn’t win and who should never be allowed to direct again. In certain circles, the mad “What will they wear? Who will they wear?”debating will also begin.......

- Following up on Monday's story about a female high English teacher who was accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her teen male students... today we got a message from someone close to Alyssa Johnson who said that he had a better photo than the mugshot that we posted. And sure enough, on the right you will see the picture that was sent to us and sure enough Ms. Johnson does......

- Mob speaks out against Desert Arsonist - "The guy should be hung by his toes. Put him in a public park, get a stockade, let the people judge him. Trial by your peers? Go to a park, let us judge him." - NBC4 - After Bush and Cheney are Impeached, Nancy Pelosi is going to be able to enact Martial Law on every NASCAR event she wants. - - 2/3rds of the US......

Playing this weekend at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica is (The last three performances of) Lee Blessing's Two Rooms directed by Jamie Wollrab. The Pulitzer nominated play features Dominic Hoffman, Susanna Hall, Greta Seacat, Caleb Moody and music by MC Rai. The play follows the story of a wife's unending devotion to the return of her husband, a hostage being held in Beruit. She has even gone as far as to create an......

- Man killed when two trucks collide in a firey crash on the 5 - CBS2 - Pomona man shot in the chest as he was attacking a security guard with a chair - SB Sun - Days after LAist asks if Bush is an Idiot, the Washington Post asks the same question. - Washington Post - Americans more opposed to Iraq War than ever before: poll - CNN Think Progress has video and......

When the Ambassador Hotel was knocked down, parts of its pantry went into storage. The pantry, of course, is where Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded after speaking to supporters in the hotel's ballroom; he'd just won the 1968 California Democratic primary. Now the LA Times catches up with 29 items, socked away in storage. There's a cabinet door. There are some fixtures. There's a table. But there's not actually a pantry anymore, even......

When the LA Alternative Press asked LAist to write 400 words "In Defense of Blogs" for a sidebar for their Blogs vs. Zines article, I did, somewhat reluctantly. I was once a Zinester: I spoke on zine panels, a zine sent me to SXSW (twice). But I stood up for blogs. Well, the paper didn't print my sidebar; instead, they used parts of it in the article; the issue is not yet online. Here......

Most people are familiar with the work of LA performance artist Paul Zaloom through his role as the host of the popular children’s science show “Beakman’s World” in the '90s, but he’s also a widely admired puppeteer/artist and imaginative satirist. His work incorporates techniques such as overhead projection, government document exposé, “picture performance”, and hand, rod, shadow, found object, and dummy puppets. On Wednesday, January 18, 2005, Paul’s latest project, “The Mother of All......

Okay, so nobody has Showtime so you probably haven't seen Sleeper Cell, the premium channel's newest show burning through all it's episodes this month with the second round of episodes starting tonight. LAist had the show stored on it's tivo and blew through the first 4 hours this morning alternating between being completely enthralled and terrified by the characters and situations playing out on-screen. See, Michael Ealy plays a practicing American muslim FBI agent......

So, when you go see Syriana (and, really, just go. It's smart and complex and detailed and worth at least a great conversation with your movie date in the car afterwards) you should try and bring Stephen Gaghan with you. You'll have questions. Thankfully, Arianna Huffington hasn't lost our email address yet so we got to spend some quality time with the writer/director after the flick last night and hear his interesting but wordy......

If the idea of listening to George W pontificate about destroying social security and "rebuilding" the Middle East turns your stomach, tune out and souse-up with like-minded thinkers/drinkers. The local version of Drinking Liberally will be at it tonight from 6-9pm at Tom Bergin's on Fairfax. Look for the people with the "I only drink with liberals" buttons.......

Musician Marcel Khalife, an artist sometimes called "the Lebanese equivalent of Bob Dylan," comes to town next week. You can catch a performance on Saturday, November 6 at 8:30 PM at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach, CA. Khalife is internationally known for mastering the oud (the Arabic lute). He has toured the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the United States giving solo performances as well as......

Has politics become the new religion? Certainly seems like something's possessed folks. Hitherto unmotivated Americans are getting off their couches, turning off their TVs, staggering into the streets and testifin' their beliefs during this election year. And every one's buying political-themed books that support their point of view. Book signings are becoming more like revival-meetings as the faithful come out to meet their favorite prophet. For example, Cornel West is coming to town on......