The 50th Annual Grammy Awards are tonight. The ">Irish foreign movie Once has been nominated for two categories: "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" and "Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" for the song "Falling Slowly" (heard above). The song's validity as an Oscar nomination was challenged, but the committee found everything to be fine, so Once stays. It was not nominated for......

The 3-month-old WGA strike could end as early as Friday if the new contract is completed and approved It's still in the outline phase, but a new contract has been drawn for striking writers, and may meet with approval as early as Friday. The new deal is said to including resolutions to fundamental concerns, like compensation for work done for and distributed on the Internet, all of which led to the walkout and picket......

In a preemptive move, the Director's Guild of America (DGA) announced yesterday that they'd made a satisfactory deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), giving them a new contract and therefore eliminating the need to strike once the current contract ended. So what does this mean for striking writers and the likelihood of an impending end to their current three-month-old strike? DGA President Michael Apted explains in an LA Times Opinion......

Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old Northridge girl who died two weeks ago because her health care provider denied funding of a liver transplant, was buried yesterday. $151 million: That's the amount in salary and benefits that the The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers say that writers have lost since the beginning of the strike. $10.64: The new minimum wage or "so-called living wage" for workers at hotels near LAX. More than a 1,000......

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......

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......

One of the best known personalities in tv advertising, Dick Wilson, better known as Mr. Whipple died today in the Valley, he was 91. The iconic character actor made over 500 commercials where he'd try to protect the precious tp from being felt up and smelled, while at the same time falling for its charms. Says the AP: The man famous as TV's "Mr. Whipple" died of natural causes at the Motion Picture &......

Still don't have plans? There is plenty to do. Check out our Weekend Festival Guide and Halloween Events Guide With that in mind, when you have your Halloween Event, go green with an orange compact fluorescent bulb. At every Home Depot are day laborers hanging out, waiting for a chance at some work. The City is looking into an ordinance that could make stores of a certain size "set aside space for day laborers......

Various Artists Kurt Cobain About A Son Music From The Motion Picture Barsuk Records, released 9/11/07 The loud-quiet-LOUD bipolarity and creepy darkness of Kurt Cobain's music comes across loud-and-clear in this excellent collection of grunge, punk, and blues that make up the music of Kurt Cobain About A Son. The fact that no actual Cobain material is used in this makes it even weirder, and if you ask me, better. It makes you miss......

When you list the truly groundbreaking films in the history of Hollywood, The Jazz Singer would be right up near the top (if not at the top). For those who don't know, it was the first successful "talkie"--a film that has synchronized dialogue. It opened in New York on October 6th, 1927 and changed the course of cinema history. Silent films, which until then had dominated the film industry, would eventually become little more......

About the above photo: Painting by local artist John Schlue who will be showcasing his newest work at Truxtop Gallery with the opening reception on Friday Sept 7th. The International Space Station, Jupiter, Mars, Venus all viewable from LA this week according to today's release of the The Griffith Observatory Sky Report. 274 homicides so far this 2007. LAPD released the latest crime statistics today showing that violent and property crime is down compared......

Ocean's Thirteen Music from the Motion Picture David Holmes Warner Bros./ WEA There's no way I thought I would like this cd. There's no way I wanted to like this cd. But it's good. I've been listening to it all day. And I hate myself for it. Clooney, Pitt, Damon... none of them need any more love. They're more handsome and rich than anyone deserves to be. And making a trilogy of films starring sharp-dressed......

Grindhouse The Girl from Starship Venus (AKA The Sexplorer) is a space nudie starring Monika Ringwald as an astronaut from Venus who lands in London's swinging Soho district circa 1975. Her mission? To research sex customs on the planet Earth. This is paired with The Legend of the Wolf Woman, a 1976 horror film from Italy whose title pretty much says it all. A beautiful woman seeks men out, has sex with them then turns......

Grindhouse The week begins with sassy sexploitation flicks Pretty Maids All in a Row and Revenge of the Cheerleaders, then segues into Asian action with aFearless Fighters and Supermanchu and closes with a triple bill of bloody horror: The Blood Spattered Bride, Asylum of Blood and Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary. WHEN: Mon., March 26 - Sun., April 1; various times WHERE: The New Beverly: 7165 Beverly Blvd. (1 block West of La Brea Ave.) King......

OUT TODAY The Little List Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Universal) -- Vintage sounds, modern frankness, and a smoky songstress who lays out her vices like a sexy Randy Newman (minus the funny). Prepare to have your brain rewired with dead-on 60’s soul and epidemically contagious tunes. The Fratellis - Costello Music [2007] (Cherry Tree) -- If you like bouncy, brit-pop and hanging out in your garage, this should be your record of......

Oscar Shorts at the Academy To kick off Oscar Week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present "Shorts!" a program featuring the 10 Academy Award-nominated films in the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories. The program, hosted by director Taylor Hackford, will feature onstage discussions with the nominated filmmakers. Short Film (Animated) The Danish Poet, Torill Kove, director Lifted, Gary Rydstrom, director The Little Matchgirl, Roger Allers, director; Don Hahn, producer......

nature=danger, part 1 - An experienced, skilled mountain climber fell to her death last week on Mt. Mendel in Kings Canyon National Park. 57-year-old Patricia Rambert had reached the summit of 206 Sierra Nevada mountains and was considered a "peak bagger" in climbing circles. nature=danger, part 2 - The Kern River is a great place to go inner-tubing (the laziest of river sports, all you need to do is float and drink beer) but......

KABC has wasted no time in getting the awkward questions, stammered remarks, and best wishes to everyone coming down the red carpet. So far we've already heard them refer to Ben Stiller as "studly", and Naomi Watt's very current gown as "vintage". It's almost too painful to watch, but you know we'll keep doing it. Our highlight so far has been hearing Paul Giamatti say, in reponse to the interviewer asking if he'd ever......

It's hard to believe that Jordan Mechner is only in his 40s. He's accomplished an awful lot in a short period of time. Hailed as a visionary game designer, Jordan is an icon in the video game industry. His first game, "Karateka," was an immediate success. Using innovative character animation techniques, Jordan's next game, "The Prince of Persia," redefined the look and feel of video games for years to come. Currently adapting the screen......

Hollywood studios filed a new batch of lawsuits against file swappers on Thursday mostly targeting those who frequently use Bittorrent technology. And, for the first time, the studio's lawsuits used the peer-to-peer file sharing companies' own data to track down individuals accused of trading movies online. The Motion Picture Association of America said it filed 286 lawsuits against people around the United States based on information acquired from file-trading sites shut down earlier in......

WEDNESDAY • Lucero is on stage tonight at the Troubadour with The Honorary Title and The Glass. Doors open at 8 PM; tickets are $8 advance. • The Silverlake Lounge features Amps for Christ, Nudity (ex-COCO, Dub Narcotic) and Worms, beginning at 9 PM. Tickets are $7. • "Play It Again - The Movie Music of Woody Allen" comes to the Hollywood Bowl tonight at 8 PM. Featuring Sandra Bernhard, Ann Hampton Callaway, Nellie......

This LAist is nothing if not perverse. When we lived in San Francisco, we wrote film scripts. Now that we live in LA, we're writing a novel. In any event, we'd somehow amassed a large library of recent film scripts purchased from the Script Shack and other script vendors. After moving the equivalent of 40 pounds of paper to the Southland, we've discovered that we have no room in our LA abode, so we......

The Oscar statuettes are coming! PAGE SIX reports that the 50 trophies will arrive today in Los Angeles via Chicago on United Airlines Flight 854 at 10:19 p.m. Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Noreen Prohaska, a rep for R.S. Owens and Co., which manufactures the Oscars, will accompany the shipment. The duo and their gold men will arrive with 4-foot-tall Oscar decals on the nose of......

There was good and bad for Sideways uber-actor Paul Giamatti this past weekend when he was awarded a SAG statuette for his Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Yes, that's right, he had to share it with three other people. It was yet another example of Paul Giamatti getting the hot steaming fireplace poker in the eye. Local residents reported on Sunday, however, that this fleeting piece of somewhat-mediocre good news......

Is it us or is Variety.com becoming more accessible? Well, it's Oscar Nom eve and those Hollywood-types still left in town are counting down the hours til actor Adrien Brody joins Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Frank Pierson in announcing the 77th Academy Award nominations on Jan. 25th at 5:38 AM out at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire in Beverly Hills. Scott Robson quizzed Industry vets about surviving the......