It was a normal day on Twitter. New Media and Interactive Consultant Kyra Reed was going about her day (it was Reed who turned The Roxy into a Web 2.0 success story). On Twitter, she chatted with friends as she was at home. Then, all of the sudden at 5:02 p.m., Ron Myers at the Los Angeles Fire Department tweets a structure fire on the 1000 block of Laguna Ave. "Single family home with fire......

George Clooney & friends don't want this guy's job, as seen in January '08 | Photo © Copyright 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (aka Sundogg) via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr If there's one scene Hollywood actors aren't eager to rehearse, it's the one where they march back and forth in front of studios in shifts, carrying signs and accepting honks and donuts from sympathetic supporters. It's something the Screen Actors Guild is hoping......

Calling all entrepreneurs, tech startups, and developers -- are you ready to pitch? Venture capitalists, industry execs and investors -- want to swim along with the sharks? Tonight, Dealmaker Media hosts its premiere Dealmaker LA event and it's not going to be just another cocktail party, according to Dealmaker CEO Debbie Landa. Dealmaker has been active in the Bay Area since 2000, bringing together start-up entrepreneurs with VC's and major executives with impressive results.......

Remember the strike? | Photo by Kim Shattuck via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr It's all about last minute campaigning for the Democrats in Ohio and Texas; as of this writing, both primaries are still too close to call (Obama & McCain have taken Vermont). More updates on this morning's story about Margaret Seltzer, the author who fabricated a "memoir" about growing up as a white, female gangbanger in L.A.'s South Central.......

Attentive BarCampers at Dan Kaminsky's Ask a Hacker session. Attendees range in age from 18 months (her 2nd BarCamp) to so old we're afraid to ask | photo by pinguino The twice-yearly, geek-tastic unconference for technologists, gamers, industry-folk, and Internet lovers of all stripes is again upon us. BarCampLA is in its fifth iteration and thanks to a collaborative effort fronted by Jason Cosper and Crystal Williams (and dozens of sponsors), it's shaping up......

A few months ago LAist interviewed writer/creator/director Marshall Herskovitz about his web series Quarterlife, and lo and behold, the series debuts on NBC tonight! MySpace, which showcased Quarterlife has a new show of the hidden-camera comedy variety debuting this week as well, "Special Delivery", which will have episodes twice weekly. From these new media developments we turn to television's ancient past on today, Jackie Gleason's birthday, JackieGleason.com has been launched with rare stills and clips......

He goes by the name 'frazgo' and he had an encounter with a Monrovia Public Information Officer that left a sour taste in his mouth. In a post on blogging.la, he ventures into that new media gray area that still is fuzzy... is a blogger considered media?I attended the city press conference regarding the gang warfare here. The city Principal Information Officer was giving transcripts of the mayors speech. Several of us asked for a......

a writer's perspective I know this isn’t what anybody wants to hear, but… The DGA deal is not a sign that the writers strike is close to ending. Over the last few days, you might have heard a lot of people speculating with giddy glee that the WGA and the AMPTP have entered the endgame. You might have heard industry insiders talking about how the DGA deal is revolutionary and groundbreaking – setting historical precedents......

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......

The deed is done. The first large production company, United Artists (UA), has made a deal with the WGA and is going to get back to work, according to the AP (via LA Times). UA's parent company, MGM, is not included on the deal. "United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put......

We once knew Captain Automatic lead man, Josh Kamensky, as the public relations guru for the popular councilman Eric Garcetti and one of the very few at City Hall that was hip to new media. Back in October, Kamensky left the job to pursue other goals, part of that being music. Last night, the band of of three and a half jews sent us a clip of their holiday song, "(We Used To Have A)......

Producers and writers have been talking and numbers are starting to be released. Nothing's final yet, but this strike could be soon over. What does $9.3 million buy the LAPD? It will finish the job on a backlog of 6,700 of DNA testing for sexual assault cases. Les Deux Cafe, a club where celebiatches Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears hang out, was scene to a fight early this morning that led to......

As the writers strike enters it's second week, a lot of attention continues to be paid to the issue of "new media". AKA The Internet. For negotiating purposes, the AMPTP insists that it doesn't know if they make money on the internet. They've also been trying to push the idea that internet content is purely promotional, and before talks broke off, were trying to get writers to agree to a clause that said they......

Hollywood remains in a state of flux as it waits to see whether or not writers will trade in their pens in favor of picket signs. The contract between the WGA and the AMPTP expired at midnight last night with little fanfare other than continued antagonistic rhetoric between the two negotiating parties. Discussions yesterday were again fruitless, and mired in the contentious atmosphere that has been a constant since bargaining commenced. The day began......

The Writers Guild of America announced last night that its members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike authorization. According to the WGA, 90.3% of votes registered supported a strike. The vote also attracted the WGA’s highest turnout ever. The 5,507 votes eclipsed the previous record of 4,128 ballots cast during the 2001 contract negations. The strong show of solidarity should empower the WGA in their ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP. The Guild’s main concerns......

There is arguably no other neighborhood that encapsulates LA’s history, its tectonic demographic changes, its reinvention, its promise and potential as does Boyle Heights. Juan Devis wants to document its continued change through “Departures,” a Web digital mural that takes advantage of the neighborhood's subtle beauty to take visitors on an online tour of the people and places in this community. With the upcoming Gold Line extension and the changes occurring in many of......

Saturday’s “New Media: Blogging and Beyond” panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books found bloggers Hugh Hewitt (pictured), Kevin Roderick and Jill Leovy deliberating over the merits of print vs. e-media. The panel was moderated by RJ Smith, a senior editor at Los Angeles magazine. “I got into it because I hate editors,” said Hewitt, blogger at HughHewitt.com and author of Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That is Changing Your World. “Blogging......

The inaugural EconSM conference, produced by Rafat Ali's ContentNext Media Network (parent of the excellent PaidContent site) is rockin' the Beverly Hilton with entertainment and new media heavies. EconSM addresses the present and potential economy of the social media marketplace in regards to online news, Hollywood, music, mobile media, and more. The amusing "Social Media Meets Hollywood" panel, in which Carson Daly sat alongside The L Word executive producer Ilene Chaiken, preceded lunch. Daly......

Today we interviewed a top online news editor and wanted to share the goods. This interview was conducted by LAist during the Knight New Media Centers Politics and Cyberspace conference. Does anyone really still call it "cyberspace?" Dave Herman is the daily editor of the MSN.com homepage. We discussed the hits and misses on the evil empire's Redmond, WA-based portal, including the Janet nip-slip and the Virginia Tech massacre, before we were rudely cut off.........

Yesterday we interviewed John Amato of Crooks and Liars and today we take it to Right Blogistan to pick the brain of Outside the Beltway's James Joyner. (Amato and Joyner are pictured on the left and right, respectively.) While Amato was pulled away after a few minutes yesterday, we had an entire 15-minute break with Joyner at the Westin Bonaventure (we're covering the Knight New Media Center's Covering Politics in Cyberspace conference) to rap......

John Amato, once known as the sax-man for the likes of Duran Duran, Goo Goo Dolls, and Ringo Starr, is recognized today as the man behind one of the most popular blogs on Earth, Crooks and Liars. We stole the LA resident and LAist reader for a couple minutes before he sat on a panel at the Knight New Media Center's Covering Politics in Cyberspace seminar. Click here to subscribe to the LAist podcast and......

Here I was just looking for new music to listen to and googling old high school boyfriends. A good friend of mine recently started working at a new media company whose main gig is gaming and podcasting. Basically she's surrounded all day by lovable computer nerds, guys listening to metal and most of them, well, talking about chicks. We think this song should go on their homepage. Catchy little jingle.......

It's always fascinating when old media attacks new media, and today's example takes on yours truly, LAist. In a piece about Best Of lists on websites, the New York Times leads with this oddity: "As any media consumer knows, this is the season of the list." First of all, in this, the era of YouTube and TiVo and 54 million blogs, is there really such a thing as a "media consumer"? Isn't everyone a......

Congrats Liana who won the "I Voted" cd six-pack contest with her entry above. - Bush Admits He Lied To Reporters - Think Progress - Bush channels Madonna's faux British accent: "I say, why all the glum faces" - White House - Righties see a blossom out of the turd: "And it is a wonderful day for new media, especially talk radio. For two years we have had to defend the Congressional gang that......

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......

It’s easy to forget how many Angelenos influence what we read, consume and think. For every telegenic actor accepting an award or CEO discussing his latest stock offering with a journalist, there is a phalanx of publicity professionals and marketing specialists choreographing the entire event. Eric Schwartzman is one of these behind- the-scenes maestros who are so adept at making the general public aware of the latest person, place or thing. After honing his skills......

We have a bone to pick with Flavorpill Productions. Our LA Flavorpill newsletter for May 31- June 6 landed in our mailbox on Tuesday. It's taken a while to digest their list of "hand picked" happenings, but we noticed that LA Flavorpill favors the Merce Cunningham Dance Company twice. First there's the wrap around ads for Dance at the Music Center's presentation of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Ahmanson Theatre June 2-6.......

Like it or not, Los Angeles is all about networking. Who, what, why and how people know each other can create smaller social associations that make big cities more tolerable and humane. Whether inclusive or exclusive, they’re part of what makes urban living so dynamic. Plus in a town like LA, with its collection of special and creative folks, crafting social networks can be both fun and practical. Mara Schwartz and Karen Allen had these......