Sherman Oaks and South LA made national news yesterday when a Los Angeles native, now based in Oregon, became the latest decried author who penned a fraudulent memoir. Yes, Margaret Seltzer grew up in the Valley, no Margaret B. Jones (her non de plume) did not gangbang in South Central as her book said. Today, the fallout came in the form of experts giving quotes to the media about this reoccurring theme. What first comes......

The New York Daily News is reporting that big fat hulking Frisco Gyro Barry Bonds tested positive for amphetamines last season. The paper goes on to say that when Bonds was told of this he blamed it on teammate Mark Sweeney from whom he claimed to have swiped some "substances". Bonds was not punished for his transgression, but instead was referred to treatment and counseling. While amphetamines are considered performance-enhancing drugs, they are treated differently......

Now everybody wants to be homeless. Pras Michel, the Grammy-winning Fugees collaborator, just spent 8 days sleeping on LA's mean streets. He was trying to live on $1 per day for a documentary about poverty, which he plans to screen at the Toronto Film Festival. Living on the streets wasn't easy, he told the New York Daily News: "The dollar a day didn't get me much at all. You have to hustle, steal, shoplift......

We're not quite sure how a book satirizing and mocking a film studio but bought and published by the same film studio's book division is supposed to work but that didn't stop us from drinking as much free vodka as possible at Geisha House last night. Media Bistro and Miramax Books hosted a book release party for Rachel Pine and her novel, The Twins of Tribeca, a gossamer thin swipe at the house that......

According to a report in the New York Daily News, the Lakers are considering Spero Dedes as their next announcer. Memo to Jerry Buss: Stop right there. Hiring Spero Dedes is a bad idea. He comes from what I like to call the "New York school" of basketball announcers, where everyone desperately tries to sound like Marv Albert. They all speak in short phrases, and throw a bit of a New York flair at......

These things come in threes... - The New York Daily News gossip page lets us know that The Sopranos' final season will not air in 2005. - Carb-stigma victim International House of Pancakes to close more locations. - Mayor Hahn sides with land developers against Ed Reyes' bid for "inclusionary zoning" and cheap housing. We discussed this plan in June.......