While hundreds of volunteers are stealthily working into the wee hours to affix flora to framework and as people begin to plan for finding space along the parade route, an unexpected battle has been waging between human rights groups and the City of Pasadena. The Pasadena Star-News reports that the controversy surrounds several components, including the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China, and the requests made by the Pasadena Coalition for......

If your not ready for the races mentioned in our Alt Races Guide, then maybe you are up to a race of a different breed: Nike's 5-mile Run Hit Remix: The PowerSong Edition featuring live performances along the route by Naughty by Nature, Sir Mix-A-Lot, The Sugarhill Gang, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and a finish line concert by MC Hammer on September 15th at 9 a.m. (you might also spot Caroline on Crack......

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......

Even though "experts" are saying that Chicago will be the US city that the USOC will choose to represent the USA as host city nominee for the 2016 Summer Games, today the California State Senate approved a quarter-billion dollar guarantee if LA does get the nod. From an excited LA2016 press release: The California State Senate today voted overwhelmingly in favor of AB300, previously approved 65-1 by the State Assembly, which authorizes $250 million as......

As the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) nears decision day on the U.S. candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, organizers of the Los Angeles 2016 bid today joined Las Vegas civic leaders to detail the role of the city and Sam Boyd Stadium in the bid, highlighting a program that would include eight to 12 preliminary round soccer/futbol competitions. You know, if LA wins the Olympic bid, would this push for that high......

We may have naysayed in the past, but it looks like the Olympic movement for LA is finally coming together -- with some help from the movie industry. Apparently, the 18-34 demographic is losing interest in the games -- so LA is committing to bringing it back, by presenting us with this video produced by Dave Stewart (of The Eurythmics) called Battle Olympia: After the jump, a snippet of the Southern California Committee for......

Bandini, author of the sweet (yet not-recently updated, cough cough) LA blog The Great Taco Hunt, asks, "I wonder how much furniture Lane Kiffin bought from HD Buttercup?" To fully understand this joke/question/accusation, one must know who Lane Kiffin is, and what H. D. Buttercup is. H. D. Buttercup is an upscale, interior designer's wet dream in Culver City, housed in the beautiful 100,000 square-foot Helms Bakery building. Built during the depression to celebrate......

Six OC gang members charged for acting like Gang Members - LA Times LA will probably get the 2016 Olympic Games - NY Sun Judge says US paper money is Blindist - Fox News USC Daily Trojan Editor-in-Chief barred by USC for having the audacity to ask how much money the university makes off the paper - Daily Trojan (h/t LAO) Snoop Dogg should really just stay away from Burbank, arrested againzille - LA......

The NFL season begins tonight in Los Angeles... well sort of. To kickoff the Raiders and Patriots, the NFL will have concerts at the Coliseum (site of Super Bowl I), Detroit (site of this year's Super Bowl XL), and Foxborough (where tonight's game will take place). Kanye West will headline the Coliseum concert, and props to the NFL for not giving into pressure and yanking him because he expressed an opinion. While discussion continues......

Grab your shuttlecock, birdie, and long raquet. The World Badminton Championships are here! That's right. Badminton's greatest prize (outside of the Olympic Games) will be awarded this week at The Pond. All of this is part of the great work done recently by the LA Sports Council, which has been working to bring major sporting events to SoCal in an effort to raise our international sports profile. Earlier this year, LA hosted the Track......

Who cares about the Olympic Games or the Dodgers pennant race, when we can talk LA Galaxy soccer! Well, that has to be the talk of LA today, as the Galaxy made a controversial move to fire head coach Sigi Schmid. Guess being in first place wasn't good enough. We here at LAist cannot fathom why the Galaxy would ever fire Schmid. Sure the Galaxy were on a five game winless streak, and lost......