How does UCLA celebrate winning a tough game against the Washington State Cougars? By tanking it against the Washington Huskies. The Bruins played a tight game with the Cougars Thursday night eventually clamping down on in the last 10 minutes of the second half to go on to a 67-59 win. Even though the Cougars had lost their last two games against Stanford and Cal, they are still a tough team. On Wednesday night......

Two weeks ago, local singer/songwriter Inara George (MySpace) and her band The Bird And The Bee performed as the headliner at Detroit Bar (MySpace) in Costa Mesa. Opening for The Bird And The Bee were Two Guns (MySpace) and Charlie Wadhams (MySpace). On Wednesday, The LA Times' Kevin Bronson confirmed that The Bird And The Bee will be performing at Coachella the weekend of April 25th-27th. More photos and a video of "Again And......

There was an article in the LA Times some time ago about the Downtown arts and culture scene suffering Westside patronage due to rush hour traffic. Unless residents we're already Downtown, buying a ticket to a play, symphony concert or opera was not worth the frustration stuck in traffic. On Wednesday, the LA Opera announced their new weekday service to take ticket holders on a luxury motor coach from the Federal Building in Westwood to......

Clippers 104, Pacers 89 - Like some other teams in LA, the Clippers are starting to revolve around one star (cough ... Lakers ... cough ... Galaxy). Unlike other teams, it's just temporary. Sam Cassell had 35 points, as Cuttino Mobley and Ruben Patterson were injured in the first quarter. Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston were already out hurt. What didn't hurt were Chris Kaman's 15 points and 22 rebounds ... Somehow the Clippers are......

Dear Metrolink: I've been a daily, faithful rider on the Antelope Valley line for nearly two years now. I love me the public transportation. It saves me the grief that I know all those dead-stopped drivers along the 5 freeway are going through each morning. But here's the deal. You raised my train fare this month. The monthly cost for my pass from Newhall to Union Station went from $187.50 to $193.25. Fortunately, my......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

Dodgers 5, Marlins 3 - The bad news for Los Angeles this season is that a low percentage of their baserunners make it home. On Wednesday they left the bases juiced three times and stranded a total of 13. The good news is that so many Dodgers are getting on base, they don't need all of them to score. Brett Tomko helped his own cause by bunting home a suicide squeeze, but was more impressive......

Academy Award winning filmmaker Jessica Yu best known for her documentaries Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien, In the Realms of the Unreal and Protagonist, is directing her first narrative feature, Ping Pong Playa described simply as "an Asian-American comedy," and she needs extras for a few crucial scenes. Wanna see yourself on the big screen? Wanna learn what being on a movie set is all about? Wanna watch a talented director......

It took two weeks for the Santa Monica jury to reach its decision on the old man who ended the lives of 10 in 2003, but this morning they agreed that yes, he was guilty of vehicular manslaughter. The 89-year-old Weller was accused of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence after he plowed through the crowded Santa Monica's Farmer Market killing 10 and injuring 63 three summers ago. On Wednesday the jurors,......

Judge nails jail Judge Dean Pregerson, who is presiding over a long-standing suit about conditions at the jail, left his chambers and visited Men's Central in downtown Wednesday. And he really didn't like what he saw. Inmates are being housed in a way "not consistent with basic human values." Jail in South Korea? Hwang Woo-suk, the respected South Korean scientist who was thought to be the first to clone human embroys and extract stem......

John Stewart recently called John Hodgman "very funny." That would be enough to keep us home playing the Daily Show video over and over, but it's not enough for Hodgman. He was center stage at the McSweeney's thing at REDCAT on Saturday and will be at Book Soup tonight. Because it's all about his book, The Areas of My Expertise, which includes the heretofore unknown Hobo Rebellion. Stewart says the book should not be......

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......

Our college guest speakers were never this cool. (Except maybe for the group of Hare Krishnas in sociology sophomore year, but that's another post.) Rock star and cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge surprised about 300 UCLA cancer biology students today for a guest lecture as part of filming for MTV's college network, mtvU's "Stand In" series. She talked about her personal struggle and her music -- and that bald-headed Grammy appearance where she left young......

On Wednesday, Councilman Ed Reyes submitted a new proposal to get rid of grocery-bag blight. While other city leaders advocate following the lead of San Francisco and ban the free distribution of grocery bags in supermarkets, the Environmental News Network reports that Councilman Reyes wants manufacturers of plastics and officials in grocery chains to partner with him on bag cleanups and recycling programs. "San Francisco has the wherewithal to charge that much. San Francisco......

Vromans Bookstore in Pasadena has scheduled some intriguing book signings this week. On Wednesday, September 22, 2004 7:00 PM, Kevin Starr discusses & signs Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. Starr, widely acknowledged as California's premiere historian, examines our state in a decade when it was sometimes stumbling, sometimes humbled, but, more often, flourishing with its usual panache. Ask him how he feels about the semi-enthusiastic reviews, via LA Observed, he's getting......