It's the start of a beautiful, long weekend in LA, and we just really liked this photo from LAist's flickr pool. / Photo by el daverino via flickr. Yes, we know it's the start of a three-day weekend, and many of you are getting out of dodge. But if you're around, there are a lot of quality events going on all weekend. Here's a sampling of what's happening tonight: THEATRE The 10 Minute Play......

"No Country For Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," and "Atonement" all received nominations for Best Picture this morning, as the Academy Award nominations were announced in Beverly Hills. "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood" are the front runners with eight noms apiece, including a Best Actor nod for perennial Oscar fav Daniel Day-Lewis, and directing nominations for the Coen Bros. and Paul Thomas Anderson. While Javier Bardem was recognized......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

No deal in the writer's strike before Xmas folks, so we might just have to entertain ourselves. Monday's looking sparse - oh wait, was I supposed to highlight dreck like K-Ville, Samantha Who?, and Deal or No Deal? No thanks. 6:00pm Larry King Live CNN - Relatively new Los Angelino Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham is the interviewee today. Will there be more talk about her hubbie's giant schlong? Or about how she sleeps naked with......

In a story of truly fucked notions, the LAUSD is short $53-million because they overpaid around 36,000 employees due to a rushed installation and implementation of Business Tools for Schools, a payroll system that couldn't handle calculating the nuances of a teacher's "complicated job assignments and unusual work schedules," according to the LA Times. It's not only that they overpaid employees, they also underpaid and didn't even pay some employees, owing some $7 million.For......

Those who believe we shouldn't be covering Orange County, cover your eyes for a few seconds: okay! O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona, his wife, and many others used the Sheriff's office as a cover to accept gifts, loans, and other compensation totalling $350,000. Carona has been indicted on ten separate federal counts of corruption. That big rig crash on the 405 at La Tijera was a real doozy -- the accident wasn't cleaned up until......

Third times a charm? After being married to Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, Pamela Anderson made it official with Paris Hilton's sloppy seconds, Rick Soloman at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas this weekend - Dlisted Although STILL no official announcement has been made, Christina Aguilera and husband Jordan Bratman registered for baby - People After a long Saturday of discussions with her family who were desperate to make this intervention successful, Britney Spears stormed......

Check out late night TV, lots of good stuff including an appearance of Juliette and the Licks (photo via Juliette's Myspace) on the Late Late Show. Tonight we also present the guilty pleasures of Steve-O's new show Dr. Steve-O, USA @ 11:00pm. Steve-O's sidekick is the lovely Trishelle of Real World fame who was interviewed here on LAist a couple months ago. The premise is that Steve-O and Trishelle subject "wussies" to various humiliations......

It’s rare that a movie can change a hardened opinion and yet that’s exactly what Sean Penn has done with his sublime adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. When I originally read the book in 1997, my view of Christopher McCandless was essentially in-line with those—largely Alaskans--who considered him an ill-prepared, arrogant fool who died needlessly. The romance of his life and death was entirely lost on me. But no longer. Penn’s film......

The fall tradition of releasing prestige films continues tomorrow as Resident Evil: Extinction opens wide. Milla Jovovich stars as the beneficent Alice, a latter-day Tess of the d'Urbervilles who is charged with the stygian task of killing armies of the undead--and the joke is now over. Anyone dumb enough to see the latest chapter of this awful series probably didn't notice anyway. At least there's nudity. But not from Ali Larter. Dang! Into the......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

Over the last few months, there have been rumblings about a possible Largo concert film. And 24 hours ago, a trailer popped up on YouTube that confirmed it all. Produced by Largo owner Mark Flanagan and Andrew van Baal, the film will be sure to highlight the intimate magic of this unassuming venue on Fairfax Ave. Featuring snippets of performances by Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, Paul F. Tompkins, Zach Galifianakis, Nickel Creek, Grant Lee......

For the second year in a row UC Santa Barbara was ranked the 10th Best Party School by the Princeton Review. In their newly released 2008 edition of The Best 366 Colleges, the university 90 minutes north of LA was the only California school to make the Top 10. The top ranked party school this year was West Virginia University, a school that has made the list seven times in the past 15 years.......

Morris Day & the Time, Sea Wolf, The Broken West, Ben Harper, Blonde Redhead, The Emotions, Medusa, Breakestra, Autolux, Culver City Dub Collective, The Parson Red Heads, The Pity Party, Division Day, others @ Sunset Junction (10a-10p) Yolanda Adams, Angie Stone, Clarence Carter, The Laws Family, Eloise Laws, Barbara Morrison, Linda Hopkins, Billy Valentine @ Compton Summer Soul Jam, Par 3 Golf Course Stevie Nicks, ZZ Top, The Pretenders, Stray Cats, Sugar Ray @......

Bukowski in LA, LA in Bukowski. The man was quintessential LA and our fair city informed every word, every rant, every foul-mouthed rush of brilliance that he created. In honor of Bukowski's birthday, Nobody Reads in LA will be reading from his novel Post Office. The ranting kicks-off at Charlie O's Bar in the Alexandria Hotel tonight @ 7pm. In true Buk style, drinks are served until 2am. If you can't make it out......

They're sure to fill up soon, but as of 9 a.m. this morning, you can still make reservations to see Aimee Mann at Largo on August 22, 23 or 24. Seeing her in such a small venue is a rare treat, and the cover charge will probably be only $20 (plus a $15 per person food minimum for dinner reservations). As soon as the mug graphic appears next to the dates in the Schedule......

PB&J playing their hit @ Red Eye Fly, SXSW 3/14 Peter Bjorn & John, Cass McCombs @ Henry Fonda Godsmack @ The Wiltern MIA @ Echoplex Michael Penn, Patton Oswalt @ Largo Oliver Future, The Gray Kid, Astra Heights @ The Troubadour The Last Town Chorus @ Amoeba (6pm) Maxeen, The Mercy Kiss, Acute @ Key Club Mower, Lords of Rock & Roll Thunder & Lightning @ Viper Room Bat For Lashes, Tara Busch,......

Free to Be… You and Me is a cult classic for many kids of the 1970's. Gwyneth Paltrow even credits this film as one of her inspirations to become an actor. Hey man, whatever floats your boat. First released in November 1972, and later in 1974 as a television special, "Free to Be...You and Me" featured songs and stories to illustrate and define core values such as individuality, tolerance, and happiness with one's identity.......

So Paris has officially been on lockdown for two days now, twenty-one to go. Arriving at the Lynwood detention center she was sentenced to, at 11:15 pm on Sunday night, sources say she was “quiet” as she went through her medical screening that did NOT include the regulatory cavity search. She then changed into her orange jumpsuit and was escorted to her cell where as of now she has no cellmate, but there could be......

Clutch, Year Long Disaster, Backyard Tire Fire, Warner Drive @ Roxy Michael Penn, Patton Oswalt @ Largo A Flock of Seagulls @ Hollywood Park Uncle Monk, String Theory, Groovy Rednecks @ Knitting Factory The Autumns, The Sugarplastic, The World Record, Veil Veil Vanish @ Spaceland The Mae Shi, Abe Vigoda, Anchors for Architects, Maria @ Pehrspace Nous Non Plus, Porterville, Pity Party @ Safari Sam's Malcolm Jamal Warner's Miles Long, David Ryan Harris, Dujeous......

While there's certainly more than a few funky little coffeeshops in the Southland where you can get your java on, how many of them can offer cool services like free headshot-worthy portraits from an up-and-coming photographer? At Viento Y Agua in Long Beach, that's exactly what you'll be getting this weekend. Local photographer and lecturer Mitchell Maher will be taking free photos of the Viento’s patrons all day on Sunday, May 6th. His style......

New Releases - April 17, 2007 Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Universal) Noisettes - What's the Time Mr. Wolf? (Universal) Original Soundtrack - Hot Fuzz [Cherry Tree] (Cherry Tree) Superdrag - Changin' Tires on the Road to Ruin (Arena Rock Recording) The Cowboy Junkies - At the End of Paths Taken (Zoe) AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip [Reissue] (Sony) Breaking Benjamin - Phobia [CD/DVD] (Hollywood) Bucky Covington - Bucky Covington (Lyric Street) Clorox......

Bloc Party, The Like @ The Wiltern Rod Stewart @ Staples Center Amy Winehouse @ Spaceland canceled Richard Cheese (above) @ The Derby Evidence @ Amoeba Michael Penn @ Largo Stars & Scars, Oso, The Mirrors @ The Good Hurt Time Flys, The Nice Boys, Birds of Avalon, Sweet Evil @ The Scene The Tender Box, The After Midnight Project, The Hedrons, The Scanners @ Key Club The Helio Sequence, Dirty on Purpose, Besnard......

Drawing Restraint Why woo your sweetheart with such tediously traditional notions as flowers, teddy bears and edible panties when you could watch Matthew Barney and his inamorata Bjork going at each other with flensing knives on the deck of a Japanese whaling vessel in Drawing Restraint 9? And if that's not enough Barney for you, there's the making-of documentary Matthew Barney: No Restraint. His work has sometimes been described as a "hauntingly dreamlike fantasy......

Mafioso - In 1962, a decade before The Godfather, Alberto Lattuada came out with this crime drama starring Alberto Sordi as a factory foreman who returns to his hometown of Sicily and is unwittingly pressed into service as a hitman for the local Don. Considered by many to be the first Italian movie to portray the modern Mafia, the film is noted for its faithful and darkly funny depiction of mob life. Breaking and......

Tonight - Friday - January 26th, 2007 Paris (the City) Marathon - Paris, When It Sizzles / An American In Paris / To Paris, With Love (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) A mental vacation for you. Winter X Games (ESPN, 6:30 p.m.) Skiing, men's Superpipe final, Snowmobile SnoCross Women's Final - the Australian Open (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.) It's Sharapova vs Serena Kings @ Canucks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Charlie Rose (PBS, 11:30 p.m.) Oscar nominees Dame Helen......

A Word Or 78: Last night I didn't watch anything that I had listed or even Tivoed. I ended up watching "Monster In a Box" on IFC because I had the privelege of seeing Spalding Gray a couple times and there he was again on TV. Wile watching the movie I found it extraordinarily sad to both hear this amazing person talk about his mother's suicide as well as allude to committing suicide himself.......

A Word or 33: Is anyone watching "Idol"? I can't believe it's back, I just haven't accepted it. Maybe when Diana Ross comes on as a consultant, perhaps after she sues "Dreamgirls," then I might consider it. Today - Wednesday - January 17th, 2007 Lakers @ Spurs (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) "Foreign Correspondent" (TCM, 7:00 p.m.) A '40s classic from Hitchcock. "American Idol" (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Season premiere part deux. "Armed & Famous" (CBS, 8:00......

- Just like Mel Gibson, Judith Regan allegedly has a Jew problem too - LA Times - Sean Penn accepts award by asking for the impeachment of President Bush to begin - E&P - The prosecution calls The Vice President of the United States - CBS - Don't call it a comeback: Inflation returns with a bullet. Two percent jump is largest spike in 30 years. Heck of a job, Bushie - Breitbart -......

Tonight - Monday TV Junkie is desperate, there ain't crap for new stuff on tonight other than late night talk - and the (free) movie channels have nothing inspiring on AND I have no new DVDs to look at, somebody help me for effssake! Monday Night Football: Bengals @ Colts (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Flames @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) "Identity" (NBC, 9 p.m. EST) A new game show with Penn Jillette, let the magic......