Michael Scott Moore, a writer from Manhattan Beach, was researching a book about pirates in Somalia when he was abducted by a group of 15 men, and he's currently being held hostage, reports the Huffington Post. more ›

By day, they're caring for sick patients or advising homebuyers on their next real estate purchases. But when they go home, they're donning pantaloons and adopting the salty 17th century slang of the high seas. more ›

Southern Californian couple Scott and Jean Adam are among the four dead aboard the Quest, the American yacht hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Arden, reports the LA Times. Negotiations were underway between the pirates, who were holding the Adams and Seattle-based couple Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle hostage, and U.S. military personnel when shots were fired. Both couples on the Quest were shot dead by their captors. more ›

A fun bit of trivia for film snobs & martial arts fans: Jackie Chan's Supercop was originally released on laserdisc by the prestigious Criterion Collection. The Nuart pays tribute to this cinematic masterwork with a midnight screening on Friday. The New Beverly features fellow Criterion alum, Krysztof Kieslowski, with two out of Three Colors, and the Aero has yet another with a Citizen Kane replay. For Overlooked Auteurs, visit the Cinefamily for a deadly double featuring director Ted Kotcheff (who? Mr. Rambo: First Blood & Weekend At Bernie's, that's who!). more ›

Ahoy, land lubbers! September 19th means it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Join in the shenanigans by peppering your speak with some salty sea-worthy sayings, or by taking part in some of the many area Pirate-themed events going on. more ›

Join the Art Deco Society for Cocktails in Historic Places™ -- a learning session and happy hour all wrapped in history. Tonight’s adventure will be held from 6-8 pm at The Kress on Hollywood Boulevard. “Built in 1934 by architect Stephen Burrell as the S.H. Kress Department Store, Angelenos are more likely to remember this soaring Art Deco beauty from its more lurid incarnation as the flaming purple flagship Frederick's of Hollywood boutique.” Deco attire is welcome, but not necessary. If you arrive promptly at 6 pm, there will be a brief tour of the location. more ›

NOTE: See LAist's coverage of world premiere and UC Irvine's Sociology 69: Sociology of Sexuality. more ›

The four men who play Captain Jack Sparrow from the popular Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise were told it was time to walk the plank, so to speak, when they lost their Disneyland jobs recently. So why did the Mouse cut the swashbucklers loose? more ›

In its first weekend of wide release, ($9.1M/$187.7M) continue to chug along towards $200M. more ›

So, yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Superbad are the big releases this weekend. Honestly, I liked both movies well enough, but neither deserves the #1 slot in the weekly rundown like Battlestar Galactica: Razor does. Since new episodes of the best show on television won't air until March 2008, we'll have to make do with this 2-hour movie that follows the adventures of the Pegasus after the treacherous Cylon attack against the... more ›

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. Every week, we present you with a unique OC dining experience. Sometimes that means excellent food at an underappreciated local spot. Other times that means an interesting atmosphere or eating environment. And then there’s Claws Restaurant. A newly-opened pirate-themed, Vietnamese-run Cajun joint. In the... more ›

Let me just come right out and say it. I'm not a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan. Never have been. All of that swashbuckling just makes me feel sea sick. I know that for some folks such a statement might be enough to have me walk the plank, but it's the truth. However, despite my shallow enthusiasm for the Pirates trilogy, and really, pirates in general, I do have a confession to make.... more ›

It seemed like a ridiculous challenge, and now it appears that all 50 Cent did by declaring that he would give up his solo career if his new record was outsold by Kanye West's new record was help Kanye's record. Both discs dropped on Tuesday and 50 looks like he might be the one having to drop out - if the former crack dealer is good with his promise. Billboard is reporting that first-day... more ›

Why are the Dodgers doing this to us? Yesterday’s come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning was great. Never could I have imagined the Dodgers would execute the Earl Weaver (a three-run homer) perfectly to take the lead. It was only the third time this season the Dodgers had won a game when trailing after eight innings; they had lost 59 times in that situation. As high of a high as that was, reality starts... more ›

Throughout this next month, start your Hollywood weekend night with this overly silly, but laugh-out-loud production of three short plays about two genres so lovable that Kenneth Branagh recently shot Shakespeare's As You Like It ninja style and it's inevitable a fourth in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is to come. Pirates and Ninjas, a production by this year's L.A. Weekly Award winner for Production of the Year (Marat/Sade), Blue House Theatre/Big Mama... more ›

Labor Day Weekend is a great time to be in town because everyone else leaves. The streets are empty. There’s elbow room at your favorite local watering hole. And … there’s plenty of local theater just waiting to be seen. Here are LAist’s five theater picks for this weekend: Calling Aphrodite Keiko and her sister were playing outside their home, when something unimaginable happened. It was Hiroshima in 1945. This play focuses on Keiko’s life... more ›

OUT TODAY: Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (Rykodisc) [MP3]: “We R The Handclaps” via Fluxblog Eisley - Combinations (Reprise / Wea) [MP3]: “Invasion” via Lullabyes Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart (Rounder) [MP3]: “Beauty (feat Antony)” via Homo Eclectic The Wildbirds - Golden Daze (Universal Republic) [MP3]: “Way Down Low” via Come Pick Me Up You Say Party! We Say Die! - Lose All Time (Paper Bag) [MP3]: “Giant Hands” via... more ›

One of the great shames of this summer's movie season is that, despite glowing reviews, Stardust failed to find an audience when it opened this past weekend. With the exhibition marketplace being what it is right now, this sprawling, wonderful fairy tale will almost certainly disappear quickly from theaters. Movies just aren't allowed to linger anymore waiting to be discovered. Studios figure they're only throwing good advertising money after bad. I hope Stardust will get a better reception when it comes to DVD in a few months. I think it will. more ›

Pixar's Ratatouille was tops at the box office this weekend, raking in a healthy 47.2 million dollars. While that number was well below previous Pixar films like Cars (60 milllion) and The Incredibles (70 million), it was more than enough to take down Bruce Willis and Live Free or Die Hard which pulled in 33.1 million. Both movies enjoyed across-the-board good reviews and should show decent legs in the coming weeks. more ›

A few weeks ago in this space, I predicted that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer would be the big-budget flop of the summer. Turns out I missed it by one week. Evan Almighty tallied a meager 32.1 million dollars at the box office over the weekend--well below already reduced expectations (the ugliest five words a studio chief can ever hear--worse even than "the call girl taped everything"). Considering its budget was somewhere between 175 and 210 million dollars (depending on who you believe), Evan Almighty should prove to be the summer's #1 bust. Its prospects are further dimmed by the fact that the next couple weeks bring Ratatoille, Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers--all of which are tracking very well. more ›

- Attention Blacks - Dreamworks wants you to audition to be Donkey for the Broadway production of Shrek - Defamer - Was Mayor Tony up to the same monkeybusiness that the Frisco Mayor admitted to? - LA Observed - Now that we know where the Westside of LA begins (La Cienega), has the Associated Press determined that Toluca Lake is in the Hollywood Hills? - LA Brain Terrain - Muslim man in Van Nuys... more ›

LAist is proud to offer a weekly chart roundup of Billboard Magazine's most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week's chart toppers. Behold the #1s. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts... more ›

I love manager ejections. I love it when the manager gets up in the ump’s grill and lets him have it. With that said, it seems to me that Grady Little has the tamest ejections in the history of baseball (click on the appropriate linky for a video of the ejection). more ›

Dodgers 5, Pirates 4 - Brad Penny was taxed for four runs in six innings, but Los Angeles cashed in with three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to keep his record at 7-1. Andre Ethier hit the two-run shot that put the Dodgers ahead for good. Grady Little watched most of the game from the clubhouse after arguing with the ump in the fourth. He's the fifth major league manager to... more ›

7:13 - Saddest Realization of the Night: Although this was theoretically an awards show, it was in actuality a two-hour commercial for Transformers. I don't know how much of what happens on stage makes it to air, but the live feed in the Blogghetto was all Transformers, all the time. It's enough to make me hate the movie and hope it flops. Not that there's a chance of that happening. 7:10 - Best Moment... more ›

5:30 - I can hear the press people and the MTV handlers trying to corral Jack Nicholson in the next tent over, which apparently isn't easy to do. We here in the Blogghetto have been promised by MTV that they will try to get as many celebs as possible in here. You know you're low on the totem pole when even Shia LaBeouf is too big to talk to you. 5:26 - Dane Cook... more ›

5:09 - Cue Vegas-style dancers and an old people's choir singing songs that are deliberately bleeped out. 5:06 - Sarah on Paris Hilton: "To make Paris Hilton more comfortable in jail, I hear they're going to make the bars of her cell out of penises." Big laughs. "I just worry she'll snap her teeth." Even bigger laughs. Cut to a very unamused Paris Hilton. 5:05 - Sarah announces that Paris Hilton will soon be... more ›

The plucky underdogs are front and center this weekend during a brief break between the summer sequel heavyweights. They’ll be trying to steal what little bit of box office they can post-Pirates, pre-Ocean. Have to move fast though, Clooney and his Ocean’s crew seduce your ticket dollars next week with their sensitive eyes, well-tailored suits and charmingly witty speech-cadence. Knocked Up - Seth Rogen accidentally impregnates Katherine Heigl during a one-night-stand (I should be... more ›

Every summer it seems that there’s one mega-budget studio movie that just goes bust-o. This summer I’d wager that flop is going to be the new world. more ›