COMIC BOOK ART The gallery named for the year that brought us Hypercolor T-Shirts, Yo! MTV Raps, and Salt N Pepa's single "Push It" (that's 1988 for those who didn't immediately connect) is currently featuring "Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee" in a show that runs until February 1. Preview some of the artwork online and then activate your Spidey webs and crawl over to Melrose Ave. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. //......

At the end of each month LAist attempts to review some of the music and musicians that were covered over that four week period. Below is a mix of just some of the month's musical moments: Listen to the December 2007 LAist Music Medley here: Billy May - "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo" (Malibu Remix) - cuz it's the season Jim Noir - "My Patch" CD Review by tomdog Pinker Tones - "Sonido Total"......

It's a dream date for fans of Canadian songstress Feist and Austin's Spoon. Feist is just now making her break on the world stage, with a little help from Uncle Steve. But anyone with an ear to the Toronto indie rock scene could hear her coming ever since her solo debut, Monarch, was released on the heels of By Divine Right's "Bless This Mess" Tour (she was their rhythm guitarist). For most of this......

For this belated Season Preview of the USC football team I haven’t concerned myself with typical journalistic staples like accuracy, objectivity, or integrity. I am not a sports writer or blogger (I’ll leave the heavy lifting to guys like Scott Wolf and Ben Malcolmson). What I am is a USC graduate with an extremely biased view of Trojan football and semi-regular Internet access. In the exhaustive research I put into writing this, I have......

The big story this past week was New England Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick. After having one of his coaches illegally videotape the New York Jets’ defensive coaches giving signals, he tried his best to sidestep the issue. We all know that as great of a coach as he is, Belichick is an asshole. In a written statement apologizing for the incident on Wednesday, he said the he misinterpreted the rule. The rule clearly......

LA’s theatre scene is packed with good stuff this week: Dolly Parton serves as muse; a Korean family’s road trip goes wrong; and a bunch of people sing about chess at the Ford. So without further ado, here are LAist’s five theater picks for this week: Journey to Dollywood Jolene is a small-town waitress who idolizes obsesses over Dolly Parton. When a stranger’s car breaks down in town, her life, a rival co-worker’s, and their......

That opening game of the NFL was a kick in the nuts, wasn’t it? The Indianapolis Colts proved their defense wasn’t a mere fluke in last season’s playoff by only allowing the New Orleans Saints offense to only score a field goal in their 41-10 blowout. At least I was right about the Saints having a pretty porous defense. With the exception of the Reggie Wayne fumble that was taken for a touchdown, no......

I know our city hasn’t had an NFL team in over a decade, but that doesn’t mean the NFL is dead in this city. Since most of us Angelinos come from other parts of the country, we still hold on to our hometown football teams. Even though I grew up in Baton Rouge, LA until I was eight, I am a huge Chicago Bears fan. My first recollection of football was Superbowl XX which......

Lately, being a UCLA football fan has required an extraordinary amount of patience and persistence. Every year, the Bruin faithful summon up the courage to believe that this year will be the breakthrough that we’ve been waiting for. And for most of the past ten years, we’ve been teased. Like a Michael Bay movie, we keep buying a ticket foolishly holding out hope that this time it will be good, even though deep down we......

There will be a benefit concert tonight at Safari Sam's for Glen Wood, horn player for the Los Angeles band Bottom 12, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. All funds raised will be donated directly to Wood in order to help him with mounting medical bills. The benefit concert will feature sets by Bottom 12 - who have temporarily reformed for this show (11:00 pm set time); Horny Toad (10:00 pm set time)......

There's only one network that would dare give you the raspberry: and that's G4TV, who will be premiering episodes of an animated "Spaceballs" this fall - you know, that Star Wars Mel Brooks parody you watched about seventy-six times in the 80's? Variety says: Encompassing a one-hour pilot and 13 half-hour episodes, project represents the first scripted series greenlit by the new TV division at MGM, led by Jim Packer, president of the worldwide......

Viral marketing, when done right, can be an absolute blast. Case in point, a pre-Transformers preview for a new J.J. Abrams film, tentatively titled "Cloverfield". What starts out as an innocent, hand-held video of a going-away party quickly descends into front-row footage of the apocalypse, with people running through the streets of New York City dodging flying cars hurled by an unknown source... not to mention a closing shot that already has people talking......

LA celebrates Cinco de Mayo - CBS2 City of LA is only using 1/4 of the Federal money earmarked for the homeless within the year that it's required. Frisco only wastes 12% - LAT Activists question whether LAPD instigated violence at immigration rally - Sign On San Diego LAT journalist apologizes for contacting a person believed to be a Phil Spector juror - CBS2 Preview of Paris' summer in jail - CBS2 Judge blocks......

Welcome to the latest edition of 'Ask the MACist', the column where I answer your Macintosh and other technology questions. Our question this week comes from Jim in Santa Monica. He asks: I have a bunch of PDF files that I need to combine into one document. How do I do that? That's a good question that I get asked frequently. In fact, I had to do this just the other day with several......

Grindhouse The week begins with a pair of 70s actions flicks. The Lady in Red, which has one of my favorite taglines of all time "She's made of bullets, sin & bathtub gin!" is a gangster film starring Robert Conrad as John Dillinger and Pamela Sue Martin as his moll. (Bonus: it was written by John Sayles.) In Bare Knuckles a Los Angeles bounty hunter tracks a psychopath who murders women by using kung-fu. Then......

Spurs 93, Clipper 84 - With all the talk about the winning streak from that team in Texas, it's easy to get confused. That's because the Mav's 17 game streak is over, but San Antonio is on their own run of 13. Los Angeles was the latest victim, and in convincing fashion. The Spurs had 18 points from the charity stripe compared to just 3 for the Clippers, who also gave up 22 points off......

Happy Birthday Create:Fixate! You are 5 years old! And TONIGHT, in honor of this momentous anniversary, KCRW and The Onion are presenting a massive, one-night-only, art exhibition extravaganza called “Alive in Los Angeles.” In true Create:Fixate style, this event will include unique, live painting, musical happenings, experimental sculpture, interactive photography, multi-medium displays, t-shirt screen printing, and video installations. Come early with the fam. Come late with a date. All humans welcome. SATURDAY, December 9......

Thanks to TV Squad, we can keep track this Fall of when all our favorite shows return and those new shows we are curious about. Monday, Sept. 18 8 pm The Class (CBS) 8:30 pm How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 9 pm Two And A Half Men (CBS) 9:30 pm The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) 10 pm CSI: Miami (CBS) 10 pm Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC) [Added] ·......

The Bellrays Have a Little Faith (Cheap Lullaby) – Local rock band with a powerful female soul singer. Catch them live at Sea Level Records on 5/2 at 7:00 PM and Safari Sam’s on 5/12. Listen to some tracks on their Myspace page. Pearl Jam Pearl Jam (J Records) – Critics are saying that this is Pearl Jam’s best record since Vitalogy. They even eponymously titled it. It seems like Clive Davis has once......

Movies... one of the few surviving American traditions from the 20th Century. What's not to like? Popcorn, soda and experiencing a good movie in the company of others. OK... we forgot a few things. In an effort to survive amidst the clamor of new media, cinemas have succumbed to the commercial demon and lost track of their main draw: escapism. We used to go to the theatre to escape advertisements. Now they're everywhere. Even in the movie....

And let the thoughts pour in... Stimulate your intellect at some of these happenings around town: Tonight, Book Soup presents Gerard Jones who will sign "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book." In a real-life Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, long-time comic book insider Gerard Jones (Killing Monsters, Honey I’m Home) chronicles the birth and enduring life of the American comic book. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. W.......

As the nights grow darker and colder, we seem to treasure light and make it the centerpiece of the winter season. Here are some upcoming events to get you in the mood: Bottom's Dream Theater Company presents the World Premiere of "FireFlow: Two Tales from Andersen" featuring 2 Hans Christian Anderson tales adapted by Erik Ehn "Matcher in the Nigh" (The Little Match Girl) and "Blister" (The Story of a Mother) directed by James......

LAist could feel the buzz building a few months ago for Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow — a retro Metropolis meets classic dog-fighting genre story with stars Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie — when the trailers started to hit movie theaters and TV screens everywhere. Since then, the advertising has taken a turn for the worse, dubbing it as the film that "everybody is talking about" and then......

Day 4 Recap: - President George W. Bush took center stage last night, accepting the GOP nomination and trumpeting his administration's record over the last four years. In the Bizarro world of W's mind, phony Medicare "reform" is not really a sop to huge drug companies; tax cuts that have fueled a record breaking budget deficit are growing the economy, not tanking it; millions of lost jobs were the fault of Bill Clinton and......

Day 3 Recap: - It was revealed last night that the undisclosed location Dick Cheney has been known to frequent was actually the dark side of the moon, so removed from reality was his assessment of the successes thus far of the Bush administration. After polishing the President's non-existent laurels, he launched into a mean spirited attack on John Kerry that was dishonest, dishonorable, and, alas, highly effective. - Zell Miller completed his conversion......

Day 2 Recap: - Der Governator (looking ever more plasticized) trotted out his stale "girlie-man" line and name-checked Richard Nixon(!) in his speech extolling the virtues of George Bush, while Maria Shriver looked on, and Joe, Jack, and Bobby rolled over in their graves. - Laura Bush tried her best to put a compassionate face on her husband the "wartime president," and the Bush twins sobered up long enough to deliver a few flaccid......

Day 1 Recap: - John McCain kicks off his 2008 Presidential campaign by verbally bitch-slapping Michael Moore, to the delight of Republicans and Michael Eisner. - Rudy Giuliani invokes 9/11 and compares Bush to Winston Churchill(!?!), all in one speech. - Bush himself tells Matt Lauer he doesn't think the war on terror can be won. Whoops, wait a minute, it can be won, there just won't be a formal declaration of peace. Day......

LAist is smart enough to know not to believe the hype and marketing behind some of Hollywood's brand-new movies. Included in this weekend's stellar trifecta of new releases is the "action-packed" Alien vs. Predator, the "sweet and charming" The Princess Diaries 2 and the "awesome card game as a movie, movie" Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie!. Being overwhelmed with the positive review/sound-bytes on radio and TV from such high-watermark publications as "Bob's Internet Movie Review Website"......