Nam Le was recently in town to read from and sign The Boat, a wildly diverse and intense collection of short stories that did not immediately strike us a short stories and which prompted an interesting dialogue. While we make a point in our author interviews to ask questions that would be of interest to our readers, we found that in this case, we were compelled to ask some pointed questions about our own reading......

In an editorial yesterday, the Daily News let its readers know that the Department of Power and Water's union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, failed to sue the paper twice and agreed to pay $17,213 for legal fees. Why? Because they wanted to stop the Daily News from publishing the names, positions and salaries of department employees. Why publish this info anyway? They found that DWP workers earn an average of......

There's no such thing as a quiet Monday in this town. Here's a quick look at what's happening: FILM: If you're a historic film buff, then head over the Academy Linwood-Dunn Theatre for A Century Ago: The Films of 1907. The event celebrates the year 1907 and its developmental contributions to motion pictures with a program of selected films. The evening will present a partial survey of turn-of-the-20th-century international filmmaking with trick films, actualities, primitive......

Dave Isay will be at the 3rd Street Promenade Borders today at 2pm to discuss StoryCorps - the ambitious project that toured the country in search of stories. Your stories. Our stories. Your great-grandmother's buried stories that you knew nothing about and then, suddenly, you did and nothing was quite the same again. 10,000 interviews that StoryCorps gathered over the past four years (from the two booths in New York to the traveling booths......

A review of Adrian Tomine's new graphic novel, Shortcomings....

An area of Mexico larger than metro LA is almost completely underwater after two days of severe flooding. Granted, we're busy fighting a Global War on Terror and it's inconvenient to help our neighbors, not to mention our own domestic needs, but... it's probably worth knowing that 80 percent of Tabasco is underwater. More rain is on its way. Our fires were on front pages around the world. So how come when Mexico experiences......

While the Great UCLA Versus USC Debate may never reach a resolution (those damn Trojans are too hard-headed and engorged with pride to recognize true superiority when they see it), all Californians can hold their heads up with pride thanks to our excellent universities. I don't know if you noticed the recent Washington Monthly ratings of the nation's top schools, but they're giving the U.S. News and World Report a run for their money.......

Over hot chocolate and chocolate-chip rugula at Canter’s in Hollywood, we spoke with LA author Mark Z. Danielewski about his latest novel Only Revolutions and got all worked up about film, freedom and fonts. He will be reading tonight @ UCLA, 5 p.m. RSVP here or call (310) 206-0961 to reserve a seat. You were recently quoted as saying if you could live anywhere in the world, it would be Los Angeles. You’ve traveled......

Within the first 10 pages of Brandon Christopher's Dirty Little Altar Boy, a black-rubber dildo makes an appearance, a church's Eucharist wafers get stolen, and young Brandon reveals that he has to wear two pairs of underwear to deal with the anxieties of sixth grade. That's when you start to realize that you're not reading the standard collection of childhood reflections, but are perusing the memories of a great storyteller, one with the ability to......

I know you're up there somewhere at your Big Sur in the Sky (hopefully), probably ignorant of all the buzz about the fiftieth anniversary of the publishing of On the Road, but I wanted you to know this: when I was fifteen years old I taped the following lines to the wall above my desk, and I meditated upon them sometimes when I was alone in my room much like you did, I suppose,......

In a couple of weeks I will be joining 40,000 artists, misfits, deviants, hippies, vampires, musicians, furries, and nudists to participate in the 21st Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. So if you happen to be strolling through Venice Beach during the week of Aug. 27- Sept. 3 and wonder where all the freaks are at don’t be alarmed, we’re all just taking a much needed vacation from the default......

Patrick Goldstein has a great idea. Replace advertising on the LA Times front page with a CD full of new music. Given that the recorded music business is pretty much over, and that exposure via film, TV and concerts is the primary revenue source for musicians outside of publishing assets for bands that write their own material, this seems like a pretty good idea. Talk to Prince. He has sold tens of millions of......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Watching the mainstream media hate on bloggers is becoming something of a sport, but if I were the betting type I wouldn't put my money on old school, print media. LA Times critic Richard Schickel is the latest to jump on the bandwagon. I like the Schickel's writing. I think he's a smart guy, and I respect his criticism. But he seems lost about the direction the publishing industry is heading. Schickel is absolutely......

Grindhouse - I've already reviewed this movie, so I won't bother rehashing it, but trust me, Grindhouse totally freakin' rocks! Three full hours of beautiful cinematic mayhem. Are We Done Yet? - Ice Cube stars as a beleaguered urban dad who moves with his new wife (Nia Long) and her two kids to their dream house in the 'burbs and is terrorized by a contractor (John C. McGinley from Scrubs). Black Book - Dutch-born......

Blades of Glory - Will Ferrell & Jon Heder (AKA Napoleon Dynamite) star as a pair of rival ice skaters who are banned from men's single competition but discover a loophole that allows them to compete as a pairs team. Look for Amy Poehler and her real-life husband Will Arnett (Gob on Arrested Development) as pairs skating champs. After the Wedding - Danish director Susanne Bier has created a comedy/drama Mads Mikkelsen (the bleeding......

Photo by The Spinosaurus @ Flickr Tom LaBonge Proposes Smoke Free Parks Los Angeles Councilman Proposes Smoke-Free Parks Los Angeles parks may be headed for smoke-free designation if City Councilman Tom LaBonge has his way. Sam Zell's bid for Tribune Co. is valued at $33 a share Chicago billionaire Sam Zell's bid for Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns the LA Times, is valued at roughly $33 per share. The Man Behind Motor Trend Magazine Dies......

Today was D-Day in the long and storied public life of Tommy Lasorda. Today was the day he promised that he would sue Jody "Babydol" Gibson, the convicted Hollywood Madam, if she went through with publishing her tell-all book where she had a full chapter about the former Dodger great, as well as many other chapters containing the sexual details of other famous Hollywood movers and shakers. "I have never heard of this woman......

David Hiller may be the most pessimistic man in the newspaper business. The Tribune Company exec who took over as publisher of the Times when Jeff Johnson was forced out for refusing to roll heads down Spring Street, appears neither ambitious, nor comfortable. His rambling rhetoric (listen below) largely expressed that he "just doesn't get it" and that even he can't wait to get his butt kicked back to Chi-town after the TribCo pinches itself......

When we asked Guy Zimmerman, Artistic Director of Padua Playwrights, to make a Best of 2006 list, we found that it was a great way for Angelenos to see Los Angeles in 2007. From the shows to the venues he mentions, these are things to add to your "need to check out" list for 2007. He even gives kudos to a play that can be still seen -- The 99c Only Show -- three......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

When he's not publishing the Gothamist empire, Jake Dobkin enjoys a peaceful weekend involving fly fishing, trading arms for hostages, and rollin in his 6-4 taking pictures of graffiti - or what the kids call "street art". He's even created a blog, Streetsy, solely to celebrate the art that he's photographed around the world. The map above contains Jake's top ten best LA Street Art spots in our fair city. Maybe you know of......

Los Angeles native, Douglas Kearny, will be celebrating the publishing of his first book, Fear, some at Bergamot Station (Gallery A-5) on Friday, November 17th from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Photo of an Altadena Sunset by sfPhotocraft via Flickr.......

On 13 November, 2002, I had this silly idea that I would write a play every day for a year. It would be about being present and being committed to the artistic process every single day, regardless of the ‘weather.’ It became a daily meditation, a daily prayer celebrating the rich and strange process of a writing life ~ Suzan-Lori Parks Hey, LAist writes everyday too. How strange that we share this habit with......

View Stats on LAPD Video Wednesday: Around 3,500 Thursday: Around 4,000 Friday: Around 27,000 Monday: Over 677,100 Disappearing Act Sean Bonner of Metroblogging LA writes an op-ed on an editorial about Use of Force on LAPD's blog. As of this publishing, the LAPD's editorial is missing. No distractions for you! Many corporate-based Internet filters block YouTube, and City Hall is no exception. But the fact that it took hours to see the video within......

Tribune Corp. wanted some heads to roll in downtown LA, and they got their wish with Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson, who was forced to resign today. "Jeff and I agreed that this change is best at this time because Tribune and Times executives need to be aligned on how to shape our future," said Scott Smith, Tribune Publishing president to the Associated Press. "We thank Jeff for his leadership of important advances at the......

Last night I had a dream I was walking on an empty freeway with a martini in one hand and a beedog in the other. Bathrobe clad with a cigarette dangling from my mouth like Valley of the Dolls meets The Color of Money, I flag down Mr. T, who is speeding by on a tractor while singing “Private Eyes,” by Hall and Oates. We exchange knock-knock jokes and arrive at an oceanfront condo......

Hillary Carlip is a handful. She's an author, juggler, entertainer, and all around prankster. She's just published "Queen of the Oddballs," her memoir about about growing up at celebrity's edge in Hollywood. Independent booksellers selected the book as their Book Sense Pick for May. Hillary is also a familiar web presence. Two years ago, she started the FRESH YARN literary website, the first online salon for personal essays. The site resumes its publishing schedule......

Let's face it, Angelenos, we're all a bunch of gossips. How else to explain that peculiar L.A. habit of looking up at each new customer who crosses a restaurant's threshold, assessing their attractiveness and/or celebrity. In certain dining establishments around West Hollywood, the atmosphere is akin to a high school cafeteria. One keeps expecting restaurant patrons to break out in song like in that scene in the film, “Gigi,” where guests seated at Maxim’s......

Los Angeles may not be dreamy all of the time, but the area certainly seems to inhabit the dreams of Angelenos and non-Angelenos alike. Local writer Michelle Markel collected her favorite LA landmarks and wrote “Dream Town,” an illustrated book for children about a grandma telling her snowbound grandchildren about her days living in a magical land called Southern California, highlighting the best in LA's unique architecture in the process. Michelle has a couple of......