MTV's "The Real World" returns for its 20th season which is scary because I remember the premiere of this show back in 1992. My roommates and I, and our significant others (or not) would get together and watch the show which seemed scarily innovative at the time - _anything_ could happen! From being an innovator in reality programming to just another in a field of crowded participants, another season of "The Real World" seems like......

The Metropolitan Water Board is set to approve a controversial new "drought plan" for Southern California. More updates on the tragic Oxnard shooting that has left one student seriously injured and possibly dead. Twelve top Defamer posts from outgoing editor Mark Lisanti, via...some guy's Tumblr account. Teh internets! Are you a lazy asshole? But a romantic lazy asshole? Well, check out last minute V-Day flower bargains from the Daily News' Bargain Hunter Blog. File......

MTV Networks announced yesterday that it delivered more than "1.2 billion video streams from MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com in 2007, up 30% from 2006." And nearly half of those streams? Music videos. You know, the things tagged onto the end of shows and in between commercials and reruns of The Real World: Who Cares What City Because It's All the Same show. Here are the top 10 videos from 2007 that were most-streamed across......

Tom Anderson -dork ---------vs--------- Tom Anderson 2.0 -rich Cali millionaire +has more friends +has more money +works in front of the computer all day +makes club appearances +lives in LA +travels the globe +has to fight spammers +has to fight off hordes of hot chicks +has a window office +has VIP access +answers to Rupert +answers booty-calls +looks like a dork +looks LAmerican +has his own parking spot +takes the newscorp private jet winner:......

The Dan Patrick radio show recently debuted in Southern California (check 570 KLAC in the mornings), but this isn't what he meant by "En Fuego." While often immune to the real world, local sports have been impacted by the disaster in several ways. Of course, let's keep this all in perspective ... the real losses are to the families and the real heroes are the firefighters. - The San Diego Chargers are practicing in Arizona......

Sorry for the lateness of this column...computer problems just bite. Anyway, this week's theater picks are filled with abuse, angst and comedy -- but not necessarily in the same show: Lost Angeles Ten Gen Xers – including a scientist who’s gotten himself a date with a beautiful woman whom he had been stalking and a woman who’s scored a MySpace date with “the world’s hottest lesbian” – are trying to find their way in the......

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......

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post celebrating the return of American Gladiators reruns to ESPN Classic. Now, word is that NBC is going one step further, reviving the athletic game show for sometime next season. The Variety article states that: The competition skein -- which featured players with names like Nitro, Turbo and Laser in its campy, early '90s syndie incarnation -- will be updated for the 21st century with new technology......

Anastasia Griffith plays the hot, and somewhat indiscreet drug-using and slutty restauranteur Katie Connor in "Damages" (FX, Tuesdays, 10:00pm) - you might also remember her from "Alfie" and "Dirty Rotten Love". The story so far as we know it shows Katie getting played by both corporate scumbag Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) and no-holds barred harpie lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Sorry about the pigeonholing stereotypes - everybody plays there characters well beyond those cookie-cutter......

We love when constructive discussion begets in the comment section of our posts. And we love when comments come in a couple months later -- after all, these are living documents. Last night, a new comment appeared on a post from June about the new enforcement camera at Coldwater Canyon and Oxnard and it brought something to the table we thought worth highlighting:recently I was at an intersection with a red light camera. due to......

Trishelle Cannatella is our favorite Real World cast member even though we just discovered her last name. Yes we love her even moreso than Puck, but that's probably because even through the tv screen we can tell that if we met him he would probably reek and snort a nose rocket at us, whereas Trishelle would probably stumble into our arms and give us a real sweet hug. We loved her in the Surreal Life,......

- The Beastie Boys will play some mellow, intimate, laid back classy shows in support of their upcoming all-instrumental cd The Mix-Up (6/26). They will also do seven full on old school hip hop shows around the country and one of them is within an hour and a half drive of LA, up in the hills of Santa Barbara at the beautiful County Bowl (8/23) - Pitchfork - Frustrating 9-1-1 calls from King-Harbor showing......

The first in a series of interviews with members of the Los Angeles political scene, politicians, political connectors and the politically connected, I had a short chat with Brady Westwater, downtown advocate, one of the busiest men in LA politics and the LA Cowboy. What is the LA Cowboy’s role in the LA political arena? I started the LA Cowboy before I became apart of the LA Downtown Council and it was going to......

MTV doesn't show music videos any more, they make tv shows that have music in them. It's sorta genius except for the fact that we loved some of those videos, and it helped us learn what bands we should go out and, you know, support. Whatevs, MTV and VH-1 keep on pumping out some quality reality-based programs that you might not like but we freaking love. The Real World, Charm School, and Rob and......

The premise of CBS' upcoming Kid Nation may be the BEST idea for a reality show I have ever heard in my entire life: a group of 8 to 15-year-olds are plunked in a remote locale and forced to create their own society. Awesome! So awesome that William Golding's estate ought to sue for residuals, right? Too bad spineless CBS execs already f*ed up the show by allowing kids to leave when they want and......

Alonzo King has a dance company called LINES Ballet in San Francisco. Last night he received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (DFA) in the annual graduation tradition at CalArts. His speech is short and simple, but his message is so very true for artists entering into the "real world" for the beginning of the end of the beginning.......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Having just come back from touring in Europe, singer songwriter Shane Alexander, the former frontman of Los Angeles band Damone, will (heads up) play Tuesday night at Troubadour. Although he has been compared to the likes of Jack Johnson, James Blunt and Damien Rice, Alexander holds his own with a unique blend of raw melodies, soft vocals, haunting background harmonies and complex guitar parts. After leaving Damone in 2003 Alexander immediately launched his solo career......

Will someone please start putting some cameras in the LA Times building? It wouldn't be much different than The Real World meets Survivor, with people having to live with each other even though they don't want to, and either quitting or getting fired in very bizarre power plays. Today episode involves the Times Ed Page editor Andrés Martinez, who resigned today out of protest when the paper announced that it would not run the special......

At the heart of the swirling vortex of NBA trade rumors this week is a whopper involving the Lakers -- the chance to bring in All-Star point guard Jason Kidd. It’s the big topic on local and national sports talk radio, basketball message boards and barstool conversations. It’s the sports talk equivalent of Anna Nicole this week. You probably don’t want to be Kidd’s wife, but being his teammate makes a lot of sense for......

Recommended After Innocence - Jessica Sanders directs this documentary detailing the stories of seven men who were wrongfully imprisoned for decades (some of them on death row) before finally being exonerated by DNA evidence. The Amazing Screw-On Head - This animated 30-minute pilot (I can only hope there will be more episodes) based on the comic book by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is full of awesome animation (it closely mimics Mignola's style), witty dialogue,......

Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away and the scent of love is in the air. For some, it’s a sweet smell of that someone special, and for others, it’s a stench filled with the one that got away (or the one you never had to begin with). Regardless of whether 2/14 is a day of celebration or mourning for you, you’ve undoubtedly got a memory of a past relationship that fell by......

A Word or 12: Dirt - I forgot to mention Dirt yesterday, someone just kill me please. Tonight - Wednesday - January 31st, 2007 The Spiral Staircase (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) This nifty thriller from the '40s features a strangler that follows a mute maid through a dark New England mansion during a storm. Lakers @ Celtics (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) Monster (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) Charlize Theron transorms herself in an Oscar winning performance. Worth watching just......

Clippers 115, Bucks 96 - The Clippers understand injuries all too well. It also looks like they learned how to exploit them. Milwaukee, missing four key players, hobbled into the Staples Center and fell behind by ten in the first quarter. After the game, Elton Brand observed that the loosing Michael Redd significantly decreased the Buck's outside shooting, allowing the Clipper's defense to play closer in. Brand had a game high 25. Since the result......

Long Beach native Morgan J. Freeman has lived the good life, and finally he's sharing some of it with the rest of the world. Because Southern California wasn't plush enough, Morgan got his undergrad degree at UC Santa Barbara (where he met yours truly while we worked with each other at the college paper), jetted out to NYU for a little film school. Picked up a Sundance award during his last days at film......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary. And now, the awkward......

Wednesday - Tonight "NHL Hockey" (KDOC, 6:00 p.m.) Ducks @ Avalanche "NHL Hockey" (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) Kings @ Sharks "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Sonics @ Clippers "Everyone Says I Love You" (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) An evening of Woody Allen movies on IFC "Jericho/Criminal Minds/CSI: NY" (CBS, 8:00 - 11:00 p.m.) New episodes. "Madonna: The Confessions Tour - Live From London" (NBC, 8 p.m.) Except, it's not really live I don't think, and......

There is more to looking something up than Google. Scary, but true. LAist recently came across PR Week's listing of the "Top Education Reference Websites" for last week and thought we'd share. Cause we're nice, and we want you to learn stuff. You're welcome. 1) Wikipedia Wikipedia is the master of all things reference. You want information about something, albeit sometimes basic, this is a great place to start. Be aware that for a......

- Yes on Prop 89, and not just because the LA Times and other Big Businesses are against it. - Some people still don't believe, even after a jury says he did it on purpose, that an old man would plow through a crowd of youngins on purpose. - Michael J. Fox wants Missouri to get their heads out of their asses. - "Marie Antoinette" probably sucks - While everyone else has to schlep......