Saturday morning was the first community meeting to discuss the Hollywood Freeway Central Park. Meeting in an elementary school auditorium, like they do in the Simpsons, those that attended saw Assemblyman Mike Feuer, LA City Council President Eric Garcetti and others speak about this park and the story behind it. In part I, I wrote about the failures of design in Los Angeles and a need to use architecture to embrace our 36 freeways.......

There are two movies that are being scandalously left off the year-end best lists. The first, Rescue Dawn, is already out on DVD. The second, Once, is available today. Simply put, this is one of the best musicals and love stories in years. Buy it and watch it immediately. The Simpsons Movie was much better than I expected. If only the same care was put into the TV series. Why did Stardust bomb? It......

What's better than spending your Friday night among free donuts and over 85 pieces of art from The Simpsons? Yeah, that's right, nothing. Starting at 6 p.m. tomorrow night, Every Picture Tells A Story on Montana Ave. will have an art opening showing off and selling 40 original production drawings from The Simpons Movie, over 25 original production cells from TV show and limited edition prints and treatments from film. Many of the prints are......

MUSIC: Machine Project is back with an evening of experimental folk music mix. The evening features the sounds of Ryan Fuller, Julie Carpenter, Laura Steenberge, Ruthann Friedman, rickyricky, Pilar Diaz, Pawko and Marshweed. 8 pm // Machine Project // 1200 D. N. Alvarado, Downtown // Free. THEATRE: The Anteus Company presents two nights of eight Noel Coward plays. Night Two takes place tonight featuring the plays: Come The Wild - Red Peppers, Fumed Oak,......

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every......

If you keep walking west down Hollywood Blvd past the nonsense of Hollywood & Highland, past the tourist and super heroes at the Chinese Theater and down the next block, you will find the Knitting Factory, tucked away beneath what was once a movie theater. Boasting three stages and tons of bands every night, the Knitting Factory comes to us via New York and has hosted some shows this year that LAist had a great......

Superbad became the first movie since late May to win back-to-back weekends, owing as much to a weak slate of openers as to its own relative strength. The Judd Apatow-produced dick montage hauled in 18 million bucks and helped push the summer box office to a record 4.003 billion dollars. It's the first 4 billion dollar summer ever, though higher ticket prices (and not increased admissions) account for that big, shiny number. The Bourne......

Exceeding even the most optimistic of expectations, Superbad hauled in a huge 33.1 million dollars to top the box office this weekend. Seth Rogen can do no wrong right now. The terrible, awful, unfunny Rush Hour 3 dipped precipitously in its second weekend, pulling in 21.8 million and bringing its total to 88.1M. The Bourne Ultimatum stayed strong in its third week, finishing third at 18.9 million and now standing at 163.8M. The Simpsons......

Even though Rush Hour 3 did top the box office this weekend, I take some solace in the fact that it underperformed at 50.2 million dollars. Considering that New Line gave away so much profit to get the movie made, there's hope that we've seen the last of the never-funny pairing of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Bourne Ultimatum had a solid second week, adding 33.6 million to raise its cume to 132.3 million.......

I am a huge Simpsons fan. I still Tivo the 6:00, 7:30, and 11:00 episodes even though I have all the DVD’s. One of my best friends and I have entire conversations based on Simpsons quotes. My background image on my computer is a screen capture of Marge holding a box of the “number three cracker company”, Allied Biscuit. And yet, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I just couldn’t get into the movie.......

Before catching The Simpsons this past weekend, this LAist poster had to sit through -- not just one -- but four lame ass trailers. Usually, you get a 50-50 chance of seeing at least one good trailer...because, now call us crazy, but isn't the purpose of a movie trailer to entice people to actually go see the film? At the very least, aren't we supposed to say, "Yeah, the trailer's the best part of......

In the last year, HBO has lost four of my favorite shows for various reasons--The Sopranos, Extras, Deadwood and Rome. Do you hear that sound, HBO? That sound is Showtime creeping up on you. At least the second season of Rome is now available on DVD. If you like gratuitous sex mixed with your gratuitious violence (and who doesn't?), then Rome is the show for you. One of the last great seasons of The......

In what the Wall Street crowd might call a flight to quality, North American audiences made The Bourne Ultimatum this weekend's box office champ by spending 70.1 million dollars on the superb third installment of the Matt Damon franchise. Expect across-the-board great reviews and excellent word-of-mouth to keep Bourne afloat for the rest of the summer, especially now that the release schedule is lightening up a bit. The Simpsons Movie nose-dived 65% after an......

USC plans on selling comic Jack Oakie's historic estate in the San Fernando Valley to a developer. A UCLA police officer guilty of repeatedly shocking a student with an electric Taser was accused of violating department rules in a recent report. Things aren't looking too good for the King-Harbor Hospital. ESPN X Games 13 begins today at The Home Depot Center and Staples Center. What would our City Council members look like if they......

Using a sweet ten inch D.I.Y. Bart Simpson Blank Platform Qee Figure as a blank canvas, 50 artists from Doink to Rentals frontman Matt Sharp to Simpsons creator Matt Groening himself have created one-of-a-kind Simpsons art that will be unveiled today in Hollywood. Meltdown Comics at 7522 W Sunset Blvd is hosting an opening tonight from 7 to 11 (still cross-marketing are we?) where one can not only gawk at the sweet 10" figures......

I went to Canada for my summer vacation. While Zach was running the ship, and while all the guest editors were guest editing, I was north of the border drinking beer, buying weed from Hells Angels, and constantly eating poutine and sushi. They have fireworks in the bay several times during the summer, they have a garbage strike that doesn't seem to effect anyone. And they have an odd relationship with buying booze in......

For what seems like the first time in years, The Simpsons actually exceeded expectations. The first movie of America's first animated family took in a whopp(er)ing 71.8 million dollars at the box office this weekend, demolishing even the most optimistic of estimates. Credit Fox's clever marketing campaign and the opportunity to finally see Bart's shrimpy doodle. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry finished a distant second, making 19 million bucks to raise its......

Civic Center developments still struggling amidst Downtown construction boom. Nothing like a good Saturday scandal story: a manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was found to have illegally steered almost $800,000 in contracts to family members and corporate allies. One begets another: an inmate serving a life sentence for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989 was stabbed 11 times by another inmate. Taking animal cruelty to a......

A NASA investigation revealed that some astronauts got hammered before flying. The scandal-plagued Tour de France is slowly grinding to a finish. How to extricate yourself from a tricky police encounter. A fuel spill caused by an accident involving a big-rig truck shut down most of the 60 freeway in Pomona this morning. Fancy yourself a good football player? A few more spots on the Trojan roster have just opened up. 10 more L.A.......

Of course Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite-Burke lives in her district. Or maybe not. (Los Angeles Times) Nicole Richie appears at the Glendale courthouse, reporter gets elbowed in the head (East of the 5/Daily News). As for Nicole, she gets 4 days in jail. (KCAL) Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, Paris. The Hilton heiress' Hollywood home is for sale. (Curbed LA) How much do you love your botox?......

I don’t believe in spoilers, I just believe in me. And Homer. While The Simpsons have never faded from public view, the last few years have seen their franchise popularity wane ever so slightly; their eighteen year marathon hitting something of a plateau. So when I first heard murmurs of a feature film, my worst fears surfaced -- What if no one cares about The Simpsons anymore? What if the entire campaign gets ignored......

Galaxy 2, Pachua 1 - The Galaxy was without its biggest star (Beckham wasn't on the bench, much less the field), but 19,317 people still showed up to watch the struggling squad knock off one of Mexico's best club teams. Landon Donovan scored go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. Next up, the Galaxy will host Chivas -- the real Chivas of Guadalajara -- in more SuperLiga action on Saturday. Astros 7, Dodgers 4 - When......

OUT TODAY: Tegan and Sara - The Con (Sire) Juliette and the Licks - Four on the Floor (Hassle) UNKLE - War Stories (Surrender All) Mexican Institute Of Sound - Pinata (Nacional Records) Robbers on High Street - Grand Animals (New Line) Manu Chao - Rainin In Paradize [EP] (Nacional Records) Prince - Planet Earth (NPG) VHS or Beta - Bring On The Comets [Single] (Astralwerks) Hanson - The Walk (Cooking Vinyl) Manic Street......

The Simpsons Movie global-dominance-marketing-crusade marks another notch in the bedpost of ruffled feathers. Who knew that Pagans had no sense of humor? I would have guessed the symbol superstars to be down with the whole why don’t we "Do It In The Donut” message of pastry love. This promotional, biodegradable, painting was unleashed on a hillside near the very old and very naked fertility carving in Southern England. Doh! Eight days and counting... AP......

Although South Park is shocking and The Family Guy delivers more jokes per minute than ever thought possible, neither show would be around without The Simpsons, the longest-running animated television series of all time. Part of the show's universal charm and unparalleled stamina is its rich tapestry of lovable characters -- many of whom are criminals and deeply flawed. Somehow LAist got our hands on two movie passes (each pass admits two people), and......

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......

For a tv show thats been around forever, and no longer relevant (some say) thanks to the likes of Adult Swim and The Family Guy, The Simpsons still got it, as evident from the raging success of the various 7/11s that were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts. According to this Fox 11 report people were buying up as much Buzz cola, Krusty-O's, and Squishees as possible. And we also hear that Kwik-E-Mart uniforms are being sold......

The 7-11 at the intersection of Olive and Verdugo in Burbank has temporarily been converted into a Kwik-E-Mart. It was re-done late Saturday night and will remain a Kwik-E-Mart for the next month to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie. Eleven 7-11s in the United States and two in Canada have been converted into Kwik-E-Marts as part of the promotion. DCist has their very own Kwik-E-Mart in Bladensburg, MD. Golam, Burbank's friendly counterman, was having a......

Dear London. Why hast thou forsaken us? We realize that you hate us for our freedoms and for our superior dental hygiene. But why would you take the innocence and intellect of Lisa Simpson and do that for her just so that you could sell a few more million 2012 Olympic t-shirts? We could have sworn that they have The Simpsons across the pond, was there nobody in the room who snickered when this......

For all you road weary travelers back from Coachella, heres the juice you missed this weekend... Scientologists unite! Fellow Hubbard follower Jenna Elfman defends Tom and Katie's marriage - People Britney gets pulled over for speeding, gets off with a warning - X 17 She also shows us her undies again - Seriously?!OMGWTF! And in the last and best piece of Britney news, rumor has it she's going to pen a tell-all book....this one might......