The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is always kicked off by a ceremony that awards one book in each key category with a Book Prize. The nominees in each category were just announced and we're both thrilled and a tad flummoxed by some of their picks, listed below. We're mostly pleased to see that the usual suspects, who have made up every other book awards list this year, are noticeably absent. This list doesn't......

Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left.......

Ethan and Joel Coen, aka the Coen Brothers took home the biggest prizes at tonight's Academy Awards for the film "No Country For Old Men." It wasn't even the best film they've done but then again, Herbie Hancock. Jon Stewart ran the show as he did last year but could do no wrong with Regis Philbin there in the wings. You really want commentary? Visit our 2008 Oscars Liveblog. Hate the Oscars? Check out what......

Now that the writers' strike is over and it's full-steam ahead with the Oscars, you can bet that just about every TV channel is going to dogpile on the gala event. Yeah, the Grammys went ahead without interference but the Grammys are nothing compared to the Oscars. E! and CNN already have several shows lined up (look for Oscar host, Jon Stewart, on Larry King this Wednesday night) ready to tackle the exciting topics of:......

First Amoeba Music scored a "secret show" featuring Paul McCartney, and now Ringo Starr is coming to town. Amoeba announced tonight that Starr and Dave Stewart will play an exclusive short set at the House of Blues this Friday to promote the release of Liverpool 8, Starr's new album. In order to be guaranteed entry, you must be one of the first people in line to purchase the new CD at Amoeba Music on Tuesday morning. The only other way to reserve a place is to win a pair via a KLOS on-air giveaway. All others must wait in line at the HoB beginning at 9 a.m. Friday morning....

"Ducttape Superhero" by The Eye of Brad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but......

Tonight’s the next installment of the LA Phil’s Concrete Frequency series, but here are other options we've dug up for your going-out pleasure: DANCE Hollywood Ballet is LA's own modern ballet ensemble. Tonight's show includes premieres of "RQ 21," set to sections of Mozart’s Requiem; "Ghost Frog," set to music by Parisian jazz guitar virtuoso Pascal Vaucel; lyrical/Middle Eastern fusion dance set to the ballet music from Verdi‘s Aid. Dancers from the troupe’s pre-professional group,......

It's becoming a task to find episodes of anything new and/or remarkable. Do I even mention that there's new episodes of Celebrity Apprentice, Make Me A Supermodel, and CSI? Am I supposed to be excited about informing you that there will be two (2!) new episodes of NBC's Chuck airing two weeks from tonight? 8:00pm Live From Lincoln Center: I Can't Believe It's Schoenberg! PBS/KCET - I can't believe it either. 8:15pm Wuthering Heights TCM......

So The Colber(t) Repor(t) and The Daily Show are back and while Colbert, Stewart, Kimmel, and Conan are all nimble on their feet, and very funny and engaging, it's amazing how the success of all these shows really comes down to the writing. It's great to have them all back on the air and it does provide us all with some late night alternatives, but I hope NBC, ABC, and Viacom come to their senses......

Let's party on the streets! The homicide rate is set to match its lowest number since 1970. The overall homicide rate is down 17 percent from last year. (More about it on LAist here.) With all this peace and, well, non-murder, Snoop might have to find something else to sing about. More good news: Gas prices dropped about 3 cents over the last two weeks. The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

You may remember Tim Hammer's -- (or should I say, a "blogger who calls himself Tim Hammer"?) recent post on "American Gladiators": "There are no cell phones, cameras, iPods or knives allowed inside [the arena]. These rules not only got in the way of my plans of shanking a Gladiator while listening to my workout mix on shuffle but also required us to walk all the way back to our car to drop off our......

MUSIC: The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs Handel's Messiah tonight at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. But the audience has a part in this fun sing-along. So get your "hallelujah" ready. 7:30 pm // Walt Disney Concert Hall // 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles // $16-$69 (Cheaper tickets are getting scarce). OUTDOORS: Santa Monica pretends its Pershing Square with an ice rink of its own. It’s a stone’s throw away from the Third Street......

FARMERS MARKET: Downtown’s latest farmers market takes place in the Fashion District. So hit up some holiday shopping then treat yourself to some of the freshest foods around. 4-7 pm // Fashion District // 716 S. Los Angeles St., Downtown // Free. ART: Diego Cardoso is the Executive Officer of Transportation Development and Implementation for the MTA who headed the East Side Gold Line project. He's also on the city planning commission. But his......

With reports of The King of Pop's financial troubles continuing to moonwalk all over the press, it's hard to feel sorry for the middle aged superstar, considering he hasn't really seemed to try to work out his issues - literally. You'd think a guy like Michael Jackson could do a few concerts and collect the $212,963 that's reportedly outstanding on his $23,212,963 mortgage on his sprawling ranch north of Santa Barbara. This summer Pollstar......

The big news this morning is that the Writers Guild is striking beginning today. Although LAist isn't part of the Guild, we are writers and we support our brethren. Not enough to strike with them, of course, but in spirit. Therefore above you will see Jon Stewart's take, and below David Letterman's. And after the jump you can see where the writers will be today from 9am-5pm so you can drive by and honk......

I'm hoping that no one had time for TV last night and if they did they had the class to watch the Boris Karloff marathon on TCM. 8:00pm Ugly Betty ABC - The Halloween Episode. TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick. 9:00pm To Die In Jerusalem HBO - Have heard enough about this documentary on NPR and elsewhere to know it's a good thing. TV Junkie Pick-O-The-Night 9:00pm The Office NBC - If you don't feel like......

In a year of great documentaries, Sharkwater resides in the very top tier. It is a passionate advocacy film about the immense slaughter of sharks currently going on in the world's oceans. Sharks are caught in 60-mile long lines, have their fins cut off and then are simply dumped back in the ocean to rot. I recently had the opportunity to speak with the film's writer, director and narrator, Rob Stewart. You originally started......

The opening moments of Sharkwater promise what appear to be little more than a beautiful film about the kingdoms of the deep. Plants sway with the current, silver schools of fish move as one and sharks glide effortlessly through the clear water, remote and menacing. Then, one of the more remarkable images I've ever seen suddenly appears: a man is standing on the ocean floor cradling a six-foot shark in his arms and stroking......

Watching Nip/Tuck has always been a dirty and guilty pleasure. Season five of the show returns tonight on FX and McNamara/Troy are moving the business to our own Los Angeles (as if you haven't been pummeled incessantly by the promos for the last month, and particularly during the World Series). The overpromotion irritates me a bit because it can set up what has been a pretty good show for a fall. Since Nip/Tuck has always......

The much anticipated Damages finale is tonight - since the series was so very good I'm already thinking beyond the finale and more about which players will remain for a second season. Ted Danson's Frobisher is so delightfully evil the airwaves will be much the poorer in his absence, if in this season marks his departure. 8:00pm Five Days HBO - Part 4 of 5. The only new drama programming on at 8pm tonight other......

Get learned-up with PBS tonight. Sarah's also on (thump-thumpa :-)), and late night TV is strong tonight. 8:00pm Wired Science PBS/KCET - This is a cool show. While I'm not enamored of the bizarre enormous set that the hosts saunter through, each of the pieces are very well done. In particular, tonight check out the "ball busters" segment which is about the testing and certification of baseballs for MLB. TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick 8:00pm Pushing......

Don't forget to check out my interview with Glenn Close if you haven't yet. Damages is the pick of the night of course, but there's some other gems out there. 8:00pm Matt Lauer Reports NBC - I'm not a huge fan of Matt Lauer or NBC news reporting but it should be interesting to see him grill Senator Larry Craig about his wide stance. 9:00pm Frontline: Cheney's Law PBS/KCET - A look at the Cheney......

PJ Harvey - "White Chalk" PJ Harvey @ Orpheum Rilo Kiley @ Santa Monica Civic Sarah Silverman @ Largo Black Francis, Eastern Conference Champions @ Safari Sam's Castledoor, Hearts of Palm UK, Princeton @ The Echo Limbeck, Travis Shettel, Andrew Deerin, Chris Koza @ The Hotel Cafe Metal Skool, Born as Ghosts, Immune, Glacier Hiking @ Key Club Suburban Legends, Taxi Doll, Skrotum Kiss @ The Knitting Factory Abe Lincoln Story, Doug Stewart &......

It's not really a big Wednesday, I'm just making a reference to the obscure and awful surfer flick starring Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey. I've got a major case of the munchies as I write this so tonight's primetime is all about food for me. 8:00pm Back To You FOX - Series Premiere - oops, NOT[TD]. I'm not so sure I want to give Kelsey Grammar another chance on network TV. I would like......

If there are 30 minutes of television for you to watch tonight, then those 30 minutes should be 30 Rock. Tina Fey's American Express commercial has left me wanting more and finally I'm getting some. And hey lookie, they actually got Seinfeld back in a sitcom, for at least an episode. 8:30pm 30 Rock NBC - Season Premiere. TV Junkie Pick of the Night. 9:00pm Supernatural CW - Season Premiere. 9:00pm The Office NBC -......

This week seems to be the week that new sitcoms will be unleashed upon us. Tonight we have the bizarre historical moment in which commercial characters have now secured themselves an actual network television series. We're of course talking about Cavemen. While GEICO may have created a successful commercial campaign, one would think that the idea of a series could have been tested online much more economically. Everyone is predicting a flameout and that the......

Fuck Bill Plaschke. Fuck TJ Simers. Fuck the LA Times. Fuck Grady Little. Fuck Ned Colletti. Fuck Frank McCourt. Fuck Jeff Kent. Fuck the Dodgers. When I read Plaschke’s column Wednesday morning that basically put Matt Kemp in the hangman’s noose, my blood started to boil. How does he have the unmitigated gall to scapegoat Kemp and let the veterans have a free pass just because they have “experience”? This entire mess became public......

Blown transformer down the street killed my cable and internet connection so no post yesterday - many apologies. Did anyone watch Kid Nation? 8:00pm Surivivor: China CBS - Season premiere. This season features a "kidnap your opponent" tactic. Players were also given Sun Tzu's "Art of War" to study - we'll see who did their homework. 8:00pm My Name Is Earl NCB - Season premiere. Earl's got a new love interest(?!) 9:45pm After Hours IFC......

Am sorry to report the K-Ville is nothing more than another cop show. A shootout an car chase 8 minutes into it? Tough guy Anthony Anderson 's character crying in the first 15 minutes? I don't know how this show could redeem itself, I essentially tuned out after the first 20 minutes. I'll tell you what though, Saving Grace somewhat redeemed itself what with Holly Hunter's bare butt being the focal point of the......