Killing on the big screen at the New Beverly tonight, courtesy of Eli Roth. / Photo by hemmob via flickr. TALK Author Katha Pollitt discusses her new book On Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories with UC Irvine Professor Jon Wiener as part of the ALOUD at the Central Library series. Pollitt is a poet and columnist for The Nation who’ll discuss her latest essays that deal with sex, death, ex-lovers, politics, motherhood,......

Pickle just about anything at the Machine Project tonight. / Photo by ccarlstead via flickr. Sure there are a lot of places closed for President’s Day, but nightlife does exist in LA...even tonight: FILM Roman Polanski’s Chinatown focuses on an intricate water scandal and an even more twisted family backstory. Starring John Huston, Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson as Detective Jake Gittes – the city of Angels plays a major part of this nourish......

UPDATE: Looks like the forces of Truth, Justice and the Irishican Way prevailed everyone - It's not hard in here for a Once after all: "The Academy’s music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of 'Falling Slowly' as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of 'Falling Slowly', the writer-director of Once and Fox Searchlight." So there you go - The good guys......

I’ve always been a worker-outer. But lately, as I’ve spent more and more time on the cardio machines at 24 Hour Fitness, I can’t shake feeling that I’m just a hamster on a wheel in a vicious human experiment. To combat my paranoia and possibly find a mentally healthier hobby, I’ve decided to scope out what else LA has to offer in a weekly series, “Fitness for the Easily Bored.” So far, I've explored......

Monday William Shatner presents Star Trek: The Academy - Collision Course 7pm @ Book Soup Janet Fitch presents Paint it Black 7pm @ Vroman's Robin Maxwell presents Mademoiselle Boleyn 7pm @ Dutton's Memorial Reading for Mutanabbi Street with Chris Abani, Beau Beausoleil, Laila Lalami, Suzanne Lummis, Majid Naficy, Marisela Norte, Sholeh Wolpe & Terry Wolverton 7pm @ Centraly Library Tuesday Judith Freeman presents The Long Embrace 7pm @ Dutton's Anthony Hernandez signs Waiting, Sitting,......

They're probably the best band in the world right now. And they're playing at the world famous Hollywood Bowl. If you don't have tickets, break your piggy banks, go to the show and overpay for the Arcade Fire. Think of how much you hand over to cable each month or your cell phone carrier. These Canadians with their punk sensibilities and violins and megaphones deserve your attention. If not, there are some mighty fine......

Fall Out Boy, +44, The Academy Is . . ., Paul Wall @ Honda Center Metal Skool, Virginia City Revival, Glass Pinata, Silver Needle @ Key Club The Adored, Lola Ray, The Neon Trees @ Knitting Factory The Ghost Lullaby, Peachfuzz, Jessie Deluxe, Ready the Jet, The Dirges @ Safari Sam's Thee Fine Lines, Quan & the Chinese Take-Outs @ The Scene Suicide Club, Totally Radd, Protection, Love Lies Sleeping @ Viper Room......

Although they always have pretty good lineups, San Diego's Street Scene never seems to get our attention. Until now. Today they announced that The Killers, Muse, Panic! at the Disco, Social Distortion, Air, Arctic Monkeys, Too $hort, G. Love, The Editors, The Academy Is..., Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah, Gym Class Heroes, Mute Math, Honeycut, Ozomatli and others will play their two day festival down by the ocean in Del Mar, but what......

A Word or 157: It's all about the Prime Time tonight. The Office and 30 Rock have a real chance at getting some serious viewership since both Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy are simply rehash episodes (even though they are billed as 'New'). Tina Fey has been hitting everything from Good Morning America to Conan (and Baldwin made an appearance on Letterman last night) in an attempt to push 30 Rock more - it's......

New Music Tuesday has matzofied, seder’d out and re-opened for business on this fine Thursday eve. Please use caution while perusing the list -- these brand-spankin’, ultra-smokin’, bootie-shakin’, earth-movin’, mind-blowin’ new releases might just melt your face off. Especially the Hip Hop Tribute To Bon Jovi. Phenomenal. Well, theoretically phenomenal. You understand. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis (Rough Trade) Mother Hips - Kiss the Crystal Flake (Mega Force) Brandi Carlile - Story (Sony) The Field......

If it seems like we're doing a lot of contests right now it's because we are. And before we bust with more of our new contests, let's give a shout out to some who won last week. LAist would like to congratulate Adam for winning the Name the Year of the Dog contest. He chose "Pencil" which also happens to be the name of the dog in the film. Not the most creative but......

This is what the streets of Hollywood around the Kodak Theater looked like just hours before the big bar-b-que, or whatever the hell they're doing over there. LA blogger and industry insider Peggy Archer was nice enough to let us feature some of the pics she took this afternoon which can be found after the jump.......

What if... Jennifer Hudson doesn't win? Sometimes the one sure thing turns out not to be the one sure thing. Then who wins? The ten year-old. None of the others are in the running, and I say that thinking that Rinko Kikuchi should win, even though I had tons of problems with Babel. Everyone likes the ten year-old. Don't count out the ten year-old. What if... Eddie Murphy doesn't win? Then the theory that......

If only all festivals and projects could be as clear and consice about communicating this kind of information to the public. The Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts & Sciences has a webpage dedicated to just this. Tomorrow's closures only take effect starting at 10 p.m., but being a holiday three-day weekend, Hollywood should be busier than usual for a Sunday. The pink on the map signifies the closures, but one should take note that......

You gotta give it up to Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz. Fucker doesn't sing, he doesn't play lead guitar, he isn't even the cutest guy in the band, but somehow he has become the emo Puff Daddy. Bro's got a hot clothing line (Clandestine), he's pimping out up'n'coming artists and making them hit machines (yes that would be you Panic! at the Disco), he's on five-story-tall Gap ads, and now he's got a record......

Today we bring you a photo from MC Brown, who attended Warped at Dodger Stadium and snagged this sweet pic of Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz posing with some fans. Wentz sang one tune with The Academy Is... and basically gave back to the community, since Warped was the community that helped launch the Illinois emo act. Meanwhile up in Canada, Raymi the Minx was pondering "THINGS I LIKED, USE TO LIKE, NO LONGER......

During the Academy Awards some boring guy always comes out and explains how they voted and who guarded the results and we never pay attention. But the upshot is that people that are in The Academy get to vote on the nominees. And believe it or not, starring in "Police Woman" gets you into the Academy. Angie Dickinson was overheard in Hollywood talking about the Best Actor Category. Philip Seymour Hoffman, she rationalized, will......

Still making up your mind about what to do with yourself this weekend? There may still be tickets left to hear "Incredibles" director, Brad Bird. speak at "The Animated Performance: Art Meets Technology" lecture tonight Friday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. $5. Bird joins the director of "Ice Age" (2002) “Aladdin” Genie animator and animation branch member Eric Goldberg, Academy Award winner Jan Pinkava (“Geri's Game”) and “Lord of......

Animators are a breed apart. Their refusal to accept limitations in space, time and conventional wisdom constantly amaze us. But we don't mind because the imaginations of these playful geniuses often first inform our dreams as children and reawaken our playful sides when we are adults. Charles Zembillas is the consummate animator, creative entrepreneur and visual developer: he's funny, fiesty and energetic. He not only works on his own projects but also runs an......