The weekend is here so lots of free stuff is on tap for the L.A. Film Festival. The Festival Promenade on Broxton will be taken over by Family Day activities. There'll be screenings, games, giveaways, pony rides, a petting zoo, magician Ryan Majestic and characters from Playhouse Disney to entertain the kiddies. Events will run from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Two free programs will be held at Bel Air Camera today. At 1:00......

Do you love short films? Or, do you have a short attention span that prevents you from attending films of more traditional length? Are you the kind of person that likes their entertainment in short, managible bits no matter what the form? Whatever your reasons or tastes, you can certaily fullfil your short film quota starting tonight at the Arclight as the 10th Annual Los Angeles Short Film Festival kicks off. According to Festival......

Yesterday, sidewalk laws at the Daily News. Today, sidewalk repairs at The L.A. Times. With just less than 50% (5,000 miles) of LA sidewalks to repair, the city moves on with its 50/50 program. Burbank and Glendale fight abandoned grocery cart blight. LAist hears that the city of Los Angeles is working on a new ordinance. The L.A. Times' Calendar Section takes on museums and blogging. If you're into it, check out MuseumBlogs.org. Daily......

This weekend, the Chinatown Business Improvement District is putting on a two-day Chinese Food Festival, aimed at getting folks out and about and eating in LA's historic Chinatown. Food and fun are on the menu, with attendees having the opportunity to sample tasty dishes from local restaurants, see Taiwan’s spectacular Hsiao Hsi Yuan Puppet Theatre, catch continuous showings of two of our favorite Chinese films, Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet, meet......

The Festival of Books was just like SXSW, except with books instead of music, and with scarcely any drinking, drugs or sex. Nevertheless, it was enormous, exhausting and exhilarating. LAist made it to a couple of impressive panels focused on LA: one featuring DJ Waldie, Norman Klien and Richard Rayner; the other with Steve Erickson, Michelle Huneven, Peter Lefcourt and Michael Jaime-Becerra. Some of their bon mots follow. Just for you, we managed to ferret......

LAist loves to watch television and also loves museums, which is perhaps why we love the Museum of Television and Radio so very much. This week the MTR kicks off its William S. Paley Television Festival here in LA, with two weeks worth of boob tube programming on the big screen, with the not-available-at-home bonus of stellar in-person guest appearances and moderated panel discussions. The Festival starts off with a bang with a night of......

The wet weather is a perfect excuse for going to the movies. If you're looking for more than the standard Hollywood fare, check out screenings at various film festivals playing around Los Angeles in the coming weeks. The Century City Film Festival started yesterday and runs until October 30th. The Festival's theme is “Camp, Cult, Classics” and will screen Brian Austin Green's first feature as a director, "Fish Without a Bicycle." LAist wonders which......