Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliott Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

Deadspin's Will Leitch will be signing copies of his new book, God Save the Fan tonight at Book Soup Will Leitch, Deadspin editor, New York Times contributor, and author is in Los Angeles today presenting and signing copies of his new book God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It......

I have no balls. After talking about the New England Patriot’s upset win against the St. Louis Rams six years ago, I said in this webspace, “Somehow I get a similar feeling with this Sunday’s game.” But I quickly dismissed it. In the end I picked the Patriots to win the game 34-27, and I was flat wrong and Bill Plaschke was right. And you don’t know how hard it is for me to admit......

I have to be very honest with you. I hate this time of the football season. I love the game, don’t get me wrong. I think the NFL has the most dynamic postseason in all of professional sports. I just hate this week of needless hype and other absurdities that would make Eugene Ionesco proud that lead up to the game. One piece that floated into my inbox Saturday morning comes from the folks......

Unless you've been in a coma for the past few weeks, the Super Bowl is on Fox tomorrow afternoon around 3ish. But we heard an annoying tidbit the other day and just needed to ask, "Why?" As in "Why is Ryan Seacrest drawn to red carpets like my dog is to the patch of grass at the end of my street?" Yup, the KIIS-FM DJ and American Idol host will be doing the pre-game......

In a post I wrote earlier this week, I talked about the New England Patriots back in 2002. The Patriots squeaked their way into Super Bowl XXXVI with the infamous “tuck rule” game against the Oakland Traitors in the snow of Foxborough and barely surviving the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. First-year starting quarterback Tom Brady was hurt in the game against the Steelers forcing veteran Drew Bledsoe off the bench to lead......

I am so sick of this shit. All week long the pervasive analysis on Sunday’s Super Bowl is Tom Brady’s boot and flowers to the owner of the vagina he sticks his dick in from time to time. Ok. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. Does no one realize that this is the same quarterback that has been on the injured list every day since the dawn of time? Of......

Wall-to-Wall Patriots fans pack Sonny McLean's Every Sunday NFL franchise or not, Los Angeles is filled with football fanatics. Many of these fans have relocated to LA from all corners of the country, bringing with them their devotion for the home team of city they left behind. Rather than sitting in the confines of their living room and watching their boys battle it out on the gridiron, many transplants have found a sanctuary in......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

Ducks 4, Kings 3, SO - Southern California's teams are getting to know each other pretty well. After opening the season with two games in London, they now face each other in three of their next six games. Last night in Anaheim the Ducks showed signs of life, but blew a two goal lead in the third period. The eventually beat Los Angeles 2-0 in a shoot-out. Spurs 107, Lakers 92 - The Lakers are......

A recent 911 call about George Clooney's motorcycle crash in New Jersey has been made public. The operator seems quite confused - TMZ Uh Oh - do we have another celeb heading to rehab? Pamela Anderon's friends are concerned about her hard partying ways, drinking and doing damage to her liver when she already has Hep C (Thanks Tommy) - NY Post Bridget Moynihan poses for OK magazine with new baby boy, John, fathered by......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

Ducks 2, Canucks 1, 2OT - The Ducks won the series in five games but it felt more like six. Vancouver pushed Anaheim to overtime in three of the games, two of those going into double OT. The final game featured a jaw dropping 63 shots by the Ducks, who only faced 27 in return. Roberto Luongo had 56 saves for Vancouver for a 96.6% save percentage. Five shots were blocked by Dany Sabourin who......

It was a tough afternoon in San Diego as the Chargers watched their lead dissipate late in the fourth quarter to a relentless Patriot offense. The Chargers opened up the fourth quarter with a second touchdown from LaDainian Tomlinson, putting them up 21-13. It looked bleak for New England as they trailed by 8 points with 5 minutes to go. With 41 yards to go, Brady threw a short pass that was intercepted by McRee.......

Because we're big fat gigantic nerds, LAist plays fantasy sports. Today we are in the Finals of the Yahoo Fantasy Football League of 11 other Ist editors. Our opponents are the Shanghai Neck Licks. Because there have already been a few games played, lets just say that he had one guy play already, Larry Johnson (KC - RB), who ran for 136 yards and scored a TD, and we had one guy play, Vernand......

- Our good friends at Gawker seem to have some unwelcome guests - Wired - Jillian Barberie is expecting - Celebrity Baby Blog - Macaca wins Most Politically Incorrect Word - Reuters - Know some University of Michigan fans coming to town for the Rose Bowl? Wolverine Day will go down 12/20 at Universal Studios (where we like to keep our tourists), and if they act now they can get $15 off a ticket......

Apparently Matt Leinart has no interest in competing for 'Golden Boy' status with Tom Brady. Still a few weeks from even being drafted, USC's Leinart has already fired his agent and, according to Nikki Finke, will join CAA as their first sports signee after the required 5-day nfl grace period ends. Leinart is in Tennessee right now working out with the Titans sans representation. He is expected to go 2nd or 3rd in the......