Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The LA Times has the latest and more details on the deadly stand-off in the Valley that left one SWAT team member, Randal Simmons, and four others dead. Okay, this is just terribly, terribly, terribly wrong: why is the city cracking down so hard on street vendors who sell bacon wrapped hot dogs? Police continue to search for three kidnappers who abducted......

Lakers 103, Washington Wizards 91 - The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates. The Lakers led by 22 at halftime, and led by as much as 25 points in the third quarter. Kobe Bryant, who outscored the Wizards in the first quarter 19-15, ended up with 30 points on 10-15 shooting with eight free throws. Vladamir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf rounded out the starters with double-figure scoring, and Sasha Vujacic......

Photo courtesy of jpchan via flickr For me, the Sundance Film Festival officially ended at the airport in Salt Lake City when I was waiting in line behind Bijou Phillips at the Quizno's in Terminal 1. She was politely arguing with the counter guy about why she couldn't get fresh mustard from behind the counter instead of having to use the the mustard packets by the napkin stand. In a heavy accent, he kept......

NFL Playoffs - It was almost the perfect Super Bowl match up. Instead of Brady-Favre, we get Brady-Manning -- but it's the wrong Manning, if you're going to have one. New England held off San Diego and New York stole it in OT from Green Bay to face off in the big game. Green Bay would have presented the better threat to the Pat's attempt at a perfect season (their secondary is better than the......

Suns 106, Lakers 98 - Maybe Mitch Kupchak isn't a cupcake, but an evil genius. After mis-managing the Lakers in recent years, it turns out he was right about Andrew Bynum. He refused to trade the young center, and all of a sudden the kid got GOOD. Unfortunately, he's out with an injury and his backup was worthless against Phoenix (hence the evil part). Kwame Brown had seven turnovers and missed an open dunk. Bravo.......

How many times have you seen some boneheaded driver make a stupid move on the road, only to drive up beside them and see them yapping away on their cell phones? Too many times, I'll bet you. Now a new study shows that cell phone users also drive more slowly and make poor lane-change choices, which may slow down traffic overall up to 10%. From the LA Times: Researchers at the University of Utah......

According to a new study by David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah, talking on a cell phone while driving can make a person drive up to 2mph slower that other drivers, the LA Daily News reports. "The distracted driver tends to drive slower and have delayed reactions," said Strayer, whose earlier studies have resulted in the well-known findings that cell phone talkers react more slowly on the road than drink drivers.......

Suns 108, Clippers 88 - After getting pushed around by Laker's big man Andrew Bynum, Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire took his frustrations out on Clippers center Chris Kaman. Stoudemire had 30 points and 15 rebounds while limiting Kaman to just 9 points. Now lets all pause for a moment and appreciate that this is a picture of Clipper guard Dan Dickau doing, apparently, what he was born to do. Ducks 2, Oilers 1 - Doug Weight......

Lakers 127, Nuggets 99 - Phil Jackson signed a $24 million contract extension for two years. Two hours later, his Lakers ripped apart the Nuggets. Good day. Heck, even Sasha Vujacic had 22 points -- 19 in the 4th quarter. Luke Walton had 14 points in just 27 minutes. Both were career highs. The Lakers are 9-6 and have recently had some pretty impressive performances. Ducks 4, Flames 1 - After getting yanked in Vancouver,......

Los Angeles seems to have a love/hate relationship with the Lakers right now. The games still sell out (and at the ">highest prices in the league) and there are more people walking around wearing Lakers gear than there are writers picketing out in front of Fox. But in every sports bar in the city there are loudmouths saying to nobody in particular, “Kobe is selfish and ruining this team.” The loudmouth sports columnists in......

Lakers 119, Jazz 109 - The Lakers may have won their second straight game against a division champ. Kobe may be playing team ball (and even blocked a dunk, for cryin' out loud). We're still not buying it ... Derek Fisher was 0-for-7 in the first half against his former team, but finished with 19 points ... The Lakers removed press row from courtside, adding 15 more seats which are going for $2,300 per game.......

Strangely, I’m OK with it. I mean, I’m NOT OK with it. I’m full of fury, anguish, and despair. But more than that, I feel resignation. I’m tired. And I’ve come to terms with all of it. UCLA football is dead to me. It’s not that I’m disowning the program. I’m still gonna support the team; my blood will always run Bruin blue. It’s just that I’m no longer going to pour myself into the......

Jazz 102, Lakers 81 - This game looked bad on the scoreboard but it was even worse on the court. Los Angeles was 3-of-19 in the first quarter, and Kobe missed his first eight shots overall. They were down 21 at halftime. By the final buzzer, three different Utah players reached double-digits in rebounds. Fortunately, it's just the preseason ... A bad omen of things to come, Lamar Odom is out for a little longer......

Locally - None. Elsewhere - Greg Ryan was canned as head coach of the US women's soccer team. We guess you could say Hope has been renewed ... X-Games suddenly seems boring in comparison ... San Diego fires are affecting the Chargers. Now there are two stuggling teams based in Arizona. Today's Action - Ducks @ St. Louis (5:30pm) ... Nashville @ Kings (7:30pm) ... Utah @ Lakers (7:00pm).......

It’s taken me a while to put this weekend of college football into writing. Never before have I witnessed upsets of this magnitude. It just proves that as much as any experts or I think we know about football, in reality we know absolutely nothing. One of two things can be gleaned out of these games. Either there is parity in college football where a team can beat any other team regardless of ranking......

Every week in college football proves to everyone they don’t know shit about the game. Case in point, #11 UCLA Bruins at Utah Utes. The Bruins had won all eight previous meetings against the Utes including a 31-10 victory on opening day at the Rose Bowl last season. So instead of a UCLA blowout the opposite happened. The Utes blew the Bruins and their #11 ranking out of the stadium 44-6 preventing the Bruins......

Sex is something that drives us, empowers us and gets us into really stupid situations with people we have no business seeing naked. Jen Sincero is the bestselling author and sexpert with the carnal knowledge you need. Ask her your questions (all are posted anonymously). Cuz there's no such thing as being too good in bed. Dear Jen, I'm a 20 year-old, bisexual-leaning lesbian who has not done anything sexual with either gender. I......

Eric Richardson of Blogdowntown snaps the above shot from a downtown commercial shoot yesterday: "Pictured is one scene from the commercial being shot, where a gaggle of females drop their workout to come press up against the window and see some brown guy. I would hope this'll make more sense by the time we see it on TV." Out best guess is that he is made out of chocolate. Los Angeles could soon be......

Stop the presses. The horror story unraveling in central Utah just lost the plot. Tragically. The doomed efforts to assess the fate of six miners missing after a cave-in was the daily go-to lead for news outlets of all media for nearly two weeks. The "race to save trapped Utah miners" [LA Times, August 9] never quite seemed real -- a human interest spectacle rivaling that of serial programs such as "Lost" -- with......

Not letting the bedbugs bite is getting harder than ever these days. Deeming it "troubling" and "unacceptable," Mayor Tony is urging federal officials to take steps to prevent a repeat of this weekend's Customs and Border Protection computer glitch that stranded some 20,000 travelers. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag warning - signifying a higher risk of wildfires - for the L.A. County mountains that will remain in effect until Wednesday......

Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, i.e. Bush's "war czar," thinks it "makes sense" to consider a return to the military draft. Students are teaching educators about the crises facing many local high schools and teenage dropouts. Health officials are cautioning that Panorama City residents may be at great risk of contracting West Nile virus - with most confirmed cases arising in that region. Residents of Borrego Springs, a small resort and retirement community in......

Indiana Pacers star power forward Jermaine O'Neal wants to be traded to the Lakers. Bad. Even Southern California is starting to feel the pinch of congestion and overcrowding. Frustration with a lack of action at the federal level has prompted states to enact a raft of new immigration laws in the first 6 months of 2007 - more than twice the number that was passed during the same period last year. A North Hollywood......

B-Dizzle Up-Dizzle - LA's last hope is out of the NBA playoffs. The Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors 100-87 and took the series in five games. It was a battle until the end, and we mean battle.  There were 50 personal fouls, 31 against the Warriors. Several were flagrants and technicals. Ducks 5, Red Wings 0 - After stealing home ice advantage with a split in Hockeytown, USA, the Ducks were cooked when they......

You can still root for LA's Golden Boy. After leading the Warriors to one of the greatest series upsets in the history of American sports (eighth seeded Golden State knocked off top ranked Dallas in six), Baron Davis went from star to hero. It looked like he might be headed for further greatness against Utah, but on Sunday things took a turn for the worse. He was held to 15 points as the Jazz......

Welcome to the lull between Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third, when studios and indie distributors alike unload little known films to sate audiences' hungry to be entertained by the fleeting magic of cinema. 28 Weeks Later... - Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto, Psicotaxi) picks up where Danny Boyle left off in 28 Days Later with most Londonites infected by a "rage virus" that turns them into violent zombies and prompts the great debate......

Hornets 86, Clippers 83 - Sports fans talk about "meaningless games" towards the end of the regular season. Those are contests held after a team is already in or out of the playoffs and seeding isn't a major issue. It's a common indicator of an exciting team in baseball. In this year's NBA playoff chase, the Clippers didn't play a single meaningless game. They did play roughly one meaningless quarter. Despite taking a solid lead......

Last night’s nationally televised game between the Clippers and the Rockets (a five-point win for Houston) demonstrated the kind of progress that the Clips have made over the last month, and why the team will hold on to the eighth spot with their eleven remaining games. It also illustrated the reasons why the Clips have fallen far short of the lofty expectations set forth for them this year. Both teams displayed a level of execution......

Lakers 111, Hornets 105 - Kobe continued to flaunt has superiority in the face of March Madness, talking before the game about how honored he was to be discussed in the same "bracket" as Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, and Elgin Baylor. After the game, he moved from the final four to the championship. While Michael and Elgin scored 50+ points in three straight games, Kobe has now done it in four (65, 50, 60, 50).......

Current Record: 25-28, 3rd Pacific, T-9th West Last Week: While the rest of the league was focused on the festivities in Sin City, the Clippers got a much needed four days off to regroup. The Clips were one of only three teams that had exactly zero participants in the entire weekend’s festivities (and justifiably so) which means they will not be suffering from any lingering effects of the around-the-clock drunken parties and hookups with tainted......

If Los Angeles seems a little light on groupies this weekend, don’t be shocked. It’s just that the NBA’s All-Star game, which is the brightest light of the year to the groupie moths, is just a one-hour plane ride away in Las Vegas. This is a weekend only the guys at The Smoking Gun could dream up: Take a sport where the players have the reputation for being rich and out of control, then drop......