The "Man of 1000 Voices," Mel Blanc was the lungs behind Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety, and hundreds more. Arguably the most influential voice-actor of all time, Blanc is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery where his headstone reads eloquently, "THAT'S ALL FOLKS." more ›

Charlie Sheen is suing Warner Bros. and "Two and a Half Men" co-creator Chuck Lorre for $100 million plus punitive damages. In the suit Sheen alleges that Lorre wanted him fired even before he went batshit crazypants all over the teevees, satellites and internets. more ›

Because you don't already spend too much time on Facebook (hey, those cartoon farm fields don't till themselves), now Burbank-based Warner Bros. has a way for you to access and rent some of their films via the social networking service, says the AP. The service is in its testing mode, and launched today with an offer for their film "The Dark Knight." more ›

Take something weird, make it cult. Take something cult, make it classic. Take something classic, make it a Joss-less pile of potentially flaming poo. Warner Bros and a team of eagerlings are "rebooting" and updating the 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' franchise without Joss Whedon and the original cast, making the new incarnation sound as appealing as the Human Centipede eating its own ass. Or maybe it'll be fantastic. Breath holding begins now. More on Whedon's reaction and the reaction to his reaction available at your local internet. more ›

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email. more ›

Dan Clark was a brutal force on the football field and in the Gladiator arena. In his book Gladiator: A True Story of 'Roids, Rage and Redemption, which he will be signing copies of tonight at Book Soup, the man better known to many as Nitro, gives a brutally honest account of his life and 20 year love affair with steroids. more ›

Warner Bros. Entertainment announced today that they'll be slashing their worldwide staff by 10%, or 800 people. Yes, it's the recession. Hollywood has become more savvy to outsourcing and for Warner, management information systems and accounts payable are among the first to go that way. "There are both cyclical and secular issues with film production. For many years, there has probably been too many movies being produced and a cyclical downturn has forced some rationalization," an analyst told Reuters. Sony has already announced a cut in 8,000 jobs in their electronics division, but their Hollywood division is expected to be next. more ›

Jerry Beck is an LA-based animation and cartoon historian who's authored or co-authored many books on the subject, including Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons, The Art Of Bee Movie, The Hanna Barbera Treasury and Nicktoons. more ›

Bad news ahead for employees of Warner Bros. here in Burbank. According to cbs2.com, the studio "plans to lay off scores of studio staffers and outsource jobs to India and Poland to cut costs amid falling entertainment revenues." The layoffs will be focused on back-office workers whose jobs involve "information systems, finance and accounting," from multiple divisions in the studio's operations. Warner Bros. currently employees 8,000 people worldwide; their last major rounds of cuts that hit close to home happened in 2005, when 300 of the 400 jobs cut came from the Burbank lot. No other information about the pending job losses has been made available. more ›

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It's official, four major studios have canceled writer contracts -- the Spring 2008 TV is repeats and/of reality. Since Friday, 65 writer contracts have been canceled. Now, even if the strike ends in the foreseeable future, "the studios will no longer be obligated to pay the writers... The action saves the media companies tens of millions of dollars in payments, and is the first real sign of belt-tightening caused by the strike," according to the LA Times: more ›

In the days following the launch of the WGA strike, workers from various departments on Warner Bros.' Burbank lot were issued mandatory Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) notices, informing them that they could be subject to layoff after sixty days as a result of the scribes' strike. more ›

In the photographers own words: "The City of Burbank tries a new method of deterring striking writers from walking the picket line outside of Warner Bros." Photo by movie lover via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr... more ›

This strike photo outside of Warner Bros. was taken last week on November 27. If they waited a few days, it would have been witty to play off the 28 Days Later reference... oh well, maybe they have that new Will Smith movie in mind... or maybe they just like to eat people. That or they have dermophagia (gross!). Photo by movie lover via the LAist Flickr Pool (join and add your own photos!)... more ›

Every Monday morning, Rick Orlov of the Daily News and Steve Hymon of the LA Times write their weekly "what's going on at city hall" columns. Orlov brings an interesting story about City Council Member Dennis Zine, who represents the 3rd District in the West Valley. Zine has been given a cease and desist order from Warner Bros. over a lapel pin he has used for years as a political token to supporters. It... more ›

Since his early twenties, Garth Trinidad has been DJing Chocolate City on KCRW for over 10 years now. He sits on the Grammy Awards R&B board in support of the new ‘best urban alternative performance’ category, created as a direct result of his continued approach to music programming. He is a much sought after music commenter, supervisor and expert in his field. To catch his show, tune in Saturday nights on KCRW from 6:00-9:00... more ›

a writer’s perspective I have a love/hate relationship with the “early shift”. I am not a morning person. Looking for news about the strike on the internet this morning, I am confronted with the genius anti-writer argument "Should a plumber get paid every time a toilet flushes?" People please stop making that analogy. It's really not that clever, and it's flawed. If the plumber created a unique toilet from scratch, and then his bosses... more ›

a writer's perspective As I get ready to join my brothers and sisters in the picket line, I’m flipping the channels, looking for some coverage. Fuckin’ Joe Torre is stealing our thunder. Finally, on KTLA, they break in with footage of Jay Leno pulling up on a motorcycle and handing three boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts to some writers. All writers are being encouraged to give 20 hours a week to the cause. No... more ›

Photo found in the "suburban" section of the Warner Bros back lot by Eye Captain via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

I know you stay true when my world is false / everything around’s breaking down to chaos Even after a year and a half of following Mute Math, it still feels like I know a huge secret. People still ask, "what math?" You haven't heard of the electronic, ambient, prog rock, jazz and classically influenced rock quartet making headway through the music industry with a sound that resembles a mix of Sting, Radiohead, Mars... more ›

Rilo Kiley played their first concert in two years the other day and LAist was there. Rilo Kiley is now streaming their new cd Under the Blacklight on their Myspace this weekend, and here we are telling you about it. But we're sure that there's more new music that we should be telling the kids about. And we're pretty sure that you might be holding on to that information that we need so badly.... more ›

With three full length albums under their belt, and lyrics that often run the emotional gamut of life in Los AngelesRilo Kiley is as much a fixture on the L.A. music scene as anyone. While their newest album, Under the Blacklight, won't debut until August 21, they are getting ready to kick things off at All Star Lanes for a "secret" show in Eagle Rock in a few hours. After, Rilo Kiley will leave the country and return to Los Angeles, playing the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium October 15. Blake Sennett took some time to sit down with LAist more ›

The Ditty Bops, Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett, are like perfectly precious paperdolls, and the music they make is nothing short of fresh baked gingerbread. Their fanciful folk harmonies, old fashioned, ragtime-esque melodies, and penchant for the playful are the hallmarks of this utterly unique duo of doe-eyed beauties. With snazzy instrumentation (expect to see a mandolin and a dulcimer), and occasional cabaret moments, these ladies could charm the pants off a prude. In... more ›

Rilo Kiley's new video for 'The Moneymaker', their new single off of their upcoming album, Under the Blacklight. more ›

Sara Bareilles - Little Voice (Epic) Velvet Revolver - Libertad (RCA) Iron and Wine - Boy With A Coin [SINGLE] (Subpop) Various Artists - Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack (Warner Bros.) 2 Many DJs - 50 Million Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong [LIMITED EDITION] [IMPORT] (Waxed Soul) Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker [SINGLE] (Warner Bros.) Queensryche - Mindcrime at the Moore [LIVE] (Rhino) Face the Music - 2007 Encores! Cast Recording (Drg) Widespread Panic- Capricorn... more ›

The White Stripes and Warner Bros. Records have transformed our beloved Tower Records on Sunset into Icky Thump Records, named after the Stripes' new cd. As we showed you in this photo essay on Monday, people stood in line for days to not just get the new album, but to also get to see Jack and Meg perform tonight inside the former record store. The first 200 people who bought cds Monday night at... more ›

Van Morrison - Best Of Vol.3 (Manhattan/EMI) more ›

If you drive home past the former Tower Records on Sunset you'll see that it looks slightly different. And you'll also see about 200 to 300 people melting in the hot parking lot. Warner Bros. Records has turned the classic record store into Icky Thump Records, which will sell the new White Stripes cd Icky Thump tonight at midnight, about 10 hours earlier than most record stores. But then the band will play Wednesday... more ›