Carolyn Kellogg

If you like blogs (safe guess, since you're here) and have any interest in the media, you might want to shell out $10 tomorrow for the panel discussion at the LA Press Club. It's called Watching the Watchdogs: LA's Media Websites and will be moderated by blogger-turned-LA Times staffer Matt Welch. Panelists include LA Observed's Kevin Roderick, LA Radio's Don Barrett and Ron Feinman. They'll talk about how they keep tabs on local media...

Concerned commenter valleyist asks: Why are you guys showing so many clips from YouTube? Do they pay you for these plugs? If I wanted to see clips from youtube, I'd go to there [sic] website. Is that what you want? Let's start by saying yes, that's what we want. We want you to enjoy surfing around on the internet (particularly while you're at work), we want you to watch funny videos, read your favorite...

The multi-state Mega Millions lottery game is piling up to $220 million; nobody won the big jackpot in last night's drawing. You've got until Friday to try to get in on it. Odds are you won't win, but you know that. Is $220 million enough to get you to play?...

Remember the band Toto? Their big hits were "Africa" and "Rosanna" (about band member girlfriend Rosanna Arquette). But we digress. Of course you don't remember Toto. Their dated, post-Steely Dan overproduced studio snoozers will make you glad it's hard to find their music in 2006. Still we cannot resist this video. It's almost entirely Toto on the roof of a building in downtown LA, circa 1986. The skyline is somewhat similar, and we think the...

A younger look: The LA Times health section is scraping the bottom of the barrel with a story about cosmetic surgery. We're used to local TV covering plastic surgery as "health" stories, but we'd thought the paper wouldn't confuse vanity with health care. Anyway, here's the gist: "Couples are making a date for cosmetic surgery as men seek to stay in step with their transformed spouses." Or wives 25 years younger. A look back at...

If you want a dose of smartness on Saturday, what could be better than the Science Matters panel on The Science and Ethics of Reproductive Cloning? The 2-hour discussion starts at 1:30pm at the California Science Center at Expo Park and is absolutely free. Smart, lively Geoffrey Cowan — Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at USC — will moderate, which is a good sign. The panel will talk about hard science, perhaps...

Immigration: Nationwide, rallies for immigrants' rights continue to swell — there were 500,000 in Washington DC yesterday. But here in LA, we might have a bit of rally burnout, or maybe the threat of rain kept many at home; estimates for our downtown march are 2,000-5,000. Dave Bullock was there and tells his story on blogging.la (he also took great photos, including the one above). The same old same old: The average age of...

LA-based Tarrant Apparel Group (aka TAG) is suing Jessica Simpson for $100 million claiming breach of contract. Simpson was supposed to promote TAG clothing; TAG "has strong relationships" with J.C. Penny, K-Mart, Lerner New York, Sears — and look out, local style-istas! — American Rag. We suggest, if they get anything from Simpson at all, that they upgrade their $50 website. LA Weekly writer Daniel Hernandez scores a commentary on NPR's All Things Considered....

LAist and our friends at RES Magazine would like to send you and a guest to this month's screening at the Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday, April 18th at 8 PM. We hear there are short films and a music video or two on the bill. Then after the screening, hang around for drinks and a set from resident DJ Kiino Villand. Fine Print: Affiliates of LAist, other -ist sites, RES Magazine and the American...

A reader writes in and asks: Wouldn't it be better to call the website the Angelist instead of the LAist? Hmm, would that be better? It might work, we guess, except we've never called ourselves the anything. We're LAist because we sprang fully-formed from the thigh of Gothamist, which has no "the" at all. Other -ists exist in this same "the"-less universe: Austinist, Chicagoist, Londonist, Bostonist, Houstonist, Phillyist, Seattlest, Miamist, Torontist and Shanghaiist. The...