Carolyn Kellogg

A cross-country rivalry: MIT students have stolen a cannon from CalTech and set it up on their campus, 3,000 miles away, adorned with an enormous MIT class ring. The hackers (the LAT calls them "pranksters") came to LA and dressed as workers from Howe & Ser Moving Company to liberate the cannon. Luckily, administrators aren't pissed. Redo your mom: in 100 words or less, tell Channel 2 why your mother should get one of...

Answer the nagging question Who's That Asian Boy and look for cameos by Santee Alley and the Library US Bank Tower....

Now everybody wants to be homeless. Pras Michel, the Grammy-winning Fugees collaborator, just spent 8 days sleeping on LA's mean streets. He was trying to live on $1 per day for a documentary about poverty, which he plans to screen at the Toronto Film Festival. Living on the streets wasn't easy, he told the New York Daily News: "The dollar a day didn't get me much at all. You have to hustle, steal, shoplift...

LA's favorite modern noir writer, James Ellroy, left our city a while back for the midwest. We're not sure why, since his stories — The Black Dahlia, LA Confidential — are so connected to our city's dark side. Lucky for us he's come back for a visit. James Ellroy will be kicking off the American Cinemathque's 8th annual Noir Festival Friday night. Ellroy will speak and answer quesitons between the two films at opening...

Writer Jenny Price likes nature and nature writing. And she lives in LA. Is this a contradiction? She says no, in a long, thoughtful and smart piece in the April issue of The Believer called 13 Ways of Seeing Nature in LA (via WorldChanging). Actually, it's only the first six ways; the remaining 7 will appear in May. Here's a taste: nature stories should see and cherish our mundane, economic, utilitarian, daily encounters with...

The LA Times hangs with LA-based architect Barbara Bestor and takes some lovely pictures of her modern bohemian designs. Her first book will be published next month. From homes to homeless: The County Supervisors' plan to spend $100 million on homeless service centers begins its search for the centers' homes. 14 existing drop-in centers are the first places they're considering to locate the greatly-expanded new shelters/centers. At issue is whether or not the shelters...

At left: Katie Holmes leaving Tiffany's Beverly Hills yesterday (via Just Jared) At right: Mia Farrow with director Roman Polanski on the steps of Tiffany's while filming Rosemary's Baby. Just a coincidence, we're sure. tags: katie holmes spawn...

Since we all live here we don't need to go to hotels, although a hotel bar once in a while isn't so bad. Especially when it's to soak up some nice high-end design that's popped up in a brand new spot. And when we visited Apartment Therapy LA today, we went a little gaga for the new Chamberlain Hotel in West Hollywood. The public spaces are a buffed-up movie-version of Regency style — your...

Some say Los Angeles is synonymous with youth. 20-somethings wash up on the shores of our freeways, bursting with so much energy, creativity and lust that we all benefit from the constant influx. LAist will showcase 20 people under the age of 30 who are doing something more interesting in LA than smashing their cars into paparazzi. Nominate your favorite 14-29-year-old Angelenos for an LAist interview using the form below. You can nominate as...

A newly-transplanted New Yorker is looking for LA's best sushi. Considering there are dozens, if not hundreds, of sushi places in LA, we wonder if maybe we should break it down. Where's the best place to get sushi that goes around on a conveyor belt? The best place for sashimi? The sushi place with the best lighting? The best sushi-to-go? The home of the biggest sushi abomination, like a Philly roll? What's your favorite...