Carolyn Kellogg

Last night author Paul Auster (right) sat down with LA Times Book Review editor David Ulin at the Writers Bloc reading series. They talked a lot about process — after having a cup of tea, Auster goes to an apartment to write, picking up a tuna sandwich along the way — that writing is a lot of work and actually quite boring. Aspiring authors love to hear about how successful writers write, and the...

"We've located a massive, spectacular tunnel," Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told news organizations yesterday. Not only does the tunnel run for a half mile, from a Mexico warehouse to one in San Diego; it's got lighting, a drainage system and ventilation. Authorities believe it's the longest one ever discovered in the southwest. Let's find the people who built it and give them a municipal project: they sound quite ingenious....

We've got a date night for you: Try winning tickets here to the February 6th red carpet premiere of London, a movie set in (surprise!) New York, about a girl moving to LA and the man who stocks up on coke and tries to win her back. After you've dodged the paparazzi and seen the premiere at the Arclight, whisk your good selves off to Basque, where The Crystal Method will be spinning. Fine...

Happy birthday to Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart, born today in 1756 in Salzburg. If you're reading this, odds are you're not in Austria at the big celebrations. And locally, well, things are a lot more low-key. The LA Chamber Orchestra will perform all of Mozart's piano concertos — it will take a while, and their big shindig won't be until Saturday. If you're booked, on Tuesday head to the Pacific Palisades for a smaller chamber...

NPR listeners this evening will be treated to a nice long interview with our own mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. Overall, he was pretty good, talking about moving people out of poverty. We love it when politicians pay attention to real problems (it's so rare!) and when NPR got all tough-question-y, it sounded halfhearted. If we were his political advisors, we'd point out that he probably lost his audience when he slid into bureaucrat-speak, and that...

This morning students at Sonora High in La Habra had a break from school after authorities received a bomb threat at 7:30am. A "suspicious duffel bag" was found and removed; nobody was hurt. No word on what was found in the duffel bag, or if they blew it up, like they sometimes do. Students were sent back into class around 11am. The school is, by the way, in the middle of finals week. Hmmmm....

Technically, it's in Pacific Palisades, but the Getty Villa — which reopens tomorrow — feels like it's a million miles from the PCH. Newly added are a tall, rectangular entry (stairs. Lotsa stairs) and an amphitheater that faces the Villa. The entry serves to make visitors feel small and meek, but it also creates an almost tunnel-like experience that conducts them out of the traffic-y, hectic world below. What struck us the most was...

We aren't the only ones sorry to see Chris Penn go; there have been tons of tributes and goodbyes. Still no news of what might have been the cause, but according to the Santa Monica Daily Press, some neighbors thought he was staying up late and acting erratically. Hey, blogland is all about erratic behavior and late nights. There are also a couple of lighthearted conspiracy theories (Harvey Keitel, a disgruntled date). Someone noted...

LA Voice is paying attention to one of those little things that could mean a lot: The Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission is considering an effort to seal from public view the investigative records of law enforcement officials accused of dishonesty, excessive force and other misconduct. We know just a teeny bit about the history of law enforcement in LA, and it's not pretty. Recently there was the complex Rampart scandal, in which...

Big green truck with supersize wheels. We ask you: What size is the driver's dick?...