Carolyn Kellogg

If you like books and find shopping at, say, that big glossy one at the Grove unbearable, you can consider today a good day. A new bookstore, Sandpaper Books in Highland Park, is having a pre-opening sale all day, from 10-5pm. It's got used books in the strong-lefty tradition (so we hear). It's also got a pile of silk saris from India, just for fun & fashion. There should be coffee and snacks too....

Here's an opportunity you don't find every day: Gentlemen*, rev your chest hair! Monday the DVD release of 40-Year-Old Virgin is being celebrated with a chest waxing contest. It's at Burke Williams at Sunset and Crescent Heights on Monday the 12th -- bring your chest in all its glory at 6am to enter. Universal tells us they'll award "a major grand prize" to Los Angeles' hairiest chest. But if you've got the best waxing...

This is one of those weekends Santa's hauling the sleigh around town and stocking up. If you've been nice, he might be stopping by... Matrushka's t-shirt construction night. Co-owners/designers Laura and Beth Ann have mastered the art of sew-while-you-wait. Pick your fabric, patches or extras, and they'll make a one-of-a-kind t-shirt in front of you for $25. "In this era of zealous religious symbolism, " they say, "we feel the unicorn has been underrepresented."...

KPCC reports that former city councilman Marvin Braude has died. Braude was first elected to his post repping the 11th district in 1965, then won the next 7 elections, serving for 32 years. He worked to preserve the Santa Monica Mountains, siding with environmentalists over developers. We once heard (but can't prove right now -- bad google!) that he was such an avid bicyclist that he regularly rode his bike to work at the...

The new LA Weekly puts its cards on the table this week with its gambling issue. We were immediately drawn to rundown of casinos in Los Angeles. Casinos? Los Angeles? Apparently it's about games of skill vs. games of chance; what we have, legally, in LA, are games of skill. So the casinos on the list are mostly dedicated to poker (no wimpy slot machines). We're thinking that these are the kind of places...

More news from the land of LA blogs this week, behind the scenes of Tinseltown. Celia gets out of downtown and soaks up some fantastic curmudgeonliness from William Goldman. (Oscars for the screenplays Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, wrote both the novel and movie of Princess Bride, plus too many other fantastic things). Peggy Archer's behind the scenes film crew blog links to photo portraits of grips. Grips are...

This is California's execution chamber. Our taxes pay for it, so in some sense it's our responsibility. But right now there's not a darn thing we can do to prevent Stan Tookie Williams from walking in there at 12:01am next Tuesday to die. It's not like people aren't trying to stop the execution. The NAACP is flying around the state urging clemency, attracting the attention of the press. (There are also those calling for...

Got 5 bucks? That's all it will take to get you into the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre's Comedy Death Ray show at 8:30pm tonight. That and some determination: the show has sold out its reservation tickets, but there are a few seats that should go to those who make the stand-by list. The list-making begins at 7pm; you gotta be there to add your name. Comedy Death Ray is a lineup of comics rocking...

So you know you should be shopping for Christmas but you're just not yet ready to drop the big bucks. Here's a few local hints to get you going, painlessly. The MOCA store has cool arty holiday cards; the pic above is from the card designed by SoCal artist Mark Ryden. CandyBlog reviews Sharfenberger Chocolate Coverd Cacao Nibs, finds them superb. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was NBC's top download on their first day...

Burger King has begun an ad campaign to promote its new meaty meat burger. "Just when you decided to go vegan: the triple whopper sandwich" pokes fun at vegans, or at the decision to become vegan. Now anyone who's ever made the choice to stop eating meat would not be lured by an extra fast food beef patty or two. So the concept is kind of silly, and likely to pass quickly into the...