Carrie Meathrell

Run to Your Grave from the mae shi on Vimeo After six years of busting their spazcore balls on the L.A. rock circuit, The Mae Shi have come off of a whirlwind SXSW tour to bring you one of the best singles of the year (from their new album "HLLYH"), accompanied by one of the wickedest music videos of the year. I dare you not to watch this six times in a row and...

Photo by astacia5 via Flickr We've heard before that the sinking housing market would actually serve to increase the rent on apartments in Los Angeles, and we've had a few lively discussions about proposals to undo rent control laws. But who knew the rate increases would be so drastic? Today's LA Times is reporting on the going rates for a four-bedroom, eight-bath (eight???) Malibu beach house: $150 grand. Per month. Alright, granted this is...

Is your jump shot lacking? Are your rebound skills not up to par? Well never you fear, Coach Wiener is here! Honor Student (an up-and-coming Los Angeles sketch/short-film troupe) brings you the latest installment of the Peabody-winning* sports series, "PE With Coach Wiener." *J/K on the Peabody! It was actually a Pulitzer. Or was that a Razzie? We don't keep track....

Junot Diaz in conversation with Mona Simpson at the Hammer Museum. Photo by Osmany Rodriguez for LAist There's some crazy footage over at sister site SFist of a war protest that took place on Market Street yesterday. The site's commenters are NOT fans of protest group Code Pink. Breaking news over at the LA Times: former University of Texas chancellor Mark Yudof is being named the new UC president. Police are now offering a...

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who knew a simple little Hollywood diner, The Waffle, would somehow become the most controversial restaurant in Los Angeles right now? First there was the barrage of "meh" to "terrible" reviews from the Chowhounders, most of whom complained about overpriced entrees and slow, forgetful service (definitely my #1 pet peeve when it comes to restaurants). Then Lesley at EaterLA revealed that bad reviews might have been coming from "a Hollywood contingency...

For Long Beach, scroll down | View Larger Map Despite what the rest of the world seems to think about the Los Angeles dining scene, chances are that most of you reading this live pretty close to an awesome stretch of restaurants. Even if you're not in the vicinity of La Cienega's fabled "Restaurant Row," there are still many pockets of that range from the Valley to the South Bay and beyond. This morning's ABC7...

Photo by Susan Catherine via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Best known for his authoring of "2001: A Space Odyssey," sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke has died at 90 in Sri Lanka. This just in from the LA Times's Soundboard blog...Prince has been added to the Coachella roster! Nice! Obama had a huge campaign moment this morning, perhaps the biggest yet: he confronted the race issue in a stirring speech after his...

Did you know it's World Water Week? Yup, a whole week to celebrate the stuff that comes out of your tap (and if you're an Angeleno, apparently it's pretty tasty stuff!). Lucky for us we don't have to think too much about where our water comes from, even in the worst So Cal drought conditions. That's not the case for millions of impoverished people around the world, and so restaurants across the nation have...

An ancient cuisine is hoping to attract new fans in downtown Los Angeles: Shojin, an organic Japanese restaurant whose menu is inspired by Buddhist vegetarian principles, has opened in Little Tokyo. Traditional "shojin" cuisine is a plant-based, essentially vegan diet, which Buddhists adhere to as a form of spiritual discipline. So, of course, what better theme for a trendy new Downtown restaurant? I kid, I kid: but the menu is bound to appeal to...

A view of the Valley from Sherman Oaks | Photo by Dan Wuh via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr So apparently in Kansas there's this lady who decided to sit on the toilet for two years -- this story is so bizarre I can hardly fathom it. How's this for shocking: remember that Downtown housing boom that was luring so many buyers to all those cool new lofts? Well, it's not so...