Emma G. Gallegos

In tonight's Extra, Extra, toddler beats Jimmy Kimmel, visual effects workers plan a protest and Nate Silver tries his hand at Oscar predictions. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. You can also find us on Pinterest, Storify, Foursquare, and Instagram (laistpics).

Venice is getting its own soap opera that sounds like an unironic interpretation of the SNL skit "The Californians" crossed with Romeo & Juliet.

The vaunted Academy Awards are an opportunity for the film industry to showcase its finest cinematic achievements —or you know, to promote people they like, slam others they don't and try to right the wrongs of past award shows. An anonymous Hollywood director invited over The Hollywood Reporter while he talked—and trash-talked—his way through his official Academy Awards ballot.

This week the mayors of 35 cities in the United States got a letter from the United States Olympic Committee asking them to consider putting in a bid to host the Olympics in 2024. There's certainly interest here in Los Angeles, which already hosted the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. But we're especially intrigued by the mayor of San Diego who is talking up his city's "very serious" interest in hosting the games with their neighbors to the south Tijuana.

Fortunately, most of us have probably never had to think too hard about the health effects of drinking water that has come into contact with a rotting corpse. But that has all changed with the tragic—and so far unexplained—death of a Canadian tourist whose body was found in the water tank of the Cecil Hotel.

In tonight's Extra, Extra, Silver Lake loses another festival, an NRA-supported OC politician asks hard questions about gun violence and Yelpers make tasteless jokes. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. You can also find us on Pinterest, Storify, Foursquare, and Instagram (laistpics).

Psychology Today combed through the postings on Craigslist's "Missed Connections" in the United States to find out the most popular locations for almost finding love at first sight. The map shows that Californians on the prowl are up in the gym working on their fitness, specifically 24 Hour Fitness.

Samantha Ronson's mother is now speaking out publicly about her daughter's break-up with Lindsay Lohan a few years ago. Socialite Ann Dexter-Jones told The Daily Mail that about the event that led her to intervene in their relationship.

In tonight's Extra, Extra, we explore animal's true capabilities, nip-slips could be outlawed in one state and Venice has a petite sword-swallower. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. You can also find us on Pinterest, Storify, Foursquare, and Instagram (laistpics).

This week's edition of Overheard in L.A. features bits of overheard conversation from the farmer's market, the vet's office and, of course, Runyon Canyon.

A pair of women were caught on camera harassing pregnant seals at a beach on San Diego. The San Diego mayor recently installed a live webcam (visible on his webpage) that streams the activities of the seals and their pups at a local beach called Children's Pool Beach. Although the video footage is not stored, someone watching the video noticed the two women harassing the seals and recorded the stream.

In tonight's Extra, Extra, we have more than one item about farting, Nate Silver might stop blogging for the sake of democracy and a cold case in San Diego gets another look. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. You can also find us on Pinterest, Storify, Foursquare, and Instagram (laistpics).