Jason Toney

There is a great wikipedia about Johnnie Cochran, Jr. that reminds us that he was a true Los Angeles Icon. He attended UCLA and LMU (where he got his law degree), was a criminal prosecutor twice in his career (for a total of 7 years), and made his name initially by effectively pursuing justice in police brutality cases. The nineties found him in the middle of just about every major Los Angeles trial. He...

While everybody else tries to figure out where the severed foot came from, we've got our eyes a little further east. KESQ in Palm Springs reports that Phi Kappa Tau has been suspended at Chico State for participating in a porno film. We're not so thrown off by this and while it isn't quite in the academic tradition, it isn't that far off from Pierce College hosting an adult film photo shoot on their...

Some people love their t-shirt blogs. We love a blog about movie posters. Posterwire is a new blog focused on film posters, design, and movies in general. Without reading a word, LAist was immediately in love with the site for featuring the Jessica Alba version of the Sin City poster series. Check it out....

Speaking of Sin City, we weren't invited to last night's premiere of the film at Mann National in Westwood but, by the look of things, all the rest of Hollywood was. Every time we find something about the flick, we're surprised by another actor or actress being in the movie that we didn't previously know about. The premiere revealed Carla Gugino is in the film. She plays Lucille. This is very exciting. We're still...

LA.Com and Venice Cantina are hosting a benefit for Surfer's Healing tomorrow evening from 7-10 PM. Surfer's Healing is a charity surf camp for austistic children. The benefit will feature performances by Sugar Ray (including Extra's own Mark McGrath) and Donovan Frankenreiter. There will be an auction (which actually has stuff people might want like a signed surfboard from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a guitar signed by the members of No Doubt),...

We're shocked, actually. Not only that the most recognizable legal name of the last 15 years is gone but that he died much older than we thought. Just about everyone is short on details but he died of a brain disorder. While his legacy will forever be attached to the OJ Simpson trial, his relavence to Los Angeles is much greater than that. Cochran worked tirelessly on community focused cases and was proud of...

Is downtown officially the new 'it' place to be in LA? Forget the strip, the beach, the west side, or Los Feliz, LA Downtown News notes that models hang out in the Arts District. The current season of America's Next Top Model, which has spent at least part of every season in Los Angeles, housed their contestants in what is fast becoming our trendy downtown. Local clothing designer, Magnus Walker (pictured), and his wife,...

UCLA researchers have cured cat allergies in mice. No word on if they've cured dog allergies in cats. The therapy involves stopping the allergic reaction on a molecular level and can be injected. The hope is that it will eventually lead to a shot that we humans can take to stop the sneezing. The research team isn't just interested in improving relationships between cats and mice, they are hopeful that the approach might also...

Before we get into what happened around here last week, we want to welcome Chris and Miwa, our two newest contributors. Chris watches lots of different things and has his own site. Miwa has the most interesting posts about our local environment. This week was all about the animals. Live by the beach? How about the west side? Maybe South of the 10? Maybe you'd like to write for this site. Let us know. Now,...

We are all about movies that people either love or hate. Todd Solondz's Palindromes appears to be one of those flicks. Film Threat falls on the side of love for this disturbing tale of a 13 year old desperate to have a child. The 13 year old is played by 6 different people of varying ages, ethnicities, and genders in an attempt to force the audience to consider their own assumptions and prejudices about...