Paul Davidson

LAist knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- but with what's coming out in theaters this weekend, well, someone has completely gone off the deep end. Shark Tale: A CGI film about the underwater world of fish -- with Will Smith and Jack Black playing the title roles of a fish and shark, respectively. There's comedy, action, suspense (there's a little mob mentality thrown in here) and a little bit of...

The Los Angeles Times reports today that a Southwest Airlines ticketing lobby in Terminal 1 of LAX was evacuated yesterday when "a man was found to have a rocket launcher in his checked luggage." Although the man was a defense contractor and the weapon was "only a training weapon" that had "been modified and no longer launched rockets," LAist can't help but send kudos to the security staff at LAX for finally catching something...

This week, meteorologists all across town and in all the major media outlets have confirmed the startling results that Los Angeles is about to be hit with "a cooling trend." Over the course of the next week, LA's temperatures will take a nose dive into the 70-degree territory, hovering in the 70-73 range through most of the week and then, once again, reaching back up to the 80's just in time for the big...

LAist knows that if you live in Los Angeles (or its surrounding areas) and have a telephone, you have one of the following area codes: 310, 323, 213, 818, 805, 626 and/or 714/949. LAist also knows that if you don't have 310, 323, 213 or 818 — you might as well never give anyone your phone number because they're never going to call you, visit you or think about fostering a friendship with you....

Let's face it -- LAist knows that getting your caffiene-buzz on a Monday morning is tough enough simply because it's a Monday morning. But having to decide where to go, if there's enough parking, how quickly you can do it and which route to take are all legitimate and complicated decisions. But when competition becomes so crazy that the same unnamed beanery puts one of their stores directly across the street from another one...

LAist wants to thank Jay Leno. Announced today in the papers and tonight on his very own show "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Jay Leno made the announcement that he would be retiring from late night television in 2009 and giving his beloved spot to none other than Conan O'Brien. And while LAist screamed giddily like a little girl upon hearing the O'Brien news, what we'd really like to know is why Leno...

When LAist showed up at The Hollywood Bowl last night to catch some fresh "Air", we didn't expect to find ourselves pleased with a pair of openers that we had yet to see perform live. The first opener, Sondre Lerche, performed without accompaniment to great crowd reaction while the light was becoming scarce -- belting out a variety of haunting and melodic songs and finishing up with a small orchestra at his side. Following...

What do Jason Biggs, Zach Braff, Adam Brody, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scott Foley, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Masterson and Rachael Leigh Cook all have in common? LAist was surprised and intrigued to find out that they're all Honorary Committee Members for the Kerry/Edwards Campaign and probably have, really, no involvement whatsoever in the Saturday, October 2nd event "An Evening with Kerry/Edwards" featuring musical artists such as the Black Eyed Peas. The list of supporters...

LAist may not have storage spaces filled with mint-on-card collectible action figures, but we sure can take a few minutes out to acknowledge the end of a truly inspired collection of toys. It was over five years ago (January 2000) when Playmates Toys began their extremely popular World of Simpsons figure collections -- well-designed figures from the longest-running television show ever, The Simpsons. Even more engaging was the fact that each figure had its...

It's nice to know that, this weekend, people won't be complaining about the "Air" in Los Angeles, but embracing them at The Hollywood Bowl instead. Although some might be from the camp that can't wait for Saturday's performance by Seal, Zap Mama, De La Soul and Van Hunt, we here at LAist are salivating at the idea of Sunday's performance of French band AIR with Roger Neill conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Stereolab...