Though hardly a mainsteam name, George Hickenlooper has managed to carve out a long filmmaking career full of varied and fascinating work. From documentaries (Mayor of the Sunset Strip, Monte Hellman: American Auteur) to narrative features (The Man from Elysian Fields, Factory Girl), Hickenlooper has always delivered unexpected and satisfying stories. Two of his best documentaries are also two of his first: Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas and......

This is why we do all of our Christmas shopping online: first the FBI reported possible terrorist threats to Chicago and Los Angeles malls this holiday season, then took it back. Hey kids! You too can grow up to be a pervert with a social conscience! Dov Charney just signed on for a deal with American Apparel's partner company that could net him millions per year. A Small World it's not: Disneyland is remodeling......

Usher runs back to his estranged Mama's arms after a last minute cancelation of his wedding to Tameka Foster - PerezHilton Paris Hilton's inheritance is no more. Her billionare grandfather is mortified by her jail time and bad behavior and won't give her a dime - Metro In other Paris news, her reality show "The Simple Life" in which she stars with fellow jailbird Nicole Richie has been axed - The Insider Jimmy Fallon has......

London-born rapper Lady Sovereign will bust her rhymes this Friday, June 22nd at Avalon's Club 82. It’s a “Live PA Performance,” so this should be a one-woman show, with no pre-recorded tracks. Lady Sov is known by some as the female Eminem (Feminem?) and has been opening for Gwen Stefani on her "Sweet Escape" Tour. She’s gained some notoriety for onstage antics- at a show in New York she told the crowd to “Fuck......

Sheriff Lee Baca promised that professional party girl Paris Hilton would be treated just like any one else, but lo and behold, just days after she walked into the big hose, she slinked out in the middle of the night after complaining. The Associated Press is saying that she was released for an "unspecified medical problem" but TMZ is reporting that she was let free because jail wasn't agreeing with her nerves. Law enforcement......

The difference between great teams and pretty-good teams, or pretty-good teams and mediocre teams is small. It’s a demonstrated ability to make plays at critical junctures of games. Great teams do it often, pretty-good teams do it sometimes, mediocre teams only occasionally. Memphis Grizzlies, never. The Clippers’ deflating three-point overtime loss to the NO/OKC Hornets last night once again reflected the teams’ inability to make the plays in the clutch, an ability that has by......

Every week in Living in Sin, Jen Sincero provides advice to LA's sexually confounded. Sign up for her newsletter and have it sent to you every week. Ask Jen your questions: all are posted anonymously. Dear Jen, Once again the holidays came and went and I found myself alone. I'm 45, female and a generally happy person, but this time of year somehow magnifies the negative aspects of my single lifestyle and always makes......

Dixie Chicks @ Staples Mates of State @ El Rey Lionel Richie @ Kodak Royal Crown Revue @ Viper AM Radio, The Man, The Foundation @ Roxy Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys @ Cozy's Bar & Grill Chad, Pianorag, Chloe White @ The Mint Freaky Tiki @ Taix The Morlocks, Purple Gang @ The Echo Jake Mattison, The Make @ Lava Lounge Mad Temple, Krome, Black Guppy, Shotgun Blues @ Whisky Humdinger, Jews......

Every week in Living in Sin, Jen Sincero provides advice to LA's sexually confounded. You can see her column in print in the LA Alternative Press, or have it sent to you every week by ">signing up for her newsletter. Ask Jen your questions: all are posted anonymously. Dear Jen, I finally got the guts to go on my first girl-girl date. It started out really well, but then she kept wanting to drag......

It's a short work week for most, but that doesn't mean that we can't already start planning for next weekend's fun. This Friday and Saturday Bon Appetit Magazine is coming to Los Angeles for a very special 50th anniversary celebration heralded as "The Ultimate Wine and Dine Weekend." The event brings together "some of the country's most celebrated chefs and entertaining personalities paired with the dynamic culinary talents of Los Angeles and Southern California." There......

If you've been putting off seeing the "Masters of American Comics" exhibit that is occurring simultaneously at the MOCA downtown, and at UCLA's Hammer Museum in Westwood, then put it off no further. You only have about two weeks remaining before this show leaves our city. LAist has seen this exhibit, and it is truly stunning. Our highlights were seeing so much of Jack Kirby's original artwork in the flesh, the man had such......

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... Austinist read a book about Olympian Bode Miller and liked it. They also took a few pictures of the......

We all know that freeways are dangerous. Our highly unscientific estimate is that there are about 30 highway traffic incidents reported every hour, which includes everything from "there's a couch in the breakdown lane" to multiple-car crashes with serious injuries. If you're morbid, try the link, which is to the CHP realtime online report center. We know, we're kinda morbid. Lately, freeways have been particularly hazardous for people on foot. Last night, a pedestrian,......

It's rivalry week and a cursory view of our blogroll shows the Trojan/Bruin war rages on. Boi From Troy is, obviously, almost all USC all the time this week while Loteria Chicana and Ultratart both wax nostalgic with dreams of past glory. Caroline on Crack wants you to visit Hunky Santa at the Beverly Center. Hunky Santa? What, no Hot Hannukah Harriett dancing the horah for the lovers of ladies? Was that enough alliteration......

Our first bit of apple talk was on a more national scope, it seems, and we're ready to bring things closer to home for all you fruit lovers out there. Sure, we have a scant working knowledge of California produce; garlic up in Gilroy, strawberries in Oxnard, and the vineyards full of wine-ready grapes, the avocadoes, figs, artichokes, and varities of citrus fruit up and down this glorious state. Ah, the bounty! But apples......

First of all, LAist apologizes for not getting our election story in–we were out at various election night parties to all hours and didn’t have time to write anything. The obvious story to write about is the rematch: Hahn vs. Villaraigosa, Part II. But we’ll be able to talk about that for the next ten weeks. For now, the most interesting question for the City’s political insiders is where Hertzberg went wrong on his......

Is it us or is Variety.com becoming more accessible? Well, it's Oscar Nom eve and those Hollywood-types still left in town are counting down the hours til actor Adrien Brody joins Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Frank Pierson in announcing the 77th Academy Award nominations on Jan. 25th at 5:38 AM out at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire in Beverly Hills. Scott Robson quizzed Industry vets about surviving the......

This year's election is having a similar effect on Angelenos as the Santa Anas: people are irritable, frustrated, and right on the edge of a good fight or a hysterical breakdown. An article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times noted that "[a]nxiety, depression, anger — demoralizing feelings that modern Americans have rarely, if ever, associated with choosing a leader — have been reported even from friendly precincts, and yard-sign fights and bumper sticker defacements are......

The commencement of the school year typically generates all types of education-related news and anecdotes. This year they sadly range from the tragic to the bizarre. NYU was shocked by the suicide of 23-year-old grad student Joanne M. Leavy, the second Tisch School of the Arts student to die within a week and the seventh death of an NYU student in a year. Fortunately, however, a local recent case involving a missing UCLA undergrad......