Outside the scene of Heath Ledger's death in NYC | Photo by Tien Mao, Gothamist.com Gothamist, parent site to LAist, is reporting the death of Heath Ledger. "Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in downtown Manhattan apartment by the police. Some reports say he died from an overdose." Ledger lived on Broome street. Ledger was a rising star and actor from Australia, known for his work in Brokeback Mountain, which earned him a best......

Phil Jackson, Tuesday - "We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts ... It was one of those games." Phil Jackson, Wednesday - "If I've offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize." Lakers 93, Rockets 90 - The Lakers split their Texas two-step, taking down Houston after Tracy McGrady had to leave with an injured elbow. Kobe Bryant led the way with 30 points in a game......

Unlike the Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up clip we mentioned a while back, this looks like it might be a real outtake from the movie. It features Jonah (Jonah Hill) spouting off to Alison (Katherine Heigl) about the disappointing lack of hot gay sex in Ang Lee's "boundary-pushing" film, Brokeback Mountain.......

"Lance," "Matthew" and "Jake" What would happen if Lance Armstrong, Jake Gyllanhaal and Matthew McConaughey shacked up (almost platonically) for a summer at Armstrong's Malibu pad? We checked out Three Companeros, a stage parody of the sitcom Three's Company, to find out out. Unbeknownst to his rommies, Armstrong is deciding which actor will play him in his biopic, and the tension continues to mount as the wacky landlord hosts a female visitor that all......

Today we celebrate the birthdays of: iPod, miracle device Keith Van Horn, NBA forward Kaleena Kiff, Santa Monica born actress Shawn Wooden, NFL free safety Daryl Price, NFL defensive end Brooke Theiss, California-born actress Al Leiter, MLB pitcher Doug Flutie, CFL/NFL quarterback Mike Tomczak, NFL quarterback "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer/songwriter Sam Raimi, writer/director - "Evil Dead II", "Spider-Man" (more after jump) Louann Fernald, Playboy Playmate '79 Dwight Yoakam, singer/songwriter Ang Lee, director - "Crouching......

Here at LAist we like to help out struggling directors who could use a few extra thousands of dollars, so when a tipster let us know about a contest being held by Current TV, our interests were piqued but we were pretty sure we were gonna say no. Keeping it real and all that. But then we saw that the topic was Tolerance, and what with all of Mel Gibson news happening, and what......

We think he's trying to figure out Hollywood math. The Randy Quaid lawsuit against the producers of Brokeback Mountain — they had him work cheap, but then spent big on marketing — has people looking at the mini-majors. How do they get to make those cool edgy films? By asking the actors to work for peanuts. And then, there's the wacky math. As explained to the NY Times: Good Night, and Good Luck, from......

If you've only seen one of the nominated movies, haven't voted in any pools and are really only tuning in to the Oscars to see Jon Stewart, the, highlights of the evening are not so much the awards as any funny or memorable moments in the ceremony. So far: - Stewart turned his trademark self-deprecation into a funny opening film that poked fun at all the rumors that he was far down on the......

It's nearly zero hour for the industry love fest -- better known as the Academy Awards -- and many Oscar get-togethers, soirees and partaaays are just revving up. To help dull the pain of spending three hours plus in front of the boob tube, LAist highly recommends the use of alchohol (responsibly, of course). So without further ado, here are some rules to add to your homemade Oscar telecast drinking game: - When the......

Yep, that's Felicity Huffman, and yes, she wins Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards. Think she's got a shot at the Oscar? Sarah Silverman continues to knock it out of the park. And the attendees like her. "Finally there's an award show host that you'd wanna fuck," Kevin Smith says. He had a long dirty story to tell before announcing the best director winner. Best Foregin Film goes to Paradise Now, the only......

We can't wait until Sarah Silverman gets to host the Oscars. Would she make jokes about the freshness of her vagina, like she does in the opening monologue of the Independent Spirit Awards today? She kicks things off saying George Clooney "has proved himself both artsy and fartsy," and "Felicity Huffman, I am such a huge fan of his." The Independent Spirit Awards are happneing right now, in Satna Monica, at 2 in the afternoon......

Not that we care much about Dancing with the Stars or the fact that Drew Lachey and partner Cheryl Burke won the dance off last night, but we heard through the grapevine that ABC censors were hard at work Friday, saving the morals of the West Coast. In a nutshell: Drew and pardner did a freestyle dance to the country tune "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" -- yeah, you read that classy title......

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and the gay cowboy lovestory leads the pack: Brokeback Mountain got 8 nominations. The 5 movies up for Best Picture are Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, and Crash, which just took the big prize at the SAG Awards Sunday night. One of our favorite categories this year is makeup, which pits the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and the Chronicles of Narnia......

9:40 Jake and Heath stumble and laugh over the sappy script written for their Brokeback Mountain intro. They look darling, don't they? 9:45 Reese Witherspoon is gasping for breath as she accepts the best actress award for Walk the Line. She says June Carter Cash deserved to be brought out of the shadow and into the light. She thanks Joauqin: Wihtout your John, there was no June. Yep, that Reese Witherspoon is hitting all......

For his 19th Golden Globe nomination, Best Original Score went to John Williams for Memoirs Of A Geisha giving him 4 Golden Globes. Williams' name is pretty much synonymous with the film scoring category, but the New York Times backs up the case for his repeat nominations, accompanied by a pleasant audio slide show, in their Red Carpet section (NYT's version of LAT's The Envelope). Brokeback Mountain scored the Best Original Song with "A......

We found ourselves at the premiere of the lesbiriffic romantic comedy April's Shower last night at the Regent Cinema in Hollywood. Attending a gaysploitation premiere is a little bit like attending a major movie premiere, only smaller and obviously gayer. There were all the usual requisites: a red carpet (small, no bouncer), television reporters (from something called 'Q Television') and plenty of sub D-list celebrities hoping to score an extra drink ticket, but the......

The DGA announced its best directing in feature film award nominees yesterday: Steven Spielberg for Munich - 10-time nominee, 3 wins: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, The Color Purple Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain - 2-time nominee, 1 win: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Bennett Miller for Capote - first nomination Paul Haggis for Crash - first nomination George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck - first nomination Television award nominees will be announced......

Horseraces! Handicaps! No sooner had we posted about the not-quiet-announced Oscar host than the SAG Award nominees were announced. The biggest surprise must be the nomination of Hustle & Flow in the "best performance by a cast" category (SAG's version of "best picture"), while none of the cast members were nominated individually. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Terrence Howard was robbed. Other than that, it's what you'd expect. Both leads......

We can't help but laugh at all the media brouhaha over what has come to be known as the "Gay Cowboy Movie" Brokeback Mountain, which snagged (pardon us) an assload of Golden Globe noms this morning, as well as was named "Picture of the Year" and Ang Lee as "Director of the Year" by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association just the other day. Our favorite bite is this item from FishBowlLA that notes......

Stan Tookie Williams was pronounced dead at 12:35 this morning in San Quentin, after being executed by lethal injection for the deaths of four people in 1979. The Los Angeles Times website has extensive coverage on Williams' death. One article headline reads that "Williams Accepts Execution Quietly." (On the other side of town, the Daily News lead story notes that Brokeback Mountain leads all Golden Globe nominations. (Is it us, or is there something......

The Golden Globe Award nominees have been announced (if the Hollywood Foreign Press Association site is jammed, try the LA Times). Most noms: Brokeback Mountain. And the Housewives are back. The Downtown News chases down some drummers drumming and ladies dancing for a local 12 Days of Christmas. In Northridge somebody was so seized by the spirit of Christmas that they snatched decorations off the lawns of a block of houses, the Daily News......