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$ellebrity: Photographer Kevin Mazur Discusses His New Film About Gossip, Paparazzi and the Cost of Fame

See also: *More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage It's possible that the price of fame has never been higher -- and not just in the tried-and-true Hollywood storylines of fame, fortune and the tragic falls from grace. In his new documentary $ellebrity, seasoned celebrity and event photographer Kevin Mazur ... More >>

Jon Hamm and Adam Scott Host Sandy Benefit, With Performances by Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman and More

See also: *Dick Jokes for Jesus at Comedy Bang Bang's Nativity Pageant *10 Best Standup Comedy Shows in L.A. *5 Best Comedy Shows in L.A. This Week "Ladies, please prepare your vaginas," announced actor/comedian Aziz Ansari Monday night at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, introducing masters of ... More >>

LAPD Chief Wants to Give Special Driver's Licenses to Illegal Immigrants

Getty ImagesChief Beck, mayor's pet.​Get mad, Arizona nation: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, known to side loyally with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on all politics Latino, says he has a pretty great solution to the illegal-immigrant impound debate. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, t ... More >>

Iran Bans Barbies; Disgruntled Little Girl Calls Replacement Dolls 'Ugly and Fat'

L.A.-based toy company Mattell is facing some pushback from the Iranian government, re: the "destructive cultural and social consequences" that its freakishly perfect Barbie dolls have on the little girls of Iran. Reuters reports that the ban was unofficially passed in 1996, but that the "morality ... More >>

Illegal-Immigrant Impound Policy Elevates Into Political War: Mayor, LAPD Chief vs. City Council, Police Union

It's common knowledge, by now, that DUI checkpoints around L.A. County double as illegal-immigrant crackdowns. It works like this: Illegals aren't allowed to hold driver's licenses in California (a public-safety outrage for another day), so when they're asked to show their licenses at a DUI checkp ... More >>

Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO, Thrashed by Anonymous Old White Men in LA Times Roast

Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesHudson takes on the haters.​Half a year into her stint as CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dawn Hudson got a cutting performance review from the Los Angeles Times last weekend. The Times piece is not, at face value, an editorial evaluation of Hu ... More >>

Marina Abramovic's MOCA Gala Controversy: Jeffrey Deitch Confronted and the Performers Speak Out

Getty Images for MOCAA human centerpiece at the "Artist Life Manifesto" directed by Marina Abramovic for the MOCA Gala​ The guests at MOCA's annual galas are patrons high in the economic hierarchy: politicians, heirs, celebrities, moguls, entrepreneurs who've made bank. Tickets cost an arm an ... More >>

Are London Riots Any Different Than L.A. Riots? UCLA Professor Says Blacks Are 'Similarly Oppressed' In UK

Getty ImagesThe London riots​Based on the (absurdly informed) opinion of UCLA sociology professor Darnell Hunt, Telegraph correspondent Tim Stanley was right to worry that Brits -- and commentators around the world -- may be blaming this week's London riots on the moral character of the rioter ... More >>

Behind the Scenes: Lady Gaga on Jimmy Kimmel Live

ABC Media/Getty Images​After Wednesday night's disastrous Electric Daisy Carnival screening event in Hollywood, it was clear the cops were on heightened and maximized alert for Lady Gaga's "block party" for Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. Alas there was no need. Yes, there were a lot of people m ... More >>

John Edwards Mug Shot: So Stoked I Just Cheated on My Cancer Wife, Allegedly Used Campaign Funds to Cover Up L.A. Love Tryst!

Best day ever!​Can we please get a moment of silence for John Edwards' ridiculously happy mug shot, snapped just after he was arrested for one of the most evil affairs in the history of the U.S. government? Anthony Weiner may be a metro sexter with unjustified levels of boner pride, and JFK ... More >>

Royal Wedding Is Amazing, Gorgeous, Stunning, Stylish, Dreamy, Bloody Delightful, Say Critics

Getty Images​'Twas the holy matrimony heard round the world: The great Prince William wed his favorite muggle, an impossibly lacy Kate Middleton, through the wee hours (PDT) last night. As soon as Kate stepped out of the queen's Rolls Royce, Hollywood's toughest and snarkiest critics were redu ... More >>

Tim Hetherington, Director of Oscar-Nominated War Doc 'Restrepo,' Killed in Libya

Tim Hetherington on the set of "Restrepo"​Update: Chris Hondros took these stunning photographs just hours before he died. More after the jump. Tim Hetherington, a wartime photographer and documentary filmmaker -- along with his associate, Chris Hondros, also a war photojournalist -- were kil ... More >>

Statue of Liberty on U.S. Postage Stamp Is Actually Newer, Hotter Vegas Version From 'New York-New York'

​​Everything's sexier in Vegas! Even New York's world-famous Statue of Liberty, apparently. Her likeness stands over the Las Vegas strip, torch raised...

Five Lessons Learned From Seeing Duran Duran Live for the First Time

Getty Images for American Express​ Read Lina Lecaro's review, "The Night a Duran Duran Show Got the David Lynch Treatment in LA." Wednesday night, American Express' Unstaged series brought together Duran Duran and David Lynch for an unusual live experience. As the band played on The Mayan sta ... More >>

Oscar Night Photos: Justin Bieber, Jon Hamm, Arianna Huffington

OK Magazine via TwitpicNatalie Porman and Benjamin Millepied on the red carpet.​With people tweeting photos from Oscar night, who needs Getty Images and TMZ? We've got the goods. Jon Hamm and Arianna Huffington even tweeted pics of themselves. Thanks guys.

Top L.A. Twitter Slang, According To Study: omw, tacos, raining, coo, bomb, papi, af, nada, MICKEY, #KOBE... And More

Getty Imageswyd Kim Kardashian? nada, omw​And all this time we thought our Internet speak was universal -- connecting sea to shining sea for a big jolly Twittery universe. Nope, say researchers at Carnegie Melon University in Pennsylvania, who went totally 2011 on the linguistic community and ... More >>

Top Ten LA Musician Mansions For Sale (Sorry Millionaires: Jack Black Just Snapped Flea's Los Feliz Pad)

Jack Black Buys Flea's House More Musicians Insane Mansions For Sale

Jean-Luc Naret Retires: L.A.'s Least Favorite Michelin Man Steps Down

Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images AsiaPacJean-Luc Naret at 2010 Tokyo Michelin guide press conference​ There probably won't be many teary eyes in Los Angeles over today's news that Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret will be stepping down from his post. The Michelin guide was released in Los An ... More >>

Ron Artest To Perform at Millions of Milkshakes Today, Then Create His Own Milkshake

Noel Vasquez/Getty ImagesRon Artest, NBA Champion​ Could there be a more perfect combination than NBA Champion Ron Artest and celebrity shake shop Millions of Milkshakes? One week removed from his brilliant post-game press conference, the Laker forward will be appearing at the Millions of Mil ... More >>

Eat Like A Pope: Or Not

Getty Imagespotato noodles with liver sausage and vanilla​What's a little systemic child abuse and closet Nazism when we can talk about the current Pontiff's childhood eating habits. Eat Like A Pope, released last month from Italian publisher De Agostini Group, documents the dishes eaten by Po ... More >>

Fast Food Toys Banned In Santa Clara County

GETTY IMAGESNo toys for you​ Children are easy to bribe, and parents have been using that technique since the beginning of human existence to promote good behavior. But while it's one thing to bribe your own children, it's a different story to bribe somebody else's. That seemed to be the sent ... More >>

The World According to Evo Morales: Real Men Can't Eat Chicken

While coq au vin may be one of Julia Child's best dishes, and a preposterous chicken sandwich the most newsworthy thing to order at a fast food restaurant at the moment, chicken is not what Bolivian president Evo Morales thinks you should have for dinner. At least if you're a man. Morales told an ... More >>

Birdemic: Ed Wood, Meet Al Gore

A hypersincere eco freak-out is the new so-bad-it's-good cult classic

Iron Chef Morimoto Might be Landing at LAX

Getty Images via Grub Street​Perhaps the degrading commercial earlier this week that pitted LAX up against SFO went straight to our food court, or maybe the closing of The Hump inspired LA's international airport to take a stab at the title for the best grub in the county within 100 feet of a ... More >>

Laker Star Kobe Bryant Sues Japanese City Over Naming Rights To High-End Beef

With the race for the top seed in the Western Conference all but wrapped up, it appears that Kobe Bryant has set his sights on a new opponent: the entire Japanese city of Kobe. Kobe Bryant was actually named after the expensive and highly sought after Japanese beef when his father, whose nickname i ... More >>

Stephen Colbert's Olympic Moment: How to Cut a Sandwich with an Ice Skate

Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesStephen Colbert finds a blade for his sandwich​You can't say that Stephen Colbert doesn't put his money where his mouth is. Or, in this case, his lunch. The Comedy Central comedian became the patron saint of speed skating when he bailed out the US Olympic speed skating ... More >>

What To Wear While Tailgating: The Cook, The Milliner, His Wife & Her Quarterback. Or Something Like That.

Between tonight's Orange Bowl and the crowds slowly gathering in Pasadena for Thursday's BCS championship game (with all the Longhorn banners fluttering along Del Mar, you'd think that half the faculty at Cal Tech was secretly from Texas), we thought it was time for a little food fashion weigh-in. ... More >>

Meet Your NBA Champion Foodie: Pau Gasol Talks El Bulli, Bazaar, Kobe and More

You probably already know him as the second best player on the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. But what you probably don't know (unless you read our September interview with Lakers trainer Gary Vitti) is that he's also the team's resident foodie. He is, after all, from Spain. Squid Ink ca ... More >>

If Kobe is Hungry, He Can Just Yell for the Ball Boy

The world of professional athletics is a lot less glamorous when you aren't the professional athlete. A recent article from HoopsWorld looked into one such thankless sports job, the NBA ball boy, and discovered that it's not just about handling basketballs, but also ridiculous player food requests. ... More >>

Stage Raw: ZAR

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSTHEATER NEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on producer Sir Cameron MackintoshStage Raw: ZAR Theatre ZAR from Wroclaw, Poland has been in Southern California for over a week, conducting workshops of their choral-physical technique at UC Irvine and UCLA. Their Tryptich opens next w ... More >>

Stage Raw: Love's Labour's Lost

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSTHEATER NEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on producer Sir Cameron MackintoshNEW REVIEW GO LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST ​Photo by Amy Graves/Getty ImagesLondon's distinguished Globe Theatre lives up to its reputation with this traditional but resolutely un-stodgy production. Director D ... More >>

James Beard Foundation LA Chef Invitational At The Foundry: Eat, Drink, Repeat

A fairly high percentage of L.A.'s finer dining restaurants are closed on Mondays. Next Monday that's probably a good thing, as not a few of them will be at The Foundry on Melrose. Eric Greenspan, chef-owner of The Foundry, will be hosting The James Beard Foundation L.A. Chef Invitational, a 5-cours ... More >>

Featured Photographer Emilio Morenatti Injured in Afghanistan

British Men Spending More Time in the Kitchen: Thanks to Gordon Ramsay?

The list of things for which we have to thank Gordon Ramsay is long. Profanity in the kitchen, David Beckham at restaurant openings, and of course, the recurrent spectacle of Hell's Kitchen. Now, according to a new report out from researchers at Oxford University, the British chef can take credit fo ... More >>

Photographer Emilio Morenatti Recovering from Bomb Blast

By Steve ApplefordBalazs GardiEmilio Morenatti and Marta Ramoneda in Pakistan​Emilio Morenatti was a reluctant visitor to Los Angeles last month, here to accept his award as 2009's Newspaper Photographer of the Year. The Spanish-born photojournalist was uncomfortable being away from his post in P ... More >>

Last Night's #2 NBA Draft Pick Tweets on Beverly Hills Italian

As Henry Abbot, the editor of the ESPN basketball blog Truehoop often points out, NBA players are known to have pretty bad taste in food (Carry On Beckham: New Book Details Soccer Star's L.A. Mishaps

Pity Posh 'n Becks trying to set up house in Los Angeles after the British couple arrived here in 2007 so the soccer superstar could play for the Galaxy. First the young thirtysomethings were refused wine service at a top restaurant because they carried no I.D.s on them. Then there was the fame ... More >>

Wilshire Not-So Grand Hotel to Go?

Only the other day Korean Air, a corporate partner of the city's Million Trees L.A. program, was sponsoring the mayor's tree-planting photo-op near downtown. In today's L.A. Times, we learn, the company is the force behind a proposed construction project that will change the skyline by knocking down ... More >>

Jeff Kent Hits the Showers for Good

Jeff Kent, the refreshingly candid Dodger who holds the Major League record for most home runs hit by a second baseman, is retiring. The L.A. Times reported today that the 40-year-old Kent will make the announcement at a Dodger Stadium news conference tomorrow. Photo: Getty ImagesDuring his four yea ... More >>

Pasadena Tallies ASIMO Float Damage

Honda's Giant Robot Runs AmokTight-lipped Pasadena officials are beginning the grim task of assessing the damage wreaked along Colorado Boulevard by Honda's 49-foot ASIMO robot during yesterday's Rose Parade. There had been little indication of trouble when the 120th Tournament of Roses march began ... More >>

AP: Madoff Fleeced Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick

An Associated Press story, carried by Huffington Post and several other sources, reports that husband-wife actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick were taken to the cleaners big time by disgraced investment titan Bernard Madoff. The couple are the latest Hollywood figures known to have suffered heavy l ... More >>

Gaza Battle Continues -- On Wilshire Boulevard

Today will see two protest actions against Israel's counterattacks on the Hamas-led Palestinian territory in Gaza. At 3 p.m. Jews for Peace will assemble outside the Westwood Federal Building on 11000 Wilshire Blvd. Info: (562) 694-1637.Right: Gaza City ruins(NY Times photo: Abid Katiib/Getty I ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Plushies & Furries, The Cure's Secret Show, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, Idealist Propaganda and Unique L.A.

For those of you who barricaded yourselves indoors with Netflix because of this weekend's "storm watch," let me just say -- damn, you missed out on some amazing events. Here at the L.A. Weekly, we tossed our umbrellas in the back seat, took our chances with the drizzle and hit up everything from Ric ... More >>

The Cure Tear Up the Troubadour at Surprise MySpace Show

(Frank Micelotta/Getty Images for MySpace)If you're anything like the freakazoid Cure fans who one way or another managed to secure a wristband for last night's surprise Cure show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, you should probably stop reading this right now. If you weren't at the show and opt ... More >>

View from the Pit: LA Weekly Photographer Chimes in on Club Nokia

If you've been to an LA concert in the past half decade, no doubt you've seen LA Weekly music photographer Timothy Norris machine-gunning his way through gigs of all shapes and sizes. Norris, who also shoots for Getty Images, has a unique perspective on the city's clubs, so it's only natural that he ... More >>

Among the Size-0 Crowd at Fashion Week

Painful stilettos, accreting around Mandy Moore, and more

The Details the Moguls Don't Want You to Know

The Summer Glau Chronicles

Summer Night's Dream at the Terminator TV Premier

Chest of Lies

Identity theft, self-promotion and the search for laminates at Sundance