Huffington Post

A SNAP Iron Chef Challenge in Santa Monica

To show how meals with fresh food can be made on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) budget, chefs Nyesha Arrington of Wilshire Restaurant and Stefano de Lorenzo of La Botte will be facing off tomorrow, April 27, at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica Iron Chef-style. Arrington and ... More >>

L.A. County Meningitis Stats Raise More Questions -- County Only Recently Began Tracking Sexual Orientation

Updated at the bottom: Health experts say only some types of bacterial meningitis are spread person-to-person, these types are not as contagious as flu and are not sexually transmitted. The CDC says there is no increased risk among gays and no rationale for county officials to alter their approach. ... More >>

LACMA and MOCA's Possible Merger: The Internet Reacts

See also: *LACMA Proposes To Take Over MOCA The art world is abuzz with news about the possible merging of art museum titans Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Basically, LACMA would help MOCA financially sustain itself while keeping its name. Sounds like a good de ... More >>

Michael Moore Caught Exaggerating LAX Oscars Detainment -- What Else Is New?

First Michael Moore came out swinging on Twitter. Clueless customs officials at LAX had detained an Academy Award-nominated Palestinian filmmaker, he claimed. They "couldn't understand how a Palestinian could be an Oscar nominee." Even producing an "Oscar invite" wasn't good enough. The filmmaker, E ... More >>

Henry Rollins: No More Talk About Shooting Americans, Please

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] See also: Henry Rollins: Tragedy, and How to Carry On I spent a large part of the afternoon at ... More >>

Food News Roundup: White House Beer, Best L.A. Tacos A Recipe for the Elvis Presley Milkshake

Mental Floss: Does drinking booze really keep you warm? Hmmm. Ever gotten drunk in Minnesota? Right. The New York Times Diner's Journal: Slow Food USA gets a new leader. Michael Ruhlman: A review of Alex Witchel's book All Gone, a memoir with refreshments. The Smithsonian: Whether or not diet sod ... More >>

Fuck You You Fucking Baldists

Back in July, I met Slash for the first time ever. Sure, it's daunting and all to meet the guy whose MTV video solos you imitated on your coffee table with a broom. But then he was all, "I think we've met before." Uh, no. We had not. I think I would have remembered. Then it hits. He thinks I'm ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Campanile News, How to Quit Your Diet Coke Habit A Guide to Obama's Ale

Daily Dish: In which Bill Chait and Walter Manzke probably take over the Campanile space for Republique. Tasting Table: Café Dulcé pops up with coffee and street art in downtown L.A. The New York Times Diner's Blog: Brewing President Obama's ale, step-by-step. Zester Daily: Cruise food! (And we ... More >>

Mitt Romney Extols Power of 'Freedom' to Latinos at Hispanic Chamber in L.A.

See the bottom for Romney's new foot-in-mouth video and his contention that he'd have a better shot at the presidency if he were Mexican. Really. Mitt Romney embodies his party's utter hypocrisy when it comes to all things governmental: Tax subsidies for the rich, but a distaste for "big government ... More >>

Food News Roundup: How to Roll Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Jamie Oliver's New TV Series 10 Labor Day Grilling Dishes

Ecosalon: "Ask Foodie Underground," ecosalon's new advice column for foodists. (On Mason jars, radish tops, cheese sprinkles, etc.) Channel 4: Jamie Oliver's new TV series, Jamie and Jimmy's Food Fight Club. Slate: Burning Question #147... What do Swedes think of the Swedish chef?? Smithsonian Fo ... More >>

L.A. Weekly Web Awards 2012: We've Got Some Finalists!

We asked for your help finding the best and brightest online in Los Angeles, and you delivered. After combing through thousands of nominations for the L.A. Weekly Web Awards 2012, we're happy to announce our finalists. But we can't do all of this ourselves. We've got a panel of judges to help us pi ... More >>

Burn! 10 Questions with Jeff Ross About His New Comedy Central Show

Comic Jeff Ross' balls are as big as his mouth, which is on fire every week on his new Comedy Central show, The Burn with Jeff Ross, where he rips "the world a new asshole, one crack at a time." You probably know Ross as the Roastmaster General, the network's go-to-guy for its annual celeb roasts wh ... More >>

Did Odd Future Start a Fairfax Palm Tree on Fire? Despite What You've Read, No

See also: Odd Future and Streetwear Employees Resent Fairfax Avenue Tourist Influx Have you seen the video of the Fairfax Avenue palm tree on fire? It's below. On August 1 the palm exploded into flames after being shot by a bottle rocket. Its branches fell onto the awning of a local pizza place, se ... More >>

Manny Castro: Artist Behind Chick-Fil-A Torrance Vandalism Goes Free For Now

So the Chick-fil-A graffiti artist turned out to be Manny Castro, the self-proclaimed "Robin Hood of street art." After "Tastes Like Hate" was found artfully rendered on the side of a Torrance Chick-fil-A last week, Castro came forward via the Huffington Post to take credit. So far, however, cops, ... More >>

Bath Salts in SoCal? Five Recent Freak-Outs That Signal a Zombie Apocalypse

Cops can never say for sure whether their suspect has been taking bath salts. Like "spice" (imitation marijuana), the synthetic drug is so popular because it can't be detected in urine tests. But unlike spice, which is banned across the country, only two of the 17 chemicals used to make bath salts ... More >>

Q & A With Roy Choi: Slinging Tacos at Midnight, Calling Out Jamie Oliver Choi's Vegetable Moment

On a bench outside Handsome Coffee Roasters in downtown Los Angeles' arts district, after the requisite coffee inside and under the (also requisite) California sun, Roy Choi sat down late last week to talk about, well, lots of things. He wanted a cigarette, or a few of them. He wanted to be close to ... More >>

A to Z Cappella

The Life Cycle of a Story: From Roy Choi's Musings to the Presumptive Death of Kogi

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws," Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. To that short list of exceptions, we add sensationalized news, which seems to propel itself through the blogospher ... More >>

10 Awesome Photos of Space, From 'The History of Space Photography' Show in Pasadena

Four hundred years ago, stargazing was practically illegal. The Roman Inquisition sentenced Galileo for supporting Copernican astronomy, and most people still believed the earth was flat. Fortunately, science has since come a long way, and now, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena has made space e ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Food Fraud, Defining "Gluten-Free" Starbucks as Third Largest U.S. Chain

Huffington Post: Olive oil, milk, honey, saffron, orange juice, coffee and apple juice are among the most-adulterated food products. With this kind of food fraud, even careful label-reading won't help. The Washington Post: What is truly "gluten-free?" The FDA has been trying to decide for seven yea ... More >>

LAFD Response-Time Scandal

Chief Cummings' plummeting morale problem

Food News Roundup: Greece's "Potato Movement," 60 Cool People Homemade Booze

The Guardian: In Greece, consumers save money by buying straight from farmers. It's called the "potato movement." The Daily Meal: The 60 "coolest" chefs, restaurateurs, bartenders, farmers and food writers. Plus a food performance artist (think cheese block sculptures; a room stuffed with cotton c ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Chefs for Hire, Spice Table Recipes Passion for Cilantro

Technology: Why cook when you can hire professional chefs to make dinner via Kitchit. In L.A., choose among Neal Fraser (BLD, Grace), Mark Gold (Eva), Nyesha Arrington (Wilshire), and others. Food & Wine: Three Spice Table recipes (simplified!) from Bryant Ng, with photos by Anne Fishbein. Gilt Ta ... More >>

Andrew Breitbart Was L.A.'s Implausible Native Son

How L.A.'s liberal Westside produced a fierce conservative provocateur

Wilshire Boulevard Temple's Revolutionary Murals Get a Facelift

If you've ever cruised along Wilshire Boulevard between Western and Vermont, you've probably noticed a massive, domed structure at Hobart Avenue, kitty-corner to an indoor golf driving-range. That building is the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, aka the Best Jewish Reform Synagogue Built by Hollywood, acc ... More >>

We're Going to Have to Hear About the LACMA Rock for Another 2 Weeks

It's only Day Two in the $10 million cross-county journey of the LACMA rock, and already we never want to hear the words "LACMA rock" ever again. What makes this particular boulder so special is that artist Michael Heizer chose it as the 340-ton centerpiece of his long-time-coming LACMA exhibit, "L ... More >>

Amar'e Stoudemire's Food-Heavy Facebook Feed

Most Angelenos may not root for New York Knicks star Amar'e Stoudemire, but they may at least appreciate what he eats. The dapper, self-proclaimed "Hebrew" with a tough and much-travelled backstory, Stoudemire has taken to posting pictures of his personal chef-prepared breakfasts and pre-game noshe ... More >>

10 Best Cheap Bastard Things to Do in L.A.

(Note: An earlier version of this post said that parking at the Getty was free after 5 p.m. It used to be free, but is actually now $10, a new policy implemented in Nov. 2011) Are you the person who secretly doesn't put down enough cash for the check, leaving all your friends to scramble to cover i ... More >>

Victoria Jackson's Excellent Tea Party Adventure

Richard Jackson Flies a Plane Into a Wall...Creating Art

Whoever said there are no accidents in art obviously never heard of Richard Jackson. On a clear Sunday afternoon in a field southeast of Pasadena's Rose Bowl, the 72-year-old artist literally launched his newest work of art: a flight-based performance piece that examines the nature, trajectory, scal ... More >>

South L.A. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Wants to Send Black Youth Back to Plantation

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich helped win over South Carolina last week with a pretty condescending suggestion for lifting black American youth up by their bootstraps: Hire them all as janitors! "They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor," he argued, to standing o ... More >>

'Work It' Canceled: Shark-Jumping Show About Guys Who Dress up as Girls to Get Jobs

Two hairy bros can't get jobs. So they dress up as women to get their high heels in the door. Hilarious. Lets green-light that, said the professional shark jumpers at ABC. Not so fast, said such LBGT groups the Human Rights Campaign and and GLAAD. It's offensive to gay and transgender people (not t ... More >>

Tons Of Punk Videos Yanked Off YouTube: Here's What Happened

Robert KenneyGreg Ginn, second from left​By Nicholas Pell On Wednesday morning, several punk bands awoke to find their videos had been removed from YouTube. They were understandably irritated; that's almost worse than running out of beer. In their places were notes that they'd been yanked d ... More >>

Alec Baldwin Kicked Off American Airlines Flight at LAX For Playing Nerd Game Words With Friends on Smartphone, he Indicates

Schweddy.​Updated at the bottom with Baldwin saying he was singled out by a flight attendant for using his phone. First posted at 4:01 p.m. Monday. Alec Baldwin tweeted today that he was pulled off an American Airlines flight at LAX for playing the uber-nerdy smartphone game Words With Friend ... More >>

Rap Industry Fan Fiction: Here Are Some Freestyled Stories About Tyga And Tyler, the Creator

Sure, you have your cosplay and your Star Trek, but Rap Industry Fan Fiction takes the genre to a place that it isn't know for going -- hip-hop. The brainchild of UNC history major Kate Davis Jones and grad Drew Millard, the site makes good on titles like "Ice Cube Shows Ice-T His Model Train Set" a ... More >>

Burning Man's New Lottery Ticketing System Provokes Outrage

See also: Burning Man 2011 Sold Out, Literally and Figuratively; Tickets Go for $5,000 on eBay Earlier this month, Burning Man's newsletter announced a new lottery system for buying tickets to the 2012 edition of the the seven-day experimental arts and music festival. It works like this: During a ... More >>

MOCA's 'Kenneth Anger: ICONS' Opening: Avant-Garde Filmmaker Parties with Dave Navarro, Porn Star April Flores and More

If experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger had written Hollywood Babylon today (instead of during the 1950s), his subjects would have been among Saturday night's turnout at the MOCA members' opening for Kenneth Anger: ICONS. Just substitute guitarist Dave Navarro for Rudolph Valentino, plus-size porn ... More >>

Lindsay Lohan Court Sentence: 1 Month in Jail, 2 Months at Morgue (and Please, Stop Tweeting)

ABC7 screenshotHappy lawyer, confused Lohan.​And Lindsay Lohan's love affair with the L.A. County morgue rages on. Judge Stephanie Saunter waxed somewhat soft at the young blonde train wreck's much-anticipated sentencing today, demanding she serve about two more months of community service at ... More >>

Marijuana Crackdown in California: U.S. Department of Justice Says it's Not President Obama's Fault

Don't blame this guy.​As we've noted, marijuana advocates are mad at President Obama. An Occidental College-educated lefty, Obama's supposed to be one of them. But when his U.S. Department of Justice cracked down on pot dispensaries in California, essentially saying that all weed shops are il ... More >>

Marijuana Protest During President Obama's Visit to L.A.

The Weed BlogWeed advocates want Obama to hear them.​During Monday's Obamajam on the Westside marijuana advocates will be out in force to protest the U.S. Justice Department's crackdown on cannabis dispensaries in California. California NORML is staging a demonstration outside the downtown Fe ... More >>