Oceania

Pork Contamination in IKEA's Moose Lasagna

This past weekend Swedes woke up to news of a pork contamination in the moose lasagna previously sold at their local IKEA stores -- in addition to 18 other European countries. Reuters reported that a little over 17,000 packs of the frozen entrees were quietly pulled from shelves after they were foun ... More >>

L&E Oyster Bar: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

5 Crisp White Wines for your Spring Table

I don't know about you, but this is the week that spring fever has officially kicked in, for me. The sun feels higher in the sky, the backyard patio beckons, the fruit trees are blossoming, and everything feels more redolent and alive. It's time to lock the wine cellar door -- leave the reds to lie ... More >>

How a $45,000 Oscar Gift Bag Is Born

Each golden Oscar statuette costs about $500 to make, although of course its monetary value ends up being more than that. But for those nominees who don't get that particular golden ticket, Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will give them something pleasant to wake up to -- a swag ... More >>

Lawsuits Allege Subway's Footlong Sandwiches Aren't Really a Foot Long

Recently a teenager in Australia discovered that his Subway "Footlong" sandwich did not measure up to 12 inches; it was, rather, a mere 11. Which, on this side of the hemisphere, is the sort of discrepancy that forms the basis for both great Stephen Colbert bits and false advertising lawsuits. And ... More >>

MessHall Reviewed

This Los Feliz hot spot is a stylish riff on the summer camp of your childhood

Music Picks: No Doubt, Nikki Hill, Alice Cooper

Q & A With Haven Brewing's Dave Larsen: L.A. Beer Week, New Zealand Hops Stone's First Local Collaboration

The fourth annual Los Angeles Beer Week might have officially ended with Sunday's festival at Union Station, but there's still one more special LABW brew that has yet to be released. Too bad it's not even ready to drink yet. That's because early in the morning on Thursday, Sept. 20 -- while many e ... More >>

10 Awesome Cars Of Wasteland Weekend

See also: *Wasteland Weekend: It's My Apocalypse, And I'll Party If I Want To *9 Alternatives For Burning Man Lottery Losers At most car shows, guys hover over their beloved vehicles, circling and swabbing them lovingly with a ShamWow. But at Wasteland Weekend, dust is an asset -- in fact, the dirt ... More >>

UCLA's International Theater Program Is Back With a French Production of Rhinoceros

Lord of the Rings Fans Celebrate The Hobbit's 75th Anniversary at TheOneRing.net's Annual Picnic

"We were the number one place to be in Hollywood on Oscar night!" Josh Rubinstein gushes, reminiscing about the three celeb-laden Academy Awards parties he helped plan as one of the L.A. events supervisors for Lord of the Rings superfan site TheOneRing.net (TORn). Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson and most ... More >>

Dole Sends Businesses Packing to Japan for $1.7 Billion

Yesterday, fruit conglomerate Dole Food sent two of its major assets winging across the Pacific. As reported in Reuters, Dole has sold its packaged foods and Asian fresh produce businesses to Japanese company Itochu Corp. for the handsome price of $1.7 billion. The deal gives Itochu exclusive righ ... More >>

Drink This Now: Rum Diary at The Hungry Cat

Outside of a gin and tonic, the piña colada was the first mixed drink I ever had. I was 14 and in Fiji with my father. I was moving to America with my mother; he was staying in Australia. We took a vacation together as a farewell of sorts. I don't remember much about what we talked about or where w ... More >>

Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival: The Wine Part of the Equation

The second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival concluded Sunday, a slickly produced, three-day debauch mostly held in and around the capacious digs of L.A. Live and its Marriott property -- though neither conference room nor rooftop exhibition tent could adequately contain the assemblage of whit ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums of All Time: The Complete List

*Top 20 Worst Bands Ever: The Complete List *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List The history of Los Angeles punk is largely composed of a series ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! Stop Whining About How Today's Music Sucks

[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.] I am lucky to be someone who is easily contented. For me, listening to music is the best thing ... More >>

Natasha Leggero Has Words With Friends

Gotye: His Life Story

See Also: *Our Review of Gotye at the El Rey Theatre, February 2, 2012 *Coachella Preview 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Performers Raised in Australia, Gotye has a completely sold out US tour, over 140 million YouTube hits, and a single ("Somebody That I Used to Know") so potent it h ... More >>

Q & A With Survivor Coach Benjamin Wade: The Survivor Diet, Eating Termites $320 Chicken Parmesan

The very thought of choosing to be deprived of food for money is completely mind-boggling to us. Doing that for the amusement of the American television viewing public rockets that plan straight to the top of the absolutely never list. Yet, for Benjamin "Coach" Wade, that's exactly what he did - thr ... More >>

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: Dannii Minogue Is The Superior Minogue

​[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilt Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] It was the wee hours of the morning about ten years ago when I first saw Dannii Minogue, on Top of the Pops. Chains ... More >>

It’s Creepy and It’s Spooky: The (West) Adams Velaslavasay

Exclusive: Amanda Palmer's New Track, "In My Mind" and Interview

​Interview by Roselle Chen "It's a beautiful fucking day in Boston," says punk-cabaret performer Amanda Palmer from her home. She is best known as one half of The Dresden Dolls, and has a wildly-popular solo career, but she's on the phone mainly to talk about her work with the David Lynch Fo ... More >>

Top 5 YouTube Noodle Commercials: James Brown, Dancing Roe Sac Babies, and the Moa Ostrich

If the cavemen and frogs taught us anything it is that commercials don't have to have much to do with the products they promote. Some wares lend themselves to absurdity more readily than others, particularly those whose nuances are tough to render in just a few seconds of color and sound. Like insu ... More >>

Q & A With Municipal Winemakers' Dave Potter: On Surfing, Sourcing Grape Stigmas His New Tasting Room

JGarbee Potter In The Former Scuba Shop That Will Become His Tasting Room​If you need an excuse to for a coastal drive, winemaker Dave Potter is your man. He is the face behind Santa Barbara-based Municipal Winemakers, a small but mighty 600 cases per year operation that he tends to between ba ... More >>

2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Fast Five and beyond

MAKE US LAUGH, FUNNY BOYS

AXIS OF AWESOME

The Writing Is On The Food: What Australia Tried To Do To Amanda Palmer...

Cathy Kirkpatrickfan food, with mysterious message​ A few days ago, we ran a couple of photos of punk-cabaret singer Amanda Palmer, her fans and what Palmer calls "fan-prepared food." In the background of one of the photos was a mysterious shot of something -- a casserole? a nut-loaf ? -- with ... More >>

I Bring The Music, You Bring The Food: Backstage With Amanda Palmer Her Catering Fans

Cathy KirkpatrickAmanda Palmer (center) at a backstage family meal in Australia​ A couple of weeks ago, we learned how comedian Kathy Griffin enhances the quality of what she eats on the road by getting her more than half million Twitter followers to direct her to small mom-and-pop restaurants ... More >>

Australia's In-N-Out: Oporto, Coming to OC

Various burgers served at Australian chain Oporto.​ Australia's answer to In-N-Out is coming to the United States, and its first stateside location opens tomorrow in Orange County. Founded in 1986, Oporto, which serves Portuguese-influenced Australian fare, "supposedly has a cult following in ... More >>

Tiki Lovers Draw Inspiration from Gilligan's Island at The Tonga Hut

Gilligan's Island only ran for three seasons, but the show about castaways on a (usually) deserted island where they could make anything except for a boat to leave said island is a hallmark of U.S. pop culture. Shannon Cottrell"Kona Envy" by Jason Sallin​ Back in November, The Tonga Hut hoste ... More >>

Top 10 (Mainly) Local Edible Stocking Stuffers

K.RobbinsDark 8Fudge​ Like movie previews or Hendrix opening for the Monkees, sometimes the intro act can overshadow the main event. Such is the case with a really well-stocked stocking. We're particularly partial to the pre-tree practice because holiday stockings tend to be crammed full of lo ... More >>

Wine Vending Machines: Coming To A Supermarket Near You

Inhabit.comComing Soon: Pump-Your-Own Wine Vending Machines​ In the past few months we've heard of all sorts of wine innovations, from single-serve wine glass to canned wine to Hello Kitty branded booze, and now there's another one to add to the list. Courtesy of the French, who led the world ... More >>

THEY SAY GOOBER AND GOMER WERE JUST COUSINS

How 16-Year-Old Abby Sunderland Overcame Fear As She Faced Death On The High Seas

​Say what you will about Southern California sailor Abby Sunderland -- that her parents put her up to a perilous attempt to sail around the world, that she did it for a reality television show, that her rescue cost hundreds of thousands of tax dollars in Australia. Whatever. She's one tough g ... More >>

WARNING: BOWL MAY BE HIP

Top 10 Baffling Wine Labels

Whether you accept the notion that a single nose and its acclaimed-or-reviled 100-point scale have transformed the way wine is marketed and sold, especially in the United States, today there is a superabundance of bottles at American retail and more wine neophytes are earnestly cultivating a taste f ... More >>

Mark Casanova: The Rescuer

Most Popular Soccer Squad In U.S. Is Team Mexico?

​What's the most popular soccer team in the United States? The New York Times says it's El Tricolor a.k.a. the Mexican national squad. Huh? In the land of Palin-favorin' soccer moms? Guess so. And the paper says more women are attending team Mexico events in the U.S., too. A breakthrough mome ... More >>

San Francisco Airport Takes Racially Tinged Swipe At LAX

An image from SFO's video.​A video marketing the advantages of flying into San Francisco International Airport from Australia and New Zealand seems to take a racially charged swipe at Los Angeles International Airport, which is the only other direct California destination from those nations. ( ... More >>

Ten Techno Jams We Still Love

Whether it's IDM, minimal, electro, acid or whatever other name you want use to pinpoint a sound, we love techno. We love the way it forces us to dance, even when we're sitting in front of a computer in an office trying to finish a story. We love the way it affects our walk when we enter a party. W ... More >>

PICTURE THIS

Movie Reviews: Adam, Aliens in the Attic, The Collector

Also, Lorna's Silence, G-Force, Not Quite Hollywood and more.

I'D LIKE TO THANK MY STUFFED ANIMALS...

Deadline Hollywood: Shameful Oscar Overspending

Mo' money, more Hugh, less Jerry

Looking for Curry Laksa: Penang in West Covina

Happiness is a bowl of coconut broth and noodles

Daughters of Heaven

Call me Nostradamus

10 signs of the apocalypse

Ask Mr. Gold

Rarotonga or Bust

How We Packed Up the Kids and moved to Paradise— Or So We Thought