Pepsi-Cola

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including Cough Syrup Spraying to a Justin Bieber Song

This week, footage about a high-energy collaboration between artists, architects and Pepsi plays at the MAK Center, one artist leads people on a hunt for truth and other intangibles at the Getty and another turns cough syrup into something of a tribute. 5. Art, lies and hashtags A green vinyl sign ... More >>

Winner of Lay's Potato Chip Flavor Contest: Cheesy Garlic Bread

It's official: America loves cheesy garlic bread over Sriracha and chicken 'n' waffles. At least in potato chip form. Lay's announced Wisconsin native Karen Weber-Mendham's flavor as the winner in its "Do Us a Flavor" contest on Monday. The contest in one form or another has been around since last s ... More >>

Top 5 Snacks to Emerge After the New Taco Bell Doritos Loco Taco

Last year's unleashing of the Doritos Locos Nacho Cheese beef taco was Taco Bell's biggest product launch ever, shaking the earth and forever changing what we mere mortals thought was possible in the fast food game. Turns out, Taco Bell may even win an award for their culinary black magic. Now, wi ... More >>

How the Dodgers' New TV Contract Exemplifies Major League Baseball's Problems

Cable subscribers are subsidizing a dying industry

The 20 Worst Albums of the '90s: The Complete List

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 20-11

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

Kellogg's and General Mills Among Oxfam America's Worst Offenders

When it comes to rating big food brands like Kellogg's and Coca-Cola, Oxfam America looked beyond their flavor, price value, and even the content of their nutrition. Instead, it was more about each company's environmental and social impact in the countries they set up manufacturing plants. The non-p ... More >>

Pepsi Debuts 'Fat-Blocking' Soda

In what could be seen as the latest desperate attempt to get cola drinkers to choose what my Southern ex-brother-in-law will only refer to as "the P-word," Pepsi Co. is launching a new version that it claims acts as a fat blocker, the Daily Mail reports. Pepsi Special is made with dextrin -- an ind ... More >>

The Shrine Used to Host the Oscars. Now it Hosts Steve Aoki Parties

The Shrine Auditorium, once home to the Academy Awards, hosted countless landmark concerts in its prime, but now is less in the spotlight than its rival up Figueroa -- LA Live. Still, the Shrine has found a second life as a hub for L.A,'s rave scene. See also: *Jack White at The Shrine, 8/10/12 *St ... More >>

Proposition 37 Genetically Modified Food Fight

Could spawn endless lawsuits against small shops

Zombie Joe's Goes Saucy in Down & Dirty, Memphis at the Pantages, Plus the Latest New Theater Reviews

Adam Szymkowicz's comic book parody, Hearts Like Fists at Theatre of NOTE takes unrequited love to camp, and gets this week's Pick of the Week. Click here for all the latest New Theater Reviews, or after the jump.Also check out this week's Stage feature on performance beyond the theater walls: an i ... More >>

Anime Expo 2012: Tiger & Bunny and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Draw Huge Crowds at AX

What makes an anime series a hit? That's hard to say, but after years of hitting up L.A.'s thriving convention scene, one thing is certain. Amongst the slew of new shows that come out of Japan every few months, the ones that grab the most attention here are those that do something different. They pl ... More >>

Is Pop Music Defensible?

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Every day America swallows lots of sickly sweet pop music, without hint of a stomach ache. But what about in the long run -- will it give us, to extend the metaphor, stomach cancer? Now pop ain't all bad, but it's certainly a hydra-headed monster of paradox; the more ... More >>

Make Music Pasadena - Old Town Pasadena - 6/16/12

Make Music Pasadena Festival Old Town Pasadena 6-16-12 With the Sunset Junction Festival filing for bankruptcy and the Silver Lake Jubilee upping admission to $20 a head, one's options for quality summer music festivals in L.A. have dwindled a bit. Meanwhile, at this point the only two free festiva ... More >>

Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" Preemptive Note: Before we get into this, and I don't think this is weird to mention because it's so obviously true, but you'l ... More >>

Cookbooks: Eastbound and Down's Final Episode, The (New) White Trash Cookbook Tribute A Memorable Sandwich Recipe

How fitting, in a marshmallow salad sort of way, that 25 years after Ernest M. Mickler first published White Trash Cooking, the final season of HBO's Eastbound and Down has wrapped up. If you've missed "the best f--king show on HBO," as MTV's James Montgomery neatly summed up in Kenny Powers-appr ... More >>

Coca-Cola, Pepsi Will Modify Recipe to Use Less Cancerous Caramel Coloring

As if you need another reason to scale back on all that soda pop: NPR and Reuters report that Coca-Cola and Pepsi will change their recipe slightly to reduce the amount of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a chemical that, in high very doses, has been known to cause cancer in animals. In sodas, it's used t ... More >>

10 'Rare' Ansel Adams Photos of Los Angeles in 1940

Photo of Ansel Adams by J. Malcolm Greany, ca 1950​Ansel Adams is best known for his iconic and bucolic large-format shots of Yosemite National Park, but in 1940, he also covered LA's aviation industry for Fortune magazine. The California native and photo vanguard snapped more than 200 images ... More >>

Snoop and Wiz Khalifa's "Young, Wild and Free": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] See also: Snoop Dogg's Player's Ball 2011 - Marbella - December 17, 2011 Song: Snoop and Wiz Khalifa's "Young, Wild and Free" History: "Young, Wild and Free" i ... More >>

Bud Bundy, Original Gangsta

David Faustino parlayed his Married ... With Children fame into a hugely influential hip-hop party. Now he wants back into the scene.

The Worst Day Of K-Fed's Life

It's hard to believe, but five years have passed since the release of Kevin Federline's debut Playing With Fire, which came out on Halloween, 2006. It was a scary night for some, but K-Fed was on top of the world. Married to Britney Spears, he was psyched to finally bring his brand of hip-hop to the ... More >>

5 Awesomely Weird Japanese Soft Drinks

B. MesirowThe Soda Case at Mitsuwa​ In recent years the Japanese people have displayed a radical and unique sense of style and an amazing ability to innovate and create in fields as diverse as clothing, video games, game shows, and urination technology, among others. It should come as no surp ... More >>

Ferran Adrià Partners with PepsiCo: Your Nitrogen Tank, My Convenience Food

El BulliCan you find the vending machine in this flow chart?​ Ferran Adrià does like to play with products. And the El Bulli chef has a history of innovation and unlikely pairings. But Pepsi? Recently PepsiCo announced a partnership with Adrià, to work on procedures and techniques for new sn ... More >>

The Five Most Hilariously Offensive Misuses of Classic Songs For Commercial Purposes

​ We were so excited when we saw the wooden box on our desk with the words "Bob Marley" branded into the top. A CD box set? Possibly--if we are very very lucky--a box set of 7"s? With little booklets that have liner notes full of interesting and amazing facts about one of the word's seminal p ... More >>

Mega-Billboards Get Slapped by the City of L.A. in Legal Action That Could be Worth Millions

This billboard is legal. We just like it.​Updated after the jump with the billboard company saying it has cooperated with the city and is "outraged" by this suit. City prosecutors slapped a advertising company and 19 landlords with a lawsuit today for allegedly putting up illegal supergraphic ... More >>

Super Bowl XLV: The V Best Least Annoying Food Commercials

Guzzle & NoshSuper Bowl XLV as seen on television.​ Whether it was the angry Ewoks of middle earth sharing a Coke with a fire-breathing dragon or Adrien Brody crooning to bar full of weepy women (nice to see him finally bouncing back from that Oscar win), this year's bunch of Super Bowl spots ... More >>

Snoop Dogg's "A Christmas Story" (NSFW)

​Soft drink company Pepsi, for some inexplicable reason, asked Snoop Dogg to read a peculiar version of "A Christmas Story." Audio is NSFW:

The Big Chill: Fro-Yo Field Not So Cold for Yogurtland & Menchie's

Cathy Chaplin/GastronomyBlog​ While fro-yo pioneer Pinkberry has experienced a chill in the Los Angeles market over the past year or so (the West Hollywood, Venice, Hollywood and Los Feliz locations have all closed), two of its imitators are making inroads: Yogurtland and Menchie's. Yogurtla ... More >>

Happy Meals Are About to Get A lot Less Happy

Mario Anzuoni, ReutersTo our children's dismay, Happy Meals may become healthy meals​ California kids will now have fewer incentives to ditch mom's homemade organically grown, tofu steak dinners for Happy Meals, thanks to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. On Tuesday, the Board took ste ... More >>

Mexican Coke: A Myth?

Bob With​ Apparently, Mexican Coke isn't it. A collective shudder swept through diehard foodies everywhere last week, when Time Magazine and The Atlantic, among others, reported a new study in the journal Obesity that may have inadvertantly proven Mexican Coke to be no more than a myth.

A Glee-Inspired Slushie Food Fight: Slurpee vs. ICEE

FOXGuilty pleasures: Glee & Slushies​ In a list of guilty pleasures about a mile long, two things rise to the top. First, the TV show Glee. Second, the slushie: a brain freeze-inducing, icy concoction sold at most convenience stores and movie theaters. Lucky for us, we can (sort of) enjoy bot ... More >>

Master of the House of Playboy

Hef, still doing it his way (does he really have a choice?)

Q & A With Dan Aykroyd: Why He's Making Crystal Head Vodka, Tomorrow's Bottle Signing A Cocktail Recipe

Crystal Head vodkaDan Aykroyd, with head​If you're the sort of person who has lost count of the number of times you've watched Dan Aykroyd's Julia Child SNL skit on YouTube, find yourself lurking at House of Blues to try and catch a glimpse of the actor, have seen Driving Miss Daisy an otherwi ... More >>

From Zombieland to Indieland

Jesse Eisenberg's excellent adventure

Plate Spinning: Listings From the Past Week

Some food for thought from local, national and international news sources from this past week: -- The 50 worst restaurants in the world. The fiction edition. [Chicago Tribune] -- How Alinea's Grant Achatz lost and found his sense of taste. [CNN] -- 10 Pepsi flavors you can't get in this count ... More >>

Nightranger: Everybody Talk About Pop Muzik

City Attorney Moves Against 'Supergraphic' Signs

​The City Attorney's office on Tuesday announced it filed civil injunctions against 27 sign companies, sign installers and property owners for illegally putting up super-sized advertisements known as "supergraphic" signs in Los Angeles. It declared that the displays are public nuisances and se ... More >>

Taco Franchise Says R.I.P. To Mr. Bell

​The founder of Taco Bell passed away over the weekend, and stomachs across the land were upset over the news. Glen W. Bell, Jr., 86, died Sunday night at his home in the exclusive San Diego County enclave of Rancho Santa Fe, the Irvine company announced. He joins the chain's chihuahua mascot ... More >>

Taco Bell And The LAPD Go Way Back

​After we posted today about the death of Taco Bell founder Glen W. Bell, whose first franchise went to a Los Angeles police officer in 1964, we heard from sources who indicated that there are deep roots between the company and Los Angeles Police Department cops. In fact, we're told, about fi ... More >>

THE AULD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Jimmy On the Edge of Town

A Homeless Christian-Muslim From Palestine Pitches a Tent Behind Bed Bath & Beyond in Northridge. Then Come the Railroad Men and Feral Cat Activists.

Soul Power: The Other Rumble in the Jungle

Documenting an epic concert in Zaire

Slackers in Gringolandia, and Other Mexican "Traditions"

Gold Metal Press Release: Customized Vintage Soda Machines for Your Recording Studio

Each week West Coast Sound gets thousands of emails from bands, publicists, labels, fans, writers, haters, and miscellaneous eager souls looking to spread the word about their band/label/mp3/myspace page/masterpiece. Many of these releases fit neatly into a catagory: Band has new album out. Band pla ... More >>

The Undercover Iraqi Asset

An Iraqi double agent killed for America. But when he got left behind, a Marine stepped in

Guerilla Etiquette: The 'Oops, I Did It Again!' Tour

Ecstasy Without Fear

DanceSafe uses Web site to make rave dosing less risky

True Grit

To be young, gifted and a senior at Crenshaw High

Mr. Happy Does the Dew

The Hidden

Or, how The Blair Witch Project conquered the world