Tell me what you want. What you really, really want.

The Spice Girls? Naked? According to Sporty Spice, you’ll get your Christmas wish early this year, as the reunion tour hits Staples on December 5th.

Mel C tells New Zealand’s stuff.co.nz that they will perform at least one song without clothes. The entire set will also most likely be performed without talent.

Congratulations, Downtown Los Angeles. You’ve finally arrived.

Photo from Pop Rock 80′s

If you want a chance to watch something truly scary — with a chance of real blood — this Halloween, head down to Staples Center and watch the Kings (6-6-0) take on Columbus (6-3-1).

To maximize the Halloween spirit, the first 1000 kids to show up will get glow in the dark hockey masks (sadly, there will be no accompanying axe or scary butcher knife) and the Kings are donating 10% of their ticket sales to UNICEF. Isn’t that nice of them? You won’t even have to carry around that silly little animal crackers box to do a good deed.

The game starts at 7:30, tickets are still available.

Running about this little gem caught my eye. Paw Print Stickers on the hood of a brand spanking new car (it still has its paper temporary registration in the window). I love pet owners who feel the need to advertise their preference. What, they weren’t satisfied with letting kitty make its own tracks in the dust? Was this meant to be the preferred stepping stones across the hood? I personally like the big streak down the windshield as proof a kitty was near. Enjoy this little “it caught my eye” moment, now get back to work.

pic by me with the trusty che-ez, doesn’t get bigger and if it did it would still be all arty and stuff.

I must share this awesome flickr set from the Day of the Dead celebration at Hollywood Forever Cemetary, which I saw on Boingboing earlier today.

Update: Our own Will Campbell has an equally awesome set of photos, too.

Before you tuck and run to WeHo or anywhere else for tonight’s Halloween festivities, be aware of a last-minute recall of fake teeth, as reported today by KTLA.

“Ugly Teeth” were made in China, and are said to contain “excessive amounts of lead.”

Have a safe and tasty Halloween.

Photo of Ugly Teeth from KTLA.com

There are many scary movies being screened around town in honor of Halloween (hey that’s today!). But I want to know what your favorite scary movie is. What movie did you watch from between your fingers? For me, Alien. Hands down the scariest MF movie I’ve seen. (Well, aside from Sicko.) Jaws runs a close second.

I’m not into horror films or slasher films or torture porn, or whatever that new “genre” is called. I like good old fashioned monster movies where you barely saw the monster. That’s what made them so scary. Watch Alien and go back and count how many frames in which you can actually see the creature when it attacks. I promise there are no more than 24 frames in a row of it within those scenes. The only time you really see it is at the end when Ripley is alone with it. And the facehuggers [shivers] — uuuugghhhh!!! I hate those things!

Bonus question: Your favorite scary book? For me, The Shining. I read it when I was about 12 and would stop reading every day around 5pm so that there was plenty of time between what I read and bedtime so I wouldn’t be as scared at night. The movie is chilling, but there is something about being alone with a scary book and your imagination to really give you the heebie-jeebies.

Johnny was a marked man. He had been rotten to them all year. Names. Pranks. Humiliation.

They finally had enough.

Today was Halloween. Today, they were serious.

Photo of Halloween …Ardmore Playground Park…Hobart Elementary School, 1951 from USC Digital Archives

Hands down one of the best reasons to live in LA, and easily the best weapon in your arsenal of things to rub in the face of your friends who don’t live in LA is the movie screenings at Hollywood Forever by Cinespia. Especially the special screenings. Like tonight’s special Halloween showing of The Shining. From their announcement:

“undoubtedly the scariest film ever made, the shining is nothing less than perfect. with sublime direction from Kubrick and unsurpassed performances by jack nicholson, shelley duvall and seven year old danny lloyd, it is at once terrifying and entertaining. a caretaker and his family are snowed in at the overlook hotel, and discover that it is haunted by spirits who have a sinister plan for them. Bring blankets, drinks and picnic dinner for this special screening below (and above) the stars.”

Same deal as the summer screenings – gates at 5:30 pm, film at 7:00 pm, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard. $10 donation to get in, ride a bike and skip the huge ass gridlock of cars waiting to get in.

I wrote about this incredible house on W. Hillcrest in Monrovia last week HERE. They are nearly complete and it is something to behold. The crowning touch has got to be the tall mast with the required sail and flag each sporting a jolly roger. The attention to detail when you wander about makes this even better close up. I do believe this is what becomes an urban legend best. (Sorry I couldn’t pass up the old advertising slogan).
more pics after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry →

Did you know that up to 5% of MTA riders are not paying the proper fare? Seriously. MTA says it may be costing them millions, according to last week’s Times article. If you’re in that 5%, this makes you a bad person. Then again, I wonder if those alleged millions are real, because how much would it cost to put in some sort of automatic ticket validating system on the Green Line, where 6% – 8% of riders do not pay the fare? Maybe MTA considers it a sort of donation to less privileged areas that do not have other adequate transportation?

Regardless of whether or not you are a good person who pays your fares, there’s an opportunity to chime in on the future of Los Angeles transit next week.
Read the rest of this entry →

Last year, Franklin Avenue’s Mike Schneider decided to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his arrival in Los Angeles by organizing a group of friends and bloggers that took a little walk on Wilshire Boulevard November 18, 2006 — and by group I mean about 30 to start and by little I mean the 16 miles from where Wilshire begins in downtown to where it ends in Santa Monica. More than eight hours later some 15 or so made it the whole. damn. way.

Pretty much since recovering from that endeavor Mike has been percolating plans for a second annual across-town trek and just last week he announced all systems are go for “The Great Los Angeles Walk 2007″ to take place November 17. But what thoroughfare would be traversed this time around? Would it be Santa Monica or Sunset boulevards?

Nah, Even better: “This year, we conquer Pico!” he said. And just like last year, anyone’s welcome to join him. The plan is to gather at a downtown point along Pico to be determined with a 9 a.m. start time and then spend the day migrating westward until the beach is reached. For the latest info Mike’s even dedicated a website – greatwalkla.com — to the endurance test. His wife Maria even came up with a cool logo, too (as pictured).

So, a week ago, we sent bLA contest winner Oren Hadar to see Müm at the Orpheum. I like to hear back from our winners, so here’s his take on what happens when a bunch of woozy, arty, precious-but-charming Icelandic musicians crash-land in the beaux-arts district of Downtown.

Go, on, Oren:

Thanks again for the tickets to the Múm show. I missed the openers, but it was worth it just to see the main event. I was curious to see how Múm would fare in the Orpheum, a place whose opulence can easily upstage a contemplative band like them. But if anything it seemed to inspire them – they mentioned several times how happy they were to play in such a beautiful theater, and the music they played was gorgeous enough to fill the space
quite nicely.

So this is Múm – all the shy kids from the neighborhood kept their childhood toys, noisemakers and musical instruments, but they never really learned to play them – they just liked to make sounds with them…
Read the rest of this entry →

USA Today’s 2004 article on LA City Council’s annual, one day ban of silly string on Halloween.

[click to enhance]

Snapped this shot of the Staples/Nokia center last weekend. It was Deckard’s LA right down to the streaming skylights and overly bright video billboards. Sorry, no Japanese lady popping bonbons into her mouth though.

Staples was hosting some sporting event, and Nokia was hosting the Eagles.

I hadn’t had a bad day, but I do hate the fuckin’ Eagles….

Metro hates you. It teases you with maps of rail lines that do not exist. It giggles with glee as you wait for a bus that never arrives. And it doesn’t plan to make it any easier for you in the future.

Traveling the famed Red Line into the Valley, one might notice that there’s something missing. Something big. It’s an entire subway station.

There’s a station at Universal City. There’s a station at Chandler in North Hollywood, at the end of the line. There’s nothing in between.

Umm… why?
Read the rest of this entry →