So I haven’t picked up a Weekly in months, not so much because it sucks or anything but because the newsweekly recyclers hit the stacks near my house before I can even grab one. (It’s a huge racket in the paper biz–one delivery guy drops off his papers, then grabs everyone else’s & recycles them for cash, ’cause, well, he’s broke.) But a little bird just notified me this is the fourth straight Weekly without Tom Tomorrow, Kaz, Lynda Barry, Tony Millionaire or Carol Lay. Wot? Srsly? Is this true?

Said birdie also was annoyed that the comics seem to have been cut, while “Nightranger” stayed. I have to admit a weakness for Nightranger, because I love prognosticating new fashion trends (sorry). However I certainly see less social merit in ‘Ranger than in the cartoons, which were politically subversive & great social commentary. Losing them & keeping Nightranger’s socially myopic navel-gazing with its blank-glazed ironic-haired clubbers idiotequeing in rainbow sherbet-colored lights (not Lina’s fault, it’s her gig and she does it well, with a good eye & good writing–it’s just that a “society” beat is, by its nature, lacking much content) is disconcertingly symbolic of changes that seem to be happening not just at the Weekly, but throughout much of the “free” press, and, of course, to bring my argument narrowly close to grandiosity, our culture itself.

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. Taco trucks eliminated in LA?!

While the new law that requires the trucks to move every hour may result in an exciting scavenger-hunt style city rampage for those who enjoy the thrill of the chase, I tell you, THIS SHALL NOT STAND.

“Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has pased new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.

Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose.

Let’s send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. Go to SaveOurTacoTrucks.org to sign the petition!”

Petition?!? This requires more than a petition. This requires riots in the streets! Class issues, race issues, personal freedoms (shouldn’t I be able to eat on the razor’s edge of tepid mystery meat if I effing want to?) and issues about the diversity of foodstuffs in this city figure into this argument. Please pass the word: a petition isn’t enough. This requires serious media scrutiny & public outrage. Besides, without taco trucks, 1/3 of all LA-based blog subject matter is immediately wiped from the slate!

Here’s a story that should convince everyone that the internet isn’t a secure place to do your banking or release any sort of personal information:

John Schiefer, a Los Angeles “computer security expert” at 3G Communications, pled guilty today of “accessing protected computers to conduct fraud, disclosing illegally intercepted electronic communications, wire fraud and bank fraud.” The 26 year old man used spyware to collect hundreds of thousands of internet user’s login and passwords for assorted sites, including Paypal, and would make unauthorized purchases. Schiefer also distributed the personal information to other hackers.

Schiefer was also signed a contract with a Dutch internet advertising company for the express purpose of infecting the company’s client’s computers with “bots” that were used to copy and send personal data back to Schiefer and his associates. [via]

A MySpace page found doing a search of his name found a user named “Acid” aged 27 living in Los Angeles. The profile includes  “the hacker’s creed,” along with this notation: “And remember. I did it for the luls.”

Sentencing is scheduled for August 20th, and could be up to 60 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine. As a victim of identity theft, and knowing full well the amount of time it takes to clear this sort of thing up, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cumulative damages and time spent by all of Schiefer’s victims hasn’t been much more.

[additional source: KNBC]

In a couple years, several hundred ma-jillions of dollars in cost overruns and ten-thousands of man-hours the Battle of the Expo Line will be won and the derelict median that bisects National Boulevard immediately west of Ballona Creek will be sporting some serious light-railitude.

But for now in its raw unfinishedness it is home to the saddest thing ever, namely this shrine to Miles that I found yesterday afternoon coming off the creek’s bikeway, erected I can only presume by the guardians of their lost feline friend (click to triplify):

Screen legend Charlton Heston passed away at his Coldwater Canyon on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 84.

Its hard to know what this iconic figure will be best remembered for – parting the Red Sea as Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” growling, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” in “Planet of the Apes,” chariot racing in “Ben-Hur,” or possibly as a life-long vocal advocate, and President, of the National Rifle Association.

Politically, while Heston is recognized for his pro-gun and conservative views, prior to the 1980s he was anti-war, anti-gun, and active in the civil rights movement. In 1960 he campaigned for John F. Kennedy and three years later marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. Shortly after Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Heston supported the Gun Control Act of 1968.

By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican. He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. [Wikipedia]

Among his final screen roles was in a cameo in the Tim Burton 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes,” where he repeated his final line from the original,”Damn them! Damn them all to hell!” [IMdB]

Sadly, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine is apparently inaccessible due to construction. However, his handprints can still be touched at the Chinese.

Photo of his signature and prints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre by Legendary Classic, used under Creative Commons.

Strange item that just arrived from LAFD alerts:

Bank teller states hand burning after touching $100 bill

Update, 1:54pm:

Two females, 41 & 39, were transported to Northridge Hosp in stable cond.  Washington Mutual security and the Haz Mat companies will continue the investigation.

Location is the WaMu at 10370 N. Mason Av,  in Chatsworth.

Coming home by train from a lovely viewing of Doomsday at Universal City Walk this evening I saw something I’ve somehow managed near 10 years in LA without seeing first hand and in person. Police tape and chalk lines. Sure I’ve seen after the fact clean up, but this seemed incredibly recent. Basically the entire northbound side of the Hollywood and Highland Redline stop was tapped off. This seemed a little weird as no train was there and my first instinct was just that it was caution tape and some repairs were going on. I was on the train heading south and got to stare at it for 30 seconds or so while the doors were open as we passed through the station. At some point I realized it was crime scene tape and not simply “keep out” stuff, and I looked down and started seeing circles of white chalk all over the platform. Small circles mostly, and then a much larger person sized on near a bench. That’s when the doors closed and we pulled out of the station. My skills must be getting rusty because I didn’t even think to take a phonecam shot until we were in motion (here’s one I snapped later in the evening which has absolutely no relation at all). Scanned the news when I got home to try and see if there was any info and found nothing, anyone else hear anything?

I just got an email from Brian Humphrey via the LA Fire Department blog that one the firefighters wounded in the earlier explosion near LAX has died. I know I speak for all of us at Metroblogging LA that we are very saddened and sorry to hear the news. Our hearts go out to the family and friends and co-workers of the fallen hero.

You can read more from Brian Humphrey at the LAFD Blog.

Looks like the Times is having to do a little back peddling after internet-dirt-diggers-extraordinaire The Smoking Gun revealed that the documents used as the basis for last week’s report linking Sean Combs to an attack on Tupac Shakur were faked. Times Editor Russ Stanton has launched his own internal investigation into the matter:

Stanton ordered the review after the editor of the celebrity-centric website, The Smoking Gun, told the newspaper that he had reason to doubt The Times’ account and in particular the FBI records that were supposed to buttress the story.

The website this morning posted a story saying the records — purportedly statements by an unnamed informant to an FBI agent, which the newspaper posted on its website — appeared to be forgeries. The Smoking Gun said the documents seemed suspicious for multiple reasons, including the fact that they appeared to be written on a typewriter, rather than a computer, and included blacked-out sections not typically found in such documents.

Given that the March 19th article on Shakur’s 1994 shooting was the the Times most-viewed story this year, that’s gotta sting a least a little.

There was an underground explosion at the corner of Sepulveda Blvd. and La Tijera in Westchester. NBC 4 is reporting one rescue helicopter has been sent to the scene for two injured firefighters. Click here for NBC’s live news stream. Sepulveda is closed at La Tijera.

UPDATE: CBS is reporting 5 injuries, 2 firefighters (already taken to Daniel Freeman Hospital) and 3 civilians.

UPDATE (as of 4:30): NBC 4 is reporting the injured firefighters are in critical condition. In regard to the explosion itself they report: “Authorities said the blast appeared to be “electrical in nature.” Deputy Chief Mario Rueda of the city fire department said the explosion was in an electrical vault.”

Yesterday morning I went to Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport to pick up some friends visiting for the weekend and rather than being greeted by the usual crowd-free easily accessible awesomeness that makes BHA such a dream, I ran smack into the scene above. Access to the short term parking lot was blacked and vehicles from the Fire Department and Sheriff’s Bomb Squad were everwhere. Circling traffic was restricted the lanes closest to the airport and there were tons of uniformed folks standing around doing.. well, nothing it looked like. I was there for about 20 minutes total and circled maybe 5-6 times and the only impression I could get from any of it was the all official folks involved were bored off their asses and annoyed that they were standing around in the sun. Here’s a few more photos but I haven’t seen any news about it online, though admittedly I didn’t look that hard. Combined with the SUV that drove off the parking structure the staff there seems to be having an interesting week!

If a group of fightin’ mad neighbors living adjacent to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House (indicated by the red arrow of god) get their way, this might be about as close as I get to seeing what $6.5 million in funds raised by the Ennis House Foundation can do to stabilize and restore the landmark residence — unless I rob enough 7-11s to buy the muthastructure.

In its post yesterday, Curbed LA referenced this article in The Architect’s Newspaper about a group of Los Feliz residents living near the place who are pretty much totally opposed to the idea of the vast unwashed masses trekking in droves — organized or not — up winding Glendower Avenue to gaze in awe upon and within the Mayan-inspired domicile completed in 1924.

Sure, in the above image the house is 2.6 miles away as the Googlebird flies, but she looks great, doesn’t she? I’d offer you my binoculars if you were standing next to me in the backyard but instead you’ll just have to click the image to quadruplify it (and there’s a bonus cropped blowout with extra blur after the jump for you to marvel at the abject lack of detail).

Read the rest of this entry →

The visionary Science Fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke passed away today in Sri Lanka. As a teenager, I think I read every single one of his books. I loved getting lost in his geeky, dreamy space oriented worlds.

Most people know of him because co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick. It was based on Arthur’s book, “The Sentinel”, which was written in 1948. In the movie, his HAL character was based on an actual demonstration he witnessed in the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility with his scientist friend, John Pierce.

One of the cool things about Arthur C. Clarke was that he envisioned telecommunications satellites way before they were possible. In 1945, he wrote a paper about it which was published in Wireless World. The geostationary orbit is called the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honor. Well Arthur, your body may be gone, but your vision lives on…

The BBC recently ran a story about tent villages popping up in our back yard, modern day Hoovervilles.

The big question is why is this news in England and not here? Have I just missed all the coverage on it? If so, I am not alone.

A commenter on the Subliterate Cinephile blog that ran a post about this places the shelter in Ontario at a place named Camp Hope. While said commenter also gives some statistics, I don’t see them backed up by the story he linked to in response.

While I don’t doubt that the “Sub-Prime” angle was played up by the BBC, it’s still disturbing to see tent cities popping up in the Inland Empire. Is this possibly a direct result of the efforts to move the homeless from Downtown? Or is the homeless population booming?

And still, why the BBC and not the local, or at least U.S. Media?

Via Boing Boing and Subliterate Cinephile.

According to LAFD’s report on the Top 20 Reasons the LAFD Paramedics might end up in your neighborhood, “Stabbing/Gunshot: 12 incidents per day” shows up as #17 on this list. So here’s a round up of some recent stabbings in the greater Los Angeles area since the beginning of the month.

• Jesus Flores, 57, a Latino man, was stabbed to death in his family home in South Los Angeles

Jesus Flores died at 12:29 a.m. Monday, March 3. Flores’ 36-year-old son, who has a history of mental problems, has been charged with his murder. According to LAPD South Bureau Det. Mark Hahn, Flores and his son had an argument that turned into a fight, and the son pulled out a folding knife and stabbed Flores several times. The son then fled in a car southbound on the Harbor Freeway, and went through a stop light after exiting at Rosecrans Boulevard. A California Highway Patrol vehicle signaled for him to pull over, and he sped away. The CHP officers pursued him and took him into custody at 85th and Hoover streets.

• Man, 70, Fatally Stabbed On Nightly WeHo Walk

Katan Khaimov, a 70-year-old white man, was stabbed at 7414 Romaine St. at about 11:10 p.m. Sunday, March 9. Khaimov was stabbed while on his nightly walk near the Poinsettia Park area. Officers from LAPD’s Hollywood Division responded to a call of a man lying on the street. Upon arrival, officers learned that Khaimov had been stabbed. He was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died the next day at 12:04 a.m.

• Security has been stepped up at Cal Poly Pomona after a campus stabbing and a parking lot assault.

Campus police said a 21-year-old woman was stabbed Wednesday morning in a second-floor bathroom. The woman told authorities that she was grabbed from behind and was stabbed in the abdomen with her own pocket knife during a struggle. She was taken to a hospital and was expected to recover. The second assault also took place Wednesday. A student told campus police she was walking alone to her car at about 8 p.m. when she was grabbed from behind. A bystander yelled and apparently startled the attacker, who fled.

• Corona: Agent raped, stabbed — while showing a house

Authorities say a real estate agent was raped and repeatedly stabbed by a man she was showing a vacant home in Corona. The woman was savagely injured but managed to fight off her attacker, and is expected to survive, Corona police said.