Blog-LA-Sphere

If you've been waiting for something from me, *now* I can get to it. Just as soon as my holiday weekend visitors (who arrive tomorrow morning) leave on Monday. Now I must go to the grocery store, clean my bathroom...

Elvis Presley memorial/New York Times photo, August 17, 1977, Caption: A policeman standing on brick wall at gate of Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis...

Expansive and see-through are two ways I would describe this house owned by sometimes-actor, sometimes-developer Brad Blumenthal and designed by David Thompson and Kevin Southerland at the architecture firm Assembledge. It's got a 180-degree view, an infinity pool, and a whole lot of glass walls. Imagine waking up in this bedroom with the city in all its smoggy glory laid out below you: You'd feel like Aladdin floating on a magic carpet of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood. Click here for more photos...

Click the image above to view the full photogallery. LA's version of London's skinny house? Located on Wellworth, two blocks south of the intersection of...

Do you grab a coffee from Starbucks (still) or has Dunkin' D become your staple? Best fries in our fast food nation? It's road trip...

Dressed like a cartoon convict, Mischa Barton stumbled out of the Whiskey Mist nightclub looking like she'd done a fair share of partying for the evening. Or maybe it just looks that way because her "smoky eye" makeup was looking more raccoon-like than "come hither."The star currently stars in... ...read full story

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With the announcement that the state was preparing to issue 28,742 IOUs worth $53.3 million this afternoon, some Californians said the gesture was a little too late. “It's candy for a hungry man,” said Richard Blitz. “Banks will accept it...

From the Chico Enterprise-Record: The state Department of Fish and Game wants PG&E to put more water in Butte Creek to benefit salmon. The stream has one of the last remaining runs of naturally spawning spring-run salmon in California. It’s believed more water would contribute to keeping the run viable, and it might help [...]

Cory's post about the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, one of my fave concert films too, reminded me of Laurie Anderson's fantastic Home Of The Brave movie. I distinctly remember seeing it for the first time when I was 14 at a midnight showing in my town's art house cinema and feeling very... avant garde. That was my first exposure to William S. Burroughs, whose quote "Languags is a virus from outer

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The IRS will let you deduct your losses from Ponzi scheme ripoffs. No word on whether losses due to the wire, the pigeon drop, advance payment or three card monte are allowable, but I'm gonna claim 'em anyway.

The IRS has announced it will allow favorable ordinary loss treatment for investment theft losses. Basically, such losses occur when your money is never actually used for the intended purpose of acquiring investment assets.

Instead, the money is hijacked by the perpetrator of a

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Why would anyone want to make a t-shirt like this? Why would anyone buy one and wear one? It says, "NO MORE YANKIE MY WANKIE THE DONGER NEED FOOD." If you're not familiar with the quote, they're the regrettably immortalized words of Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles. Over twenty-five years later, it's the character that refuses to die. For some reason, someone was compelled to create a shirt

Today on Offworld we took an extensive look at Treasure World (above), the just-released DS game that turns...

Six people were injured, one of them critically, in a five-car collision on the eastbound 91 Freeway in Long Beach early this morning, authorities said. Firefighters responded to the report of an injury accident and a vehicle on fire shortly...

Yesterday, Jim Yong Kim officially stepped in as the 17th president of Dartmouth College, becoming the first Asian American president of an Ivy League school: Historic Day for Jim Yong Kim and Asian-Americans. He publicly addressed students, alumni, faculty, staff and other members of the Dartmouth community who had gathered to welcome Kim for his first day on the job: Kim addresses Dartmouth

I like traveling back to NYC. I have dozens of friends here and when I let them know I'm coming to town it gives me the illusion of having semi-celebrity status. I enjoy the delusion that I fall somewhere between Kobe Bryant and what's his name from that show on the celebrity spectrum. This time I went one step further and had some friends fly from the left coast to meet me. It's always tough

By Ronnie Pineda

I have launched the GCC/IBT Local 140-N members blog at http://www.gccibtlocal140n.blogspot.com/ and will send invites to all members I have e-mail addresses for. If you would like an immediate invite or have not provided your e-mail address to the local, please do so in order to gain access to the new site.

You can send your request and e-mail address to




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[This is Part 2 of a series exploring Michael Jackson the artist through his albums and songs. The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 5...

Way to report the news! I like how they don't say this is a wacko but imply it with the "hand written" part.
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Yesterday's episode of CBC Radio's As it Happens celebrated Canada Day with an interview with Jowi Taylor, author of Six String Nation: 64 Pieces, 6 Strings, 1 Country, 1 Guitar. The book chronicles the creation of Voyageur, a remarkable guitar that was inspired by the near-separation of Canada as a result of a close referendum in Quebec. Taylor crisscrossed the country, collecting artefacts to build a guitar from, from the national (former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle) to the local (the...

For centuries, young men would court and woo classical porcelain beauties with their poetry, their lyricism, their feats of chivalry and dexterity.

Now?

F@#k all that.

Just get a bad-ass skull-tatt on your neck.






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From UCI There's an abundant, under-used source for clean energy: power from gusts blowing across the ocean's surface, say researchers, who have recalculated the potential supply based on the force of breezes at the height levels of actual electricity-generating turbine towers. Those towering structures would need to be anchored deep in the ocean and near to the coasts, so as to accommodate their transmission lines. But offshore wind-turbine power farms could, researchers say, tap into a robust, constant...