ink&paper A short film about the last paper shop, and the last letterpress, in Los Angeles.
"There are days go by that there can be absolutely no business at all."
posted by OmieWise
on Dec 21, 2011 -
22 comments
"Imagine 12 men in a dorm all in diapers and sitting in their own feces," he says. "It smelled like a combination of what people had for lunch that day and pus from people's open wounds. I've been in a wheelchair now for three years, and the jail is by far the worst place I've ever seen for a disabled person." --
L.A. Weekly on "Wheelchair Hell" in the L.A. County Men's Jail
posted by bardic
on Dec 8, 2011 -
42 comments
"Offstage, with his Fleshlight in his hand, 'D-Bone', who will be flown to Austin to compete in the Air Sex finals next month, didn't break character. 'I feel fantastic,' he said. 'It's always a pleasure to be the best air-fucker in the city. I'm going to have tons of chicks over at my place tonight, with lots of cocaine and drugs.'"--L.A. Weekly covers
the Air Sex (Regional) World Championships (kinda NSFW)
posted by bardic
on Oct 26, 2011 -
38 comments
"In the last few years, the rise of free online porn — content-rich sites that tease viewers to subscribe for more — and pay-site juggernauts like Brazzers have put the L.A.-based adult-video industry against the ropes. Its answer, in part, has been the high-dollar parody, designed to attract ComicCon nerds, science fiction fans and other pop culture aficionados who must collect everything within their target oeuvre." -- The troubled US economy affects pornstars too, so
"Porn Defends The Money Shot" (NSFW)
[more inside]
posted by bardic
on Sep 29, 2011 -
80 comments
Enrique Metinides:
In the Place of Coincidence "On Feburary 2011, Enrique Metinides will turn seventy-seven. Fifty of those years have been dedicated to what is called in Mexico “red note” photography. Sensational images of the tabloid press, images of accidents, deaths, disasters.
Metinides’ images capture exquisite and compelling moments from such tragic events. His photographs a complex dynamic which both attract and repel; photographs which become engraved in our imagination through the power of the aesthetic experience." [graphic content]
posted by puny human
on Mar 11, 2011 -
4 comments
Casual is a cute series of shorts about what happens after a one night stand.
posted by empath
on Jan 12, 2011 -
36 comments
Canter’s Deli font comes full circle. Graphic designer makes actual typeface family out of casual script seen on sign for classic L.A. deli, Canter’s. (
Wins award!) Youngest, hippest member of the family that owns the diner later independently Googles
"Canter's Deli" + font, locates type designer, then hires him to custom-design a Canter’s “gourmet food truck.” “[W]hat was interesting to me was that this whole scenario could not have happened without the magic of the Internet and search engines.”
posted by joeclark
on Sep 13, 2010 -
37 comments
You may have heard about
Romeo Agents, the male employees of the East German
Ministry for State Security (also known as MfS or Stasi). They were unleashed on female federal employees in West Germany, with whom they began long-term relations and then began using as sources.
That tactic has apparently been used in the United States as well; David Cay Johnston writes about
the real legacy of Daryl Gates, the former chief of the LAPD. Gates died Friday.
[more inside]
posted by krautland
on Apr 17, 2010 -
38 comments
The Donald Sterling Rule "Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling lives by his own rules. And the only one that matters, apparently, is this:
all bad deeds go unpunished. Over the last six years, nearly two dozen L.A. residents have sued Sterling for engaging in racist housing practices and Jim Crow-style bigotry. In a 2003 deposition, the 76-year-old real estate mogul admitted to paying a former employee to have sex with him in an elevator. Three years ago, the U.S. government charged him with "willful" mistreatment of African-American and Latino tenants, and earlier this month, he agreed to pay the Dept. of Justice nearly $3 million to settle a federal racial-discrimination housing lawsuit, the largest award ever for a case of its kind." So why, asks California's
Tenants Together,
has the NBA said nothing about Sterling's less than sterling behavior?
[more inside]
posted by ocherdraco
on Nov 27, 2009 -
27 comments
Real L.A. Noir. (Video/audio auto-plays).
Los Angeles Times reporter Paul Lieberman has been chronicling the era of the LAPD Gangster Squad, a secret division of the department that tried to combat the mobs of Jack Dragna and Mickey Cohen in the 1940s and '50s. (Keep the cast of characters straight with
this handy chart.)
posted by Bookhouse
on Nov 1, 2008 -
9 comments
It's not so often that a US Top 40 chart hit is a song whose origins can be traced back 300 years, and even less often that such a song would be sung in Spanish. So when
Ritchie Valens went into a studio and recorded
La Bamba 50 years ago this month, he carved himself what would become a special place in American pop music history. It was one of those cases of the B side becoming the hit, though: the A side was
Oh Donna, which showcased a sweeter, croonier side of Valens (singing in English), but was a somewhat unremarkable tune on its own. Here's a
live recording of La Bamba by Valens, who, of course, along with rock'n'roll legend Buddy Holly, lost his life in an airplane crash just as his career was blossoming. Almost 30 years after
La Bamba's original release,
a version by Valens' natural heirs Los Lobos became a hit once again. And, admittedly, I didn't make it through the entire clip, but it's perhaps worth noting, for the record, that a
Barack Obama-related version is available for your listening and viewing, er, pleasure?
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 15, 2008 -
44 comments
Creativity, Inc: Dave Eggers of
McSweeney's is a proprietor. A shopkeeper. Perhaps even a franchise magnate! It was his keen perception of unmet needs in niche markets that led to the opening of a growing array of supply houses across the country. Among them:
The Pirate Store, for the well-outfitted swashbuckler;
The Boring Store, a subtle, unassuming purveyor of goods for secret agents; the
Superhero Supply Store, in Brooklyn, carrying all the eyewear and accessories today's world-savers require; and
Greenwood Space Travel Supply, where customers are reminded of the space-travel axiom "A lack of preparation is a prescription for mishaps." If these sound like curious business ventures for a celebrated author, there's a reason: the
storefronts, though real, are just that -
fronts. They're the streetside faces (and fundraising arms) of the nonprofit
826National, a family of learning centers for kids ages 6-18. The 826 'stores' provide free
field trips, creatively themed
writing workshops,
publishing, and
one-on-one instruction. Supported by an impressive field of
cultural types (including Ira Glass, Sarah Vowell, Sherman Alexie, and others), the program is growing. Coming soon: Michigan 826 will open
Monster Union Local 826, and
826LA will open the Echo Park Time Travel Mart.
posted by Miko
on Jan 11, 2007 -
51 comments
was there just a second ago... Cop Watch LA, a police watchdog group, posted the video on YouTube,
said organizer Joaquin Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos said the video was shot by a neighbor of Cardenas with a cell phone camera. The neighbor gave it to Cardenas' family, who then gave it to Cop Watch, according to Cienfuegos.
posted by Bravocharlie
on Nov 11, 2006 -
83 comments
Extra! Tabloid photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Express (1936-1961), showing
celebrities,
fashion,
tragedy,
(early) CHiPs, and
babes with guns.
Via the
Virtual Gallery at the LA Public Library, which has many other fine exhibits, such as
California in the 20s, the
1932 Olympics,
celebrity golf, and a wonderful collection from the
golden age of travel posters.
posted by Gamblor
on Jul 28, 2006 -
15 comments
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