L.A. Olympics Hype Machine Well-Greased:
The U.S. Olympic Committee spent 2.5 hours Friday getting a refreshing massage from Mayor Antonion Villaraigosa and the SoCal Committee for the Olympic Games. Can we beat out Chicago and San Francisco for the United States-nominee spot? We'll find out in March ...
Big Guns:
Rookie cop. Nine months on the LAPD. Routine traffic stop - Montecito Heights - and the passenger jumps out blazing away at the cops with an >AK-47 - puts most of the rounds through the windshield and three of them into young Officer James Tuck ...
Two rounds went through his ballistic vest and into his stomach. Another nearly severed his left hand at the wrist.
Tuck's training officer, Porras, was able to get out of the police car and return fire as the gunman continued firing across the right side of their car, wounding the gunman in the leg, according to Vernon.
The officers' car was riddled with bullet holes.
"It's a miracle that neither officer was killed," said Vernon.
The suspect then dropped the rifle and hid in a yard, he said. He was quickly located, arrested and hospitalized.
No further details at the LAPD Blog. Someone remind me - what justification was there for lobbying to keep assault rifles legal? I hope the "hunters" and NRA absolutists are happy to have these things in circulation. I'm sure the officer and his family and colleagues would disagree.
The suspect responsible for the shooting of Hollenbeck Officers is Jose Perez, 31-years-old of Los Angeles. Perez was booked for Attempted Murder of a Police Officer bail amount is set for $2,000,000.00.
Oh, All Right. Take the Eyewash
After getting everyone good and agitated last week by confiscating all the potentially dangerous binyary-chemical explosives they might have been carrying and then tossing them all together into big barrels, the security poobahs at LAX have lightened up a bit, CBS reports:
The new rules were modified Sunday, so up to four ounces of liquid medication are permitted, along with glucose gel for diabetics, baby food and lipstick, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration.
However, all passengers must remove their shoes so they many be X-rayed along with carry-on bags, and aerosol cans are still prohibited.
Prediction: Even if Snakes on a Plane sucks, it'll get boffo box office from weary frequent flyers who are eager to laugh while playing "spot- the- blatant- motherfuckin'- security- breach."
YOUR ART HERE:
If you're a digital artist toiling in post-art-school hell, this might ease the ongoing depression: An "open call" for submissions to a non-juried show by the L.A. Center for Digital Art. LACDA guarantees that every entry will be accepted, printed and shown, for the entry fee of $30.
Look at it this way - you support their programs, they make a nice 8.5"x11" print on heavy paper that's yours to keep after its shown with hundreds of others, and no one's the wiser about your newfound street cred. Sweeeeet.
E3 Reborn? L.A.'s Loss is Vegas' Gain
Rather than simply joining in the full-throated geek roar of "Nooooooo!" that followed the annouced demise of E3, the Consumer Electronics Association began fiddling with the idea of staging its own video game convention in Vegas:
"Since ESA decided to eliminate the E3 event in its known format, we have been deluged with inquiries on whether we could fill the tradeshow needs of smaller video entertainment companies. Our executive board met yesterday and unanimously asked staff to explore ways that we can help the gaming community. We already have commitments from three companies in this area to provide us advice on a new event in late spring 2007."
Shapiro went on to say that CEA is looking at venues in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He says, "as long as there is desire and commitment, we are ready to service this community."
This would certainly be good news for those who are going to miss the large spectacle that was E3. Before you get too happy though, no major companies have voiced any sort of approval to CEA about the idea. So far, only Majesco, NCsoft and Auravision seem to be OK with the plan.
iPod thefts:
To hear the Times tell it (and see every other little news agency from here to Comm'nist China parrot the headlines as though it were a harbinger of global consumer-culture doom) there's been a crime wave of iPod robberies. I'm not the first to point this out, but only after you read down into the teeny tiny info-graphic print of last week's stories do you notice there 108 iPods swiped from weakling geeks and hapless nerds last year, up to 208 this year. Reminds me of the old quote about lies, damn lies and statistics. This is a crisis?
Helpful consumer hints from the Times - put the little white brick into a pocket and buy different earphones - no dead-giveaway white cords. Helpful consumer tip from me- the Apple earphones suck anyway. Get yourself a Sony studio-reference headset and really enjoy the music, since it's the last thing you'll hear before you're creamed by that bus.
Midnight Walkazz:
I'm late in blogging this, but the pirate-themed Midnight Ridazz thing Friday was huge and weird - even for a Ridazz event.
Some 1,700 of us (by one estimate!) tried to shoehorn ourselves through a mere 10-foot-wide ramp up onto the L.A. River bike path at Los Feliz.
The result was a trudging, wobbling, traffic-jamming mess.
Of these, several hundred riders were forced (by the mobs choking the river path) to ride on the paths "shoulder" through thickets peppered with the dreaded goathead thorns.
For the next two hours solid, I counted riders pulled over fixing flats - more than 50 in all before I lost track.
Memo to organizers: Next time, (maybe?) take us up through Griffith Park and over the back - then downhill to the river to avoid jamming all the I-5 offramps on Los Feliz with the hooting multitudes. Memo to the flat-sufferers: Mr. Tuffy is your friend.
The flats and the path's pinch seemed to thin the ride out from a mass happening to an anemic trickle of a dozen bikes per minute in some places, So we of the IAAL/MAF satisfied ourselves with bellowing bad pirate dialogue whilst cycling through the deserted streets. One member's good-samaritanism separated him from the pack for a moment: Will Campbell wound up fixing Daryl Hannah's bike while the rest of us thoughtlessly pedaled onward.
IAAL/MAF photos of the mob were thinner than they could have been: I had early camera battery burnout, but Stephen Roullier posted a few, as did Sean Bonner.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Monday, August 14, 2006 - 03:19 AM
