Los Angeles need Ervin Santana

The Angels are starting to get a little upset with Ervin Santana. A pitcher with his type of arm should be dominating at the major league level. But, ability doesn’t always turn into results in the majors. Santana has now pitched in 84 games (82 starts) in his major league career and he is 35-30 with a 4.84 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. Santana needs to throw more first pitch strikes as he makes big mistakes when he falls behind in the count often grooving pitches right down the middle that result in dingers for the opposition. Santana has allowed 64 homers in only 487.2 innings in his career to date and that will need to change if he ever wants to be a consistent winner at the major league level.

Los Angeles Win Tickets to the Hold Steady at the Fonda, Nov. 7th

don't have the adequate words to express how much I love the Hold Steady.
When I first heard them, and Craig Finn's vocals, I didn't like them. This guy can't sing, I thought. What the hell is this? And then the piano yoked me in, and the violins and textured guitars that swell under the choruses or bell out into lush, epic finales (ref. "Killer Parties") , and...the words. Those words! They're koans, they're the pure beauty of simple, straightforward poetry. Henry Miller, Hemingway...Finn. As Emily Dickinson said, "For writers, a success prescription / fewer words, more description."

And so I will do that here: keep it short & sweet. We have a couple pairs of tickets to give away. Email me telling me what your favorite song of theirs is, and why, and the first responders will get a plus-one to the show. Oh, and Art Brut opens for them as well. w00t!

The contest runs until Sunday. I'll then pick two winners.

Los Angeles The Scoops Scoop: Last Minute Weekend Edition

No matter how busy I am with my other writing gigs, my day job, moving, and blogging, I'll always have time to stop and get some Scoops ice cream. Eager to get a sneak peek at some of Tai's always-exciting weekend flavors, I pedaled down to HelMel for a taste.

This weekend's flavors are all about combining the sweet and the salty, making for some particularly exotic combinations.

Get the rest of the Scoop after the jump:

You can't give moustache rides without a mo

In an effort to raise awareness of prostate cancer, and to help rid the calendar of any month that begins "No", some mates from Australia and New Zealand launched "Movember," a 30 day stretch where dudes let their "mo" (Australian for "moustache) grow. Now in its fourth year, Movember is going international, spreading to the UK, Canada, Spain, and the United States.

Anyone can join... well, assuming you can grow facial hair. Just register online with a clean mug, alone or with some buds, and you'll earn the title "Mo Bro." Ladies can also join as a "Bro Sista" who'll help recruit and support the Mo Bros.

Local Mo Bros and Mo Sistas who raise $100 from sponsors by the end of Movember gain entry into a gala celebration at the Avalon on November 30th, where their mos will be judge by an "expert panel" for titles including Gala Parté Man of Movember or Best Mo in Class. (Mo Sistas who go dressed complimenting their Mo Bro are also eligible to be crowned Miss Movember.)

If you join, drop us a note here so we can check in on how your mo is goin' throughout the month - and if you're posting photos documenting the growth, be sure to tag them "movember los angeles".

Los Angeles ICME: Grafittists shopping list?

It caught my eye and it was ripe with possibilities. It is scrawled next to a pay phone (I can't remember when I last saw one of those) between Big Lots and the Thrift Store on Huntington Drive in Duarte. What does it all mean? Was this the grafittists shopping list? Was it a costume list? What was crossed out?

Los Angeles Tallest Skyscraper West of Chicago, eh, not so much.

Curbed bring us the welcome new that the Tower of Babel Park Fifth project that was supposed to provide eternal shade to Pershing Square, is floundering. They've supposedly lost their main investor and he plans may not go forward at all.

My glee at this news is purely selfish, as I will now not be living next to a construction site for the next five years.

Besides, I don't want our lovely Library Tower to be eclipsed.

Los Angeles Breaking International News: Emergency Rule declared in Pakistan

As you probably know this site is part of a global network of blogs and from time to time something happens that requires the attention of more than just the people in one specific city. Something like that is happening right now. We're just getting the reports from our bloggers in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad right now but Emergency Rule Martial Law has been declared in Pakistan and the Press and Media has been ordered to cease broadcasting and STFU. The country is expecting a presidential address later in the day. Here are a few specific posts to look at, but keep checking the above links for the most up to the moment info.
- Karachi: Emergency Declared in Pakistan?
- Lahore: Emergency Rule - CONFIRMED
- Islamabad: Emergency Rule


I'll be updating this post on Metroblogging as new links/info becomes available. OK, now back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

(quick update: the initial reports we heard were stating martial law, but in fact it's Emergency Rule which is not quite as bad, though press has been cut off.)