FishbowlLA

Kaldi Coffee & Tea Gets Huge Sundance Shout Out

Richard Horgan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:06 +0000

There’s a Starbucks down the street and another a few blocks west on Los Feliz Blvd. But since this particular version of the java-sipping-screenwriter-makes-good panned out at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, it seems only appropriate that the coffee house in question is the more independent Kaldi Coffee & Tea in Atwater Village.

Per Kurt Streeter‘s report in the LA Times, that’s where then-40-year-old aspiring LA scribe Nicholas McCarthy retreated last winter for six weeks after the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, to expand his short The Pact into a feature-length project. Following this year’s triumphant feature screenings, Kaldi is where McCarthy will be cranking out his next coveted project. Per the article:

On Monday morning [January 30], he returned to Kaldi Coffee & Tea. When he walked through the door, he saw Clay Tarver, one of the regulars. Tarver’s screenwriting credits included Joy Ride, a thriller co-written with J.J. Abrams, creator of the television series Lost, and he is viewed with admiration at Kaldi. McCarthy had leaned on him for so much advice that he had included Tarver in the credits for The Pact.

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Dana Goodyear Talks About Her Recent New Yorker Story

Matthew Fleischer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:46:26 +0000

The New Yorker‘s Dana Goodyear just gave a nice interview to San Diego Magazine about her recent piece on Chef Javier Plascencia and Tijuana’s efforts to land on the international foodie map. (The piece is well worth the read if you missed it).

A choice tidbit:

We are outright fans of Plascencia in San Diego. Do you sense Angelenos clamoring to “claim him,” too? Did you end up rooting for him and the BajaMed movement by the end of your trip/reporting? How could you not root for Plascencia and his fellow Baja chefs! I do think that people in L.A.–and certainly the food-obsessed–are increasingly aware of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he opened a place here. My sense is that he fields offers all the time.

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Lisa May Channels Her Inner Kanye West

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:33:06 +0000

Rapping isn’t for everyone — even for those born in Inglewood.

Kevin & Bean sidekick Lisa May took to the mic Monday morning on KROQ-FM (106.7) as L.L. Cool May displayed her rapping “skills” as part of a giveaway for tickets to the Grammy Awards.

May gets an A for effort. As for the delivery …

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Oakland Journalist Authors Book About Murder of Colleague Chauncey Bailey

Richard Horgan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:45 +0000

After Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was gunned down in 2007 on the orders of Yusuf Bey IV, a former colleague at the Oakland Tribune, Thomas Peele, was appointed lead reporter for the Chauncey Bailey Project. This unique investigative coalition played a major part in helping bring Bey to justice for trying to stop the publication of an unflattering story about the You Black Muslim Bakery.

Tomorrow, Peele takes it a step further with the release of the book Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith, Racism’s Backlash and the Assassination of a Journalist. Over the weekend, Tribune reporter Tammerline Drummond previewed this new work:

Peele takes us to Chicago and Detroit to the heart of the Nation of Islam and to Los Angeles where a police shooting at a mosque convinced Santa Barbara hairdresser Joseph Stephens to join the Black Muslim movement. Stephens who would later rename himself Yusuf Bey, opened Your Black Muslim Bakery in 1971.

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Tribeca Teaches Program Expands to Los Angeles

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:47:03 +0000

The Tribeca Film Institute is expanding their Tribeca Teaches program to Lennox Middle School in Los Angeles — the first pilot run outside of New York City.

TFI and non-profit Southern California Crossroads will focus on bilingual storytelling through video games. Experienced filmmakers will partner with teachers, community activists and parents in assisting students during the 18-week program.

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Republican Rep. John Fleming Falls for Ridiculous Onion Abortion Story

Matthew Fleischer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:06:07 +0000

Yep, Louisiana Republican John Fleming really thinks Planned Parenthood is building an $8 billion “Abortionplex.” He posted a link to this fake Onion story over the weekend–only to take it down shortly thereafter. But not before Blogging Blue caught the post.

Good to see fake news keeping it real in ’12.

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Mikki Taylor on Her 30 Years at Essence

Donya Blaze — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:02:27 +0000

When Mikki Taylor first started working for Essence in the early 80s, there weren’t nearly as many images of black women in the media as there are today. In our Media Beat interview, the fashion and beauty maven credited longtime EIC Susan Taylor for instilling staffers with the mag’s mission early on.

“I just remember her saying to me, ‘We come to this magazine to contribute,’ and it was something that she instilled in me that day that I walk with to this day,” Taylor recalled. “In fact, when I got the job, I was ready to go on a mission. It became more than a job from the moment I walked in the doors and began serving black women.”

Watch the full video to find out which Essence covers Taylor found most difficult to direct and what she has to say to the magazine’s critics.

Part 2: Micki discusses her new book Commander in Chic.
Part 3: Taylor discusses leaving Essence behind to launch her own beauty and style consultancy.

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Reddit Users to Woody Harrelson: Everyone Here Knows Your Game

Richard Horgan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:04 +0000

There’s nothing quite like the wrath of reddit.com users.

As reported today by techeye.net, a Friday reddit PR stunt to promote Woody Harrelson‘s new drama Rampart has thoroughly backfired. In concept alone, the idea of squeezing the former Cheers star’s wisdom into a 15-minute reddit answer window was doomed to fail. Per techeye.net, sailormooncake may well have said it best:

Mr. Harrelson/Mr. Harrelson’s PR agents:

You answered a total of four questions here today, and when I say “answered,” I mean that loosely. You have also embarassed Mr. Harrelson in the process. Please inform the rest of Hollywood that reddit is not a publicity outlet and that redditors don’t tolerate this kind of crap.

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Miguel Marquez Joins CNN as an LA Correspondent

Matthew Fleischer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:29:36 +0000

Miguel Marquez has just signed on to become CNN’s latest Los Angeles correspondent. Marquez previously worked as an assistant to former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He was most recently a London-based correspondent for ABC News. During his tenure at the network he covered the Iraq war and the Norway massacre, among other stories.

Marquez previously worked as an Los Angeles CNN correspondent from 2003 to 2005.

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HLN Entertainment Correspondent Nischelle Turner Still Keeping It Real

Richard Horgan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:00:16 +0000

The Missouri School of Journalism’s Missourian newspaper has a nice profile of Class of 1998 supestar Nischelle Turner. After stints with the NFL on Fox, various major-market TV stations and an almost-talk show on OWN, Turner joined HLN’s Showbiz Tonight in December as west coast correspondent.

The MSJ article was written by school junior Margaux Henquinet, who spoke with a number of Turner’s former teachers. The HLN reporter’s high school volleyball coach suggested one of the reasons her former pupil has been so successful is due to the ability to remain “real and genuine.” Turner seconded that notion:

When she started working at Good Day LA during her time at KTTV, “I figured out it was OK to be yourself on television, and that’s when it all changed for me,” she said.

After the jump, you can watch Turner hug it out at her first Sundance Film Festival with Arbitrage star Richard Gere (also at the Park City event for the first time).

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Santa Barbara Cinematographer Mike deGruy Dies in Helicopter Crash

Matthew Fleischer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:35:45 +0000

Award-winning cinematographer Mike deGruy was killed over the weekend in a helicopter crash in Eastern Australia. He was 60 years-old. DeGruy was on assignment for National Geographic at the time of his death. The Santa Barbara-based deGruy was probably best known for his work on James Cameron‘s documentary Last Mysteries of the Titanic.

Andrew Wight, an Australia-based writer-producer who also collaborated with Cameron in the past, was also killed in the crash.

“Mike and Andrew were like family to me,” Cameron told the AP. “They were my deep-sea brothers and both were true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been.”

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OC Filmmaker Scores Another Doritos Touchdown

Richard Horgan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:30:32 +0000

Orange County Register reporter Peter Larsen got the jump on yesterday’s popular “Sling Baby” Doritos commercial with a weekend feature about its maker, Huntington Beach native Kevin T. Willson (pictured).

For the past three years, Willson and his two OC producers have cracked the finals of Doritos’ popular “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. In 2010, his “Casket” spot aired during the big game, and this weekend, once again, he was one of the top two vote-getters with a 30-second bit about a grandmother and grandson conspiring from a back porch to get hold of a prized bag of Doritos chips. Per Larsen’s piece:

“We have no idea every year,” Willson said by phone last week from Indianapolis [about which two of the top five Doritos finalists make it to air]. “You’re sweating it out and it’s very stressful and an incredible feeling.”

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LAT Reporter Laughs Off Nevada Caucus ‘Spy’ Mix-Up

Richard Horgan — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:15:02 +0000

Ashley Powers, Nevada bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, is used to covering the news, not making it. Yesterday however, she made headlines after being mistakenly expelled from Republican caucus location Precinct 1721 in the Vegas suburb of Sun City Anthem. Before she was shown the door, one elderly attendee screamed out that she was a spy.

Powers tweeted and reported about the incident. The story was quickly picked up by AP and, of course, her Twitter feed became the repository for all kinds of intriguing follow-up.

David Montero, a reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune, commiserated that the same sort of thing had happened to him in 2008. Other journalist reactions re-tweeted by Powers were more lighthearted:

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Jim Ladd Makes His Sirus XM Debut Feb. 13

Marcus Vanderberg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:45:11 +0000

Former KLOS-FM DJ Jim Ladd will make his debut on Sirius XM satellite radio on Monday, Feb. 13, according to Gary Lycan of The Orange County Register.

Ladd was hired by Sirius XM in December to host a nightly show on Deep Tracks (Channel 27).

“Jim Ladd on Deep Tracks” will air from 4-8 p.m. PT and there’s a chance the program will be replayed during the overnight hours.

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Dodgers Have No Interest in Paying Bryan Stow

Marcus Vanderberg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:22:41 +0000

The Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to wash their hands clean of the Bryan Stow assault.

The baseball organization asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross to dismiss a claim filed by Stow and his family shortly after owner Frank McCourt filed for bankruptcy.

Despite the reported 442 security personnel on hand for opening day last March, Stow still managed to get brutally attacked in the parking lot of Chavez Ravine, leaving him in a coma for months.

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