In a debate over cuts in SNAP Representative Fincher (Republican, Tennessee) was able to cite a non-charitable passage in the New Testament: Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, who supports cuts to the program, had his own Bible verse from the Book of Thessalonians to quote back to Vargas: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat," he said. One might wonder why food is served to members of Congress. Go here to read the quote in context which warns against idleness. As the debate continued Representative Conway argued that the Bible instructed ...

Today, besides being my 45th birthday, is also an important day because it is also Election Day for the next Mayor of Los Angeles. Eric Garcetti, 42, and Wendy Greuel, 51, are the two candidates competing in the run-off today. Garcetti, who this blog has endorsed, has been leading in almost every poll published since the March primary, but turnout is expected to be very low in today's general election so the result is still very much in doubt although recent polls also show that among people who have already voted ...

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Yesterday, my Mom and I spent the afternoon at South Coast Repertory, enjoying a performance of the long-running The Fantasticks. With all her years of theater-going, she'd never seen a production of this great, little show. (I say little because it has a cast of eight and a 3-piece orchestra.) I knew that this terrible mistake needed to be rectified, and a Mothers' Day treat seemed like the perfect excuse.She and I try to see at least one live theater event each year. It's a little way to keep a tradition going that she and three friends started many years before with ...

Fun Fact: it’s been almost ten years since Mean Girls was released and cemented Lindsay Lohan as a promising, up-and-coming leading actress. And then she just bombed. Just imploded. Which is what happens when you’re instilled with the belief that being a celebrity means you can do whatever you want with no repercussions. Lindsay’s Mean GirlsMORE ...

Since the first teaser for Anchorman: The Legend Continues came out a year ago, the movie has quickly gone from a delightful sequel to being a sort of nirvana for literally every comedian and rapper casting directors could get their hands on. (Some cameos so far: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kanye West, Sacha Baron Cohen,MORE ...

If I understand how the straight male brain works, the only thing better than a hot, barely-dressed Oscar winner is a hot, BLUE, barely-dressed Oscar winner. So in that regard, here’s the first look at Jennifer Lawrence in full costume and make up as Mystique for X-Men: Days of Future Past via director Bryan Singer.MORE ...

Installation and views of a seismic joint on the Oakland end of the new Bay Bridge. Thinking there must be an establishment somewhere in California calling itself the "Seismic Joint," I found it at The Exploratorium. It's got one Yelp review so far: We had to ran out of the Exploratorium and grab something to eat here because we were starving but did not want to eat too much because we had dinner plans somewhere else. This place is like a small cafe, but the clam chowder is surprisingly good. I think the mostly have pastry ...

Here are a couple of photos from a recent Great Outdoors hike in a canyon that branches off of Whitewater Canyon. As we started up the canyon it was as bone-dry as any other canyon, but eventually we encountered water running on the surface and grapevines thick enough to make us stumble. We stopped when we came to an actual wet waterfall. ...

That sign must have smacked Kanye West‘s head a lot harder than we thought, because according to Pitchfork, Kanye West is calling his next studio album Yeezus (due out on June 18th). As in, the portmanteau of “Yeezy” and “Jesus”. As in oh crap, Kanye is comparing himself to Jesus once again. Face, meet palm.MORE ...

A graphic from the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Get the original PDF here. Riverside County is "well above average state rate" in deaths by

• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Lower respiratory disease ("Chronic obstructed pulmonary disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses are all grouped together under the name chronic lower respiratory disease.")
• Alzheimer's

The county is "slightly above state average" in deaths by

• Accidents
• Diabetes
• Liver disease
• Drug-induced
• Motor vehicle crashes

It is "at or below state average" in

• Influenza/pneumonia
• Suicide
• Firearm-related
• Homicide

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Because they needed someone there who actually released a critically-acclaimed album, Miguel performed live at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards last night in Las Vegas. Everything seemed to be going well until he tried to jump over a pit full of fans, only to accidentally land on a fan’s neck. The only thing missing wasMORE ...

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards were this weekend, which is kinda like the Grammys if the Grammys gave awards based on who was way too overexposed. Anyway, Justin Bieber won the first ever Milestone Award, which I guess means milestones are coming a lot sooner than they used to. The audience wasn’t all that thrilledMORE ...

France officially enacted marriage equality this weekend when Socialist President Francois Hollande signed the measure passed by the French legislature last month into law on Saturday, one day after the nation's highest court ruled that the measure was indeed constitutional. France became the 14th country in the world to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. Hollande made "marriage for all" a central plank of his presidential election campaign last year. On Friday, he tried to turn the page on months of bitter opposition to the measures, arguing it was "time to respect the law and the Republic".   And he warned that ...

Episode 7 of Season 3 of Game of Thrones is titled "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" which in the fictional land of Westeros is avery famous song and as depicted in the image at the top of this post, refers to the plight one of our favorite characters, the gender-bending Brienne of Tarth, finds herself in  during this episode. S3E07 was written by George R.R. Martin, the author of the source material for the series of books which inspire the television series (it's not clear if we can call the HBO series an adaptation of the books any more ...

Last week I posted my exclusive video interview with Marina and the Diamonds, and I promised to share some photos my pal Joey snapped during Marina’s completely packed show at Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall (May 11). Well, here they are, 44 pictures in all, and I must say they came out super spectacular! IMORE ...

Daniel Akyeampong has been featured eye candy on this blog twice before, January 10, 2011 and January 28, 2013. He is most well-known for being an Abercrombie & Fitch model, but despite his youthful appearance, rest assured he is definitely over 21 years old. Enjoy! ...

Rafael Nadal continued his startling 2013 run of good form by defeating his arch-rival Roger Federer  6-1 6-3 in the final of the 2013 ATP Rome Masters in just over an hour. (Interestingly, this was the identical score that Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka to win the WTA title right before, although that match took 93 minutes. Nadal has won a tour-leading 6 titles (in 8 finals) in 2013 and has only lost twice while playing 58 matches so far (the vast majority on clay). The 2013 BNL Internazionali d'Italia title is Nadal's 41st clay court title (of ...

Bill Hader‘s final appearance as Stefon on Saturday Night Live‘s 38th season finale last night was literally everything! I’m totally going to miss him (along with Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis), check out his big send off last night during ‘Weekend Update’ with cutie Seth Meyers which featured a few surprise guest appearances including funnyMORE ...