Some friends of mine (Kay Amano and Masayuki Hisa) developed a series of cute videos designed to promote Los Angeles area businesses among Japanese-speaking television viewers. The five videos are called “Magicbell Brothers,” and follow the travails of two space alien hand puppets sent to earth and forced to visit and critique local restaurants and [...]

Metered on-ramps are common fare throughout the Los Angeles freeway system. The massive influx of cars onto the highways during the five or six hours-de-rush each day requires some method to even out the rolling population. And while the unidirectional stoplights make at least some attempt to alleviate the metal density on the freeway, they [...]