Just went to the home page for this site. It took a while for the page to load, say -- slooooooowly. Then for some strange unown reason the page reloaded itself not once but twice.

Then trying to move up and down the page was jumpy and slow.

Not a place I will be going back to anytime soom.

oh my god, that blog of theirs is the absolute WORST of fake-LA-phonyism i've seen yet on a "mainstream" blog.

as an LA native, it's distressing to see this type of ridiculous "insider" gossip parlayed as true Angeleno speak (or indicative of our interests, for that matter).

time to move back to NY and Kansas, you phonies. Otherwise, the LA.com top looks nice and it operates pretty well. good work, LA.com dev team.

First I need a spell checker.

Second LA.com home page is a trap to my browser. I'm using Windows XP with it's version of Internet Explorer. I needed to reload the browser after visiting LA.com. I ouldn't get access to anything after it's home page failed to load.

I don't know what kind of hidden code they're using but it is a piece of trash.

Whatever!

The blog does suck. The breathlessly invoked "Smashbox studios" are actually a warehouse in the middle of a sun-blasted parking lot in a run-down and desolate corner of Culver City. About once a month the star wagons converge and the red carpet is rolled out over the asphalt. It's orders of magnitude worse than the red carpet across Green Street in Pasadena for the Emmys.

I do treasure the idea of blog-reading tourists seeking out the "Smashbox studios" to have their picture taken in front of it...

I agree that the blog is awful. It has very little to do with Los Angeles, the people who REALLY live here and shop, dine, go out, etc. This is written in some kind of weird tone, not sure who they are trying to attract.

As for the site, I like it. But it needs to be updated more frequently, and having links like "classic mexican" that just go to a database call to all mexican restaurants is pretty weak. They need more original content and write-ups if they want to retain a loyal audience. Right now CitySearch is kicking their ass in localism... they need to beat them first.

For the record, I was content manager for LAInsider.com and senior producer at OCnow.com (both now defunct) during my four years with Cox Interactive Media - experiences that form the basis for my observations on LA.com. Not sure why I'm painted only as the guy who didn't get the job, which has nothing to do with my reviews.

I'd heard there was still some guy using the Mozilla browser. Al last, we now know who! ;-)

Hi very nice site you have.
I would like to ask if it is possible to add my link to your links
page? www.laavenue.com

What it is: A webcam that gives you the big picture of Los Angeles.
Why it's cool: Meet Nick. Nick is a technician for a Los Angeles energy-control company that he partially owns. His work takes him approximately 5,000 miles a month through the L.A. metropolitan area in his 2003 3500 GMC Savana white cargo van. And he invites everyone to join him for the ride. Attached to the van is a webcam that shows a new live image every 20 seconds of the area around the van's current location. On a recent sunny day, Nick was in Long Beach and, judging by the time spent there, made a service call.
The site says the webcam broadcasts from noon to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but usually runs longer during daylight-saving time.
In a question and answer session on the site, Nick explains that his sole purpose for doing this is to give as many people as possible a chance to see Los Angeles. There's also tourist information. www.laavenue.com