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People, meet Darren and Phillip are two English Staffordshire bull terriers from Brisbane, Australia that really love cuddling in pajamas. See the photos below.

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This is a shot of the most important new emojis included in the upcoming iOS 9.1 update. Which one are you most excited about? "APPLE SUCKS ANDROID'S ROBOT BALLS!" I should have known that was coming. Still, all you iPhone users can thank my letter-writing campaign for the addition of the taco and burrito. I wrote SO MANY LETTERS. I wrote one letter. I wrote one letter and never sent it. I am not very good with following through with things. I was supposed to pick up my roommate from the airport this morning.

The 157 acres atop the city has traded hands from the Shah of Iran's sister to Merv Griffin to the mogul behind Herbalife. Then came unknown Chip Dickens, who managed to procure the property for no money at all. Now, The Vineyard is on the market, and the strange, stressful story behind the $1 billion property can be told.

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The Southern California beer wars are heating up.

One of America’s most prominent craft beer breweries is doubling down on Los Angeles, with plans to open a large-scale production facility well east of Downtown. Lagunitas Brewing Company, which is based north of San Francisco in Petaluma but also has a brewery in Chicago, is among the most recognizable names on bottle shop shelves, having been in the business for nearly 25 years crafting mostly West Coast-style IPAs and pale ales.

On Twitter last night, owner Tony Magee (@LagunitasT) began dropping hints as to the growing future of the brand, eventually revealing that the Southern California location would be held in Azusa, California, a small foothills suburb in the San Gabriel Valley. The city itself currently hosts a population of only around 50,000 people, but is within easy freeway distance of several major metropolitan areas and comes complete with lots of light industrial zoning.

Magee says that the brewery is already under construction, but won’t be ready until early 2017. To start, their brew system will offer a capacity of 420,000 barrels, which could eventually grow to one million barrels (that’s 31 million gallons of beer, for anyone keeping track). What’s more, Magee says that the brand new facility is completely free of city and state funding, and sits within "spittin’ distance" of the current large-scale Irwindale Miller Brewery.

Magee goes on to say that he’s spent many years coming in and out of Los Angeles as he continued to build the Lagunitas brand, and has a soft spot for the area. So why Azusa specifically? Magee isn’t telling (at least on Twitter) but it could certainly have something to do with that incoming $15 minimum wage for the city of Los Angeles — after all, it wouldn’t be the first time a big brewery made other regional plans to move into more business-friendly cities. Others, like Firestone Walker, are doubling down in LA proper.

The brand-new Trousdale Residence is a 4,200 square foot house located in Trousdale Estates, an historic part of Beverly Hills. The single story home, designed by Marmol Radziner, boasts views of the ocean and Century City atop its terraced lot. Made up of four bedrooms and 4-1/2 bathrooms, the home’s walled parking court, along with oak trees, keeps it private.

Around back, the house opens up with a 40 foot wall of glass which slides apart to give direct access to the exterior.

The backyard has a heated outdoor deck that leads to the grassy yard and swimming pool. The roof hangs over to offer protection from the California sun.

A central great room is flanked by two private wings which house the master suite and the guest/office suite.

Dry stacked stone is used indoors and out for the fireplaces, as well as to frame the entryway. Terrazzo floors span the inside through to the outside deck to visually continue the space.

In the private wings, the walls fold up to extend the spaces to the backyard.

Photos by Barry Schwartz.

[Kombucha via Wikipedia, Keegan via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com]

Hippie cults, former child actors, and a police sting for selling kombucha all sound like punchlines for jokes about Los Angeles that got cut from Annie Hall, but all of those things are real, true elements in this real true story of what happened at a fundraiser organized by the new age religion founded by 10 Things I Hate About You/Seventh Heaven actor Andrew Keegan, which was ruined by an Alcoholic Beverage Control bust, according to the Argonaut. Of course this happened in Venice.

The incident occurred at Full Circle, the "open source spiritual community center" founded by Keegan on super-trendy Rose Avenue. During a fundraiser for a marine conservation nonprofit called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, undercover ABC agents confiscated "several containers" of kombucha, a bubbly fermented tea made from a gross mushroom that is known to contain a very small percentage of alcohol, and cited the spiritual group for selling booze without a license. It would have been amazing to hear some details about how the ABC agents went "undercover" in this scenario—did they take their shoes off? Were they wearing sustainable yoga pants? Sadly, we may never know what an ABC officer thinks a hippie looks like.

The illicit kombucha was made by the company Kombucha Dog, which sells "the most potent [kombucha] on the market" in bottles with adorable LA-area rescue dogs on the labels. A Full Circle spokesman says "Part of our spiritual practice is that we serve kombucha. We were very surprised and concerned when we saw the agents wheeling the containers of Kombucha Dog out of the fundraiser." (Kombucha Dog says its product has "usually no more than 1%" alcohol," and that it would be impossible to get drunk off it even if large amounts were consumed in a short time.)

Full Circle received a misdemeanor citation for selling alcohol without a license. "We're a complaint-driven agency, so when someone notifies us about what might be an illegal activity, we respond to it," an ABC rep says. Church founder Keegan counters, "They may be a complaint-driven agency, but we're an intention-driven organization and our intentions are pure." He also notes that "Kombucha is something we'd never imagine to be an illegal substance, and it's frustrating the system has that perspective."
· Undercover Sting Targets Kombucha at Venice Spiritual Center [Argonaut]
· One of the Stars of '10 Things I Hate About You' Started a Religion [Vice]
· This '90s Heartthrob Is Now a Spiritual Leader in Venice [Racked LA]

[Image via Ryan Ward]

Los Angeles is full of fantastic residential architecture in styles running all over from Spanish Colonial Revival to Streamline Moderne. But the Modernist Case Study Houses, sponsored by Arts & Architecture and designed between the mid-1940s and mid-1960s, are both native to SoCal and particularly emblematic of the region (thanks in huge part to photographer Julius Shulman). The CSHes were intended to be relatively affordable, replicable houses for post-World War II family living, with an emphasis on "new materials and new techniques in house construction," as the magazine's program intro (pdf) put it. Architects involved included the still-widely-remembered (Charles Eames, Richard Neutra) and the known-only-to-archinerds (JR Davidson, Thornton Abell).

A&A ended up commissioning 36 houses and apartment buildings; a couple dozen were built and about 20 still stand in the greater Los Angeles area (there's also one in Northern California, a set near San Diego, and one in Phoenix), although some have been remodeled. Eleven were added to the National Register in 2013. Here's a guide to all the houses left to see (but keep in mind that, true to LA form, most are still private residences; the Eames and Stahl Houses—the two most famous Case Study Houses—are occasionally open to visitors).

As for the wonky house numbering, post-1962 A&A publisher David Travers writes that the explanation is "inexplicable, locked in the past."

· case study house program [Arts & Architecture]
· LA's Most Famous House Finally Makes the National Register [Curbed LA]

The ultimate exercise in binge-watching is back! LACMA will be reviving the 24-hour film 'The Clock' this summer. [ more › ]

Right on Mulholland Drive in Bel Air sits this dazzling mid-century house by architect Edward Fickett, looking like something ripped from the pages of a coffee table book about the highly popular period. Built in 1959 and located at the end of a "semi-private" drive, the post and beam dwelling has one large, open living area with a massive fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows (including clerestory windows) overlooking the backyard and the Valley beyond. The master suite features a steam shower, a walk-in closet, and a large stand-alone tub that looks like a takeout box. Last sold in 2010 for $1.375 million, according to Redfin, it's now listed for $2.495 million.

· 15171 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, California 90077 [Deasy/Penner]

Open House: Sunday, March 29, 2015 between 2 PM - 5 PM

5500 Tuxedo Terrace, Hollywood Hills

Price: $5,750,000
Beds, Baths: 4 beds, 3.25 baths
Floor Area: 2,450 sq. ft.
Per the Listing: "Quintessential California Ranch in the Hollywood Hills, inspired by classic mission design and infused with Modern architecture, with endless unobstructed views located on a promontory in the prestigious Los Feliz Oaks. Re-imagined and designed with integrity this home is a gateway to the explosive Los Angeles skyline. Positioned at the end of a cul de sac, this trophy property is a gated, private sanctuary. Both form and function abound, with an open floor plan ideal for modern living and incredible indoor/outdoor flow. Reclaimed red & white oak floors from a 100-year-old barn serve as a foundation for the main house. Real plaster walls inside & out troweled by master artisan. Imported tile roof with copper gutters. Loaded chef's kitchen with soapstone counters and custom sinks. Radiant heating and high-tech camera security system integrated with professional grade media throughout the house. Flexible separate guest space, salt water pool."

One one hand, living in this neck of the woods means it's rather inconvenient to nip out to the grocery store or coffee shop on the spur of the moment. But on the other hand, you can grow your own fruit and vegetables, reducing the need to go to the store. The .79-acre property contains six structures built for gardening purposes or the raising of chickens.

5500 Tuxedo Terrace [Official site]
5500 Tuxedo Terrace [Redfin]

This amazing three-bedroom vacation home was designed by Fougeron Architecture studio, and is located on Big Sur’s spectacular south coast is anchored in the natural beauty and power of the California landscape.

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This is a heartwarming video of several colorblind people experiencing the full spectrum for the first time thanks to a pair of corrective glasses developed by EnChroma. You know, I had a colorblind roommate in college. You could never send him to go get condiments in the cafeteria because you'd ask for ketchup and he'd come back with mustard or relish. His name was Porterhouse Pete. Porterhouse was the name we gave his alter-ego for when he got drunk, because when he got drunk he went nuts. One time he got so drunk he peed on the outside of my bedroom door thinking he was in the bathroom. I heard a funny noise and noticed liquid seeping underneath so I got up and tore open the door open, and there's Pete, penis in hand, peeing on my feet and trying to figure out how I could have possibly gotten behind the toilet to be standing there looking at him. Keep going for the video.

This is a demonstration of an augmented reality sandbox with real-time topographic line generation. Basically the system automatically adjusts the topography lines and color depending on the altitude of the sand in a particular area. I could play with that for hours. Or at least a couple minutes. *builds up island* Dammit villagers, I demand a sacrifice or I will sink you to the bottom of the sea! Somebody, anybody -- jump in this volcano. I'm waiting. That's it! *destroys island with a sweep of an arm* Wow, that was actually pretty fun. And look -- there was treasure buried under the island! "Pretty sure that's a cat turd." This is why I hate sandboxes. Keep going for the video.

Mark Verge, a partner in Cedd Moses' 213 Nightlife, is behind the new operation.

Main Street Santa Monica just can't seem to land more than a small handful of great places. Yes, The Anchor just opened on this stretch and Ramen Jinya is looming on the north side, but Wildflour Pizza has been occupied the southern part for decades (apparently since the mid 1970's).

Toddrickallen reports that Wildflour (no relation to Culver City's WildCraft) is turning into a new wine and beer garden, with a projected opening about 30 days out. According to this ABC report, Mark Verge, owner and founder of Westside Rentals, is behind the operation. Verge is also a main partner in 213 Nightlife, so expect this place be a cut above the average drinking spot occupying Main Street, though the license only permits beer & wine, not the full liquor typical of 213 projects. No word on if Cedd Moses is involved with this new project, which has no name attached to it.

Some researchers study carbon nanotubes -- and then there are these guys. Thomas Wagner and his students from Kaiserslautern University in Germany took an Oculus Rift headset onto a real rollercoaster to transform it into an virtual experience....

[Photos by Cameron Carothers]

We never met a home by Organic Modernist John Lautner we didn't like, but this one--nicknamed Silvertop--is a particular favorite, so it's exciting to hear, via the Wall Street Journal, that it's on the market for the first time in 40 years, asking $7.5 million. The design incorporates "interlocking half-circles," loads of windows to showcase the incredible views from the home' hillside perch, and an exquisite concrete dome--Lautner's first use of "monolithic concrete" for sculptural as well as architectural purposes, says the LA Conservancy.

The home was commissioned in 1956 for Kenneth Reiner, who made a small fortune on ladies hair clips and aviation patents. He worked very closely with Lautner to create this house, and Lautner built elements into the home specifically according to Reiner's specifications; in the event that the equipment didn't exist to meet those specifications, Reiner would often design and make the necessary piece for Lautner. some Reiner-designed elements in the home include "lights that pivot into the ceiling, and electrically-controlled skylights."

The result of all the efforts of the two men was an incredible home, with "faucet-less sinks that automatically filled with water; a dining table with a hydraulic pedestal that was lowered for cocktails and elevated for meals; a system for heating and cooling that could not be seen or heard; and controls for lights and appliances that were discreetly set into walls and doors jambs," plus a cantilevered driveway, as the LA Times noted in their obituary for Reiner, who passed away in 2011.

The construction of Silvertop was only supposed to cost $75,000, but it ended up being closer to $1 million. A poorly-timed row with a business partner left Reiner bankrupt and forced to sell the house before construction was finished. The current owners bought the home in 1974 and hired Lautner to finish the job shortly after.

The three-bedroom, four-bathroom house spans 4,721 square feet, and includes a guesthouse (which contains a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a photography darkroom), and a workshop on the property, according to the listing. The asking price again was $7.5 million.

· L.A. Home Designed by John Lautner to List for $7.5 Million [WSJ] · Architecture for Sale: Silvertop [Official site] · The Man Who Helped Make Lautner's Silvertop a Reality [Curbed LA] · Silvertop archives [Curbed LA]

Fox once again failed to persuade a court to stop the No. 2 satellite company from helping its subscribers stream TV shows from their home DVRs.  The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a 2013 District Court decision that rejected Fox’s motion for a preliminary injunction while it debates whether it’s legal for Dish customers to use their Hopper DVRs to transfer shows to different rooms, or stream them to smartphones, tablets and other digital devices. The broadcaster said it would lose advertising and negotiating clout if the service continued while the trial proceeds. The District Court said Fox had failed to prove its point. Appeals court Judge Dolly Gee says today that the lower court ”committed no legal error and made no clearly erroneous factual findings in so ruling.”

Fox says that while it’s “disappointed” in the ruling “it is not unexpected, as the bar for a preliminary injunction is extremely high.” The company adds that it “had nothing to do with the merits of our claim and does not address the fact that ‘Dish Anywhere’ is both illegal and in violation of our existing distribution agreement. We will now move forward and fully expect to prevail at trial.”

But Dish General Counsel R. Stanton Dodge trumpeted “the fifth in a string of victories for consumers” in challenges to its Hopper DVR. “We will continue to vigorously defend consumers’ right to choice and control over their viewing experience.” Sling introduced its streaming technology to the consumer market in 2005.

After a few weeks of dealmaking, Showtime has finalized a pilot production order to Roadies, a comedy written, directed and executive produced by Cameron Crowe. The project, executive produced by My So-Called Life creator Winnie Holzman and J.J. Abrams, follows the day-to-day life of a successful rock tour as seen through the eyes of the crew members who help get the show on the road. It marks a return to the rock world for former Rolling Stones reporter Crowe, who previously tackled it in his semi-autobiographical feature Almost Famous.

Crowe wrote the script and will direct the pilot, with Holzman serving as showrunner. The two executive produce with Bad Robot’s Abrams and Bryan Burk, with the company’s Kathy Lingg co-executive producing. Warner Bros. TV, where Bad Robot is based, will produce the project, described as an inside look at the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of characters who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. Gail Levin who was the casting director for many of Crowe’s features including Almost Famous, We Bought a Zoo, Elizabethtown, Vanilla Sky and Jerry Maguire, will be casting the pilot.

This marks Showtime’s first comedy pilot order for 2014. Last year’s crop of pilots yielded one half-hour series pickup, Happyish. The network is yet to make a decision on the future on the project, which has been in limbo following the sudden death of star Philip Seymour Hoffman in February. On the drama side, the network greenlighted pilot Billions in March.

Crowe revealed that he and Abrams had been talking about the Roadies idea for some time. “We’re fans of crews, those workers up on the rigging towers, or walking feverishly with eight phones on their belt. Those quietly devoted people live huge lives, they’re often the real keepers of the flame,” he said. Added Abrams, “We had been talking about the series for so long, but when he actually handed me the script, it was funnier and sweeter and wilder than I had ever imagined. Roadies is Cameron Crowe at his most musically passionate, colorful character best.”

Roadies marks the first cable pilot order for Bad Robot, which had been focused on broadcast since its inception. In one of the company’s first major cable sales, last year it landed a pilot production commitment from HBO for Westworld, a drama series inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi movie. It’s been an off year for Bad Robot on the broadcast side with only one returning series, CBS standout Person of Interest, as Abrams has been busy writing, producing and directing Star Wars: Episode VII. Crowe, Holzman and Abrams are repped by CAA.

[Third Street Promeande via Chris; cable via Shutterstock / v.schlichting]

The traffic-choked yuppie paradise of Santa Monica is so benevolently powerful it'll even be able to offer its residents real net neutrality, which the Federal Communications Commission is working on rolling back for just about everyone else in the US. The FCC has recently proposed new rules that would let the big, crappy internet service providers (Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon) charge companies extra for faster service—so if, for instance, Netflix wanted to send a Time Warner subscriber a streaming video at the fastest possible rate, they'd have to pay an extra premium to Time Warner. (Or BuzzFeed could pay for faster gif-loading, or whatever. It's ExpressLanes for the internet, basically.) But Santa Monica has cleverly and quietly been installing its own network of city-owned fiber-optic cables for years, and they intend to keep the net neutral.

A recent report found Santa Monica has also made about $5 million providing internet service and leasing out the cables to other providers, and their competition has driven down rates. About 130 businesses ("from hotels to tech startups and entertainment companies," says the Lookout) are already buying internet access from Santa Monica, which they say is "10 times faster and one-third the price of competitors." Next up they're working on hooking up access for multi-family housing and, eventually, every home in the city.
· Santa Monica Offers Alternative to Big Business Internet Providers [Lookout News]
· FCC proposal would destroy net neutrality [The Verge]

UPDATED WITH NEW DETAILS: A week after David Letterman announced his retirement, CBS has named his successor. Stephen Colbert has inked a five-year deal to take over Late Show, a move that is effective as soon as Letterman officially steps aside from the late-night show he has headlined since its launch on CBS in 1993. CBS will own Late Show With Stephen Colbert, unlike Late Show With David Letterman, which is owned by Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. CBS Corp Chairman Leslie Moonves said no dates have been set and reiterated that Letterman’s last day is the host’s to choose. Colbert is host of Comedy Central‘s faux-news show The Colbert Report, which airs in the east at the same time as Late Show, 11:30 PM. Colbert had been on the radar of top CBS brass for awhile and was Moonves’s top choice. Colbert too had had an eye on the job for a long time, synching up his Comedy Central contracts with Letterman’s. His current one is coming up at the end of this year, making him available for the Late Show host transition, slated for sometime in 2015. “Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television,” said Moonves in today’s announcement. “David Letterman’s legacy and accomplishments are an incredible source of pride for all of us here, and today’s announcement speaks to our commitment of upholding what he established for CBS in late night.”

Related:
CBS Corp. Boss Leslie Moonves Takes A ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Victory Lap
CBS’ Late-Night Drama Not Over Despite Practically Perfect Stephen Colbert Hire

Colbert, a Second City alum, was a correspondent on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show team for eight seasons before spinning off Colbert Report in 2005. The show has two Peabody Awards and 27 Emmy nominations, winning four times — including for Outstanding Variety Series last year, breaking Daily Show‘s 10-year winning streak. For the Late Show gig, he will ditch the conservative pundit character he has played for nearly a decade. “Simply being a guest on David Letterman’s show has been a highlight of my career,” Colbert said in today’s announcement. “I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everyone in late night follows Dave’s lead.” He added: “I’m thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth.”

Related: David Letterman On Stephen Colbert’s Hire

That won’t happen for a while as he will stay in his current job until the end of his contract. “Comedy Central is proud that the incredibly talented Stephen Colbert has been part of our family for nearly two decades,” the network said in a statement. “We look forward to the next eight months of the ground-breaking Colbert Report and wish Stephen the very best.”

Related: Stephen Colbert Reacts To ‘Late Show’ Hire

CBS said in its announcement that specific creative elements well as the producers and the location for the Colbert-hosted Late Show will be determined and announced at a later date. That language is sure to pique interest from politicians in both New York, where Letterman’s show currently lives at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, and in LA, where Mayor Eric Garcetti and film czar Ken Ziffren called Moonves directly Tuesday asking the CBS chief to move the late-night franchise to the West Coast. That came one day after NY Mayor Bill de Blasio urged Moonves to keep Late Show in New York after Letterman steps down. Colbert has deep roots in New York, where he has lived and worked for two decades, so keeping the show in his home town would appear a more natural choice. If you are a gambler, put your money on New York, given that Colbert is an East Coast guy with family ties there. And then there’s that Ed Sullivan Theatre legacy — legacy being very important to Moonves. The question remains whether the lead-out program, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, will continue to be made in Los Angeles. Ferguson, whose contract is coming up soon, has a provision in that pact that gave him a shot at succeeding Letterman at 11:30 PM, with a multimillion-dollar penalty attached if he was passed over. If he does not continue to host Late Late Show — which is a co-production of CBS and WWP — CBS might want to consolidate its late-night programs on one coast, as NBC has done, to facilitate talent booking.

Related: HBO Unveils Promo For John Oliver’s New Show: Video

Today’s announcement also leaves a gap at Comedy Central, where Daily Show and Colbert Report have controlled the late-night landscape for almost a decade. However, the cable network has a strong new late-night player in @midnight, which has done very well behind Colbert. In hindsight, it probably would’ve been handy for Comedy Central to have John Oliver still on deck — the longtime Daily Show regular signed to do a weekly HBO show after a strong turn as a guest host on the Daily Show last summer.

While appearing on “Inside the Actors Studio,” “How I Met Your Mother” stars Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel were asked to sing a song from “Les Miserables”—thankfully, they obliged. [ more › ]

Justin Bieber sat through a deposition last week in Miami, and man was it a doozy. [ more › ]

I think we can all agree that Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is the very worst of the Indy movies, but I don't recall it being as bad as this Everything wrong with... episode shows. No, wait, I do now. I just think seeing Indy getting married at the end was so traumatic that it nuked every single terrible scene and line in this film out of my brain.

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From an inch away, the sculptures of Li Hongbo look like plaster. They are not. These large reproductions of classical busts are 100% paper. And I’m not talking about papier-mâché, or cast paper pulp, or painted paper – just a stack of raw white paper, impossibly carved by hand.

The “block” from which each sculpture is carved is composed of thousands of sheets of paper, each glued (one at a time!) in a precise and delicate pattern of stripes. When lifted or manipulated by gallery staff, the pattern relieves itself, effortlessly expanding like a delicate accordion or alien honeycomb.

The smooth surface is not painted or coated in any way. Hongbo lightly sands the finished sculptures to create a fuzzed edge that visually dissolves into its neighbor under pressure of gravity. The yellowish interior is a result of the filtered light.

If you can’t make it to the gallery in person, I encourage you to search the internet or numerous iPhone videos of these in action. The movement is insane. My favorite video however is below. It’s an incredible peek at the process itself, from the meticulous gluing to the final sanding.

What: Li Hongbo: Tools of Study
Where: Klein Sun Gallery, 525 West 22nd St, New York, NY
When: January 9, 2014 – March 2, 2014

All images courtesy Klein Sun Gallery, New York. Photographed by David Behringer.

Not too long ago, at the opening of Stephanie Gonot’s L.A. Eats, we learned about a very funny, very Los Angeles ongoing Instagram project that had to be shared. It’s one part James Franco, one part Ken, and all parts ridiculous in the best way possible. It’s called James Franco Doll and it’s exactly what you think: a doll version of James Franco doing ridiculous shit around town.

First off, a James Franco doll. “How?!” you may be asking. Let us quickly fill you in, which we found out at the opening: the doll is the likeness of Franco made for beautiful 2013 dud Oz The Great And Powerful. The doll is such a ridiculous piece of pop culture ephemera that it had to be celebrated and slightly, fantastically mocked by way of said Instagram project.

The doll gets around, too. As you can see, he went to Dumb Starbucks before it shut down and has been to The Ace. He’s hung out with Cher and the real James Franco, has gotten a tattoo, and even recreated the YOLO house. The doll’s likeness is obviously meant to look like the actor but sometimes—due to specific angles—the resemblance is so strong that you will confuse it for more than the plastic doppelgänger that it is.

If anything, the adventures of James Franco Doll are a through and through Los Angeles project born out of Hollywood and then folded back on itself thanks to a digital origami recipe of absurdity. Someone had to do something with a James Franco doll! Think about it: there is a doll of James Franco. How stupid is that?! Thank you so much, James Franco Doll. You are fighting the good fight. Catch the little dude on Instagram and see bigger photos on Tumblr.

Bay-area tech types have been getting a lot of flak lately for the totally out-of-touch, isolationist ideas espoused by a few very vocal members of their ilk, like the plan proposed by prominent, hubristic venture capitalist Tim Draper to split California along arbitrary lines to form six new states (LA, along with Long Beach and Santa Barbara, would be in West California). Hellbent on ruining us all, Draper commissioned an analysis of the plan and the resulting report, via Valleywag, reads like the backstory to the damn Hunger Games. Turns out that Silicon Valley is so wealthy, if it splintered off on its own, it would become the richest state in the country, with a per capita personal income of $63,288. Meanwhile, Central California, where all the food comes from, would be the new poorest state, with $33,510 per capita personal income (perspective: less than the PCPI of poor Misssissippi). West California's PCPI would be $44,900—close to current California's figure.

Creating Six Californias would also seriously mess with the water infrastructure—Silicon Valley and West California are currently the largest importers of water, but the three poorest states in the deal (Central California, Jefferson,and South California) would have most of the supply. Another thing Central California will have? Most of the prisons: the three poorest states currently house 60 percent of the prisoners in the whole state. LA and its West California cities create 37 percent of the prisoners (good job!) but house only 7 percent of them, so if we thought our prisons were overcrowded, wait until our resources are one-sixth of what they are now. So, food shortages, water shortages, wealth inequality, prisoners either roaming the streets or rioting in overcrowded jails: seriously, is this plan guerrilla marketing for Mockingjay Part 1?

· Rich state, poor state: VC's 'Six Californias' divides Silicon Valley from have-nots [SVBJ]