If last night's Republican Candidate Debate in Iowa proved anything, it's that one's understanding of a complicated situation doesn't even have to be remotely accurate, as long as enough other idiots believe the world works the same way you do. With that in mind, we turn our eyes to MTV's "Jersey Shore," where we have our weekly check-in on eight very, very special young people and their trip to a faraway land that might be scary or off-putting, if only they possessed even the minuscule spark of consciousness required to know they were no longer in New Jersey. More»

[Erwin Redl installation via] We are now heading toward the middle of August, which means art world vacation is almost over, but not quite. However, if you are like me, you are getting restless of lack of new things to see/do/absorb. Luckily I scoured the town and came up with some good stuff for you this week. See ya around town. More»

There's no denying that we here in Southern California are a little squirrely when it comes to sharing our favorite places. We want credit for knowing about these best-kept-secrets, but there's always the fear of Krispy Kreme-ization, that a once beloved neighborhood/regional gem will expand too fast and lose that special spark it once had. We'd better make our peace with it for Umami Burger, because with a "flagship" restaurant opening in megamall The Grove, and 35 more franchises set to open across the country thanks to a new partnership with SBE, the cat is officially out of the bag. More»

• For the first time, state officials report eighth-grade dropout rates in CA public schools, find 3.5% of eighth-grade students don't return for ninth. [LATimes]
• The hugely popular anonymous twitter @CondeElevator reporting things overheard in the Conde Nast building elevators quits voluntarily saying, "[t]his got really crazy. Love my job. Better stop," after garnering over 62,000 followers in less than a week. [Post]
• After the city fails to renew a contract, L.A.'s bus stop benches are disappearing as the company who provides them begins a removal operation. [KTLA]
• L.A. bans vendors and food trucks from the Downtown Art Walk to promote crowd control and increase safety in the wake of a fatal car accident last month. [KABC]
• Jani Lane, 47, ex-lead singer of Warrant found dead in a Woodland Hills hotel room with vodka and pills, cause of death TBD. [TMZ]

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The Summer of Live Music just keeps rolling on, as the 16-year old Vans Warped Tour set up shop on the grounds of the Home Depot Center in Carson yesterday for a full day of loud music and extreme sports. Now, if a punk music festival that takes place on a summertime weekday sounds like it's set up almost exclusively for high school kids, you wouldn't be entirely mistaken, and the fact that I could only recognize four of the thirteen "main stage" bands kind of confirms it (the guys from Less Than Jake must be like 40 by now, right?), but I'd be lying to you if I didn't admit that going to these kind of shows when I was in high school was one of the highlights of the summer. So let's welcome the next generation into the joys of daylong drunkenness and live loud music with a look through KROQ's photo gallery of Warped Tour 2011.

Emma Roberts, Chord Overstreet, and Zelda Williams celebrate the collabo line of bags by Current/Elliott designers for kate spade at Petit Ermitage; Diane Kruger and Jaime King both step out in black neckties for the InStyle party at The London, but who wore it better?; Jordana Brewster, Lauren Conrad and Shenae Grimes attend the Alice + Olivia shoe launch at Palihouse—West Hollywood was white-hot Wednesday night with rooftop fashiony parties dotting the skyline, get the details in this edition of Last Night's Parties. [Jaime King, Emma Roberts photo via] More»

Everything James Franco does, from gender-bending photoshoots to reefer-soaked awards show emceeing, is part of a master plan to achieve the ultimate creative goal of a MacPEGOT (that's Tracy Morgan's infamous Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony quest with a MacArthur Genius Grant and a Pulitzer tacked on for good measure). So when it was reported that Franco's newest project, which began filming in Michigan, is a super-budgeted 3D Wizard Of Oz prequel directed by Sam "Spiderman 3" Raimi, you might find yourself a little confused. More»

[All photos by Mario Testino via] It was fun to see all the silly hats and nobles dressed as life-size nutcrackers of the the Royal wedding, but it's the other British Kate's day of holy matrimony we really cared about this summer. I'll take druggie supermodels, rock stars and Naomi Campbell over the entire British monarchy any day of the week. But unlike William and Kate's big televised day, Kate Moss and Jamie Hince's wedding, dubbed Mosstock due to its rumored lineup of performances by hugely famous artists and guest list of top designers, actors, models and generally attractive, chic people, was a very exclusive, private affair. Now, for the first time, Kate's wedding portraits shot a week prior to the I Do's and photos from inside the reception by Mario Testino are finally revealed in September's Vogue. It was quite gorgeous, so come take a look at guests Paul McCartney, Carine Roitfeld, Marc Jacobs, Jack White and many, many more who celebrated Kate and Jamie's big day.