As you've hopefully noticed from our past few Best Of Summer 2012 retrospectives, we had a pretty great summer in most regards, from crazy pool parties to club openings. But we realized that some of our favorite posts from the past few months defied easy categorization. Some of these were news or gossip items that we just had to share with you guys, some are looks at L.A. history or local characters, and there's even a retrospective of shamelessly debaucherous tequila tales in there that you can choose to view as either a warning or a challenge. Enjoy them all: I know we did. More»

• President Obama and the First Lady are featured on the Kiss Cam as they attend USA Basketball's pre-Olympic tune-up game against Brazil. [Newsday]
• Charlie Sheen pledges to donate 1% of his total earnings from his new "Anger Management" show, and no less than $1 million, to the United Service Organization, which is "the largest single contribution the USO has ever received from an individual." Being a Tiger-Blooded Space Warlock clearly pays well, but joking aside, nice move, Charlie. [TMZ] More»

• An attempted robbery by an ex-employee of a Marina Del Rey medicinal marijuana dispensary turned into a thorough whupping when the martial-arts trained owner opened a can on the would-be robber and his friends. [LAist]
• Looking to answer the successful buzz of Google's recently-shipped mid-sized Nexus tablet, Apple is reportedly looking to come out with a smaller-sized (7.85-inch, according to the report) model of the iPad to supplement (but not replace) their full-sized, 9-inch screen models. [NYT]
• Think Lakers fans are excited about Steve Nash coming to town? Check out these videos (taken both from Nash's perspective and the other car's) of some ecstatic fans passing a can of Keystone Light to a taxi-riding Nash at full speed on the freeway. There's some skepticism that it's viral marketing for Keystone, but that would suggest that they have a marketing budget that can accommodate famous people. [LAist]
• Occupy LA representatives assert that the clashes that occurred with police during last week's DTLA "Chalk Walk" amount to police brutality and misconduct and claim to have videos to support their claims. [LA Weekly]

• Admitting that they're unable to meet payroll, San Bernardino becomes the third California city this month to file for bankruptcy protection. The City Attorney admits that 13 of the last 16 budgets presented to the mayor and city council were falsified to intentionally understate the situation. [LAT]
• L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca is forced to recall 200 "City Official L.A. County" badges reportedly handed out to favored politicians after an embarrassing photo of a Cudahy Councilman's (assumed) girlfriend posing with the badge and guns leaks online. [LA Weekly] More»

The unexpectedly quick divorce settlement between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? You can thank little Suri for that. Apparently both sides were gearing up for legal war when it was impressed upon them how damaging the whole thing would be to their daughter. Give them credit for that. [TMZ]

• Now that the 13-day cleanup sweep of Skid Row has completed, the numbers are in, and they're pretty crazy: five tons of trash, hundreds of hypodermic needles, and (feel free not to read the rest of this sentence if you're eating) multiple five-gallon buckets full of human waste. [LAT] More»

• Port Of San Diego officials apologize for completely botching this year's "Big Bay Boom" 4th Of July fireworks event, and are reportedly attempting to investigate why, exactly, they accidentally set off ALL OF THEIR FIREWORKS at the same time, 5 minutes before the show was scheduled to start. Oops. There's video at the link. [LA Weekly]
• The Biebs gets the cops called on him (by an L.A. City Councilman) for weaving through traffic at 90+ mph on the 101, but he claims that he was merely trying to escape a team of paparazzi cars that were aggressively harassing him. Maybe this is why teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive $150,000 custom electric sports cars; my first car couldn't even get up to 90 mph. [TMZ] More»

- Justin Bieber ran into a glass wall in Paris. [TMZ]

- Be wary of what you share on Facebook. Due to the site's new algorithm, one unfortunate user had the pleasure of looking like he was endorsing a 55-gallon barrel of personal lubricant. [NYT]

- Our fears last week of a zombie apocalypse were completely unfounded- people eat other people on a regular basis. [NYMag] More»

-Did Lana del Rey record a secret album? Probably not, but the name May Jailer sounds mad-lib enough to be Lana. I mean Lizzy. [Vulture]

- A 6-year-old spelling bee contestant, the youngest ever, was sadly eliminated after flubbing the word "ingluvies." I mean...[Week]

- The real Colonel Sanders actually loathed KFC. [Gawker]

- I hope you're sitting down. A Maryland college student allegedly ate the heart and brain of his roommate. [HuffPost] More»

- Imagine a world where Angelina Jolie is interviewed by Suri Cruise. I bet my thetans it's only a matter of time. [ThoughtCatalog]

-Tom Sachs' "Space Program: On Mars" is basically a bunch of new wave assistants running on a cocktail of Kool-Aid and Adderall. Just kidding! But no really, that's what they drink. [NewYorker] More»

- Elvis Presley's tomb is up for grabs. The private crypt where the King was once buried is now for sale, with a starting price of $100,000. [NYT]

“It’s definitely a conversation piece. Only one person can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be buried where Elvis Presley was.’”

- In a surprising turn of events, Madonna covered Lady Gaga "Born this Way" during a rehearsal of her very similar tune "Express Yourself." [HuffPost] More»

- Modern science continues to amaze- MIT scientists have finally figured out how to get ketchup out of the bottle faster. [TIME]

- Facebook is teaming up with TBS (yes, the channel that shows Sex & the City reruns and Along Came Polly) for a new, hoodie-filled sitcom. JUST KIDDING. It's something about advertising. [Mashable]

- Unmarried human beings are just like the rest of us, they even need to eat occasionally. However, that lack of a partner (and you know, love) makes it a bit more difficult. [NYMag] More»