Pack your sleeping bag and running shoes, the Nike+ Human Race takes place tonight at the Los Angeles Memorial coliseum. The 10k race featuring 12,000 runners starts at 8:31:08 p.m. Why the late start? LA is just one of 25 global cities hosting the event. As the final leg of the global marathon, Los Angeles will send off runners after the race to the anthems of Kanye West and Common.

Jerry O’Connell, Brian Austin Green and Tiffani Amber Thiessen, among many others, will be participating. In addition, Nike athletes Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, DeLisha Milton, Khadevis Robinson and Sarah Reinertsen will also be in attendance. American Idol judge, Randy Jackson, will be the host of the night.

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/humanrace-en_US_LOSANGELES

The $30 million, 30,000-square foot, four-story GRAMMY Museum will open in Los Angeles this coming December to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of The Recording Academy. The museum is expected to attract 300,000 visitors annually. Entering the building on the fourth floor, guests will walk through a tunnel featuring life-sized figures ranging from Usher to Faith Hill to Frank Sinatra. A sound-sensory experience will lead visitors to an 18-foot table where they can explore 130 forms of music and how their histories connect. Exhibits will also feature a behind-the-scenes look at the art and technology of the recording process as well as the GRAMMY legacy. The museum will also feature interactive exhibits and an intimate 200-seat theater that will screen films, host lectures and present live performances and interviews.

The opening of the GRAMMY Museum also marks the culmination of the second phase of construction at L.A. LIVE in Downtown. L.A. LIVE is Downtown’s 27-acre entertainment, sports and residential district, anchored by NOKIA Theatre, STAPLES Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In December, the district will be home to new restaurants, Club NOKIA, the legendary Conga Room and Lucky Strike Bowling Center. New restaurant openings include Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar; Katsuya, the ultra-hip sushi and robata bar; the Yard House restaurant and brew pub; New York-based Rosa Mexicano fine dining; ESPN Zone Restaurant and sports bar; a new Wolfgang Puck eatery at NOKIA Plaza; plus a Starbucks, a New Zealand Natural Ice Cream shop and a quick-service restaurant.

www.grammymusuem.org
www.lalive.com
www.discoverLosAngeles.com

The 2009 World Baseball Classic Semi-Final and Final games will be held at Dodger Stadium from March 21-23, 2009.

“It is fitting that Dodger Stadium, the site of many celebrated events, has been selected to host the Semi-Finals and Final of the 2009 World Baseball Classic,” said Bob Dupuy, Major League Baseball’s president and chief operating officer. “Los Angeles is one of the most international cities in the world and the Dodgers have always been on the forefront of baseball’s development as a global game.”

As in 2006, Tokyo Dome and Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will again host first-round games. In 2009, those venues will be joined for the first time by the Rogers Centre in Toronto and Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico City.

2006 was the first time that all Major League players were allowed to represent their native lands in an international baseball tournament. The baseball competition in the Summer Olympics, which is slated for Beijing next month, includes non-25-man roster MLB players only.

Pool A: China, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea, beginning on March 5 in Tokyo Dome, where the A’s and Red Sox opened the regular season in the spring.

Pool B: Australia, Cuba, Mexico and South Africa from March 8-12 in Mexico City.

Pool C: Canada, Italy, the U.S. and Venezuela from March 8-12 in Toronto.

Pool D: Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico March 7-11 in Puerto Rico.

Bracketology: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/wbc_09/brackets.jsp

Posted by Anonymous from Playa del Rey, CA:

“Nothing calls for a night of absolute intoxication like an epic 2 hour journey home with the usual cast of characters, unique to LA’s public transit system, after a week of work that left my spirit dejected. Not even the sight of a poor motherless child could’ve made me feel less sorry for myself. I’d seen better days, but opening that bottle of whiskey last Friday changed the outlook on my entire weekend, and after a third cocktail I was out the door and on my way to the club. $50 dollars in the hole and only 6 hours later… (or was it 8? I don’t know, someone told me i fell asleep at the bar) I woke up on an air mattress with breakfast on my mind and dinner from the night before smeared all over my shirt.

I had hit rock bottom; and for some reason I was okay with that. In fact, I even had a good laugh about it all. Who cares if I acted like a complete fool at one of LA’s most pretentious clubs in front of LA’s most superficial crowd. It takes a man of strong core values to not give a damn. At some point you’ve got to lose all shame to learn what it’s dignity really feels like. After regaining orientation I straightened myself up and had me an egg sandwhich, and then barfed again.”

Though most days are strenuous working for the City of Los Angeles’ official marketing firm, some days I wish I could clone — like yesterday.

Woke up knowing it was going to be a busy day. Arrived at work and took care of a few media requests to showcase my native town. Then, took off for the X Games Press Center at Home Depot. Met up with their media team and provided them with LA material to offer their journalists info on what’s new in and around the city. Threw out some noteworthy stats about future developments at the other X Games venue (STAPLES Center), then drove off to Mecca (Dodger Stadium) for a press conference.

The Dodgers announced the Semi-Final and Final games of the 2009 World Baseball Classic will be played in LA.

To me, the World Baseball Classic is my World Cup. Having played ball all my life and traveled the world watching other countries cling to a TV for fútbol, I personally feel the World Baseball Classic will soon be our version of true sport. In which, the fan bleeds passion.

Back to the Press Conference…

A few of us were getting updates on our phones, include Mr. Torre (seen below). Who knows what he was texting? But what are the chances he brokered the deal for Manny Ramirez on the day of the WBC conference? After all, the Dodgers made the announcement at the tail-end of the conference. I know the chances of this are slim to none, but it still makes for a good anecdotal photo.

Take it from me, poker is for amateurs. Pros don’t know what to expect. Whatever skills you may have, or may think you have, test them against the celeb set at the Fulfillment Fund’s “Summer Nights” fundraising event and No Limit Texas Hold ‘ Em charity poker tournament supporting disadvantaged youth on Aug. 3.

Up to 150 players will compete and the winner will receive a top ten finalist seat at the “Aces Full” three table invitational at the Bicycle Casino on Aug. 22, 2008, where they will play for 15K in cash and prizes including a seat at the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker Main Event.

Celebrities/Pros expected to attend include: Melinda Clarke (The OC, CSI), Jamie Gold (World Series of Poker Champion), Kelly Hu (X Men2, The Scorpion King), Maeve Quinlan (90210), Bailey Chase (Saving Grace), Tony Dennison (The Closer), Kristie Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Yancey Arias (Knight Rider), Victoria Pratt (Daybreak), Roger Cross (24, Caprica), Chris Harrison (Host of The Bachelor), Eric Woods (The Next Race), Tia Carrere (True Lies, Wayne’s World), Rosa Blasi (Strong Medicine), Justin Hartley (Smallville), Paul Johansson (One Tree Hill), Rikki Lake, Daisy Fuentes, Mark Thompson (That’s So Hollywood, Fox 11) and more.

Proceeds from the night will benefit the Fulfillment Fund Bright Future Scholarships.

Poker Package is $350 by August 1st including Tournament Buy-in for $250 and Gala Event Ticket. There is a late registration fee of $100 for registration at the door. Summer Nights Gala Event Fee is $125 for party goers by August 1st, or $150 at the door.

Location: RITUAL - 1743 N. Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood

Check-in: begins at 3p.m. (Tournament begins promptly at 4p.m. Gala party to follow at 7p.m.)

For more information on the Fulfillment Fund, visit www.fulfillment.org.

On July 23 and July 31 from 5 - 9 p.m., the California Science Center in Downtown’s Exposition Park is going to juxt…a…pose. Live naked women will abut female cadavers from the science center’s Body Worlds 3 exhibit.

Event Phone Number: 323.724.3623

Click here to read more about Body Worlds 3.

Madame Tussauds has recently revealed the details of their newest attraction, Madame Tussauds Hollywood. Located in the heart of Hollywood adjacent to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Madame Tussauds Hollywood is scheduled to open in summer 2009 as the first Madame Tussauds to be built from the ground up in the 200-year history of the company. The 44,000-square-foot, $55 million, three-story building will be home to celebrity wax figures that can cost in upwards of $150,000 each to create. Set in 12 themed areas (The Red Carpet, Party, Spirit of Hollywood, Westerns, Crime, Modern Classics, Making Movies, Sport, Action Heroes, Behind the Scenes and Awards Ceremony), more than 80 figures will be on display. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the first three figures to be included in the new museum: Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles and the recently deceased Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant. Hollywood prides itself on status symbols that celebrities thrive to attain; from getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to being the lucky recipient of an Oscar® Statuette. Having a wax figure created in your honor at Madame Tussauds Hollywood will soon be considered another preeminent mark of achievement for the celeb-set to earn and the public to admire. Not only will visitors be able to see their favorite celebs up close, the figures at Madame Tussauds can be touched and approached for photo opps.

www.madametussauds.com/hollywood

I had a weekend with nothing to do, so I decided that a trip to the Anime Expo might be an interesting experience. So, I got my media credentials for the 3 days I would be there, then it was game on.

As a person who has maybe watched an hour of Anime in my life, I walked around for 3 hours with my jaw to the floor. The Los Angeles Convention Center won the largest Anime Expo in North America from Anahiem. There seemed to be a benefit to the hosts because they had their largest crowd ever at 43,000.

What is it that would bring that many people out on a holiday weekend? Many dressed in costumes that would give any costume designer a case of green eyes.

1. what is Anime? Anime is “cartoons” that originate from Japan.

2. Who is their audience? Everyone. They have something for children to porn lovers.

So, knowing nothing about it, I proceeded into the world of Anime. The first things you notice are the costumes. People are dressed up as their favorite characters from the series they prefer, and then the other people are asking for pictures. If they had collected tips like they do in Hollywood, they would have cleaned up.

The Anime Expo was open 24 hours a day, which is something I have never seen before. What was there to do for all that time? Watch videos of course, sing karaoke, or dance. The exhibit hall, translation, giant store, and live events ended pretty much by 6PM. They did has a masquerade ball, concerts, and other stuff in the evening. Most of which was designated as adult only.

There was so much stuff to do that it could almost be overwhelming. I just had to accept that I was not going to be able to do everything.

I spent the weekend mesmerized by the fact that Japan had so infiltrated our culture in this unique way. The anime was generally in Japanese with English subtitles, so imagine my surprise when I went a concert at the Nokia L of Shoko Nakagawa, a young 23 year old, who had a couple of songs chosen for some of the Animes. The whole concert was done in Japanese. The crowd was totally involved with glowsticks and all.

The videos I chose to view were randomly selected. I saw Fancy LaLa, which was cute. City Hunter was funny, but a little sexual. The animes were good, but the technology varied according to the show. It was definitely not like Kanda Pa. The animation ranged from the old fashioned to the high tech.

Going to the Exhibit hall was huge experience with all the people. It had over 200 vendors selling everything from T-shirts to Hentai (Japanese anime porn). There were tons of games like Guitar Hero, which was fascinating.

Overall, I was thrilled that Los Angeles hosted this great event. It even made me want to see more anime, but don’t look for me to dress up in a costume.

At the closing ceremony, the date was set for a return for July 2-5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Did you know Los Angeles has the largest municipal park in the country? Find out more green facts about LA on discoverLosAngeles.com’s new Green Travel site (created by LA INC. - the city’s official marketing organization):

http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/visitors/green-la

Leave a comment if you feel anything’s missing from the site, and we’ll petition to have it added.