Vice Books

Sasha Grey does hot, banging art.

​Update: The folks at Vice Books tell us they weren't going to officially announce the release until tomorrow (although the book's already listed at Amazon), so here's a minor look into the future.

What is it about L.A. porn star Sasha Grey? The innocent face and va-va-voom body we get. But why is the world so fascinated with her? Why does she get work in mainstream Hollywood (The Girlfriend Experience, Entourage)?

Grey is turning into the James Franco of porn. She's impossibly omnipresent.

And now, an artsy photo book? Really?

Wow. What next, a poetry class at Columbia?

You know you're an awesome porn star when people tell you to put your clothes on and pose for a still camera. And so ...

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The City Council did its best Congress imitation today, hauling up officials and former officials from the L.A. Department of Water and Power. Council members grilled them -- and did some grandstanding -- on charges that the public utility misled council members about $73.5 million in surplus DWP refused to hand over to the city's general fund in April.

The DWP folks gave it right back, however, and the result was some decent political theater.

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​History professor and author Howard Zinn, well known for his populist A People's History of the United States, died in Santa Monica Wednesday at the age of 87,

Daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said he suffered a heart attack. His most-famous tome dissected American heroes, accused Christopher Columbus of propagating genocide and slavery, and celebrated workers, leftists and iconoclasts. Published in 1980, it became a million-seller in 2003. Matt Damon, Benn Affleck and Oliver Stone were said to be fans of the book.

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​Bad news for Buddhists and others seeking enlightenment: the Bodhi Tree Bookstore is closing. Owners Phil Thompson and Stan Madson informed their staff last Wednesday that the cozy Melrose Avenue shop, a nationally renowned and much beloved spiritual center, will be shutting its doors in a year's time.

After some eight months of discussion, Thompson and Madson decided to sell the property to a local business owner who leases space to several other nearby retailers. The Bodhi Tree opened in 1970. Land values in the area have risen dramatically since then. Meanwhile, the business of selling print books has been on a steady decline. For years, real estate agents had been circling the Bodhi Tree like vultures. In the end, selling the property became a much more profitable option than continuing to sell books.

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