FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 6, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — California news satire site, The LaLa Times has teamed up with JUNGLE 8 / creative (a full-service, Los Angeles-based marketing and visual design firm) to re-launch the popular Left Coast humor site with a new look and feel, and improved features.

Dubbed “The Onion for L.A.,” by The Los Angeles Times, the site’s makeover is actually an attempt to distinguish itself from The Onion and other satire sites, says founder George Wolfe.  “No one can knock The Onion.  They’re the classic, the bellwether  — who doesn’t like them?  But what sets us apart is that we specifically focus on a region: California.  So with our new dynamic site, we’re simply shaping our brand around a unique identity instead of trying to ape the most successful models out there.  Nothing against apes.” 

To that end, the new site contains quintessentially California-centric content.  Sections include News Features (Californian’s Urged to Evacuate in Advance of Cold Front; Disney, Muppet Characters Wed in Gay Marriage; Prenatal Cosmetic Surgery Common in California; Wall Street Crooks Bound for Posh Malibu Correctional Facility; Dog Meditation — All the Rage), News Shorts (Bail Jumping Declared Official State Sport), California Studies (High Gas Prices Slow Number of Drive-by Shootings), Weird Real News (Sausalito Woman Pays $50,000 For Clone of Cat), Mock Ads (Spanish Fly Airlines announces new flights between L.A. and Madrid), Double Lives (Celebrities Who Look Like Works of Art), and a Dictionary of West Coast lingo (bikini waxing eloquent n: highly literate surfer girls).

Additionally, Celebrity Slightings is a virtual museum with odd celebrity junk and dubious personal items on display (Celebrity Baby Placentas Exhibit Opens).  There is also a budding online store, with products and apparel such as Buddha’s Gym T-shirts (“Become One With Any Body”) — that are themselves spin-offs of LaLa Times articles.  The publication also says it will roll out various interactive features in November and December, 2005 (Horrorscopes promises to predict alarming futures daily for all zodiac signs).

Jungle 8 founder and CEO Lainie Siegel says her interest in the partnership stems from “a satirical void in California — L.A. and Hollywood especially take themselves way too seriously.  We simply believed in this project and wanted to get on board with it.  Besides, twisting imagery and spoofing the status quo is a major pastime at our firm.”

The new site launched in September 2005, though the classic site’s first full year of operation was 2003.  Since inception, the site has gathered a steady stream of loyal readers, and in the past six months the site has seen an exponential traffic increase of roughly 150%.

George Wolfe is the founder of, and editor and main writer for The LaLa Times. Over the years, he worked in NYC as the editor of ArtSearch, in Seattle as associate editor of Metropolitan Living magazine, and has been a freelance reporter for National Public Radio (KPLU) and a freelance writer for numerous publications, including scr(i)pt (screenwriting), Alaska Airlines (travel), and Vim & Vigor (healthcare). He has received several writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, has published a first novel (Blake's Bible), and has been a finalist in several comedy screenplay competitions. More recently, he was an invited speaker at the UCal (Irvine) Humanities conference ("In the Shadow of Big Media").

Lainie Siegel is the founder and creative director of Jungle8 [formerly Interactive Jungle].  Her expertise includes creative strategy, design and web production, brand and identity development, and marketing. For the past 14 years, she has worked with a top-tier client list, including Carsey Warner, Korbel Champagne, Fox Home Entertainment, Triage Entertainment, Mandalay Entertainment, Big Idea, Doritos, Interscope Records and Sam Goodie.

END.

Press Release
November 17, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Thea Mercouffer, Publicist
(310) 383-8763
thea@lalatimes.com

POPULAR LOS ANGELES SATIRE SITE
SEEKS PUBLISHER, INVESTORS

LOS ANGELES, November 17, 2003 –— The LALA Times (www.lalatimes.com), dubbed "The Onion for L.A." by The Los Angeles Times, now seeks a bona fide publisher and investors to guide and support it through its upcoming expansion as the site’s one-year anniversary draws near.

With significantly increasing traffic to the site (10,000 unique readers per month), The LALA Times has gained considerable notoriety since its quiet launch in 2002. KPFK radio recently featured LALA Times' Founder George Wolfe on a series of shows, and media as distant as Swiss Public Radio have selected Wolfe as one of California’s most notable satirists.

"At a time when the news media can be relied on to make the meaningful meaningless and the meaningless all-important, The LALA Times provides much-needed satiric insight into contemporary events," reported Babara Osborn, host of Deadline L.A., concluding, "Each new story uses the deadpan delivery of conventional news to spoof social phenomena. The LALA Times is to Web grazers what The Daily Show is to late-night cable."

When the war in Iraq began, the LALA Times enjoyed its first significant spike in readership, Wolfe said, "With readers seeking respite from serious news at a time of national crisis." The site’s traffic increased steadily thereafter, but then leveled off around August. "A week after I wrote the piece about heavy-metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne running for governor, recall-mania hit and everyone jumped on board. The real news was so ludicrous it was difficult to top," Wolfe commented, adding, "Many of our satiric, over-the-top predictions were coming true, and Californians were saturated with the absurdity of it all, leaving less of a need for additional satire in the weeks leading up to the vote. Personally, I'm relieved the regular news has returned to normal – if there is such a thing in this state. We’re again having great fun on the site, and everyone is getting involved." Wolfe reports that readers are back in full force, with the LALA Times experiencing its all-time highest levels of readership.

END

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Press Release
May 1, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT
MAY 1, 2003George R. Wolfe
Editor@lalatimes.com

LOS ANGELES-BASED NEWS SATIRE SITE HITS CRITICAL MASS ACHIEVES TENFOLD INCREASE IN WEB TRAFFIC

LOS ANGELES —— The LALA Times (www.lalatimes.com), an online satirical news publication for the Los Angeles area, has seen a sharp increase in traffic through the first few months of 2003. The fledgling site, quietly launched in November 2002, has seen a tenfold increase in traffic since inception —— fast making it L.A.'s premiere source of comprehensive news satire.

The monthly publication's readership has developed mostly through word of mouth and also by its selection as a Featured Hot Link of @LA, which lists it as "the local answer to The Onion." The LALA Times provides lighthearted, on-the-mark content that resonates with locals and allows them to see themselves and their city anew through a satirical lense.

World events may also have played a role in the traffic spike, in terms of the need to vent. Allen Klein (author of The Courage to Laugh, and The Healing Power of Humor) is a believer in the power of humor during times of stress. Klein notes that "Sometimes, it's the only way we can deal with what we encounter every day. Otherwise, we would crack up, so I suppose instead we crack up with laughter." At a time when comedies are breaking box-office records, it's no wonder The LALA Times has become a popular site for Angelenos.

"Regardless of the cause, we're very pleased with how it's been received," says writer/editor/co-founder, George Wolfe. "It's not what I planned to do when I moved here. This started off simply as a place to put my impressions of this wonderfully strange new home that is Southern California. As I encounter things here I convert them into stories. So in that sense, I guess it's a diary of sorts… albeit an odd one."

The monthly articles cover an assortment of topics, including general news ("Wall Street Crooks Bound for Posh Malibu Correctional Facility"), transportation ("Man Spends Entire Life on Freeway"), law ("California Outlaws Alcohol in Bars"), sports ("Lakers Stick it to Opponents — With Voodoo Dolls"), environment ("Tree-sitter Refuses to Let Go of Christmas Tree"), business ("Surfers Buy Waves Online"), politics ("Nude Peace Protest Ends In Watery Fiasco") and entertainment ("Studio Exec Has Idea Based on a Real Thought"). The April issue treats timely international events with a local spin ("Inland Empire Launches Attack on Los Angeles").

Thea Mercouffer, an actress who coined the site's name and does its graphic design, is the other co-founder. Says Mercouffer, "Naturally, we'd like for The LALA Times to become a household name in the Los Angles area, just as The Onion has become in the U.S. Right now, as we continue to build readership, we're searching for either some advertisers that are a good match for our content or an angel/investor with a sense of humor and an interest in keeping this thing up and going for years to come."

"What sets us apart," says Wolfe, "is that we're focused on this region, warts and all: the wackiness of it, the horrors of it — you name it. Charlie Chaplin once said, 'Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot.' I'm interested in that broader perspective. One thing's for sure: There's enough satirical fodder in and around greater Los Angeles to spoof it indefinitely. It's a perfectly absurd milieu."

END.

Author, Allen Klein, may be reached through his web site at www.allenklein.com.