Crying babies, bad dates and a Hilton family outing this VMA weekend in LA.

First, let me tell you that while I write this, the baby downstairs is wailing, the children on the street have somehow organized their screams into choral orchestration and the refrigerator's humming has reached new volumes. But this is what one gets when one tries to pay less than $900 on rent in Los Angeles, I gather.

So, this weekend saw a lot of of action here in LA. While the Sarah Palin jokes have continued to amuse across the nation, and Democrats become fearful as they realize the McCain/Palin ticket is scoring more favor than they'd expected (librarian porn fans are finding their way to polls countrywide), here we have remained focused on the races that really matter, namely that for Best Music Video.

Not having had cable in years, I myself haven't had the pleasure of seeing a music video since Paula Abdul got Straight Up and Aerosmith broke Alicia Silverstone in in the 90s. But apparently America still loves its televised music and MTV hosted its god knows whateth annual Video Music Awards at Paramount Studios last night. Yes, Britney Spears showed up. No, I have no idea who won.

After parties kept the winners, losers and fans busy all night. And at one West Hollywood hotspot, the after party got wild as the Hiltons made a family outing of it, Lindsay and Samantha quarreled in a corner and a 90210 newbie tried to drive off with my friend's Jetta. [The Bar Code]

The rest of the weekend was a blur, save a visit to WeHo on Friday to visit my dear friend Elana. E took me to a great restaurant hidden on a side street of the neighborhood, Gardens of Taxco. Though there are no menus here and the staff's English was shaky enough to instill fear in a cautious eater, our waiter spoke with enough gusto and rolling of his R's to get us through the ordering stage. The only thing more awkward than placing our orders was the date at the adjacent table, a lovely lady with none other than Jonah Hill, the Romanesque co-star of Superbad. A lot of nervous hand holding across the chips and salsa and Hill's request for the mariachi to play Feliz Navidad made for an interesting date to watch, probably less one to be on.

[Photo Credits: WireImage]