Reason #1: free Dodgers Stadium fireworks. I’m getting sick of those fireworks that make the momentary smiley face though. Let’s get back to the basics here, fireworks industry! Granted, to see these, you should be living up on the hill, but even if you don’t, why not use your feet to walk up the hill to one the many southeast-facing viewpoints! That’s what feets are for. Your other option is to, well der, buy tickets and see a game.

(First entry in a series! Next up: sidewalk taco vendor dudes.)

HA, SEE, YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SUCKS.

Lynch is more of a fan of the Eastside lately; especially Silverlake and environs. “I like to drive at night through Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake because of the atmosphere and because the feeling of the Golden Age of Hollywood is still alive,” he tells the Guide.

David Lynch’s Dining Favorites @ LA Times.com

I recently had to click through every feature film of the LA Film Festival for “The Man“ and was pleasantly surprised to find out there are quite a few decent movies playing this year in Westwood, land of limited parking and giddy Bruins. Normally I advocate staying far far away from that hellspawn of an intersection at Wilshire and Westwood, but I think I found fifteen reasons to use up some of my $4 gas and hike on over there. Ooh, also, afterward, you can go for kebobs in the neighborhood! Yes. Life is good.

1 – The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because you should support burgeoning world cinemas instead of giving all your money and time to Brett Ratner!, that’s why, smart ass! Korea and Thailand have had their moments in the film festival sun and the Philippines needs to step up too! This film is about a filipino transsexual who emigrates to Iceland (Iceland?! Why not San Dimas, like the rest of my family) and seeks acceptance and love in a strange new environment. Iceland?! I can’t get over that part.

2 – American Teen
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Firstly, because Nanette Burnstein directed the entertaining Oscar nominated The Kid Stays in the Picture. Secondly because the festival program says this documentary about teens in suburban Indiana has a “distinctly John Hughes flavor”. We certainly could use more John Hughes flavors in this ridiculous frilly Gossip Girls age of ours.

3 – Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? This rockumentary about Canadian metal band Anvil got a lot of positive buzz at Sundance, and has been described to me as “like Spinal Tap – only real”. Also, yeesh, look at this detail: Lips played his guitar with a dildo and belted out songs with titles like “Hair Pie” and “Show Me Your Tits.”

4 – Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because really, Lee Atwater is to Nixon what Rove was to Bush. Atwater laid the foundation for the neo-con drubbing this country and this planet has recently endured like a noogie administered by the worst jock in high school. AND apparently Lee Atwater likes to rock. That’s right, rock! Know thy enemy.

5 – Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because Melvin Van Peebles doesn’t direct a movie every year like Woodsy Allen. And just look at that title! The photo on the film festival website also shows a man running away from a gorilla in the woods. A gorilla raises the bar for an indie film! Yes, I know my metrics for driving to Westwood seem suspect, but you’ve read this far, right?

6 – Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because David Choe is one hell of an artist. Because all the cool Giant Robot kids will probably be there.

7 – Encounters at the End of the World
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Two words: WERNER. FUCKING. HERZOG. Whoops, 3 words.

8 – Fear(s) of the Dark
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? 6 graphic artists (including CHARLES BURNS, writer of Black Hole!) explore their phobia of darkness in stark black and white. I missed Persepolis last year at the fest and I feel like I ought to make it up by going to this. I guess I could also rent Persepolis.

9 – Four Wives – One Man
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because if you’re just like me, you got addicted to “Big Love” on HBO, you followed Warren Jeffs’ infamous arrest and now the recent hubbub around the polygamist monobrowed Texas women and their coterie of children. But this film focuses on a Muslim family, and they live in Iran. Will there be similar struggles? Do they have to fight for acceptance too, when polygamy is also a practice of some followers of Islam? How the heck does ANYONE make multiple wives work, no matter what country you’re in? Where’s Henny Youngman when you need a punchline?

10 – Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are among my favorite documentarians. I loved, loved, LOVED The Eyes of Tammy Faye, they let an audience grill Monica Lewinsky in Monica in Black and White, and they’ve even recently survived/produced Perez Hilton’s TV show “What Perez Sez”. They are a perfect match with Hollywood’s most famous madam. I should say, ONE of Hollywood’s most famous madams. I’m sure there have been many, many MANY other madams. Like who helps Charlie Sheen out nowadays? Also I guess Heidi Fleiss loves parrots? Madams have hobbies outside of pimpin’.

11 – Largo
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Aimee Mann, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Bird, Grant-Lee Phillips. That is all.

12 – Made in America
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because this is Stacy Peralta’s newest doc, and if you forgot, he directed the excellent Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z Boys, and HELL, I just learned this, an episode of “Mr. Show”! This one documents the blight of gang warfare on South Central Los Angeles. This doesn’t sound like a fun one, I know, but I’m curious to see if the film tries to posit any serious ideas to change this kind of deep seated crime.

13- Paper or Plastic?
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? This doc follows 8 contestants as they battle it out at a national grocery-bagging competition in Las Vegas. If this is engaging and inspiring, people are gonna call it the next Spellbound. But I really threw this one into the mix in honor of the guy who bags my groceries at the Glendale Trader Joes. He may not be fast, but he manages to always put all my groceries into two or three perfectly weighted bags. The guy is a pro. He’s like a zen master.

14 – Pressure Cooker
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? This doc follows inner city culinary students who are whipped into top form by a ruthless teacher who pushes them hard – and right into the nation’s top cooking schools. It sounds just like Hell’s Kitchen…but with a purpose! (I hate that screaming British git because he projects the idea that being a dictatorial asshole means you are professional and high class.)

15 – X-Cross
Why should I drive to Westwood for this? Because at any film festival you go to, you should try to catch something in their midnight movies/horror slate – at the LA Film Fest, they call this series “Dark Wave”. This film has an eyebrow-raising pedigree, from the writer of the anime series Death Note and the director of Battle Royale II and something called Yo Yo Girl Cop. The festival program reads “Meanwhile, Aiko soon finds herself on the run from a crazed harajuku girl brandishing frightfully large scissors.” Yeah, yeah. I’m totally gonna go see this one.

((Ed. note: YES, we know CHOKE, the film based on Chuck Pahlahniuk’s novel, is playing – but that will get a theatrical release. Try to see something at the fest you probably won’t see playing in wide release…))
Buy tickets for the Los Angeles Film Festival

As many of you out in cube land must know, you’ve got your work computer (always clean out those cookies) and probably one at home (why hello illegally downloaded music and strangely suspect websites in history folder probably due to a BF). I just happened to notice today that my one of my Firefoxes has way too many bookmarks but HEY, some of them are kind of neat. And mostly involve shopping. Because I am a girl. I must adhere to the gender roles assigned to me.


Anyhow – what’s in this horribly unorganized bookmarks folder?



Super 8 Movie Spool Clock by IMOTIME
I was probably among the last kids in a particular generation of film school students to actually use a Super-8 camera to learn how to edit and shoot my very first short films. Clearly I want this out of pure nostalgia. Kids today! They don’t know shit! With their Canon DV this and thats and their YourToobs and such. Pfft.



“No One Wants to Play Sega with Harrison Ford” by Brandon Bird
I have no idea where I may have stumbled upon Brandon Bird’s art but you must visit his site to see more of his work. His paintings have this strange affect on you: first you are comforted by a recognizable pop culture reference, and then you are disoriented when it’s turned on its head, usually in a joyous and surreal twist. You might see Christopher Walken working on a robot or Noam Chomsky walking in a parking lot towards his sweet, sweet ride. Buy something too, contribute to the arts, you person that is probably super excited watching American Gladiators. (Insta-Disclaimer: I have been watching American Gladiators.)



Bertman’s Ball Park Mustard
Recommended to me by my boss after I had described to him how I wanted to steal the mustard from Phillipe’s by simply pouring it into my pockets.

Guys With Guns – a Flickr photoset by peter-noster
Yeah, I was probably looking for pictures of Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz to set as my desktop background and I came across all kinds of actors brandishing firearms in this excellent little collection. Click further. You’ve got to see Sean Connery in Zardoz.



Polish Movie Poster for Mulholland Drive by Swava Harasymowicz
This is just plain old sweet.

I Got Wood – Ed’s t-shirt from Shaun of the Dead
Well, come on. Every slacker male on the planet should have this to go along with his unique odor of video game sweat, oily foods, and the musky touch of bong smoke.

This is from the email newsletter of my favorite guzzling spot, the Colorado Wine Company, in Eagle Rock:

The looming WGA strike is no longer looming but here, and many of our writerly friends and customers are already feeling the pinch. So, while this nasty strike business is going on, present your WGA card at the bar and get a dollar off your glass of wine. Go on, fulfill the stereotype that writers drink too much…maybe you can stare out a window longingly and explain to the rest of the people in the bar how misunderstood you are.

Look, wine will make you feel better. It will help you forget the world is full of weiners and I have read things about how wine can help painful enlarged balls.

Visit Colorado Wine Company

Our favorite This American Lifer and New Yorker contributor David Sedaris will be coming to LA on January 15th, at the Macgowan Little Theater on the UCLA campus. I am pretty sure this is a small theater with less than 300 seats so good luck to you on the onsale date of 10/22, Mr. Lucky Jerk Reader Person.

Gary was there. More zap for your retinas.

See More of Burning Man Decom 2007

I’m torn between being happy my little neck of the woods is getting some respect and being angry as hell for people pointing us out. All you “oh, I’m so west of La Cienega” people stay out! Take your douchebaggery somewhere else…somewhere like…Cheviot Hills or something.

Anyhow, I’ve eaten most of these places. I highly recommend the Oinkster and their pulled pork sandwich, served with Belgian-style frites and Carolina style BBQ sauce and the ‘real French waiter’ service at Cafe Beaujolais. His name was Jean-Luc! Oooh la la!

Hey Amy, Lindsay, Brit, Nicole, whoever, whatever – blah blah blah. Can’t even bother to finish. Something about hoggin’ up everyone’s attenshuns while our country falls to shit.

(Found at the Mitsuwa in Little Toyko, clearly not a steady haunt of beloved Angeleno celebutardos. It cost me $1.99 and not like…$30,000. Photo by optionthis.)

((Also, it appears to be completely made of sugar and various acids. It hurts my teeth to drink it.))

Last Saturday, we decided to hit up the Frogtown Artwalk, a small rambling stroll separated by only a few blocks and completely actually walkable! It clearly seems like the kind of event that will grow and grow in size and reputation as more dreaded-not-dreaded neighborhood gentrification occurs. If you don’t know, a burgeoning artist community has taken up residence in little pockets back behind Chavez Ravine. Right now it seems like this area’s general strength is photography (which I wasn’t really allowed to photograph in certain galleries).

One gallery had a huge swing-a-ma-gig set up in its courtyard that would catapult a rider up into the sky, flipping them upside down as well.

There she goes.

This giant boat was taking people around from gallery area to gallery area. I think. You can never tell with giant street boats.

A set of galleries was in this complex. It almost felt like some kind of school building, or even a small airplane hangar. The BF and I agreed there was something even more charming about these studios over the large spacious ones in the Brewery. This space was one of the few to be exhibiting oil paintings. Also they had free beer. I remember these things.

Here’s the set-up…

And the punchline!

This same gallery exhibiting the horse also had an area where you could leave your own graffiti.

A band was playing at some point but clearly we missed it.

It’s a pretty small art walk for now but it was well attended. Lots of hipsters and art fiends wandering the dark and narrow streets of Frogtown, puzzling the natives and upsetting all the neighborhood guard dogs.

See What Else You Missed – Frogtown Art Walk 2007