This is the perfect political cartoon to leave in your workplace's breakroom today.

Courtesy of Harper's Magazine.

Labels: politics, random

Have you survived the oversaturation of billboards, magazine pop-outs, and internet pop-ups otherwise known as ads for the new fall TV schedule!? With my TiVo, I don't even know when the new shows are on anymore, but I have been scheduling the season pass manager carefully to make sure I don't miss a minute. After the first two weeks of premieres I've awarded the highlights.

Most Anticipated guilty pleasure: Nip/Tuck
The first three episodes already have the set-up for the beautiful gone ugly paradox I love to see unfold. Christian's up to his old tricks and the whole he could be totally gay thing is wonderful - When I was watching reruns I kept wondering why the two Docs didn't make out with each other. And they've got the best guest stars I've seen on TV lately - Peter Dinklage (Station Agent) as the wetnurse to Julia's baby and Mario Lopez as a younger, vainer fellow plastic surgeon - y'all might recognize Lopez is A.C. Slater (!)

Project Runway Replacement (aka the only reality TV worth watching): America's Next Top Model
Thank goodness Tyra is back so I can stop wondering what the water cooler gossip will be about once Heidi Aufs the last Auf Wiedersehen. But doesn't it feel like Tyra is just one season away from pulling a DUI on PCH moment? The megalomania she learned from Oprah isn't that attractive. Though I will watch to see what happens long after those hopeful twin models self-destruct.

Highest Expectations: Studio 60
West Wing - but for Hollywood! What could be a better behind the scenes melodrama, besides the white house, than a high-profile TV network? If they can keep the snarky dialogue sparse and the funny one-liners plentiful it will be absolutely, utterly, enjoyable. Second episode was funnier than the pilot but watch out for creator Aaron Sorkin's soapbox he likes to pedestal any given character at will. Sorkin may not have had a political background but still got politics preachy on West Wing. The man does know show business - careful! I appreciate that Studio 60 is fictionally set in the old Palladium on Sunset Blvd (not the strip by any means, but the home of many variety shows).

Curious as a carcrash: The Class & How I Met Your Mother
I don't want to get sucked in to the Friends wannabes but like a carcrash, I can't not slow down to look. Horrible? Maybe. But the kids are so pretty and the sets so shiny. How I Met Your Mother has the trifecta of crushes from popular shows of the past (Doogie Howser, Freaks & Geeks, Buffy). The Class has crushes in training and it's amazing how effective that will they or won't they story works even after all these seasons.

Surprise, you got my attention: Heroes
To say the least, I was suspicious about an hour long drama from NBC that plays like a comic book, full of superhero origin stories, but not actually based on any existing comic book. There's enough characters in the Marvel universe to keep TV writers employed for the next millennium. But there's an intriguing dark side - heroin use, pornography, mysterious serious acts of violence - all in the pilot! Dubious as I was about a Smallville meets Lost pitch, it's the best editing I've seen this year. There's flying and time-traveling without that cheesy wormhole or halo effect that's everywhere. Can they keep it up past the pilot or will test audiences yearn for the visual fx? Time will tell.

Labels: reviews, television

According to the L.A. Times today, birthday sweets in schools, such as cupcakes, are being banned. In efforts to curb child obesity parents can send their kiddies to school with carrot sticks to share on their big day. How you gonna blow out your candles on carrot sticks? Ants on a log maybe, I guess as long as the peanut butter is fat free. The Times notes other states have sprung similar campaigns in schools with backlashes. I love that there is even a Safe Cupcake amendment in Texas, which guarantees parents' right to deliver unhealthful treats to the classroom. The right to bear conversation hearts and candy corn will never be threatened in the lone star state again! We can't say the same for the calorie conscious south land where the ban is controversial and varies from school to school. But the Times comparison chart of the nutrional value in a carrot stick versus a cupcake is laughable. Obesity among children is a plight directly associated with kids' impressionable eating habits. But I think even Richard Simmons would agree a little sweettooth now and then is a healthy way to not binge. Parents who still want to send their kids to school with sweets can look for alternatives. I'm a big fan of baked goods versus the over-processed super market slop. How about carrot cake instead of tongue staining blue icing? The kiddies can still blow out their candles while their classmates sing "Feliz Cumpleanos". Then, here's a thought, let them run those calories off on the playground.

Raw carrots		Cupcake
8 baby carrots	Serving size	1 cupcake
26	Calories	190
0	Calories from fat	80
0	Total fat, in grams	8
0	Cholesterol, in milligrams	25
0	Sodium, in milligrams	160
6	Total carbohydrates, in grams	26
172%	Vitamin A, daily recommended value	0%
10%	Vitamin C, daily recommended value	0%
2%	Calcium, daily recommended value	4%
0%	Iron, daily recommended value	2%

Low fat, low sugar (almost healthy?) recipes:
Almond Meringues - so simple and light but candy-like texture an 8-year old could love.
Strawberry Pie - what's healthier than fresh fruit and sugar free jello? Kids love jello!
Angel Food Cake - Substitute the berries for some Hershey's syrup and you've got the fave birthday cake of many "angels".

Labels: food, newsworthy

Courtesy of the lads and lasses of Goldenvoice - Buy Tickets here.

Labels: events, music

No too long ago, an innocent looking driveway right in the middle of Silver Lake Blvd. sprouted an art installation. A larger than life golden orange cornocopia web occupied the space of an otherwise sparse modern design firm. Each weekend on my stroll to the dog park I watched the progress. And then I watched them disassemble it - weaving out the strands as carefully as they had gone in. I knew something was up about a month ago when the large gates outside got a facelift and the grounds directly inside started to be groomed for an environmental canvas once more. An new installation was on the horizon for sure. Last night it took me by surprise. After a delicious meal at Leela Thai, we walked into the open gates to touch the giant air sacs and tubes. These baloons are giant glowing urban jellyfish.

The hip hip architecture and landscape firm Materials&Applications(M&A) bring you Bubbles: an Open-Air Interactive Installation by FOXlin and NONDesigns. I like these guys. They support green roof gardens and give us something to play with after a Thai dinner or Spaceland jaunt. The bubbles are actually connected inflated parachutes, gently weighted and held with a constant stream of air through a highway of large flexible tubes. The baloons react to the people who enter the space. If you touch one, it starts to deflate, slowly inflating another one. When no one is near the air sacs they counteract each other and remain the same size. The idea is to create a spatially adaptable pneumatic environment at an urban scale reaching equilibirum at a state of rest. M&A claims there are sensors that know when one is touching the air sacs. But after playing and poking them, the pattern feels more random. Sensors or not, it's lit so prettily, you can't help it but stop to investigate on a warm autumn night.

1619 Silver Lake Blvd.
Silver Lake, 90026

Labels: art, reviews

The cemetery screening season at Hollywood Forever is coming to a close. Tomorrow and next Saturday will see the last movies of the summer season. If you haven't been to a cemetery screening, you are truly missing out on a growing LA summer night tradition. Cinespia sponsors the event, selecting the DVDs, DJs and pre-show movie poster slide show. Yes, they actually screen movies in a cemetery, but not just any cemetery. Hollywood Forever is right behind the Paramount lot and is the resting place of many stars as well as backdrop to many shoots. The biggest draw is you can bring in as much picnicking supplies as you can carry. No, you don't roll out a picnic blanket on someone's grave. The films are projected on the large mausoleum and everyone packs in to the large lawn in front of it. The sound from surrounding speakers has gotten better, the movie line-up is always in steady rotation, from the classic to classically obscure. The most popular movies from this year were Breakfast At Tiffany's (preditably) and a humungous turnout for Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
This Saturday hosts Preston Sturgess' first picture The Great McGinty. The finale show on Sep. 30 is the original Dawn of The Dead.
Gates promptly open at 6:30pm and the movie gets started around 8:00pm. Show up before 7:00pm to claim a good piece of grass. The $10 admission price includes parking, but eager fans park nearby and line up outside the gates before they open. Veterans bring plenty of food and wine as well as candles, pillows and low chairs - any high backed lawn chairs could get you booed if you block someone's view. Blankets for the crisp evening air are also a must. This is Hollywood's verison of a drive-in so don't get offended if a neighboring party keeps the party going through the movie. Like a drive-in this is also the top date night spot - small PDA warning.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery
6000 Santa Monica Blvd. & Gower

photo collage courtesy of hollowlift

Labels: events, film

After almost two years of living with gaping eye-sores for closets, I found a very inexspensive curtain solution. Thanks to the IKEA value, two incredibly attractive 100% linen fabric panels
plus some art store hardware equaled matching curtain doors. I felt amazingly accomplished until I found similar solutions popping up all over my favorite decor sites like apartment therapy and design*sponge. I was at the bottom of the originality dogpile until IKEA Hackers showed up and then really showed me up. These guys speak the IKEA langauage, referring to their bookshelves as Billy and their loveseats Klippan. They have the DIY ingenuity all over the place and create a forum for other cheapskates, I mean financially challenged creativity mongers. Who knows? Maybe they won't think my curtain solution isn't so lame.

To make the quick curtain solution for closets or any other uninspired small doorway you can pick up at a hardware or art supply store:
- Iron-On hem 3/4"-1"
- Heavy wire
- Eyelets & Tool 1/8"
- Large safety pins w/ no loop

Fold 2-3" hem and use the iron-on heat bonded hem to finish both ends of fabric panel. Measure and mark holes for the eyelets - about 8 for a 2 foot doorway. Use eyelet tool to join eyelets at each mark. For an industrial look - hammer large nails into wall and string wire as tightly as possible to both ends. String saftety pins and hang curtain.
Total cost : $30

Labels: design, DIY

This may be simplifying it - but a one-person show is hard to pull off. If the audience doesn't connect to the story or the performer lacks engagement then there is no other cast to fall back on. "The Gimmick" is like many solo shows; intensely autobiographical and fortunately for L.A. theater goers, she holds your attention. In the intimate walls of the Fountain Theatre, Dael Orlandersmith tells the tale of Alexis, an underprivileged black girl trying to escape her fate in 1970s Harlem - which means avoiding the hustles and sins or "gimmicks". She finds solace in books. She finds power in the written word. We hear pages from Alexis' journal and Orlandersmith doesn't neglect the message as she packs the show with fierce alliteration and repetition. As she reenacts the moment Alexis discovered the liberating power of words all I could think was this should be required viewing for public school kids. Like many one-woman shows, Orlandersmith acts out the cast of characters. There's the local working girl, a constant reminder of what she does not want to become, the drunk and constantly disappointing parents, and the highlights: her best-friend Jimmy, and her mentor the local librarian. The supporting characters are so real and at the same time brilliantly larger life, as they shine through the Alexis' eyes. Often their words are choked in tears. I found myself wiping my eyes a lot during the 60 some minute show. The Gimmick is an emotional story and never holds back the bitter pain of self-exploration. Orlandersmith's journey is our own, full of heartache with constant hope for artistic triumph. The engaging journey is an enjoyable one, not to be missed.

The Gimmick runs until October 1. Wed-Sun. 8pm
Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave.
East Hollywood, 90029
Box Office 323/663-1525

Labels: performances, reviews

Mateys! In Honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, the Redwood Bar will be hosting all sorts of scallywags and buccaneers tonight. The owners, responsible for the decor of favorite Fred 62, call their new renovation "more of an Amerigo Vespucci bar than Pirates of the Caribbean." God love 'em. And since we know pirates don't quit after last call - the bar will stay open 'til 4am tonight.

The Redwood Bar & Grill
316 W. 2nd Street
Downtown
(213) 680-2600

Labels: bars, events, random

More Banksy show madness: The closing day found long lines, no elephant, but we did see Jason Lee with wifey Beth Riesgraf and their toddler in tow. Lee's moustache blended him in with the other hipster daddys quite convincingly. As well as Jared Leto, sporting petite goth and Hill Harper looking confused in front of the line to get into the video portion of the overwhelmingly cool event.

Labels: art, celeb sighting

Last night hosted the opening party with celebs galore including Bradgelina (gasp!). Catch the live elephant while you can.

Labels: art, events

Tomorrow! Friday 9/14! 2 :00-4:00pm! Jane Lockhart, Sweet Lady Jane herself, will be giving away her signature goodies to celebrate the expansion of now available sweets at Gelson's Century City and Vicente Foods. Normally $5-$55 per cake - free for two hours only! They better have those lemon bars and hazlenut cupcakes I covet so dearly.
Vicente Foods
12027 San Vicente Blvd.
Brentwood

Labels: food, random

LA Weekly, LA Bloggers, Daily Candy - what do they all have in common? - they're all privy to guerilla artist Banksy and his new warehouse installation this Saturday 9/16. And now, so are you. Check back here for details, as location and time will be announced the day of the show.

Unfamiliar with Banksy's work? He's British and he does some amazing political art. Going beyond the usual stencil statements, he's hung his own art in major museums, reimagined flea market paintings, and beautified the walls of Palestine's West Bank. More than a grafitti artist or prankster, his art addresses the taboo and the controversial with humour we all can appreciate in these dark times. His recent hits on LA include breaking into Disneyland's Grand Thunder Railroad ride and placing a mannequin dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner. He also replaced the shelves of Paris Hilton's new CD with his own remixes that had titles like "What Am I For?" and "Why Am I Famous?".

Sneak-peek photos of Saturday's installation party available at the Wooster Collective. That's a live elephant!

Labels: art, events

Ever since I saw the trailer I've been awaiting Michel Gondry's new film The Science Of Sleep with fist-clenching anticipation. Will it be another sentimental Amelie or will Gondry bring to the silver screen the magic he's previously created in Bjork's music videos? Gael Garcia Bernal plays Stephane, a worker at a calendar factory and vivid daydreamer. He comes up with the wacky idea to create a calendar of disasters - one for each month. Gondry called on his Nanny's brother, Baptiste Ibar, to create these "disastrology" paintings. So when you've overloaded on Bernal's cute face you can puruse Ibar's gallery, like the earthquake painting (above). Look familiar? Limited release start its run Sep. 22.

Labels: art, film

I've always been jealous of San Franciscans - they get all the good restaurants and public transportation that my dear old Angeles lacks. But we will not be without a cheap clothes Mecca any longer. H&M (the IKEA for clothes) brings cheap/chic aesthetic to Pasadena. You may have seen the store building up at 64 Colorado Blvd. in pretty and urbane Old Pasadena. According to Day to Day, H&M will open its doors next week. In the following months lookout out for a Hollywood & Highland location as well as Glendale and Santa Monica. The trendy-affordable-euro wear only available one place on the west coast? Please.

Labels: design, shopping

Vons has just started stocking the shelves with candy corn and pumpkins, but I already know what I want for Christmas. Pre-sales are in effect for the ultimate Criterion Collection. 50 DVDs come packaged in a beautiful coffee table quality book called Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. Janus is responsible for bringing foreign films to the art houses. Now is your chance to impress every person who thinks they really know what Godard films are all about. Or knock the socks off your Fellini loving friends when you show them Polanski's first feature. Scorsese writes the introduction. Order now through Criterion get a freebie t-shirt and save $200 (that's only $650 before the retail price!) Take note, Santa.

Labels: film, shopping

Dapper Andre Benjamin 3000 buying tickets to see Idlewild at The Arclight - yes, his own movie. I kid you not.

Labels: celeb sighting

Norway is greater than ever. Before, they gave us Sondre Lerche and fjords. Now, we have oslostil, the fashion blog of Norway. Basically, one girl takes pictures of hip kids on the streets - where everyone is not only very hipster-y but makes it all look so effortless and relaxed - like every cute guy and gal has that "i'm just riding my bike to market and threw on these fabulous boots" attitude.
These kids are inspiring me to get dressed in the morning.

Labels: fashion

Toronto International Film Festival kicks off today. Yes, yes, it's in Toronto, not Hollywood - but I need to plug a very important film by some very nice filmmakers - No Place Like Home by Perry Henzell. I was fortunate to once meet Perry at a party. He is the man responsible for introducing the mainstream western world to reggae in his debut film The Harder They Come. Jimmy Cliff's soundtrack quickly became a chart-topper and a classic. The film's loving sensitivity to the Jamaican culture brought American audiences into Kingston's inequalities before Bob Marley recorded on U.S. shores.
Henzell only made one other film, incomplete for many years until now. No Place Like Home is a poetic companion film, and a collage of multiple trips to Jamaica, not to mention a reconstructed negative and decades between re-shoots. A familiar fish out of water tale takes deeper roots as the film follows a white woman's trip into rural Jamaica. Expect topless sunbathing, killer ganja and rock steady and expect to not see anything else like it. Grace Jones' first time on film is history making enough. The Toronto film festival recognizes it as a new film and a time capsule; the island of 1970s free love does not exist anymore. The journey in Henzell's films are fitting. His journey to get them financed and seen are definitely part of the bigger picture. Congratulations to all those involved. I'm so jealous I can't be in Canada this week.
Festival guide & full article.

Labels: film, reviews

Jessica Delfino, songstress and author of one of the funniest songs I've heard performed in quite a while ("I Wanna Be Famous"), will be performing tonight at The Fake Gallery on Melrose & Heliotrope. The show starts at 8:30 PM and it costs $5. Raunchy folk rock rocks alongside a line up of very interesting and funny comedian type people, including Eddie Pepitone, who Jessica calls one of her favorite acts. Jessica also says: "I hope any and all of you can make it, and please don't forget to wash your vaginas."

Kick ass music video for "I Wanna Be Famous".

Labels: events, music, videos

In honor of the upcoming DVD release for pioneer animator, Oskar Fischinger, we present Liquid Liquid's "Cavern" a music video using Fischinger's 1939 cartoon "Seelische Konstruktionen", an interpretation of an avant-garde barfight.

A true visionary for experimenting with form and music, Fischinger's most well-known work was the rollling hills suite in "Fantasia", although it's been revealed he was unhappy with Walt Disney for compromising his radically abstract vision. Full article courtesy of NPR here. One of his paintings was recently at the Hammer Museum in the Societe Anonyme exhibit.

The DVD, called 10 Films can be ordered through the Center for Visual Music.

L.A. International Short Film Festival is going on all this week at the Arclight - full schedule here - a couple shout-outs on the program today:

"Solus" - A prideful Haitian woman struggles with her past while facing her present. Directed by promising newcomer Richard Heller.
1:00pm with five others.

"Quarter to Life" - Will Moore and Chad Matthews bring the quarter-life crisis to fruition.
5:15pm shown as part of the L.A. Filmmakers showcase







"Grace" - Young woman meets young girl on the beach in a beautiful meditation on life and death. By accomplished and graceful VFX Producer Camille Cellucci.
8:00pm Finale in a program with 13 others

Labels: events, film

A very special Celeb Sighting is dedicated to the evening Andy Dick spent with Los Feliz on Labor Day. Who knew this was such a drink happy holiday? It might as well as been St. Patrick's at Ye Olde Rustic on Hillhurst as Andy Dick and his entourage, which included his son and comedian Jay Johnston, took over the back patio after supping at the Alcove. If you don't already know the Alcove I would like to think their motto is come for the cupcakes, stay for the food. Those already familair with the Sunset strip comedians know Andy gets handsy after he's tossed back a couple. After throwing back shots with his son and losing his cellphone repeatedly, Andy was following boy and girls into the bar's bathroom. No one got out of there un-groped by the man once known as that little weird guy on News Radio. Andy had this to say about himself:
"You know what people always ask me? They always look at me with pity and ask, but how are things? And I always respond with three answers: I could be better. I could be worse. I'm not dead." You are very much alive, Mr. Dick, very much alive.

photo courtesy of andydick.com

Labels: celeb sighting, random

You have been a leading venue on the indie rock scene for over 20 years. Your bare wooden walls are charmingly inviting and your bartenders and bouncer staff friendly. But please. Hire a new lighting designer. Last night I was thoroughly enjoying the show, that is I was loving the acts I came to see but hating the blinding blue gobos in my eyes. During an unfortunate lighting cue that turned smoke machines on intermittently, loud enough to drown out the singer on stage, and then crawled egg like shapes in jagged steps on the back wall, my friend turned to me and asked "Is a cat walking across the lightboard?". It is horrific to think those were deliberate choices. Could there be talented and tasteful lightboard operators in a city based on the industry of entertainment? Hire one of them.

Labels: bars, music, reviews

Gina Gershon exhuding hotness in the crowd and Meg White causing a stir outside at the Trachenburg Slideshow Players show last night at the Troubadour.

Labels: celeb sighting

Loving my great new site.

A big big thanks you to Matthew Melis for creating this site with me. Also thanks you Adam Venturella, web master extraordinaire and all around nice guy. Also muchos gracias Lanni of imaclanni designs for the layout idea.

Fill my store (coming soon!) and my inbox: meredith@pudgy-girl.com

This Film is Not Yet Rated
Documentary
97 min.
Limited Screening Opening Night, Nuart Theater, Santa Monica, Friday 9/1/06

Did you know there are two secret policy influencing organizations in the U.S? One is the CIA and the other is the Motion Picture Association of America's Raters board. Eight people decide what rating to give (G, PG, R etc..) every major released film in the U.S. and their identities remain a secret ... until now.
Filmmakers Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt were on hand at the Nuart yesterday night to promote their new documentary. Soapbox-y at times, but incredibly informative, the film not only documents the MPAA's shady mission and history but exposes the Raters' identities by hiring a private investigator. The 30-day stakeout, captained by Becky the PI, is the most entertaining part of the film. There are also cartoons comically illustrating the MPAA's list of no-nos, such as non-traditional sex acts, drug use, and violence against children. Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) and Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) fans have seen the stick before. In fact, Kirby Dick comes off as a Michael Moore wannabe, putting himself in the role of valiant muckraker to the heinous acts of censorship and blatant contradictions by the MPAA officers. Nonetheless, I am thankful the Hollywood expose is out, especially when Dick and Schmidt detail the process of avoiding the dreaded NC-17 stamp. We are familiar with the double standard game the ratings board plays for studio pics vs. art house film when it comes to taboo topics like masturbation, homosexual sex, drug use, and gratuitous violence. Dick and Schmidt also identify, through other filmmakers' testimonies, there is not set standard the MPAA follows - so bloodless violence in big budget action flicks receive less severe ratings than war documentaries. Also a boy can masturbate into a pie but a girl can't show any sign of pleasure from oral sex for a prolonged amount of time. Puppets can't even simulate any position other than the approved missionary (see Team America - even when we all know the raunchier "uncut" version can be bought at Best Buy.) Most informative is Kimberly Peirce's tale of cutting the orgasm scenes in her directorial debut Boys Don't Cry. The board deemed Brandon's post cum shot too racy but the scene when he's beaten to death acceptable. Most applaud goes to Kevin Smith (Clerks) for stating on camera that the most despicable act of violence often slipping by as an R or even PG-13 is violence against women and would like to see any rape or woman-in-peril plot device struck from the filmmaking language. Right on.
The limited engagement starts up this month - but help them get the word out by requesting This Film in your local theaters and sign their petition to revise the ratings system.

Labels: film, reviews