Audi A3 TDI, Green Car of the Year

Its only fitting that the LA Auto Show takes the lead on the international auto show circuit as the “Green Auto Show”. After all we created the car culture and now should be the ones taking the lead in re-inventing the car for the future. Whether we are #1 for air pollution or traffic congestion how we reinvent the car and use them should be our roll for the future. On Thursday I drove the future and its good.

Among the cars that I drove is this years winner of the “Green Car of the Year“. The Audi A3 TDI (as in turbo diesel) was the winner. It is the same basic power-plant seen in last years winner with some changes to the engine management system for a bit more torque and “engine hum” to better fit Audi’s sport-luxury image. All of this was done and it achieves 42mpg on the open road (32 city), while reducing its CO2 output by 50% over the “base” A3 with a 2L turbocharged gas engine. Real world clean and high mileage without giving up driving fun is a win.

There was a field of a dozen cars available for driving by the media out of the 50 cars at the show that were potential candidates in “green car of the year”. Unfortunately there were more press people wanting to drive the leanest and cleanest of the bunch so I didn’t get into all of the truly green cars for our future. What I did get into was a very refined fuel cell and a prototype electric vehicle. For kicks and giggles I drove a few of the cars representing the future of the big luxury automobile for a taste of how they intend to stay relevant in our future. Read the rest of this entry →

I spotted these little gems in Big Lots in Duarte.  I have no idea what one would use just a snowman head for, but if you want one head on over.  Pun intended.  Pic by me with the trusty cell phone cam.

Secret Headquarters will have original artwork by Mike Mignola on display for one night only, Friday December 4th. That’s totally like tonight, man!

And since you’ll be rushing to get there after work and won’t have time for dinner, you’re in luck! Kwong Dynasty’s Noodle Fantasy will be serving up noodles in front of the store.

Secret Headquarters will also be offering a limited edition Mignola illustrated letterpress print made specifically for this show. The prints feature never before seen Hellboy artwork by Mike Mignola with color supervision by Dave Stewart. These 3 color letterpress prints have been beautifully made by Aardvark Letterpress of Los Angeles.

One Night Only
Friday, December 4
8 – 10pm

Complimentary wine provided by Bear Flag.

Paul Krekorian recently mailed out a flier depicting political opponent Chris Essel as a marionette alongside text reading, “Chris Essel. Brought to you by the union bosses who are raising your DWP rates.” (original here)

Just a few days before voters Los Angeles City Council District 2 will decide which of the two will be their next Councilperson, Essel responded with a flier of her own, alleging that the image of her having her strings pulled is “sexist” and “insensitive of women.” One quote on her flier even has a Sunland resident quoted as saying, “I’d kick his butt if that was my wife.” (see it here)

Additionally, Essel’s flier reprints the image of her as a marionette, it removes the contextual text, replaces it with a headshot by Krekorian, but alleges right below the image: “Actual Krekorian Mailer.”

In addition to the weak claim of sexism and edited image, on the flip side are vague allegations that Krekorian is an anti-semite whose campaign stole documents from her… no citations or hints as to where more info on the charges can be found.

But back to the main point – do you find the image of Essel as a marionnete offensive or sexist?

On Saturday evening, December 12, the annual Holiday Boat Parade returns to Marina del Rey.  The event features fireworks at 5:55 p.m. at the south jetty, followed by a parade of boats at 6.  The boats, all done up with holiday lights and decorations, will circle the Marina channel several times, followed by judging from the viewing stand in Burton Chace Park.

The best places to view the parade are said to be Burton Chace Park, located at 13650 Mindanao Way, or Fisherman’s Village at 13755 Fiji Way.  Parking information is here, and indicates that parking fees in the Marina’s county lots will be waived for the event.  However, most big events in the Marina involve some hassles getting in, getting out, and parking.  So try to plan ahead and arrive early if possible.

Let’s face it, Los Angeles loves a Grinch. What else would account for the Pantage’s successful run of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” or Universal Studios Hollywood will celebrate “13 Days of Grinchmas” beginning December 19th?

Which, of course, brings us to Metblog’s Grinch of the Year, now open for nominations. Its your chance to commemorate the worst of Angelenos, or any individual who has somehow made life for residents difficult, of not miserable. This could be a politician, CEO, a bad neighbor, or even some out of towner who speaks ill of the City of Angels.

For inspiration, take a peek at previous year’s losers:

• 2008: Tribune Company CEO Sam Zell, for ruining the LA Times.
• 2007: Pasadena Mayor Bogaard, for kicking a Chinese grandmother out of city hall for protesting Pasadena’s inclusion of China into the Rose Bowl Parade (she cited the country’s human rights violations).
• 2006: Zuma Dogg, for being a thorn in the side of L.A. City Council.

To nominate, simply leave their name and the reason in the comments below. The Whos at Metblogs HQ will filter them down to the top 5 or so and put them up for reader’s vote in a couple weeks.

The more LA specific the better, and if you’re nominating a group or entity, please give the name of a leader or figure head. We like to pin the honor on one individual at the time, so there’s no passing of blame. ‘Tis the holiday spirit.

Walking the Venice Canals is romantic on any occasion with the eclectic architectural delights and myriad of chatty water fowl. This historical European inspired community tucked away in the middle of Venice is about to up the romance this weekend because twinkly lights are per amore.

Residence of the Venice Canals are hosting their Seventh Annual “Twilight Bridge and Holiday Party” this Saturday, December 5th, from 5:00-7:00PM. Gather at the Sherman Canal Footbridge (212 Sherman Canal) with your favorite dessert to share and provided refreshments of hot cider, cocoa and mulled wine. The bridge lighting will happen right at 6:00PM so don’t be late!

For more information, head over to the sponsors website – Voice of the Canals.

Un milione di baci,
Tara

Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures

Do you like history and tradition? Are you a sucker for a classic Christmas film? Then dress up in your Sunday best, grab a shoe shine, and head Downtown this weekend.

The Los Angeles Conservancy is presenting Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, at the newly restored Million Dollar Theatre (1918), Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children twelve and under. A limited number of tickets are available at The Conservancy’s website.

Make it your new family tradition. Your kids will be able to tell their kids what Broadway was like before the return of the streetcar!

The Million Dollar Theatre is located at 307 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, walking distance from the Metro Red Line Pershing Square Station and Civic Center Station.

Top 40 station KIIS FM has been knocked off its perch as L.A.’s most listened to radio station by K-Earth 101.1, the “classic hits station.” [LA Times]

While K-Earth’s program director Jhani Kaye is taking credit for “expanding” the station’s music lineup – by adding 80s tunes to its rotation of 50s, 60s, and 70s music – it seems to this blogger that various other factors likely play the predominant role.

Mainly, “Top 40″ music listeners don’t listen to the radio anymore – they use mp3 players, cell phones, MySpace, etc. for their music fix. Additionally, “Top 40,” a cornucopia of musical styles, has become irrelevent for fans specific to one type of music – why wait through a number of dance and boy band songs when you can simply create an online radio channel specific to hip-hop?

It could also easily be argued that Top 40 music pretty much sucks nowadays, but that argument has been made for years, and the few decent songs that do make it on air will eventually be played on “classic hits” stations in a few decades.

As for me, I stopped listening to FM entirely around the time Indie 103.1 began sounding a lot like KROQ… and then a few months later, Indie shut down. And even then, it would usually only be when I was in a car I couldn’t plug my iPod into. Now, its traffic and news on AM, if anything – deejays and radio commercials between subpar music depresses me.

What about you, blog readin’ Angeleno? What are you listening to these days, and when?

The bathroom at Cole's is uncommon but decent.

Cole’s is 101 years old this year.  One hundred one!  While it’s not quite the same as Philippe’s 100th birthday last year when it sold sandwiches for a spare dime, Cole’s does plan to have a three day celebration on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (also helps that these are the slowest day of the week for most restaurants).  Like any good host, Cole’s has the whole schedule mapped out: on Sunday, it will award its first ever Jimmy Barela Award (named after the Cole’s bartender who spent 65 of his good years manning the restaurant’s Red Car Bar) to the barman who concocts a tequila-based cocktail and best pairs it with a French dip sandwich.  The winning cocktail will be featured on Monday and Tuesday (although, if it’s really that good, I hope that the drink at the very least will make it onto a secret off-menu menu item).  If, like any good guest, you’re planning on buying Cole’s a birthday present, look no further than the dusty books on your shelf: clean it up a bit and gift it to Cole’s.  Cole’s will donate the tome to support Midnight Mission’s renovation of the Mary Murphy Library.  As your goodie bag gift, you will receive a $1 discount on any sandwich.  C’mon, we all have a book that we were supposed to read, but haven’t, and won’t.  I’m looking at you, Wally Lamb.  My heart just can’t take that kind of heavy right now.

No word on whether The Varnish, Cole’s not-so-secret speakeasy-ish bar in the back, will have any birthday-related specials.  But then again, any night at The Varnish is special, isn’t it?

All this huff-’n-puffery about the oh-so-long-overdue-and-infinitely-pertinent arrival of an LA-based section of  Huffingtonpost to shoehorn its way into a niche already well-served by so many other long-standing LA group blogs, reminded me of the first and last time Arianna and I met  back in May of 2003 when I worked at the Los Angeles Zoo. There I was sitting at my cubicle in the publications division when word filtered down that the as-yet-uncrowned queen of the blogiverse was on the premises with a film crew and some extras, making some sort of tongue-in-cheek video tribute to Eli Broad on the occasion of his 543rd birthday.

Anyway, I was ordered to grab my cam and head up to the chimpanzee exhibit where the shoot was taking place to snap some shots for potential use in the zoo’s member newsletter, and as luck would have it this morning I was able to dive into my archives and come up with this image I got of  a couple of her entourage on-camera pretending to look at something that wasn’t really there while Arianna gazes directly at me with a stare that says either she wants to kill me or ask me out for drinks.

Either way, welcome to LA’s blog zoo Arianna!

This is your chance to join an official DARPA Challenge Team and all you have to do is look to the sky this Saturday, December 5 and report back if you spy a red balloon!

To sign up, go to ispyaredballoon.com and you will be part of a team effort to win $40K that will be donated to charity, plus all the fame and attention that comes with that!

On Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 10:00am EST, DARPA will launch ten 8-foot red weather balloons across the United States, held in place by a tether. The first team to submit the locations of all ten balloons will win $40,000! This contest is called the DARPA Network Challenge, sponsored by DARPA, the people who (among other things) hold contests to build cars that drive themselves.

The I Spy A Red Balloon team has pledged to donate all of the prize money to the American Red Cross. The entire team is volunteering their time, so absolutely no money will be used for any other purpose. Every dollar that the team wins from DARPA will be given directly to the Red Cross.

Again, go to ispyaredballoon.com to sign up and they will send you a reminder on Friday to look for the balloon. On launch day, their site will change, ready to accept your sighting details. They will provide a clickable map, or you can provide latitude and longitude if it’s available to you (using your phone or standalone GPS device). The names/nicknames of all contributors will be part of a poster to be published after the contest has finished.

Become a part of the I Spy a Red Balloon DARPA Challenge team today!

Mazda 2 under its silk wrap

Attending the LA Auto Show on a press pass is treat in itself. The show is edited down to the most important cars being showcased during the press days. With its designation by the “Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automoblies” we are treated to more world and US debuts than ever before. To be specific: 7 World debuts, 31 North American debuts and 10 concepts. The amount of foreign press present packing in the debuts is outright amazing. Read the rest of this entry →

Arianna Huffington – you love her or you hate her or you forgot all about her; whatever your feelings, check out this fascinating profile that The New Yorker did on her last year – welcomes Los Angeles to her digital rag, The Huffington Post.  Not sure why this took so long (how did Denver get a local page before us??), but as of today, Willow Bay will be heading the LA insert.  As she states in her welcome note:

We like to think of HuffPost LA as our digital town square — a place for Angelenos to get up-to-the-minute local news, share tips and gripes, and even create some buzz of their own. Our goal is to give LA a page of its own, where bloggers can express themselves on the issues that matter to them — whether they’re substantive, sublime, simple or just plain fun.

Arianna notes, “This is going to be a very eventful year in the City of Angels, with a new police chief, a new conductor at the Phil, the Lakers looking to repeat, what could be broadcasting legend Vin Scully’s last year as the voice of the Dodgers, a still volatile housing market, a wide-open governor’s race, the ongoing budget crises at the state and municipal levels — and the devastating effects they’re having across the city.”  To that, I’d add the battle over gentrification downtown; Lucinda’s odd bit of news over the addition of Russell Brown of the Historic Downtown Business Improvement District to the Downtown Art Walk’s governing body; and the budget cuts and obscene fee hikes at both the UC and Cal State campuses.  Those matters are for later, I guess; in the inaugural issue, feature posts include Eli Broad’s (somewhat generic) Top Ten Reasons to Love LA; the recent video exposing allegedly secret oil rigs in LA; and an interview with new LAPD chief Charlie Beck in which he emphasizes the “huge need for policing in LA” because of “the gang issues and all that.”  The next time anyone has an exclusive sit-down with Beck, let’s ask him exactly what all that “all that” is.

Yep, we’re got tickets to this sold-out show by the band I totally, like, LOVED when I was in high school and my first boyfriend EVAR broke up with me and then my family went on this family vacation and I went along but I don’t remember where we went because the whole time I had The Cranberries blasting in my headphones and for some reason my only memories of where we went are images of what I imagined Ireland to look like: gloomy, sylvan, watery and blanketed in mist. I think we were in Hawaii.

SO. This should be a good show. Wanna go? Tell me about the first breakup of a relationship that really broke your heart, and what music you used to get through it.

Show info is here, but you’re stuck with us, kid: they’re sold out.