Although we have no snow, Christmas in Los Angeles is a pretty exciting place. Who can forget Christmas Eve about twenty years ago when the terrorists tried to blow up the Nakatomi building in Century City? There was also that December in 1986 when a couple LAPD officers went on a bloodbath knocking off members of a heroine smuggling ring. And, I’m not sure if this is real or from a book, but there was the Bloody Christmas incident of 1951where some cops beat up a bunch of Hispanic prisoners…

I’m sure I’m overlooking a couple. But while I’m at it, after the jump I’m listing a handful of dramatic interpretations of L.A.’s Christmas’ past… take a look, and feel free to remind me of others in the comments.
Read the rest of this entry →

. . . you own one (or both) of these Christmas stockings, seen at Target in Pasadena.

Five last minute stocking stuffer and Hannukah gift ideas for the blogger in your life

Okay, this is a shameless hint for my girlfriend who probably hasn’t been able to track me down a Wii or PS3 yet*. But I think many Los Angeles bloggers at LAist, LA Observed, Los Anjealous, LA Voice, Martini Republic, or Mayor Sams might also appreciate some of these.

Side note: Most of these are “virtual”, and may require some arts and crafts skills to make a coupon to compensate (or as an IOU)… but it puts the skills you learned making those “Breakfast In Bed” certificates for mom to good use.

1. While any writer can find wireless hotspots with ease, knowing which coffee shops will have available power outlets is unpredictable. For around $3, you can help them solve this problem with a 3-Outlet Adapter. When they show up and all the outlets are taken, they can casually ask to plug in their doo dad, and any other like energy users who show up after will appreciate the gesture.

2. Even though picture hosting/sharing site Flickr upgraded its service allowing for a large number of pictures to be uploaded for free, every writer secretly wants to have the “pro” tag next to their user name when people glance at their profile. For $24.95/year, the pro-account also allows for near unlimited storage for pics, and a few other bells and whistles they’ll be happy for. (Flickr also has a printable giftcard that allows you to give them a code for the upgrade offline, or simply send it their way via email).

3. Help them make the mental leap from blogger to journalist by purchasing a membership into the Los Angeles Press Club. There is an application process, and not everyone qualifies, but an envelope with a $75 check made out to the club and a copy of application with your blogger friend’s name on it shows that, at the very least, you consider them a serious writer.
Read the rest of this entry →

Everyone knows how much we here at blogging.la love the Arclight. However my love for the Arclight doesn’t limit itself beyond the reserved seating, good parking and nice aesthetic. Arclight is a whole lot more than your movie experience. Take the bar with tasty drinks or the store in the lobby.

I usually never give more than a glimpse to the Arclight store because I’m usually cutting it close to movie time. But earlier this holiday season I had an hour to kill, so I wandered over. They had an amazing selection of Christmas and Holiday cards and tons of fun “urban outfitteresque” type gifts, candles, giftboxes and movie soundtrack CDs. If I remembered my shopping list, I could have found a gift for everyone on it, while I was waiting for my movie.

Who would have thought, you could do all your Holiday shopping while waiting for your movie to start? That’s a whole lot better than sitting through 30 minutes of preshow advertising. And it’s another reason I love Arclight.

All of us Self Employed owners of online retail businesses can finally come up for air.

“All hope is gone?”

You bet it is. Because after December 20th nobody short of the delusional is thinking that anything they order online is going to reach them in time to be handed off on Christmas Eve or morning. That ship has sailed, and finally we on the other side of the screen can say no without seeming unreasonable or ungrateful.

I’d be willing to bet that a good portion of LA’s population is in the same boat as me: pulled in eight different directions from stress and pressure, and only now able to breathe a sigh of relief. No doubt it’s a good problem – but it’s still tough.

Did you feel it last night? The giant exhale?

I know I did.

[click for detail]

Somebody’s looking out for you!

The Echo Park Ave merchants are staying open tonight until midnight tonight (Wednesday) to make sure you get your shopping done in time for the big You Know What.

In addition to some good shopping, you’re also looking at a sidewalk sale, drinks and snacks, and free gift wrapping.

Block of 1551 Echo Park Avenue
Tonight ’til midnight

I always think of december as a slow month in Blogistan. People are not at work, families are visiting, and life is generally too hectic. However, looking at the comments here this week you’d never know anything was different. Some really interesting threads this week I think, here’s the top 5:

• “…most criminals search for easy targets.” – the LAPD blog offered some advice about how to not be a victim of crime and of course I brought the CCW issue into it. This has been one of the most heated threads we’ve had in a while, and one of the most thoughtful as well. Lots of really detailed well thought out comments here from many perspectives. Almost 30 comments so far all of them definitely worth reading, still no reply from the LAPD.
• Dear Lady Standing on the Corner Pressing The Crosswalk Button Hundreds of Times, – Want to guess what this post is about?
• ‘Tis The Season – Will Campbell sounds the alarm that Broguiere’s Egg Nog is now available in grocery stores across LA. Watch out for the stampede!
• “You buy the tires, I’ll light the fires” – benhigh finds donuts in Los Feliz, and not the sweet bakery kind, but rather the Totally Bitchin’! kind. Aw yeah!!
• Did you see Santa? – Hundreds of Santa’s attacked LA last week, heathervescent was on the scene.

“Black Christmas” and “Silent Night, Deadly Night” double feature at the New Beverly

A little known fact among fans of holiday movies is that before Bob Clark directed “A Christmas Story”, arguably the best Christmas movie, he shot “Black Christmas”, a horror film about a sorority house being terrorized by a perverted maniac during their holiday break. The movie was a slasher film way ahead of its time – some credit it with inspiring “Friday the 13th” – and gave one worse things to worry about than shooting your eye out.

Perhaps the more recognized movie of the Christmas horror film sub-genre is “Silent Night, Deadly Night” – if only for the great poster artwork (shown here) and having a relentless killer dressed up as Santa Claus offing people in all sorts of creative ways. This film came off the heels of that other holiday hit, “Halloween”, and even carried the tag line, “You’ve made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas.”

Next Tuesday night, both films will screen at the New Beverly Cinema as part of the Grindhouse Film Festival series:

For the low price of only $7.00, attendees get two rare films, a reel of rare exploitation trailers, a free raffle, and very often appearances by the directors, cast and crew of the films being shown.

And indeed, Bob Clark himself will be in attendance, along with John Saxon and Olivia Hussey.

(h/t Film Radar Horror-Fan, who designates this as one of their official field trips – for more info or to RSVP with the Film Radar crew, contact Ray McDermott at ray@filmradar.com)

New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-4038

Technically, Markland beat me to my now-annual pimpage of Ken Roht’s fabu “99 cent show” this year, but since the plug got buried in a laundry list of (albeit a good one) of holiday shows and since b.la reader Justin Jorgensen let us know that even Holiday Meister Charles Phoenix gave it a rave and since there’s only one more weekend to catch it, I thought it deserved its own plug.

This year’s iteration–the fifth all-original musical extravaganza in the series–is especially lush and charming. It’s true to its title (Pageant of the 4 Seasons) in that it feels like more of a pastiche than years past. It’s also especially lush musically–the vocal arrangements are nothing short of extraordinary, and a little darker in parts. And of course, the costumes and props, all fashioned from items found on the 99-Cent Only chain’s shelves, are as dazzling as ever. (Nice job on those ‘flowers’, Justin!)

Oh, and speaking of nice jobs–I did Mr. Cutey-face graphic this year, once again. (I told you I was shameless…)

Pageant of the 4 Seasons, A 99-Cent Only Modern Something
Written, directed & choreographed by Ken Roht
Through Dec 17 at the Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly at Alvarado
Tix, times and other details on the Orphean Circus website

In the comments of one of Tammara’s recent posts, frequent commenter and LAFD Public Service Officer Brian Humphrey illuminated the difficult conditions under which the LAFD Public Service Office gets to do it’s work. So, if you’re looking to prove to Santa that you’re not such a selfish bastard afterall, consider helping them, or your local Fire Station, with a little time or money via the Adopt-a-Fire-Station program. The LAFD Public Service Office also has a wish list of things that you can buy on their behalf if you’re so inclined, and if you’ve got design skills they are also looking for somebody to help them update the banner on their LAFD.org homepage. Get crackin’, Grinches!

So last night’s wet weather was a legit if long overdue seasonal variation, but for me here in Los Angeles the shifts identifiable to me are decidedly less meteorological in nature. For example, fall doesn’t officially arrive for me until that day I’m driving somewhere and don’t need the A/C. And the move from fall to winter comes not with any measurabe precipitation but instead when I finally find the glass-botttled goodness of Broguiere’s Egg Nog in my grocer’s refrigerator case, such as I did last Friday.

Kathleen previously wrote about the wonderful products from Montebello’s now 86-year-old and still strangely website-less dairy here on Blogging.la back in 2004, and if you’ve never had some of Broguiere’s heavenly holiday nectar, also known as The Best Egg Nog Ever, you need to quick go gets you some of this extra-special stuff because demand always trumps supply and it flat out puts all other mass-produced nogs to shame.

To do this weekend and beyond:

Petra Haden (That Dog, Afoostic Fighters, solo), Lisa Papineau (Air, Big Sur, solo), and Francoise Blound Blound appear with Crooked Cowboy & the Freshwater Indians Monday for free at Mr. T’s Bowl; Spindrift gets drifty with space rockers Tsk Tsk and Seattle boot-gazers Dead Meadow on Saturday; and Sugarbutterbex going beyond pimping your bike into the ever-popular DIY crafter holiday faire field. More info after le jump.
Read the rest of this entry →

[click for gratification]

Looking for a good time this Saturday, but feeling pressured to do your holiday shopping instead?

Here’s a way to kill all the birds on your list with one stone!

The Mooneyes Xmas Party (formerly the Rat Fink Reunion) has been going on longer than most of you have been alive. Every year it gets bigger and bigger, and this year it’s trying out a new and awesome location: The Irwindale Speedway.

Bring or just come see some great cars (pre ’65 only), take in a little full-on racing (pre ’69 only), and then get your gift buying out of the way, courtesy of the many artists vending their wares directly to you for this event only.

Shameless Plug Department: Coop will be on hand to meet, greet, and sign stuff, and he’s bringing a lot of brand new merchandise to unveil at the show.

Coopstuff NEWS Page has more details (including a map and a link to get driving directions).

Los Angeles, which contains the faux-city Hollywood, has been the center of the motion picture industry since 1910 when D.W. Griffith moved to a lot in Downtown. Oddly enough, Hollywood currently films a huge number of productions in Downtown LA, many of which are set in New York and even Iraq, like the photo above. Although much of the industry is no longer located in Hollywood proper, the Hollywoodland sign is a world famous symbol of the industry.

Our country has exported her culture throughout the world through moving images on film. Movies have given untold millions of people an insight into cultures they otherwise would have never experienced. Every year there are scores of films from Hollywood that are total crap, but the few that are great make up for them.

I love watching movies, and have a fairly large collection of DVDs that I enjoy watching when I have some down time. I am thankful that we’ve collectively created and distributed this gift of motion pictures to the world.

UPDATE Oops… I meant 4th gift!