I should begin with the caveat that I have never reviewed a play before.

And while I enjoy going to the theater from time to time, I would hardly consider myself an informed critic.

And now that I’ve gotten my excuses out of the way, I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed the opening night performance of “The Language Archive,” which took place last night at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo.

The play is an exploration of how love, language, meaning, and relationships intersect, all portrayed through a mix of humor, philosophical meanderings, and emotional gravity. The East West Players did a very nice job hitting these various notes through most of the play, with my personal favorites being Ryun Yu as George and Jennifer Chang as Emma. Read the rest of this entry →

Yeah, me neither. For being the largest close-approach asteroid in the history of history, 2005 YU55 wasn’t that easy to see when it zoomed its 1,300-foot diameter between earth and the moon through very clear evening skies November 8.

But a Flickr contact of mine, Edhiker, did. Ed’s both an awesome hiker, prolific photographer and a whiz with a telescope, and this is how 2005 YU55 looked passing over Los Angeles via 38 separate exposures made into a 40 second movie showing the asteroid’s movement from 7:20 to 7:23 p.m., 11/8/11.

If the embed’s broken, you can view it here.

Marky Ramone getting some California Sun

East Coast vs. West Coast rivals laid down their Glocks and picked up spoons last Saturday, as Marky Ramone, former drummer of the Ramones, flew in from Brooklyn to the Venice Whole Foods to promote his new pasta sauce. The sauce is called Marky Ramone’s Brooklyn’s Own Pasta Sauce, a fittingly complicated name from someone whose job it was to keep time for the rapid Ramones.

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It somehow didn’t hit my radar until just now, but this weekend the Japan Film Society is hosting its first-ever LA EigaFest. The films will screen at the Chinese Theaters, kicking off Friday night with the West Coast premiere of Milocrorze: A Love Story (which looks like it’s going to be amazing) and closing out on Sunday with a 2011 remake of the Japanese classic, Hara-Kiri. If you don’t already have plans for the weekend, this looks like a lot of fun. I’m going to try to make it to at least one screening if I can.

If that's the case, I hope you had permission for these decorations...

Driving up Cahuenga in Hollywood the other evening, my compadres and I spotted this odd-looking house strewn with a variety of dummies, some of them holding cans of spray paint. While it was still technically the week of Halloween, my feeling was that we were well into the month of November, so Halloween should be over and done with already. (more pics after the jump) Read the rest of this entry →

One of the cool things about biking around Los Angeles is the stuff you get to discover that’s hidden in plain sight, with a favorite of mine being sidewalk vandalism. Most of the time you’ll just see a name and maybe a date scratched in the concrete or perhaps a decades-old shoe print. But sometimes you’ll come across more enigmatic stuff — like the following for example, written into the sidewalk by George, Bobby and Robert on the east side of San Fernando Road south of Figueroa Street, directly under the Arroyo Seco Parkway overpass (here) and right at the bottom of the steps leading up to what I like to call the “super-secret freeway bike/ped path” paralleling the southbound 110 between here and the what once was Chavez Ravine (click to enlargify):

I’ve accessed those steps easily a couple dozen times over the last few years, but it was only today that I looked down and found this odd permanent record of the existence of George, Bobby and Robert. That crack running around it like a frame is interesting, but I’m at little more than a guess at the significance of the comma-delineated numbers that follow each name: 28, 1969; 27, 1969; 29, 1969. Birthday date and birth year, maybe? Or their ages during that fateful year? Or perhaps a year yet to come in the lives of these future thinkers?

What’s most curious is the decidedly more faint shapes scrawled at the bottom: a five-pointed star bookended on either side of it by swastikas that mirror each other. Three names, three figures. Kinda makes you go hmmmm.

Due to the overwhelming response from people who are unable to attend, tonight’s Classic Eats will be postponed until further notice. Basically, I don’t want to be eating sausages alone. Look for more details soon!

A lot will happen in the next five years.  You’ll be an astonishing half a decade older. We’ll have the same or a new president with whom no one will be completely satisfied unless all that hope for change actually translates to more real dollars and a lot more sense. For Cornerstone Theater Company, the next five years will be dedicated to hunger: nine plays, to be exact, that will address the topic from all sides, including nutrition, environment, access, and food equity.

To kick off the series, Cornerstone is hosting “Creative Seeds: An Exploration of Hunger,” a two-week event starting November 7 and stuffed full of panels, discussions, art events, workshops, and demonstrations with Farmers, chefs, artists, performers, and food writers.  On the 10th, for example, popular organic peach farmer David Mas Masumoto will be part of a “Who’s Your Farmer?” roundtable (if you haven’t read his Epitaph for a Peach, go and get it, now), and on the 15th, our homegrown Jonathan Gold will part of a “Food Critics” panel discussing what “different generations of food critics hunger for.”  And, because this is a theater company after all, there will be an evening of one-minute plays for those whose attention lasts as long as their (in)ability to compose an wildly interesting 140-character tweet

The panel discussions are free, and most of the other events request just a modest donation.  See the full schedule here, and reserve your tickets here. And, if you want to start your food drive contributions straight away, you can donate non-perishable food items at all Creative Seeds events.  This looks like a good one, guys.  Go on. Five years will be here and gone before you know it.

Brentwood bike racers

This year, the Amgen Tour of California bike race got as close to Los Angeles as Mt. San Antonio a/k/a Mt. Baldy. Now, race organizers have announced that the 2012 Tour will finish at L.A. Live. Details are still sketchy as to just how the finish will take place next May, but it could be like the Tour de France finish in Paris, where the racers make a series of high-speed laps around the Champs-Elysees to the delight of cheering crowds.

The 2012 Tour will also again include a stage at Mt. Baldy, which is becoming the equivalent of the Alps in the Tour de France. So if you’re thinking of trying to compete in the 2012 race or ride the local stages of the route yourself, you have about six months to get those legs and lungs in shape.

Its hard to pick out what is “normal”  Hollywood Blvd weirdness vs regular stuff on Halloween.  A few more in costumes and begging to be photographed videoed for free is probably the only difference. Its sort of Halloween Light compared to the insanity that is WeHo but it is subway easy and still festive enough.  His original blog post HERE.

In the spirit of the season of things coming back to life, I thought it was time to bring back Classic Eats and continue our enjoyment of L.A. restaurants and bars that have been around longer than most of us have lived here. From my calculations, this will be Classic Eats #15 and it’s going to be a fast and simple one. By that, I mean it’s happening later this week and there’s no voting because I already decided on the location.

The Red Lion Tavern in Silver Lake is a German Gasthaus and Beer Garden that was established in 1959 as an English pub. When the ownership changed in 1963, it took on its German theme. There’s food, lots of beer, and atmosphere at the Red Lion. Come out this Friday, November 4th at 7pm to have a bite to eat, a drink, and hang out with writers and readers of Blogging.la. If you missed a chance to celebrate Oktoberfest, now you can!

Classic Eats #15
Friday, November 4th at 7pm

Red Lion Tavern
2366 Glendale Blvd 
Los Angeles, CA 90039-3209

The Red Lion Tavern is about 5 miles north of downtown L.A. It’s located just south of Silver Lake Boulevard. Limited parking is available in lots on either side of the building. There is also plenty of street parking in the vicinity. Leave a comment or drop me a line if you plan to attend.

The Heritage Square Museum at night.

This weekend: Halloween.  And no, take it from the misanthropic me: you can’t seem to get away from it even if you try.

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John Cho and Kal Penn as Harold and Kumar

The folks over at 8 Asians is running the contest.  Pretty simple rules you ask a question of John Cho and Kal Penn, they’ll read them, answer them and pick a winner.  All the details HERE at the 8 Asians post.  Its very important you ask the questions on their post as they won’t be looking here.  Seriously, ask the actors not the character (like my knuckle-headed kids insisted on).

While you are at it take a look at the 8 Asians blog.  They look at numerous issues, serious and humorous that affect the Asian American community.  The humorous ones are the most fun, but its all good.

Just a simple plug and we are cross posting with permission.  As well as using their publicity photo with permission.

Future dog houses on Santa Monica beach?

Will Santa Monica’s sand castles turn into dog houses? Will dogs kick sand in the faces of 98-pound weaklings on Santa Monica’s beaches? Or will the dogs end up in the pound? Those are some of the questions Santa Monica residents may be asking, after the Santa Monica City Council voted yesterday to come up with a pilot program for designating a dog beach, and to present the program to state officials in Sacramento.

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Photographer “discarted” whom I have at least heard of, had a really unfortunate run in with an L.A County Sheriff on the Red Line. Watch the video and try to hold your lunch down. The Sheriff quickly jumps from civility to hostility and accuses the photographer of being a terrorist and stops short accuses him of being an Al Qaeda operative out to blow up the L.A. Subway system.  Next thing we know the dude is cuffed and carted away.  For taking pictures.

Devils advocate for a moment.  When I’ve been asked what I’m doing with a camera I explain its personal use, artistic use and am usually left alone.  Maybe if he answered the same this would not have escalated the way it had?  Regardless of what he could have done differently CrimeScene blog reports the ACLU is involved and suing L.A. County Sheriff over this.

The core of “discarteds” innocence lies in the “Photographers Bill of Rights“.  I carry a copy in my camera bag just in case.