Archive for December, 2009
Readers Gone Wild
THANK YOU, JOE FRANCIS
Thanks not necessarily for making the wild vids but for being the guy who made the wild vids. In an otherwise slow holiday news week, our Web site lit up after we blogged that Gawker had judged Joe Francis “<a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladail…
Foster-Child Power
In October, on the eve of big cuts to the state’s child-welfare system, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted of signing other bills to help foster youths in 2010. While slashing more than $80 million from the foster-care budget, Schwarzenegger promised that his signature …
Los Angeles’ Red-Light Ticket Ripoff
In October, a piece of what looked like junk mail sent to me from a P.O. box turned out to contain grainy pictures of my car, license plate and face in the classic L.A.-driving-trance position. I’d been captured on camera doing a “California roll” while making a…
Panic, Despair and Revolution
And so another year comes to an end, and with it a decade (Gregorian contrarians notwithstanding) in which the answer to the question “What is cinema?” underwent more radical transmutations than in any comparable period since the dawn of moving images.
There was panic…
Filmmakers of the Decade: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh spent much of the 1990s mired in a post–sex, lies and videotape cold streak. It didn’t thaw entirely until 2000, with the one-two punch of Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Both films netted stellar reviews, grossed a combined $…
Silencing Hawthorne High’s Music Man
For most of this decade, the Hawthorne High School drum line has arrived at competitions dressed in black, tuxedo-cut uniforms with the boys smartly extending their arms to escort the girls from the bus, where they leave behind their baggy jeans, sneakers, short skirts — an…
Still Not Sick of the Holiday?
Cabrillo Music Theatre presents Irving Berlin’s holiday musical classic.
Sat., Dec. 26, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 27, 2 & 7 p.m.; Mon., Dec. 28, 2 p.m.; Tue., Dec. 29, 2 & 7 p.m., 2009…
RICKY DON’T LOSE THAT NUMBER
Premier prestidigitator Ricky Jay’s latest show, A Rogue’s Gallery — An Evening of Conversation and Performance, is one in which he opens up in such an expansive way that it’s not a trick. Directed by David Mamet, the show, which runs for only two weeks, is, as magic requires, something …
BOXING DAY PICK OF THE WEEK
Towering, glistening skyline? Check. Outdoor skating rink? Check. A revolving lineup of wildly eclectic entertainment provided free of charge? Check. What city is this, anyway? The Free Winter Music Series at Pershing Square is in full bloom, and there’s something for everyone. Today, it’s the Jumbo…
Truck vs. Church and State: Kogi Bites Back
Kogi Beatdown!
Wow! Little did our Squid Ink food blog editor, Amy Scattergood, know what she was getting into when she asked Church and State chef Walter Manzke a simple question, “Is there anything you won’t eat?” Manzke answered thusly and in the process …