The RSVP Line (Weekend Edition): Poketo Karaoke + Echo Park Fest + Renegade Crafts

T-G-I-[the mother f++king]-Weekend. Pardon the potty mouthed intro, but this week could not end soon enough. And the next few days are jam-packed with awesome free and fun activities. Because, apparently, the party Gods knew we needed a [mother f++king] break.

Tonight (Friday)! Get down with your local art community, care of Poketo at their Karaoke Dance Party. The party goes from 8 p - 1 a at Royal/T and offers something for everyone. For those who like to sing [badly], there is (duh) the karaoke. For those who prefer to shake a tail feather, there's (duh) dance. For those who get down with visuals, there's the Poketo pop-up to check out as well as the amazing collection housed by cafe-meets-gallery, Royal/T. Quick! RSVP here.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Echo Park Community Festival will be taking over what used to be the Lotus Festival (Lotus ran out of funds, so I've heard). The fest will take place in [where else] Echo Park. Though the website's art features dragons and ducks, I'm not promising either one. I just know there will be music and probably a lot of hipsters.

Also on both Saturday and Sunday is the Renegade Craft Fair, arriving in LA for the very first time. As we all know East Siders love to craft, I expected this to be held in Silverlake or somewhere equally artsy, but the fair makes its debut in Downtown LA at the California Market Center.

And if and when you do make it to Downtown, I highly recommend you stop by the sample sale going on over the weekend at Guy Baxter's studio (117 W. 9th Street, LA). I stopped by and spotted lots of great deals from $15 and up.

Happy weekend!! xoxo

art in LA: Public Art Party in Beverly Hills

If you're not yet familiar with ForYourArt, I suggest you get familiar. From the organization's Map of public art, to its involvement with amazing art events aroud town, FYA is making art happenings and art news accessible to the community.

This Saturday, FYA is hosting its first Public Art Party, celebrating the renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and I'm super excited. Find the details below and find me in Beverly Hills on Saturday! (I'll be the one shoving Crumbs cupcakes down my piehole while others are actually making note of the art.)

Public Art Party invites Angelenos to celebrate public art in Beverly Hills and the renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama whose public sculpture, Hymn of Life: Tulips, is located on Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive by participating in a one-day, self-guided cultural experience.

A special MAP ForYourArt: Public Art Party will be available at participating locations as well as online at www.publicartparty.com.

Public Art Party: Beverly Hills Locations

1. Yayoi Kusama's Hymn of Life: Tulips (Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard)

The 10-foot-tall, brightly colored, floral sculpture is a beautiful example of Kusama's practice and the centerpiece of Public Art Party. Visitors can have their digital portrait taken in front of the sculpture as a keepsake that will be featured on publicartparty.com. Reading, knitting, hoola-hooping and yoga are encouraged in the park around the sculpture.

2. Videos by Yayoi Kusama at The Paley Center for Media (465 N. Beverly Drive)

The Paley Center for Media screens three short films by Kusama in the Bell Family Gallery: Flower Orgy (1968), Flower Obsession Gerbera (1999) and Flower Obsession Sunflower (2000) that highlight the trajectory and development of the artist’s use of the flower motif as an artistic model. As a special treat, the rooftop gardens will be open all day for picnicking.

3. Yayoi Kusama: Flowers That Bloom at Midnight at Gagosian Gallery (456 N. Camden Drive)

The Japanese artist's first solo show in Los Angeles since 1998 transforms the gallery space into a magnified and playful garden. Gagosian is open today for the festivities, and the exhibition is on view until July 17.

4. Picnic lunch from Porta Via (424 N. Canon Drive)

Pick up a box lunch at the neighborhood favorite to enjoy a picnic at Kusama’s Hymn of Life: Tulips or on the rooftop garden at the Paley Center for Media. Boxes include a panini, salad and a cookie. Call to order 310.274.6534.

5. Kusama-inspired cupcake from CRUMBS Bake Shop (9465 Little Santa Monica Boulevard)

CRUMBS Bake Shop is offering a special Kusama-inspired cupcake for Public Art Party.

Obsessions: toys, ponies, and parks

Remember those toys you had when you were young--the ones that had you dreaming of moving into fantasy lands, eating ice cream all day, and living on a cloud? Be it a dollhouse or a maze--the toy land seemed magical and far more fun than real life (later on, you would come to realize this was entirely true and regret not spending more time playing Candyland, but that is neither here nor there).

Well, I don't know if I'm just having Neverland-related fantasies from all the Michael Jackson hype, or if this is actually the coolest toy set known to child. But I'm just head-to-toe excited about this My Little Pony Ponyville Sweet Sundae Amusement Park Play Set. Not only is the name so long it could entertain you for hours, if not days, but check out some of these highlighted features...

• It’s just another day at the park for you and your pony pal—the amusement park, that is—with this fun-filled play set
• Park includes a pony figure, an ice cream parlor play set, a roller coaster play set, a Ferris wheel play set and play accessories
• The fun and surprises don’t end until you turn out the lights at this adventure-filled amusement park
• Manufacturer's Suggested Age: 4 Years and Up

Well, color me excited and older than 4 years old--I want to move in! I vote for a life size build-out of the whole shebang.

* The website for Hasbro--maker of both Candyland and My Little Pony seems not to be working. Which makes me wonder--have they gone belly up like every other business in the 50 United States?

Laugh Track: Upright Citizens Brigade

Sure, I started going to shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade (founded by Amy Poehler and other funny human beings) because I had to (classes at the theatre require two visits per term). But some of the best places I've ever visited would have gone unearthed had someone not forced me to go. Take the dentist, for example. Or jail.

The line to get in is a complete and utter hassle, yes. But the entertainment inside is good. And it's cheap. And there aren't many good, cheap entertainment options left in Los Angeles. Aside from dog-walking and gender guessing games on the corner of Santa Monica and Vine, going out in this city's expensive.

I can only speak to two of the theatre's shows so far--'Facebook' (featuring cutie Ron Huebel of The Office and Human Giant) and 'The Smokes' (featuring no one I know but dudes who were funny all the same). And both are worth the $5 to get in. They are especially worth the free admission for UCB students.

Tip No. 1 - Arrive early to wait in the block-long lines that form before popular shows.

Tip No. 2 - Arrive with entertainment for the wait--be it a deck of cards, a bottle of wine in a paper bag with a straw, or another human being.

Tip No. 3 - Sitting on the stage looks like it would be fun--being part of the spotlight and the action and all. But, in fact, you end up unable to see half the cast's faces. Which is not that fun after all.

Tip No. 4 - Apparently 'ASSSSCAT' is one of the better shows. I haven't seen it. But I would like to give it a 3rd party recommendation anyway.

ASSSSCAT - Medicinal Marijuana

www.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

Idiot Lotus Flower Who Runs with Children.

Beware--there are severely disabled Idiots out there and they have video cameras and access to children. Sometimes, they are racist. Sometimes, they're just plain stupid. They are throwing horrifically themed kids' parties and need to be stopped.

Exhibit A: Watch the video of this Idiot giving Native American Names to a gaggle of kids for a Native American themed party.


How to Give Native American Names to Kids -- powered by eHow.com

Stop the madness. Steal an Idiot's camera today.

* This is a warning from the Anti Idiot League of America. That's AILOA for short, yo.

Mind f**k: rad optical illusion.

Just because it's Monday and you obviously need a break, let me present to you the greatest mind f**k of the century, or at least of today--Monday, July 6th.

Take a look at the below (not for too long--I tried that and will now likely vomit) and notice the green and the blue spirals...

Now ooh and aah when I tell you that those spirals are actually the same flipping color. The orange spirals do not in fact go through the 'blue' spirals as they first appear to and the 'blue' is contrasted with a magenta, playing all sorts of wild tricks on our eyes.

Don't believe me? Well, I didn't believe in Santa Claus and then a reindeer landed in my backyard one day, so there you go.

[Via TED Blog via DISCOVER Magazine]

We Like to Party: En Tu Ciudad (or, a white girl learns to shake her boot-ay)

Last night, I went out with mi three amigos to the LA pit-stop of My Space Latino's En Tu Ciudad tour (which I painstakingly translated--for your sake, of course--to mean 'in your city'). In response to my RSVP, I had been emailed back with a secret password to enter the party. While password-protected parties usually make me want to hurl, I was excited as this password was so much fun to say--'Paloma.' (Try it--say it aloud--it's fun, I promise!) And apparently 'Palomas' would also be the featured drink special for the evening. Needing translation for this word as well, I asked my Latino coworker for assistance. He claimed 'Paloma' meant bird--something between a dove and a pigeon. Not satisfied with this definition, I googled it. 'Paloma,' it turns out, is also a tequila cocktail. I much preferred this translation.

At the party, after enjoying one or two (ok, perhaps three) Palomas, another of my Mexican cohorts explained that a Paloma is made with Tequila and Squirt. Well, after my initial shock...and then disgust...I settled on delight. Yes, I like Squirt cocktails--it's true!

My buddies in Wait. Think. Fast. performed an awesome set.

And I learned that there is such a thing as a cute accordion player.

I'm old and needed to get to bed before my coach turned into a pumpkin and/or I crashed my Jetta from too many Palomas. But the crowd continued to party on long after I did. Because, as it turns out, Latinos (not blondes) have much, much more fun.

The Pictures: (500) Days of Summer

I attended Gen Art's advance screening of '(500) Days of Summer' tonight. I went with high hopes for romance. (There is nothing more satisfying than a happy ending when you most expect it.) The film was definitely going to be an 'artsy' one--Zooey Deschanel seems to favor the kind (even her role in the uber-commercial 'Elf' was subversive)--but the trailer seemed to offer the promise of love--or at least love-making--and indie romance is better than none. But [without disclosing too much] '(500) Days of Summer' didn't deliver the happy ending I was hoping for.

The filmmakers depicted a stunningly truthful and beautiful portrayal of love's realistic pitfalls. But in the film's cinematic universe, the characters are far more attractive than the rest of us and are able to pick up the pieces of a broken heart at a rather un-realistically rapid pace. The leads, played by Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, show much greater resilience and experience a good deal more luck than us mere non-actor mortals.

The movie is out on July 17th. See it for yourself. Perhaps the ending will satisfy you and your bizarre desire for realism in art. If nothing else, the soundtrack was pretty rad, featuring the likes of The Smiths, Feist, Hall & Oates, my absolute fave Regina Spektor, and other fine musicians.

Idol Worship: The religion of Celebrity

This week has seen the coming and going of more cultural icons than our celebrity-obsessed culture knows what to do with. And all the hubbub has made me wonder what in Hollywood's hot hell we're thinking and why we care so much about these individuals?

I like to be entertained as much as the next person (though my version of entertainment generally involves bad online TV accompanied by Chinese take out and a 12 pack of Diet Coke), but my relationship with the entertainer ends when the show/movie/song does. Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie are not my best friends (though they may play them on TV), Brad Pitt is not my boyfriend, and Kanye West is not my spiritual adviser (despite his attempts at prophecy).

While Michael Jackson’s untimely passing is undoubtedly a tragedy, we’d not heard new music from him since 2001. He was last in the news for controversial molestation charges and massive debt. And while mourning him, I understand--a fellow human being has passed too soon--one that we felt like we knew through his music, one who'd earned our compassion for his troubled childhood and saddened spirit--it's the parades and idolization and worldwide pandemonium following his death that I'm not sure I comprehend. He was a human. And humans die. Especially ones that undergo frequent elective surgery and ingest oodles of scrips over a lifetime. And I think our reaction as a society begs the question--what are our priorities? Why do we choose to revere some people as gods and dismiss others as insignificant? How are we still, in 2009, practicing idol worship?