If you haven't yet heard, Slake is LA's new literary pub edited by LA Weekly ex-ers, Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnely. And it's not only LA based. It's LA focused. And that should excite all of our narcissistic, LA's-better-than-your-city-cause-we've-got-great-weather-and-hot-chicks tendencies. I know it satiates mine.
This Sunday, Slake will be infiltrating the Hotel Cafe for its first Hollywood reading. Readers will include:
• Dana Goodyear
• John Albert
• Dana Johnson
• Joseph Mattson
• Victoria Patterson
• Rachel Resnick
• Joe Donnelly
I will be there. Won't all of you Angelenos not prepping for an award show, getting a Brazilian (whatever kind of Brazilian y'all get these days), or reliving the Jersey Shore [when it was still Stateside] on TiVo, join me?
Hotel Cafe Reading
Sunday, January 30 at 6 p
Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
This week marked the second annual TEDxUSC conference--a local offshoot of the famed (and occasionally infamous) TED conference. While the program had its ups and downs, it was, overall, an inspiring and uplifting day of speakers, performances, and screenings. (Which says a lot as I'm generally not easily moved. They don't call me Cruella for nothing...no, they don't really call me that, you nincompoop.)
Here are some highlights.
* Raul Fernandez' short film/music video, 'The Woods: The Final Breaths of a Main Character.' The film is beautiful and creative and worth watching. The video is below for your viewing amazement.
* Paul Frommer spoke on creating the made up language, Na'vi, for communications on the land of Pandora (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you were clearly out of the planet for the last Oscar season).
* Jazz musician Charlie Parker apparently invented bee bop because he suspected that white musicians would not be able to copy the style. This somehow related to Johanna Blakley's talk about the lack of copyright protection in the fashion industry (don't ask me to explain my notes 3 days later, please).
* Short film 'Amelie and Alchemy' portrayed a father's quest to have his four year old daughter pose and hold still for a photograph taken by a century old camera device. I wish I could find the short in full online to show you as it was fantastic.
* Navigenics is a company founded by speaker Dr. David Agus. You: spit in a vial. They: give you a full report on your chances for disease as compared to the average population. Fascinating. Advanced. Likely insanely expensive. But still fascinating!
Drinking for drinking's sake is alright. I have nothing against it and occasionally, in fact, encourage it. But sometimes it's nice to drink next to someone who has more on his mind [both literally and figuratively] than cheap PBRs.
Mindshare LA, is a monthly forum for Angelenos who'd like a little learning with their liquor. And next week, the Mindshare folks will meet again and invite you to join them in an evening of talks, talking and, yes, drinking.
Next week's program will include...
David Orban / Founder, Chief Evangelist, WideTag, Inc. & Advisor, Singularity Univeristy
The Internet of Things
Matthew J. Smith / Harvard Law School
Negotiation & Mediation Afterhours
Wil Carson / Senior Project Designer, Michael Maltzan Architecture
New Questions for a New City
Emily Tyrant / Pervert Extraordinaire, Den of Iniquity
Acclimating Men to Pain
