Apologies for the late-ish notice, but heads up if your afternoon is free:  Designer Con 2009 is up and running until 5pm today at the Pasadena Convention Center.  Designer art, apparel, and slick toys will be on display and for sale.  Their attitude is to “expand the scope of ‘that which is design.’”  Artists defining and expanding the scope of design include Amanda Visell, Christopher Lee, Tim Biskup, and Buff Monster (!).  If you follow Buff Monster on Twitter, you’ll see he’s made an exclusive t-shirt for the event.  And, though it’s not nearly as kawaii as watching the shiba inu puppies grow, ToyBreak also is using Ustream to stream live from the floor of the show.

Admission price is $5 before 3pm; after 3pm, it’s free.  See you at 3.

Just wanted to let you know about an awesome scavenger hunt game on the west side tomorrow afternoon, hosted by Wise Guys Events. It’s designed for teams of two and combines elements of a photo scavenger hunt and the spy game, Assassin. It’s super cheap for a few hours of fun and will be over in plenty of time for you to head to your evening plans.

Here’s some information I ripped from the event’s Facebook page:

Camera Assassins is the newest Wise Guys Events game! Play in teams of 2: that’s right, teams of 2! Get your future Amazing Race partner in on the action. It’s part photo scavenger hunt, part Assassin. You and your partner are racing to complete as many of the photo challenges as you can. The catch is, you can’t do them without the help of the other teams, and one of the other players is aiming to kill you. Unless your partner is.

Camera Assassins, the amazing game of double exposure! RSVP on their Facebook event page to play.

The cost is $20 per team, to be collected on game day.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
1:00p – 4:00p
Westwood Park – Meet at the Picnic Benches
1300 Veteran Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Tucked away in the nether regions between the two Valley’s lies the Black Box Theatre in the city of Montrose.   Black Box Theatre is the result of the talented efforts of the La Canada Theatre organization headed up by Al Pugliese.   They hold performances every third Thursday in a church in Montrose and I made last nights event.  It was most enjoyable!

There were a total of 4 short one act plays in the 1 1/2 hours.   They dealt with contemporary issues in a humorous sort of way.   The plays were all original material written by either Benjamin Epstein or Gary Kluger.   They write entirely new plays for each performance night. They weren’t always perfect, at times a little contrived or trite, but they kept me smiling throughout the performances.

The actors come out of the La Canada workshops. Some of the actors were really good at what they did and their performances were what really held the entire play together.   In particular I enjoyed the performances of Lanell Scott as the crusty PE instructor in “Teachers” and Deb Snyder as “Inga” in “Mad Scientist”. (more…)

click for a full view with map

The LAAA is having its annual Aurora Holiday Art Sale Saturday only 11/21.  There is a preview sale that includes complimentary champagne starting at 6pm that will cost you 25 bones.  Its free after 7PM but no free booze.   (Their flier does get bigger with a click for all the details you could ever want).

The best part of this show is that it is all about affordable art for collectors and exposing them to up-and-coming artists.  Artists like my friend Ginger Van Hook who was picked up after the jurists viewed her work at last weekends Inglewood Art Walk.

Are you a narcissitic drama queen? Do you want free rent? Then read on!

A CraigsList ad is asking for potential “new roommates” to apply for “The Real World’s” 24th season.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 24 then email us at rwcasting@bunim-murray.com with the following information: Name, Age, Phone number, A brief bio, Two recent photos

In the subject line write: “[your city] Recruiting”

Think you have what it takes? Feel free to include a copy of your cover letter in the comments below. For shits n giggles.

This Saturday is the 10-year-anniversary of the formation of the Swedish band known as Peter Bjorn & John–named after the band members, bless their little Swede souls–and they’re celebrating with surprise guests, rare songs, even a whistling contest. We’ve got your tickets! To win, you’ll have to humor me and leave a comment below containing something you hate most about The Kids. Because every time I hear the words “Young Folks,” all I think is “Get off my lawn!” For example [clears throat]: “I hate your f***ing acid-washed skinny jeans.” See? You know you can do this. Everybody can do this.  Show info is here.

We’ve got another couple pairs of tickets to give to you lucky people to see Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas in his residency at the Downtown Palace Theatre tomorrow night. Wanna go? Leave a comment below telling me why you deserve, more than anyone else, to see this show. Be ruthless.

Show info is here, if you’d like to read a bit more about it.

The fine folks behind the wheel and grill of Buttermilk Truck tweeted their arrival to Melrose Avenue near Orlando just as I was about to hop on my bike and head in to work. And while their location this morning would require a decent deviation from my normal Silver Lake-to-Westchester route, it was an offer me and my hunger pangs couldn’t refuse. So I tweeted back for them to keep an eye out for a drooling cyclist and away I went West Hollywood-ward, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t roll up on the recently launched vehicle to find the kind of crazy appetite-killing crowds these portable eateries are prone to attract.

Hallelujah! Rounding the corner from Kings Road onto Melrose I found the truck open for business at the curb and was relieved to take my place in a short queue that tripled in size within mintues of my arrival. Within a few more minutes of ordering and confirming to owner Gigi Pascual that I was indeed the drool-prone cyclist who tweeted (I hope my helmet gave it away and not any excessive salivations), my tastebuds were transported to Awesometown, taken there by their decadent Red Velvet & Chocolate Chips Pancake Bites ($5), and savory Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Sammich with applewood smoked bacon and a side patty of rosemary & garlic hashbrowns ($4), pictured at right.

Needless to say, I’ll be back and I highly recommend you check them out.

On the web: Buttermilk Inc.
Twitter: @ButtermilkTruck

Venice Beach

Ok, Metbloggers and Metblogs readers, get off your bikes and get ready for the Great Los Angeles Walk 2009 this Saturday, November 21.  This annual walk to celebrate Los Angeles has been taking place since 2006.  Here’s Will Campbell’s preview of last year’s walk. This year, over 300 feet are expected to join in.

Who
Great Los Angeles Walk is the brainchild of Mike and Maria, purveyors of the Franklin Avenue blog, and no doubt passionate readers of Los Angeles Metblogs.

What

A 13.5 mile walk from the Shrine Auditorium to Venice Beach, taking in the sights along Figueroa, Adams, Washington, the Mid-City, and Culver City on the way.
(more…)

LA is just awash in great rock shows. Tomorrow night’s offerings include electronic duo Royksopp at Club Nokia (show info), and Big Pink with locals Crystal Antlers at the El Rey (show info).

So many shows, so little time! If you don’t know about The Big Pink, you can hear them pretty regularly on KCRW now; I have to admit I was utterly annoyed by the lyrics of “Dominoes,” but that’s just my petulant feminism and bitterness about dating too many boys in bands. When I stop to listen to the layers of sound behind the words, it’s a crazy big sonic-scape that combines the best of shoegaze, deep house and Stone Roses/Oasis/Radiohead’s “Kid A.”

And Royksopp, our somber, crunky disco pals from Norway–well, how could anyone choose between these shows?

Too bad! You’re going to have to choose. To win tix to either show, you have to explain why you love either The Big Pink or Royksopp THAT much–or for a dark-horse kind of entry, you can profess your love for Crystal Antlers.  I have a handful of ticket pairs for each show, so go crazy & good luck.