Why, oh why, did my computer have to die?! Posting from spare compy that doesn't quite work right either. >_<

So anyone else going to Comic-Con next week? Planning and preparing for it is dominating a lot of my time. D'oh. And Lebowski Fest is happening the SAME weekend in San Diego.

All right! Down and dirty with this weekend's SoCal line-up:

Got $100 to burn on something you might only see once in your life? You can see blue whales off the coast of San Diego for that price, $80 for children. This month and next month only.

According to Yelp, Milk in Los Angeles is giving away FREE scoops of ice cream on Sunday.

Friday
"Crusaders & Haters" opening party at Royal/T in Culver City, FREE (Superhero attire encouraged!)

Saturday and Sunday
Gay Pride Celebration in San Diego, $20
Obon Festival in Anaheim, FREE
Ho'Olaule'a (Hawaiian festival) in Lawndale, FREE
Ticket to the Twenties, Roaring '20s Festival in City of Industry, FREE (Flyer)
1800s Country Fair and Loggers' Jubilee at Big Bear Lake, $15 one day, $26 weekend pass
Ocean Festival in San Clemente, FREE?

Saturday
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party bus at Golden Apple Comics in L.A., FREE (TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman will be there)
Orange County English Country Dance in Anaheim, $8

Sunday
Richard Halpern's "Roaring '20s Revue" with Star Trek: Voyager Robert Picardo crooning at Club Cicada in Los Angeles, NO COVER, DRESS CODE ENFORCED (the evening will be broadcast online)
Jazz Festival in San Pedro, FREE
Los Encinos Living History Day in Encino, FREE

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing. OASIS has several SoCal events listed here.

The Orange County Fair starts up this weekend. For their first hour, from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, July 10, parking and admission are FREE. Other deals include bringing food and book donations on Wednesdays.

Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center is hosting an exhibition of R. Crumb's work. The opening is this Saturday from 7-10 p.m.

L.A.'s Farmers' Market at Third and Fairfax is celebrating 75 years in business. Events are going on all throughout next week with tickets ranging $20-45.

And now a few weekend events:
Saturday
Target FREE Family Day at Japanese American National Museum in L.A., FREE
Orange County Great Park Anniversary in Irvine, FREE
Renegade Craft Fair in L.A., FREE
Funk Rumble Block Party in L.A.'s Chinatown, $5 before 4 p.m., $8 after
Target FREE First Saturdays at La Habra Children's Museum, FREE

Sunday
Bastille Day Festival in L.A., $5
Origami Festival at CSULB's Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, $7

Hey folks, only have enough time to post a couple of things today. Gotta run off to Santa Monica for another performance of Spider Baby: The Musical in a few minutes.

Anyway, tomorrow is Chinatown (L.A.)'s 71st Birthday celebration. Details on their site.

Tomorrow and Sunday are also an Alternative Art Market at the Majestical Roof in Pasadena.

And lastly, for now, EyeSpyLA is giving away tickets to SqueezeFestLA. Each request gets two tickets ($10 service fee, but the tickets are worth $60).

The L.A. Weekly is offering $49 tickets for select performances of Spamlot at the Ahmanson starting in July. Type LAWEEKLY onto the promotion code bar. The code seems to work on Orchestra section tickets if they're available.

June 27-28
San Diego Scottish Highland Games & Gathering of the Clans in Vista, $10-14
Gourd Art Festival in Fallbrook, $8 advanced tickets, $11 at the door
Street Painting Festival in Temecula, FREE
Long Beach Bayou Festival in Long Beach, $25-30
Pier Daze Pirate Invasion and Festival in Long Beach, FREE

June 27
Ojai Valley Lavender Festival in Ojai, FREE
Ocean Beach Street Fair, Chili Cook-off, and Fireworks Festival in Ocean Beach, FREE?

More events to be posted soon!

The Long Beach Museum of Art is in danger of several of its pieces being sold off to pay a $3 million construction bond the city owes. For 3 minutes, today at 3:30 p.m. the public may address the city council regarding this. L.A. Times blog Culture Monster juxtaposed the possibly impending sales with Stalin's regime.

Hollywood's Gemini Manor is having their Annual South Seas Luau is this coming Saturday. Tickets before June 25 are $12. After that they're $15. Your ticket includes valet parking and all you can eat and drink (they cannot serve alcohol, however, you're free to bring your own). More information was posted here.

Fullerton's got a stage production of Reefer Madness: The Musical at the Maverick Theater 'til Aug. 2. Shows are Friday, Saturday and some select Thursdays and Sundays. Tickets are $20-25 adults, $10-15 students.

There's tons of things I forgot to mention (as there often is as SoCal is a constantly jumping place all week long).

Chef Marilyn's Soul Food Express is doing another 99¢ for everything event in celebration of Juneteenth today. It's going until 9 p.m. tonight. Marilyn's is located at 2638 Crenshaw Blvd,
Los Angeles 90016.

FREE STUFF: It's FREE Chocolate Friday. Register on Mars' website for their Real Chocolate Relief Act. Also FREE today are A&W Root Beer Floats at your local A&W restaurant from 2-8 p.m. And finally, also FREE today are Light Smoothies at Orange Julius.

There are an ungodly number of car shows going on this weekend and in the coming days following. Want to find one near you? Check SoCal Car Culture.com.

Fabulous Fashionista is hosting a sample sale in L.A. Up to 70% off everything.

And now a few events:

June 20-21
Obon Festival in Los Angeles (Yelp has more info), FREE

June 20
Gallery Night Out: Miracle Mile Art Walk in L.A., FREE
Spirit to Spirit Solstice Faire in San Pedro (Once again, Yelp has more info), FREE

June 21
All You Can Eat Sushi for $2.50 at Sushi Q (from noon to 3 p.m.) in Chino Hills

except probably parking...

http://www.pasadenachalkfestival.com/

I have a friend who has participated for 15 years, I might be helping with the background coloring on her piece. I have stopped by this event for the last two years and it is AMAZING!!! over 600 artists are involved.

Sorry for the severe lack of posts. My stupid computer keeps overheating and shutting down in this warming climate. Best to post everything I've got while I can. And with it being Friday, my apologies if that doesn't give you enough time to plan for these things. I'm a bad informant. :(

( A few notes for comic geeks under the cut )

And now onto the events:



( Events under the cut )

This weekend is rather big for a lot of people as I'm sure those of you with plans already are well aware.

Picture This! gallery in Long Beach is doing a call for artists for their popular Frida exhibit. Submit your paintings of Frida Kahlo by August 15.

The "Temptation and Salvation: The Psalms of King David" opened yesterday at the Getty Center in L.A.

San Diego's County Fair is kicking off this Friday, running through July 5 in Del Mar. Adult admission is $13.

'Til June 14
Fountain Valley Summerfest, FREE
Ventura County Greek Festival in Camarillo, $2 ($1 off coupon on their site)

( More under the cut )

My apologies for not providing much eye candy in the past few weeks and a big thanks to those who've stuck around, contributing or inviting your friends to come watch the madness unfold here.

So, stuff:

Over in cult_film_freak, boju invites you to Dapper Cadaver in Sun Valley for Drawing Blood tomorrow night, a FREE evening of horror props artist appreciation.

Bowers Museum has their FREE Pacific Rim Family Festival this Sunday, coupled with FREE admission to the museum starting at 10 a.m.

Metal Jam 2009, a heavy metal jam session for charity, is kicking up soon in the L.A. and Orange County area. Sign-ups to perform in this year's line-up are starting Sunday, June 7 with the songs posted here.

More events to be posted soon.

Just posting a few events that are coming up before I may forget to post about them:

The L.A. Marathon is happening tomorrow. Just putting out the warning as I'm sure this may cause all kinds of traffic and headaches on your holiday weekend. Or you could go out there and cheer. ;P

May 30 in Long Beach, a screening at of Shaun of the Dead at the Art Theatre has inspired some people to have a little zombie walk down Fourth Street. Zombies get into the screening for $8.

The decision of how the voting went for Prop 8 is going to be announced this Tuesday. California's Supreme Court will issue their announcement at 10 a.m.

The Hammer Museum at UCLA's "Hammer Bash" is this coming Friday. FREE admission.

Machine Project is looking for a dancer and an actor for a project. E-mail them to schedule an audition. Auditions are being held June 7.

While I've got a little window of time, here's some things I've heard about that are also going on this weekend:



Cirque du Soleil is doing "Sideshow at the Pier" in Santa Monica from 2-8 p.m. tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's FREE.

Both days:
Aloha Expo 2009 in Santa Fe Springs, FREE

Saturday:
"Ancient Book Of Sex & Science" Book Release And Art Show in Alhambra, FREE

Sunday:
Cuban Music Festival in L.A., FREE

Click to enlarge:

Empire Steamworks presents Infernal Contraption.

Featuring L.A.’s top Steampunk artists, including the photography of Rei Sutton, the mad creations of Nick (aka Steampunk Ghostbuster), the delicious fashions of Kato, the exotic jewelery of Silent Cheesecake Studios, and many more, over 25 in all!

( Read more... )

The Great L.A. River Clean-up is tomorrow. Surpass the bandwagon "going green" crowd and get your hands dirty (or you could wear gloves, which is recommended). Find a location near you and lend a hand.

The Simpsons voice actress Yeardley Smith is going to be at the Barnes & Noble in the Grove at Farmers Market in L.A. tomorrow, signing her first book at 2 p.m.

The city of Monrovia has a Monrovia Day celebration that's going all week long.

Pasadena has their own Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk tomorrow.

Saturdays this May, the Silent Movie Theatre, in L.A., is having "HolyFuckingShit: That's Fucking!" festival. Featured this weekend is the Hong Kong film Sex and Zen.

And just a reminder to SoCal Faire fans: Bogfest is tomorrow at the Monrovia Doubletree. FREE.

I've been a little strapped for time this week, friends, but while I've got a a few minutes at the computer, I'll share some of the events I know are coming in the next few days.

Tonight at UCLA's Fowler Museum, there's a Bellydance Fusion event. "Dancers Sherri Wheatley, Ayse Cerami, Princess Farhana and special guests bring their West Coast flavor to a longstanding tradition." FREE.

Koroneburg Old World Festival, the Renaissance faire for the Corona/Norco area, starts up this weekend. $18 general, $3-off coupon on the site. Free parking.

This Sunday, a new exhibit called Bizarre Beasts opens at Muzeo in Anaheim, connecting with the "How to Make a Monster: The Art and Technology of Animatronics," making the new double-header exhibition "Monsters and Beasts: Hairy, Scary and Unleashed." $13 general, $9 students and seniors.

Interested in picking your own fruit? It's strawberry season and PickYourOwnFruit.org shares a list of festivals and other such events where you can indulge in a bit of harvesting.

May 8-10
Gator By the Bay: Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival in San Diego, $20
Northern Southern Winds Pow Wow in Los Angeles, FREE

May 8-9
AltBuild Expo in Santa Monica, FREE

May 9-10
L.A. Barbecue Festival, $10 (Get $5 if you enter the coupon code "met")

May 9
Old West Chili, Grub & Brew Roundup in Murrieta, FREE
Santa Monica Festival in Santa Monica, FREE
Old Time Jubilee in Earlimart, FREE?
Chocolate Festival in Encinitas, FREE (with admission to the Quail Botanical Gardens)
Children's Book Festival in San Diego, FREE
Craft Beer Fest L.A. at the Echoplex in L.A. ("$30 entrance fee covers beer, food, brewery roundtables and live music")

It seems if you're an actor or an artist you're in luck if you want to get your work noticed, even in some small way.



( Audition notice for 'Cannibal: The Musical!' )

Also, regarding Long Beach and Los Angeles, ravenfrogsuperk is doing a call for artists in ca_art_shows. Dates and details on the link provided.

Reminder to the comic book fans, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day.

This weekend is also when NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is having their open house.

It's also Unique L.A.'s independent design and gift sale.

And BarCamp7 L.A., which is also FREE.

And Santa Fe Art Colony's open studios weekend.

This Sunday is also an open studios day at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro.

Calabasas has a fine arts festival all weekend as well.

Machine Project also has a couple events going on. Link. Link 2.

On Saturday, 18th Street Art Center has a 20th Birthday Bash in Santa Monica.

And finally Cinco de Mayo is being celebrated all weekend at Olvera Street.

All right, so here's a few events happening this weekend. Chances are there's much more going on, and I'll post about what I might find that would be of interest. For now, here's what I've got so some of you can start planning.

Happy Beltane to those who believe in it!



This weekend is Bats Day at Disneyland. Details about connected events can be found here.

Already mentioned: JPL's Open house on Saturday and Sunday, FREE Comic Book Day on Saturday, and Trader Vic's at L.A. Live opening on Saturday.

April 30-May 7
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Various times and locations in either Little Tokyo (Los Angeles) or West Hollywood
$12 general admission per screening, $10 for students

May 1
Fiesta Brea
5-9 p.m.
At Birch Street, in downtown Brea
$10 for endless samples from the local restaurants

May 2-3
11th Annual Street Painting and Arts Festival
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Norman P. Murray Community Center (24932 Veterans Way at La Paz Rd., Mission Viejo)
FREE

( A few more events under the cut )

Tacos from Kogi BBQ truck. The center drink is cinnamon punch. Tastes like you're drinking a churro. Mmmmm....

April 24-25
L.A. Weekly's L.A. Weekend
1615 Vine St., Los Angeles
FREE (due to a sponsorship from Nike), Reserve for tickets through rsvp@laweekly.com

April 25-26
Los Angeles Times' Festival of Books
10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Saturday), 'til 5 p.m. on Sunday
UCLA (405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles 90095)
FREE

April 24
Opera Tales
3 p.m.
Malibu Library (23519 W. Civic Center Way, Malibu 90265-4804)
FREE

Children's Arts Festival
3:30-7:30 p.m.
Walter D Ehlers Recreation Center‎ (8150 Knott Ave., Buena Park)
FREE

April 25
15th Annual Bead Bazaar
10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Bower's Museum (2002 North Main St., Santa Ana 92706)
FREE

( More events under the cut )

With the Fangoria convention in the L.A. Convention Center, SoCal Zombie Walk is having a lurch around the block. Break out your liquid latex and dismembered appendages and join the fun.

This weekend's also the Brewery Art Walk in L.A.

West Coast Artists have a Fine Arts and Crafts Show at Warner Park in Woodland Hills (5900 Topanga Cyn. Blvd).

Monterey Park has their Cherry Blossom Festival this Saturday and Sunday.

In the same vein, Torrance has a Japanese Cultural Festival this weekend as well.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day at Amoeba Records.

Sunday is the opening day celebrations of the Bowers Museum (in Santa Ana)'s Art of the Samurai. The whole day is filled with events that are FREE with museum admission.

I'm still digging up events going on this weekend. Feel free to suggest more if you think of any. In the meantime, here's some more to select from.

Starting today, and going 'til Sunday, it's Los Angeles Art Weekend. Many events and activities to check out.

Other events going on:

April 4-5
Spring Time Family Fun at the Farmer's Market
Noon-3 p.m.
Farmer's Market at Third and Fairfax (6333 W. Third St., Los Angeles)
FREE

April 4
City of San Dimas Family Festival
9 a.m.-2 p.m.
San Dimas Civic Center Plaza (245 E. Bonita Ave., San Dimas)
FREE

11th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Day Festival and Walk
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
El Pueblo Historical Monument (125 Paseo de la Plaza, Los Angeles)
FREE

April 5
Thai New Year "Songkran" Festival
9 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Thai Town (Hollywood Blvd. between Western Ave. and Normandie Ave., Hollywood)
FREE

Montana Avenue in Santa Monica is doing a tax-free weekend. The local merchants will pay the sales tax on your purchases.

So I'm not quite sure why, but this weekend is stuffed to the gills with festivals, openings, and other such nifty things to do and see. Most of them FREE.

Feast on some culture this weekend. Enjoy!

April 2-19
11th Annual Film Noir Festival
Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood)
$10 per movie (unless otherwise noted)

April 2-5
Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival
10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Orange County Fairgrounds (88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa 92626)
$10 general, seniors $8
$5 parking

April 2
A Celebration of Emerging Musical Talent
6-11 p.m.
Along and off of Lankershim in North Hollywood
FREE

( Many more events under the cut )

FIDM's 17th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit (where you can see costumes from The Dark Knight, the fourth Indiana Jones movie, The Fall, The Spirit, Speed Racer, The Duchess, etc) is closing up this Sunday. It's FREE and open to the public, so check it out while there's still time.

San Diego Comic-Con's Saturday-only badges are 68% sold. Once those sell out, it's just Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Saturday badges go for $35. No transfers are allowed this year, so don't rely on finding a badge of eBay this year.

Opening tomorrow, LACMA has the "Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972–2008" exhibition at their West building.

Friday is Fetish Film Night at the Egyptian Theater. This week's features are short films inspired by the Radical Faeries. Exhibit on display at Antebellum Gallery.

Although a date hasn't quite been named, a Snuggie Pub Crawl is happening all around the country for "the blanket with sleeves" enthusiasts everywhere. Proceeds are going to an orphanage in Tanzania.

Royal/T in Culver City is hosting a Japanese film festival this Friday SATURDAY from 6-10 p.m. Among the films shown will be River, Diary of The DOROBO, Rose-colored Freeway, and The 8th Samurai. Reservations are encouraged as seating is limited. $5 cover.

Machine Project has got a lot going on (including a pie get-together on Pi Day this Saturday), but next month they're transforming their space into a magical forest which will get spookier as the month goes on.

Also nature-related in April is the opening of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, a 50-acre state park near the Kenneth Hahn State Recreational Area.

And finally, the swallows are returning to San Juan Capistrano next week, traditionally on the 19th. The city has a parade planned; however, almost every day of next week has an event going on.

Since thousands upon thousands of people have only recently discovered the graphic novel hailed as the greatest of all time, DC wants to attract as many people as they can to the comics world by releasing five reprints of similarly applauded comics labeling them "After Watchmen, What's Next?" for $1 each. The press release can be found here. The list includes: Saga of the Swamp Thing #21, Preacher #1, Identity Crisis #1, Planetary #1 and Transmetropolitan #1.

So before Watchmen, what was there? Why the Golden Age of comics, of course! The Skirball has an exhibition on display through early August entitled, "ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950" Never-before-seen art and objects are on display. But the question still remains: will it address Superman being Siegel & Shuster's metaphor for Jewish immigrants?

But if you're looking for straight-up Watchmen references Meltdown Comics has Physical Nostalgia, a compilation exhibit of fan art based on the book. Story on it at L.A. Weekly.

And just a reminder: though Wizard World L.A., which would have been happening this coming weekend has been postponed, San Diego Comic-Con has certainly not been. Four-day passes are nearly sold out, in fact.

The CSUN Photo Club is having their annual show called "Parenthe(sees)". 

Admission is free, but parking is $5 all day.  The West Gallery is located on Plummer  and Halstead.

( Details after the jump! )

OK, I'm supposed to be working on a paper right now, but I'm just not feeling up to it quite yet. Curse my procrastinating habits. So here's a few ideas of weekend activities for the bored and such:

Dungeon Master is starting their new season this Sunday. $10 to see the show and/or participate on stage, $8 if you come in costume. If you plan to participate, you must submit a character card before the show.

Machine Project has a few science fiction authors on hand this Friday.

Long Beach's Smithsonian Week rages on.

Kip Fulbeck, photographer and creator of the Hapa Project, is doing a photo shoot in Manhattan Beach this Saturday from 11-2:30 p.m. He's looking for kids 12 and younger who come from two or more ethnic groups. Photos will appear in his new book. If you're interested in your child being a part of the project, e-mail: kayla_coleman@umail.ucsb.edu More information on the shoot. Kip says this will be the last L.A. shoot.

Got a thing for vintage Hawaiian memorabilia? Check out the "Tiki Mugs: Cult Artifacts of Polynesian Pop" book signing this Friday at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in L.A..

Three Balboa Park (in San Diego) museums at charging half-price admission from now until May 25. They include: Mingei International Museum, the Museum of Man, and the Museum of Photographic Arts.

The L.A. County Arboretum is hosting the Monrovia Rockhounds' annual Gem and Mineral Show this Saturday and Sunday.

Need more? The LAist posted a list of cheap happy hours in Los Angeles.

The Andy Warhol photographs exhibit at USC's Fisher Museum of Art opened this week. The exhibit features a wide selection of photos Warhol took "of everyone from Muhammad Ali to Georgia O’Keefe to Candy Spelling." It will be on display through April 18.

Royal/T has a FREE Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara screening this Sunday. This Saturday, they've got a tokidoki x Bearbrick release event and signing from 2-5 p.m.

Though The Simpsons has just been renewed for another 2 seasons, after 22 years, the L.A. Weekly has decided to drop Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" comic strip.

LoCali's got a grand opening and ribbon-cutting tomorrow. The eVite can be found here. KTLA has a story on the new convenience store here.

Oceanic art is all the rage at the moment with LACMA filling a big chunk of its collection with it, a San Diego Museum of Art exhibition in the works, as well as a sculpture garden near Long Beach's Museum of Latin American Art.

Foie gras is on its way to being banned in West Hollywood. The ban will take effect in summer of 2012.

Down Vegas way, it's been confirmed that due to popular demand the Star Trek Experience will reopen in downtown.

Sorry, folks, school's been a heavy-load lately.

Here's a couple more things going on this weekend that might be of interest as contrasting as they are.


Photo by mark.pavlov

St. Catherine's Military Academy in Anaheim is having a Civil War re-enactment weekend. If you just haven't gotten enough of your Lincoln fix, they've got a look-alike giving the Gettysburg Address and several other activities. $7 adults, $4 for kids. Going both Saturday and Sunday.

Antebellum Gallery presents Radical Faerie: 30th Anniversary of Gay Male Counterculture Exploration. The opening reception is this Saturday, from 7-9 p.m. $10 cover, $5 with a costume, and nudists get in FREE.

Smithsonian Week events are apparently kicking off this weekend in Long Beach, with much more going on this year than in the past.

NEXT WEEK:
39th Annual Pow Wow at CSULB

As comic book creator Stan Sakai mentioned on his LJ, this weekend is the opening for Pasadena's Pacific Asian Museum's exhibit The Samurai Re-Imagined: From Ukiyo-e to Anime.

The museum has several events lined up in the coming months for the exhibit including a few anime festivals and a presentation and signing with Sensei Stan.

Admission to the museum is $9 for adults, but is also FREE every fourth Friday of the month.