Machine Project recently celebrated the holidays in that time-honored Machine way by submerging food in boiling oil and frying till, laced with artery-clogging cholesterol. This year’s “Fry B-Q” was expanded with the addition of the “Freeze-B-Q” where liquid nitrogen was poured over things such as blended fruit. The nitrogen froze them instantly, resulting in frozen delicacies such as marshmallow pops and ice cream shots. →

Photo courtesy of John Eng.

T’was December 21st and all through the City of Angels final holiday parties were in full swing.  Yet of them all, the one to be at was definitely the 25th Anniversary holiday party of the Modern Committee of Los Angeles (Modcom), held atop  City Hall in the Tom Bradley room! →

On December 17Th, Flux ended 2009 with what was arguably their best event yet in the Hammer screenings series. Given their impressive track record of well-crafted events, this was no mean task. Yet they managed to fill the evening with videos that were all enjoyable followed by equally as enjoyable presentations. With the night’s pièce de résistance being a live performance by Mia Doi Todd, accompanied by a band which included independent film maven Michel Gondry on drums. →

October was a month packed with design (this past week also being National Design Week — who comes up with this stuff anyway?). Adobe Max was easily the largest of these events. Some others include Mini Max (a mini version of Adobe Max). A documentary screening of Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight at Space15Twenty. A week long celebration of the 35th Anniversary of Hello Kitty at Royal/T. And LACMA’s From the Spoon to the City (where architects talk about their design process) — also next week.

Starting off the month though was FlashapaloozaStock IV, which set the stage for all the other events to live up to. It was a full day devoted to Flash, with a night of partying with like-minded people. The event, which has always been totally free, took place at Almer-Blank in Venice — the heart of Los Angeles’ Flash community. →

The 1950s in America conjure up visions of beatniks, greasers, letter sweaters, poodle skirts.  Of hep cats with cool chicks cruising down to the local diner. And if they lived in Downey, chances are that diner would have been Harvey’s Broiler on Firestone Boulevard.

Famous from the start, the diner which had been declared eligible for “State Historical Landmark” status, was illegally demolished in 2007. Preservationists around the country held their breath in anticipation of what the city would do, particularly because this case had a bearing on historic preservation nationwide. They applauded the city’s decision to rebuild Johnie’s and now after two long years, last Saturday’s daylong celebration marked the reopening of the historic broiler in its newest incarnation as a Bob’s Big Boy. →

Last Thursday the Independent Television Festival Awards program took place at the Laemmle Sunset 5 bringing to an end a week long run of screenings, panels and parties. The festival aimed at showcasing independently produced television pilots and web series is the only one of its kind in LA, and just one of two in the entire country →

This past Tuesday Flux celebrated summer with a screening of Dear Lemon Lima at its monthly Cinema Tuesdays event at the Montalban. Accompanied by an unhealthy helping of sugar and a riot of color, the screening was followed by a Q&A with first time director, Suzi Yonessi and the cast of the film, followed by a Belvedere-Macerated-fueled after party (deejayed by the amazing, DJ Troublemaker.) →

A reason regularly cited by non-theater people for not going to dramatic productions is that without knowing which are good and which are questionable, it can be a most expensive crapshoot. One answer is the Echo Theater Company’s free public reading series. Here’s an opportunity to see if this is a play you’d want to catch if finally produced and if you don’t like it, you aren’t out anything either. →

The Freeze-B-Q
Its usually always interesting to see what Machine Project will come up with next. But especially so on holidays like the Fourth of July (remember that liquid psychedelic projection?) This year they did two events. One a Freeze-B-Q members party and then immediately following, a Fourth of July Sing-a-long, which was open to the public. →

This year’s CA Boom show took place in the Modern style, former Robinsons Department Store in Beverly Hills. (With its large areas of fake gold decoration conspicuously out of keeping with the exterior, which was added when the building served as a casino set.) →