When you think of design events, what comes to mind is a leisurely stroll through a gallery, stopping occasionally to ponder over an exhibit. Or listening to well-known designers expound tirelessly upon their work. As interesting as those events may be, they’re certainly not the stuff of a Saturday nightlife. However, Cut & Paste’s recent design tournament (held at the Music Box in Hollywood) breaks that mold, presenting their design event as somewhat of a spectator sport. →

Cut & Paste is back in town! For a while there most thought it wasn’t going to happen this year but those guys at Cut & Paste are back in town looking for the best in 2D, 3D and Motion Graphics!  The event comes off this weekend at the Music Box in Hollywood. (To read my account of last year’s event click here.) →

Last Thursday the International Television Festival’s opening gala event took place in the courtyard of the Laemmle Sunset 5, marking the beginning of a week of independent television screenings, talks, and mixers.

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L.A. Convention Center – Los Angeles, CA
Live Review: 6/25 to 6/27/10

From June 25-27 the amazing home design show, Dwell on Design, took place at the L.A. Convention Center, drawing 18,000 visitors and more than 250 companies. The show boasted an abundance of welcoming spaces, with individual exhibitors like Kohler, Method and Hewlett-Packard delighting attendees with beautifully designed and spacious booths that made you linger awhile.

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Evil Monito Interviews the Big Cheese Himself
LA is in the grips of a cheese wave. The Foundry chef, Eric Greenspan’s, planned grilled cheese restaurant is on the ZagatBuzz list of most anticipated LA restaurants. Grilled cheese food trucks roam the city drawing huge lines and even the fast food chains are trying to get in on the action.

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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. →