Artist MADSTEEZ has completed one of the sickest mural’s I’ve ever seen and what’s best, it is all soccer! Even better – it’s in LA! I gotta go see this thing with my own eyes.

Thx Addy

No Huffington Post contributor Steven Nereo didn’t write it for this blog, but he pretty much nailed the assignment anyway.

My Los Angeles has nothing to do with the botox playground of shallow bluetooth-headset-clad knobs. Of course it is sometimes fun to joke about this element, but a weird aside is all that is in my Los Angeles. What people often fail to realize is that Los Angeles isn’t in your face like tighter cities so everything is an effort. If you don’t like the Beverly Center, skip it… forever. Don’t make the effort. You won’t miss it and it definitely won’t miss you.

The right choices include great friends and great people. Oceans to surf in and mountains to bike. It’s drunken taco trucks adventures at 2 a.m. and hungover ones at 2 p.m. The city that everyone loves to hate also happens to also be a city that loves to be loved, and loves you back like a three movie cuddle-fest with a rad person.

Amen brother!

Link

Thx Greg.

The AFI Film Festival rolls out next weekend and they are trying something quite new this year. Namely, they aren’t charging for tickets (they have also moved the location from Arclight to the Mann Chinese) . You can still buy a festival pass which guarantees entry to screenings – but they aren’t selling any regular screening tickets. Instead they are asking festival goers to either sign up for the free showings the want to attend or just show up and stand in line. The order form for free tix is here – but whoops… looks like I posted this a bit late and the free tix are pretty much all gone. Well if anyone is interested in trying to wait in line for the following screenings, let me know.

Highlights

The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fri. Oct 30, 7:00 pm
The fest opens with the premiere of Wes Anderson’s puppet-astic tale that hits theaters Nov 12.

City of Life and Death
Sun. Nov 1, 1:00 pm
This arty Rape of Nanking drama premiered at TIFF to great reviews.

Precious
Sun. Nov 1, 7:00 pm
Everyone wants to see the festival darling of 2009 before it comes out Nov 6th – and you can see it for free at AFI.

Youth In Revolt
Tue. Nov 3, 10:15 pm
This Michael Cera starrer is sure to have a fun little run in the theaters – but apparently not until January.

The Road
Wed. Nov 4, 7:00 pm
Scary scary Viggo comes to theaters at the end of November – but he’ll be in person a few weeks early for this Gala tribute to him.

Transcendant Man
Thu. Nov 5, 4:00 pm
This documentary about inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil sounds quite interesting – and I don’t imagine it will have too long of a line.

Looking For Eric
Thu. Nov 5, 7:00 pm
How about a light hearted euro flick from the normally serious Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley)?

A Single Man
Thu. Nov 5, 7:00 pm
The closing night film is Tom Ford’s surprise hit from TIFF, set to hit theaters on Dec 11.

Check out this great site of local DJ podcasts – including #79 by our own Seth (aka DJ ESSO).

Nice job dude.

Link

Mr. Brainwash is a street artist in the vein of Banksy and Shepard Fairey. Last summer he had a great exhibition (more) at the old CBS studios in H.wood. It took some pics while there and after more than a year of the photos sitting in a folder on my hdd, I have finally gotten around to doin em up and posting them to my flickr.

Check em out.

Link

Thanks for your concerns but no, I am not on fire. The Mountains above LA most certainly are though and air quality is at an all time low.

A couple cool shots by okarol and many more here.

Wow amazing video from Cha Ching! How the hell did they get the likes of Julianne Moore, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Crudup, Vinnie Jones and Henry Rollins?

Thx Sasha for the link and congrats to your bros.

I can’t say I am the biggest P-Rod fan in the world – but I do love this commercial. This is the extended version which is even better than the 1 minute they were playing during the XGames. Bring on more LA love.

Wow I had no idea that Mitch Hedberg had written and directed a film. Check out the Wikipedia on Los Enchiladas! (imdb) for proof. The film will be screening at LA’s Silent Movie Theater as part of a Mitch Hedberg tribute this Sunday. While I won’t be going – I sure imagine it will be a fun event.

I’m happy to present a continuation of the MyLA series with this guest post by SoCal native George Velasco. George has since moved on to the cloudier confines of the east coast (currently DC) but has been kind enough to give us his take on the city of angels.

My LA is omelets after midnight at Mel’s diner after a show at The Palace. My LA is fried chicken and waffles at 3am at Roscoe’s. My LA is meeting friends for a Lakers game at Staples Center, sitting in the last row loving every minute of it. My LA is wearing Jordan Farmar’s Laker jersey and not getting made fun of. My LA is ice cream and cookies at Diddy Reese. My LA is drinking Tecate on a friend’s balcony in Los Feliz. My LA is a late night kiss on the Santa Monica Pier . My LA is Saturdays at the Rose Bowl. My LA is UCLA basketball. My LA is short skirts. My LA is smoking cigars while watching the sunset on Venice Beach. My LA is seeing punk rock shows at the Roxy. My LA is the Town House bar in the 90291. My LA is tattoos on Ocean Front Walk. My LA is the guy holding the 99 cent pizza sign on the Venice boardwalk. My LA is the paintings of Brian Mylius. My LA is a can of Colt 45 at Stinkers and a tumbler of Basil Hayden’s at 4100. My LA is a mexican restaurant in Silver Lake. My LA is a rendezvous at the poolside bar at the Roosevelt Hotel. My LA is free parking in Beverly Hills. My LA is shy models at The Coffee Bean. My LA is Dodgerdogs at Dodger Stadium. My LA is t-bone steaks at Norm’s at any hour of the day. My LA is Cabernet Sauvignon with an intriguing stranger. My LA is wearing sunglasses inside a restaurant. My LA is wearing your sweatshirt hood up. My LA is driving a 1980’s convertible down Sunset Blvd while listening to The Doors. My LA is the view from the Getty Center. My LA is USC sorority girls with a sense of humor. My LA is presetting your car stereo to KROQ, KXLU, KLAC, and KCRW. My LA is Henry Waxman. My LA is Larry Flynt. My LA is art. My LA is love. My LA is family. My LA is home. My LA is better looking than Boston.

Westwood’s LA Film Fest is upon us again – running this year from June 18 to 28. As normal, it is a rather svelte fest (at least compared to the bloated bastard still going on in Seattle). Most of the highlights seem to be Sundance hold overs but there are also quite a few interesting sounding int’l flicks that I’m hearing about for the first time. It would have been cool to see a few Cannes premiers make the quick turnaround debut but hey. Here are my highlights starting with a few I hope to catch. Lemme know if anything interests you.

We Live in Public
I mentioned this Ondi Timoner (Dig!) doc in my SIFF’09 write-up and now plan to check it out. This Sundance premiering story of a group of people living underground and in front of the cameras plays in the evenings on Sun. 6/21 and Weds. 6/24. Lemme know if you can make either one.

Ponyo
Mentioned way back in September, Hayao Miyazaki’s newest animated masterpiece is the closing night gala for this year’s LAFF. That means it costs $100 to go to. F-that! I’m just gonna have to do my best to finaggle my way in.

High-Rise
I’ve been fascinated by Brazil’s high rise upper class since watching Manda Bala a few years back. This film claims to focus on exactly that. It plays in the evening Sat. 6/20 and as a matinee Sun. 6/21.

It Might Get Loud
Davis Guggenheim’s latest doc gives the viewer an backstage pass for a jam session between Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. Sounds Awesome. It plays Fri. 6/19 evening and Mon. 6/22 afternoon.

Sex, Booze, and Copywriting: Behind the Scenes of Mad Men
This conversation with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and some of the cast is sure to sell out. It happens at 7pm on Weds. 6/24. Lemme know ASAP if any of you MMMs (Mad Men Maniacs) wanna go.

More from LAFF’09 after the jump

I came across this roundup of bars in Hollywood and east when I was looking for links in the MyLA post. It is a kinda fun read and covers most of the bases. Here is the review of 4100:

We went to this bar on like, Thursday. Maybe it was Wednesday or Tuesday. Anyways, the point is, is that there was an unusually high number of females there. The interior design is all “magic-carpet” style. All of a sudden, we were surrounded by intoxicated ladies. It was like our own harem. It was great.

It is, however, a bit outdated. I know at least Lava Lounge and Star Shoes have closed and where is Cha Cha? Anyway, have a look and post your score. I’ve been to 17 of 30.

Link

MyLA is purple and gold. It’s the city that outsiders love to hate and the city I love to love. MyLA is energy and sunshine. MyLA is only swimming east of the pier. MyLA is equal love for the north, south, east and west. MyLA is KCRW on the road. It’s stopping in at the Stussy Store, visiting my brother on the west side and refreshing my soul on the east side. MyLA is caring about the city. MyLa is my friends and family. MyLA is waking up on Saturday mornings and playing soccer. MyLA is my photography students at North Hollywood High School. MyLA is thrift stores and sushi. MyLA is caring about the Kings, Dodgers, Lakers, Galaxy and Sol. It’s going to the Melrose Trading Post and sharing wine with my parents at Oliva. MyLA is the VALLEY. My La is making sure that transplants spend time everywhere. MyLA is getting off the 10 fwy at Vermont and driving north to remember the LA everyone seems to forget. MyLA is Northridge. My La is the Irish spot. MyLA is urban hiking through downtown’s art’s district. MyLA is working random jobs, meeting random people and saying hello and thank you. MyLA is highschool. MyLA is eating at shady restaurants and loving them. MyLA is transit. My La is going public whenever it makes sense. MyLA is black gold from GroundWorks. MyLA is 15 people deep on a balcony, drinking, eating and chilling. MyLA is bbq’s in the ridge to the north. MyLA is the summer. My La is born. MyLA is raised.

MyLA is a feature I’d like to start for the people who call LA home to say a few things about what this town means to them. This can be whatever makes sense to you. What makes it your LA? Please let me know if you’d like contribute your piece to the MyLA project.

My LA is my morning cup of Zen Blend from Nature Mart on my balcony. My LA is a pen, a notepad, and a large drip coffee at Silverlake Coffee or Psychobabble or maybe Sabor y Cultura. My LA is Griffith Park – from hiking up into the hills to shagging balls at the driving range with a tall can to shooting on a goal made from a trash bin and a tree. MyLA is eating on Hillhurst. Brunch at Mustard Seed, lunch at Alcove, dinner at Green Leaves. My LA is flicks at the Vista, Los Feliz 3, or Arclight. My LA is frozen veggies, tandoori naan and 2 buck chuck from the Trader Joe’s around the corner. My LA is Sapphire & tonic at 4100, Tecate at Cha Cha or $1 tequila shots at The Gold Room if I’m really looking to tie one on. My LA is racing to Mt. High for 5pm-10pm night boarding (only $30). MyLA is a fun-filled afternoon at the track, seriously one of the most enjoyable (and surprisingly inexpensive) ways to spend a day …especially a work day. My LA is watching soccer on Saturdays and Sundays and probably Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays (but only sometimes Mondays and Fridays). My LA is shows at Spaceland, The Echo(+plex), and The Greek. My LA is shopping at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and then cooking a fresh Sunday dinner with my LA fam. But more than anything else, my LA is the view from my balcony as the sun sets over the city I call home.

President Obama will be in Los Angeles on Thursday for a town hall meeting that is taking place at an undisclosed downtown location. A ticket lottery is running until noon Tuesday – enter here.

This is actually the first video I have ever uploaded to YouTube. Jenny Lewis last Weds at Spaceland. She was fantastic and I was CLOSE!!

I was lucky enough to get hooked up with a pass (thx La) for the X Games this weekend and we nabbed an amazing spot on the deck for the Skateboard Superpark Comp. Check out the photoset on flickr.

This Saturday in Santa Monica there is an all night art festival. From the Site:

Glow will fill the hours between dusk to dawn with compelling, enchanting and effervescent sights and sounds situated in spaces and times that expand possibilities for where, how and when the public experiences contemporary art.

With the historic Santa Monica Pier and adjacent world-famous Santa Monica Beach as their space, artists were commissioned to create unique and inviting works of art that welcome the public to be both audience and actor for twelve celebratory hours. Inspired by the wildly successful Nuit Blanche in Paris, Glow takes its spirit from the fabled grunion that live in local waters and come ashore several times a year to spawn in the sand creating a momentary sensation of iridescence.

Sounds like something worth supporting to me and it could be a hell of a lot of fun to chill on the beach into the wee morning hours.

Anyone into it?

The hills behind Santa Barbara and Goleta are on fire and evacuations have come down over the last week for the hills very near where I used to live. But things seem to be looking better.

The fires have lead to some pretty spectacular photos – such as this one, posted on a NASA astronomy site.

Explanation: On July 5th, wandering planets, bright stars, and a young crescent Moon graced western skies after sunset. Arrayed along the solar system’s ecliptic plane, the three celestial beacons forming this skyscape’s eye-catching line-up with the Moon are Saturn (upper left), then Mars, and finally Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo. Of course planet Earth itself lies in the foreground, a scene dominated by the city lights of Santa Barbara, California. The smoky haze hanging over the city is from threatening wild fires still burning along the hill at the right. On Thursday evening, Saturn and Mars can be seen in a much closer pairing or conjunction, separated by only about 3/4 degree on the sky.

A few more photos here.
Photo credit: Dmitrii Zagorodnov – (Thx Peter)

Sunset Junction is coming up August 23-24 and the lineup is definitely the best in years. Broken Social Scene (pictured), Cold War Kids, and The Black Keys will all be performing. For those of you not aware, this festival takes place on Sunset Blvd – a drunken stumble from my house (you can clearly hear the music and even see the fest from my balcony). Get your reservations in now for couch space if any out-of-towners want to join the festivities.