How To Spend Your Los Angeles Friday [Events]

Well I found out about these too late, didn't I?

For you movie lovin East siders out there, tonight the Downtown Independent has gone Full Epic with a double feature of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Weird Science, complete with drinking game and beer pong. What?!?!

"Fourscore and...seven minutes ago... we, your forefathers, were brought forth upon a most excellent adventure conceived by our new friends, Bill and Ted. These two great gentlemen are dedicated to a proposition which was true in my time, just as it's true today. Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!"

Doors at 7pm.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure at 8pm.
Weird Science at 10pm.
Rooftop Bar & Beer Pong til 2am.

$10 Advance, includes one drink on the house.
$15 At the Door (if available).

"If you can't get a date, make one!"

A sampling of drinking rules:
1. Whenever someone in the movie says "dude" you drink.
2. Take a drink every time you hear Anthony Michael Hall's lisp.
More to come!

Seriously. I want to go to there. Tickets.

East side too far? Fear not, cult comedy fans of the West side, there's something for you too.

"CAMP FIREWOOD: CELEBRATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER" 

TONIGHT, Friday, June 10th Gallery1988 Venice will open "Camp Firewood: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Wet Hot American Summer," with over 60 artists paying tribute to the classic cult comedy. And we're insanely privileged to have the movie's director and co-writer, David Wain, to host the art show! DREAMS DO COME TRUE.

The show runs through June 29th.

Opening reception: TONIGHT, Friday, June 10th from 7-10PM. 

Gallery1988

214 Pier Ave

Santa Monica, CA 90405

The Hero Complex Star Trek Double Feature is sold out, so you know, don't worry about that one. See full post

Paul F Tompkins & James Urbaniak FTW! [Interview]

When I attended the Thrilling Adventure Hour last month, I had the pleasure of getting to sit down with Paul F Tompkins & James Urbaniak, two longtime Workjuice Players who also happen to be in a film called Drones, written by Acker & Blacker, the same boys who write Thrilling Adventure Hour. Tompkins & Urbaniak were both incredibly delightful and easy to talk to - we got into both projects as well as what their favorite things from 2010 were...a quick chat, but super fun. I can't encourage you enough to buy your tickets to the February Thrilling Adventure Hour if you live in the LA area! See these two in action!

(I'm introduced as being from All Things Fangirl & Cineboobs)
They're lady websites in case you couldn't tell

J: I had a feeling!

P: I bet there's some confused dudes that go there though!

J: Co-opting the terminology for your own purposes

So how did you guys get involved in all this? In it from the beginning?

J: He was in it way before me

P: I was in the very first one, way back when, I was one of the founding Workjuice Players, which I guess is coming on 5 years now? Something like that? And I've known, first Ben Acker, for a long time, and then met Ben Blacker, It's funny, I THINK, through this show. I may have met him before then, but it's hard to remember sometimes, because there's so many people that you've known for so long, you kind of can't remember where they came in in your own personal timeline.

J: And I moved to LA from NY 3 and a half years ago, and then probably sometime within the first year, I had met Acker, I'm on a show called The Venture Brothers on Adult Swim, and he knew that show, I guess he knew who I was and he invited me to come see this and I loved it and then he said well we'd love you to do one, then I did one, then he asked me back the next month, and then in short order, I just became a regular and I've done them all since then, except a couple times when I was out of town and I think I was sick once.

The rest after the jump!

See full post

The Thrilling Adventure Hour: One Of Los Angeles' Finest Hours of Entertainment [Event]

I had the great pleasure this past weekend of seeing The Thrilling Adventure Hour at Largo on La Cienega, a show that's been running in Los Angeles for five years, but has only recently begun getting the amount of attention it deserves. Created in 2005 by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker, The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a throwback to radio plays of the 30s and 40s. Each month features an installment of three of Acker & Blacker's ongoing serials, told in an old fashioned style, but with modern sensibility.

This month, we saw:

Sparks Nevada: Marshall of Mars,
Marc Evan Jackson as the melty voice Marshall (his voice. was so melty.)
Mark Gagliardi as his Martian sidekick
Busy Phillips as the woman stuck between them
Guest Star Yvette Nicole Brown as the Trouble Shooter
(Theme song sung by Sean & Sara Watkins!)

Captain Laserbeam!
John DiMaggio as the title hero
Hal Lubin & Guest Star Matt Braunger as his prepubescent sidekicks
Guest Star Nick Kroll (whose vocal choice was indescribably hilarious) as King Mammal
John Ennis as his number one henchmen
(Theme song sung by Yvette Nicole Brown & The Workjuice Players)

Jefferson Reed, Ace American
guest star Nathan Fillion (having the time of his life) as Mr. Reed
Annie Savage as his best gal
Samm Levine as a fellow soldier
John DiMaggio as the general
Craig Cackowski as a nasty Kraut Nazi

In between each episode, and during the opening of the show, we got spot on satirical recreations of old radio ads for cigarettes and coffee, starring the rest of the Workjuice Players, mostly featuring the hilarious James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture himself!) & Mark Gagliardi as New York cops (and sometimes perps) who really love their Workjuice Coffee & Patriot Cigarettes.

On paper, this idea sounded amazing and I was THRILLED to discover that it actually is as wonderful as I had hoped. An hour of pure joy. Not only is this kind of humor right up my alley (I'm looking at you, Marc Evan Jackson in particular, and honoring you with the "Greatest line readings ever" award for the evening) but it's nothing short of exhilarating to see actors I enjoy having a great time on stage, totally committing, giving it their all, and delivering fantastic results.

There's a fine mix of players too - comedians, voiceover actors, Freaks & Geeks alum, and high profile guest stars like this week's Nathan Fillion, Community's Yvette Nicole Brown, The League's Nick Kroll & Nickel Creek's Sean & Sara Watkins. Every person brings something unique to the table. A lot of the players who we would recognize from the small screen like Nathan Fillion & Samm Levine would give a few winks & nods (literally) to the live audience - if you listen to the podcast and hear uproarious laughter in places that make no sense, it's most likely because of some perfectly timed mugging, courtesy of Fillion or Levine.

A highlight of the live experience was when  Samm Levine raised an eyebrow to the audience when another character described his character as having "arayan good looks", which appropriately brought the house down. One of Fillion's best "unheard" moments was when Craig Cackowski's nazi told him in Germany they just called German Shephards, Shephards. Fillion didn't react for a long while until finally his Jefferson Reed "got" what the nazi was saying & nodded - a brilliant move, but one only witnessable by those in the audience - a case for heading down to Largo in person instead of waiting for the podcast to be released.

Then you have the voiceover gods like James Urbaniak & John DiMaggio, who use their voices in such varied, exciting ways (particularly DiMaggio in this edition, who got to play a few different characters) that you as an audience member feel like you're witnessing something truly special. And finally, the comedians like Paul F. Tompkins, would crack us up with their particular takes on the material. Tompkins took on a drunk Errol Flynn during the commercial breaks in this installment that had Workjuice Players themselves losing it in the background.

Having dabbled in recording original noir radio plays in my time, it was nice to see that kind of recording done on a large scale - a MUCH larger scale. There's clearly a lot of passion here. There's a full band, 3 mics, plus a special area for the announcer (Hal Lubin) and someone, somewhere is doing sound effects, which I'm fairly certain were recordings this time, but my understanding is they are sometimes done live. And the actors don't just dress nicely - they dress period. Busy Philips & Annie Savage even had costume changes. Yvette Nicole Brown rocked a tight black sheath and had her hair styled straight of the late 30s. The men all wore suits and looked mighty dapper. The Workjuice Players don't fuck around - everyone does what they can to make the audience really feel like they've been transported back in time & are a part of this experience. I'm even considering dressing up for next month's show. No joke.

An added bonus! Get to the show early enough to have a drink at the bar, and you may catch actors from the show, or in our case, the Watkins Siblings, sitting beside you. You can also buy posters, hot cider & cookies that I heard were amazing, and afterwards, chat it up in the courtyard with your favorite Workjuice Players.

I truly can't recommend this experience enough. As soon as it ended, I, along with some of the people who came with me, immediately bought tickets for next month. Buy yours here - both February and March are on sale now! And for the first time ever, these shows are being recorded for podcast! The August 7th show is online now. You can subscribe by clicking here.

If you're based in the San Francisco area or are looking for an excuse to take a trip there, the San Francisco Sketchfest next weekend will feature two Thrilling Adventure Hours and the cast list is unbelievable. Aside from the usual suspects, the shows will feature Neil Patrick Harris, Alison Brie, Colin Hanks, Danny Pudi, Donal Logue and more. To quote Workjuice Player & sweetheart Samm Levine "I don't know if it is sold out, but if not, buy a ticket, you won't be wrong...?"Click here to take Levine's advice.

For more info on the Thrilling Adventure Hour, head to the website here.
For more photos from the evening by Jonathan Reilly, including behind the scenes shots, click here.
Follow The Thrilling Adventure Hour on Twitter - @ThrillingAdv

And stay tuned here for interviews with some of the cast members, as well as a peak at the movie a bunch of the Workjuice Players made together, Drones. See full post

500 Days of Summer Singing 'Sploge

It wasn't a premeditated form of demonstrating my love for 500 Days of Summer that led to seeing Joseph Gordon Levitt live on stage on Monday and Zooey Deschanel live on stage less than a week later, but I do love 500 Days of Summer and it did happen, so judge me as you will.

For those of you who don't obsessively study my tweets (i.e. all of you), Monday, August 30th, I attended night #2 of HitRecord.Org's Summer in the City, wherein Joseph Gordon Levitt did a bunch of artsy stuff I barely remember cause I drank five flutes of prosecco first. Oops. Luckily, I managed to film the entire show for posterity. Not so luckily, the video was taken by a DRUNK PERSON (me) so it's all shaky and filled with juvenile giggles. Sigh/fail. But I do remember this: He was adorbz, the show was awesomely fun, and JGL definitely called out our friend Pete for being awesome, as they worked together in Sundance.

Then, Sunday Sept 5th, I went to the LA Times Celebration of Food and Wine which closed with an amazing concert from She & Him. Like, amazing. I love them. I know most of everyone doesn't love them cause lots of people no like Zooey Deschanel, but like, I LOVE this band. And man, the guys in this crowd, were OBSESSED with Zooey. To quite the hilarious degree. Have some video featuring some of these crazies that may be going online soon.

Anyhoo, below are some videos from the events. Some are good, some are drunk, some are cell phoney, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. 500 Days of Summer Singing SPLODE!!!

She & Him - Wouldn't it be Nice

Joseph Gordon Levitt accompanying an animation live

She & Him - Roll Over Beethoven (Cell phone camera)

Joseph Gordon Levitt - "La Valse à Mille Temps"- good close ups, but also, drunk

If you feel like tripping out...

See full post

Why Comic-Con Shouldn't Leave San Diego

There's been a lot of talk lately about Comic-Con leaving its home of 40 years, San Diego, and moving to another city when its contract is up in 2015. With official bids coming from Anaheim and Los Angeles, complete with Facebook pages failing to get anywhere near as much support as the Keep Comic-Con in San Diego page is getting, con-goers are beginning to get vocal about their opinions.

Needless to say, it's been frustrating. As a close friend to the convention and 22 consecutive year attendee, I find every argument for leaving San Diego to be completely invalid, and it has nothing to do with Nic Cage's hair being a bird. So I've decided to go point by point and explain exactly why anywhere but San Diego is bad news...and why anywhere but San Diego WON'T be happening.

Hotels
A lot of people are arguing that if Comic-Con moves to either Anaheim, LA or Vegas, there will no longer be hotel issues.
Allow me to clear this up.
Any hardship that comes with nabbing a hotel room will not change with a new city.
Downtown San Diego is all but shut down during Comic-Con, every hotel is filled with nothing but geeks, the restaurants offer themed menus, the bars throw geek party after geek party - some venues are even turned into events themselves like last year's Tron Legacy viral or Bear McCreary's taking over of the House of Blues.

This is because for 40 years, Comic-Con has been in San Diego and every year, predominantly over the last 15 years, as the convention grows, the city has subtley shifted more and more into dedicating itself wholly to nothing but Comic-Con for one week in July.
In LA, Anaheim or Vegas, the other tourists, the events, the activities, will not disappear overnight. There is no way in hell any one of those three cities would suddenly become Comic-Con only, all of the time! In Anaheim, there's the Disney crowd, in Vegas there's the Vegas crowd (::shudder::) and in LA, you're in LA, surrounded by - I repeat - LA. And staying in hotels that aren't downtown (cause you'll have to) means dealing with LA/Downtown traffic every time you want to come & go to Comic-Con. Yeah. No. And the Metro Rail service is a joke, useless unless you are staying at a hotel right next to a Metro Station.  Plus more convention space means more attendees which means, oh look, no more hotel space than there was before. It's not like the same number of people would be tackling the hotel rooms, you'd have to add, what, 30-40,000 more on top of the 125,000 that attend now? And if you think these hotels won't take advantage of the extra business by screwing you just as much as the San Diego hotels do, you're out of your damn mind.
So you have all the extra con-goers to compete with, in addition to the people who are in that city, staying in those hotels, for entirely other, completely non-related purposes.
Plus, in any of those other cities, you will most likely have to drive your own car to the convention from your hotel. In San Diego there are tons of Comic-Con dedicated hotels within walking distance of the con, much more than any of the other cities can boast. And cheaper? LA, Disney-town or Vegas cheaper than San Diego? Really? Come on.


Surrounding Area
Much has been touted about how cool it would be for Comic-Con to be in LA, Anaheim or Vegas because OMG there are comic stores in LA! and omg Disneyland & Downtown Disney! Oh dude, GAMBLING! I'm sorry, but if you want to go to Disneyland, GO TO FUCKING DISNEYLAND. If you wanna gamble in vegas, GO GAMBLE IN VEGAS YOU DUMBASS. And if you want Comic Con to come to LA so you drive to Melrose and go to Golden Apple (which, by the way, COMES to Comic-Con & happens to throw great parties) I just wanna punch you in the face. One of LA's "plus" points on its facebook page is "It's not as dangerous as you think." Okay, that's awesome and everything, but you know which city isn't dangerous at all and doesn't need to clarify this fact? San Diego. And frankly, I can't think of very many scenarios at all where I would somehow end up drinking downtown and when I'm at Comic-Con, I DONT WANT TO DRIVE. Anaheim talking about being "driving distance from Downtown Disney for an after-con drink" reads like its begging us to think its cool, when I'm sorry, it's just not. Why in god's name would I ever want to drive to Downtown Disney to get a drink? Oh, I guess when my only alternative is drinking in the lobby of the Anaheim Radisson, I'd be more inclined. And don't even get me started on Vegas. Nothing sounds more
nightmarish than walking along the strip or god forbid, driving from some cheapo, disgusting off strip
hotel to the convention center every day, in 101 degree weather, competing with day-drunks for my side of the sidewalk and night-drunks for mysad, geeky corner of the bar. How do you any of you think that would actually be appealing?! In San Diego, there is a long established shuttle system that we already know works, for those of you who got placed far away from the convention center. For the tens of thousands of us who are within walking distance, we can not only walk to the con, but we can walk to seaport village, Horton Plaza, or most importantly, the gaslamp district, an entire mecca of bars & restaurants that dedicated itself to us geeks for 5 days and allows for proper drinkage without the worry of any driving whatsoever, dealing with Vegas drunks, or wanting to kill yourself because you're in Downtown Disney with a bunch of kids and beyond confused mid westerners. Guaranteed if Comic-Con were in any of those other three cities, the main parties would absolutely require driving. I hardly consider going to a party in San Diego if it's outside of the Gaslamp district, let alone DRIVING distance. This more or less completely eliminates the after hours community of Comic-Con, which has become just as important as the convention itself. You lose the chance of running into professionals at the Australian bar or walking past some VIPS walking to the hotel from a studio party. You lose part of the magic.

More Space
Sure, the convention center is crowded, in the past ten years Comic-Con has blown up, but with more people, has come more space. And San Diego has proposed adding on to the convention center even more, just for Comic-Con, because really, what event is bigger? But I'm not even on the boat of adding more space to the convention, necessarily. I don't think the convention SHOULD get any bigger. I think 130,000 is plenty and even if the convention center goes ahead and adds this new space, I don't think that means more tickets should be sold. Every event has a cap, every event sells a certain number of tickets and if something is sold out, it's gonna be packed, it's just what it is. If it moves to any other city and a bigger space, more tickets will be sold and the convention will be JUST as crowded. Plus, have any of those other convention centers even handled an event of this size and magnitude? San Diego has had years of growing, preparing, learning. Comic-Con is not just another convention so I don't wanna hear anything about "Well Vegas has this, and LA has this!" None of them are Comic-Con and NOTHING can be compared to Comic-Con. It's its own beast, entirely.
Not to mention, I went to the Anaheim Convention Center recently, and I know it's technically bigger than the San Diego Convention Center, but it sure didn't seem that way to me. It was gross, low ceilings, horrible carpeting, terrible vibe, cramped spaces and I only noticed 5 halls. I don't want Comic-Con there. Blech.

The bottom line here is whatever your problem is with San Diego will NOT be solved by moving to another city, and if you really think about it, you know I'm right. San Diego is the city that has nursed this convention from infancy, raised it, helped it grow, nourished it,  it's EARNED the right to call itself Comic-Con's home. It's EARNED the revenue gained from the convention every year. San Diego Comic Con is precisely that - San Diego Comic-Con. Always has been, always will be. It's not in the desert, it's not in the middle of nowhere, and it's not in the same city where all the talent already lives. It's a chance for everyone, fans, professionals, talent, studio execs to get away from home and spend a few days in a gorgeous bay-side city, with beautiful weather in a vibrant area that practically radiates geek and only geek non stop from Wednesday to Sunday. When exactly during Comic-Con were you planning on going to Disneyland? Thursday during Avatar's 25 minutes? Or Friday when your favorite comic book writer is signing? Was it Saturday during Lost's final panel? Or Sunday, the best day to do the Dealer's Room? When were you planning on gambling? Instead of the Wrath of Con party? Or was it instead of random late night dining with the entire cast of Futurama? Or do you prefer that to the first public screening of Shaun of the Dead at one of the two theaters within walking distance, that officially marks a few geeks from England as bonafide superstars? And if you really wanna move to downtown, select a designated driver and leave the convention before Kevin Smith even goes on in order to make it to a party in Hollywood on time, then be my guest, but you're missing out.

Comic-Con is my favorite event of every year and I'm not alone in this. I almost feel like these arguments for leaving San Diego are injuring my baby. Appreciate what you have, offer suggestions to San Diego, to the con, but don't betray its home of 40 years, don't encourage the convention to move someplace that can only be worse.

With a 732 million dollar proposal to add on to the SD convention center and a pedestrian walkway over Harbor blvd that should be done by July, thus eliminating the cluster fuck that is crossing the street, I don't see Comic-Con going anywhere. I wish that all of you, fans, pros & press alike, join with me in supporting keeping Comic-Con in San Diego. It's not going anywhere, mark my words, but it might be nice to show the convention (the non-profit convention that is for the FANS and only the FANS, because they make no profit, people, let's remind ourselves of that from time to time) heads that we have faith in them, we have faith in the city that bore Comic-Con and we have faith that despite any problems that may arise, San Diego Comic-Con is and always will be San Diego Comic-Con, which always has and always will, truly have the best interests of the Fan at heart.

Looking forward to my 23rd San Diego Comic-Con this July (yes, I'm 24), and encouraging you to become a fan of Keep Comic-Con In San Diego on Facebook by clicking here and following their Twitter, @KCCISD, here

-Muse

P.S. Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons totally agrees with me :)

So you can see all sides:
-Stupid reasons to move to Anaheim, 8 from Anaheim and 5 from The Wrap.
-5 even stupider (I know that's not a word, shhhh) reasons to move to Los Angeles, from LA Weekly (This reads like the author has never been to Comic-Con and makes me want to throw my computer at a wall) See full post

It's Len Wein Day! How Are You Celebrating? [Event]

You heard right!

December 5th is now Len Wein Day in LA County! How effing cool is that?

If you don't know who Len Wein is, you are very silly, but I suppose I'll forgive you cause you are learning now! He created Wolverine. If you don't know who Wolverine is, I don't understand your existence.

Here's a blurb about him from his wiki page,

Len Wein is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.

Here is Hugh Jackman shaking Len Wein's hand at Comic Con 2008. Bad ass.



So how should you celebrate this important day? How about by attending the ceremony that officiates all this business? Info below,

1. LEN WEIN - creator of Wolverine, Storm, Collossus, Nightcrawler, Swamp Thing. Editor of Watchmen. Len will receive the official proclamation from the County of Los Angeles signifying today as the Official LEN WEIN day in LA County.

2. 8 popular artists including Joe Benitez (Titans, Fathom), Christian Gossett (Red Star, Star Wars) and many more, signing and SKETCHING for charity.

3. Original Art from the book displayed in our gallery, your only opportunity to see this art before it's sold on Ebay.

4. Refreshments , including some adult beverages, will be supplied on the house.

Come by on Saturday December 5th, from 7pm to 10pm and help us celebrate release of this amazing new book with an exciting multi-creator book Signing event. Meet creator of Wolverine, LEN WEIN, our Special Guest of Honor, as well as a VERY TALENTED Group of artists who had participated in creation of this book.

Artists include : Joe Benitez, Danny Miki, Bill Morrison, Dave Bullock, Christian Gossett, Aaron Sowd, Chris Moreno and Scott Koblish. The is is not complete, as there is a possibility that several other artists who could not commit to the event, will attend and sign.

Len and the artists involved will autograph the Wolverine 100 Covers books, and many of the artists will do sketches, with all proceeds going to Hero Initiative.

We will be displaying the covers to the book produced by many of the artists involved in the Gallery, and will provide refreshments (including alcohol drinks, to anyone 21 and over) and snacks.

You can also RSVP for the event by going to our Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=178581988107&ref=mf

Yeah. You should go to that. If I weren't seeing Jeffrey Combs in Nevermore tonight, I'd be there!

PS Click here to follow Len Wein on Twitter! See full post

Mondo in LA TONIGHT!!! [Event]

Well, this is upsetting.

Of course I have plans on this Friday night, the only night that Mondo is in town and holding an event at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. On Melrose, in fact, right next to Golden Apple! Double whammy of awesomeness.



Here's the official write up,

Friday, November 20th at Gallery 1988, Mondo will be setting up shop for the night with lots of our friends providing live art. Skinner will be on hand watercoloring a limited edition Medusa art print we printed special for this show. Kevin Tong will have a new art print for sale (just got that image in and it looks incredible) and Harry Diaz will be screen printing shirts and prints by hand live in the store!

Not only will all of these guys be hanging out, but Mondo will also have shirts, toys, and some exclusive and never before seen posters that we printed especially for this show.

Here's one of the exclusive posters that will be shown tonight, from one of my all time favorite movies!


I'm so upset I can't go, augh. If you live in the LA area and are awesome, head over to Gallery 1988 tonight & have an amazing time.

Hat Tip: Slashfilm See full post

Nothing To Do With Geeks, But Beautiful Nonetheless [Photo]

From A Deliberate Pace, taken on Sunset Blvd.

See full post

Junior League of Superheroes Party Tonight in LA [Event]

There is a party tonight in Los Angeles to raise money for a new webseries called The Junior League Of Superheroes.

Imagine we live in a world where good battles evil...where ordinary people strive to leave their mundane lives and accomplish extraordinary things. And within that world are six bumbling wannabe superheros who have no idea what they're getting themselves into. This is our story. This is The Junior League of Superheroes.

I have high hopes for this show cause I was a huge fan of Malcolm McChesney, a serialized mockumentary that was first posted a couple years ago, and the two shows have a bunch of actors/creative team in common.

If I were in LA, I'd be going to this party. But I'm in NY. So I won't be. But if you're in LA and randomly check this blog on Saturdays and even more randomly are looking for a superhero themed party to attend tonight, well then, good thing I posted this, huh?

The first episode of JLoSH will be posted tomorrow. I shall watch it. See full post