Little Tokyo Korea Japan Festival Sunday, January 31, 2010

Domo arigato and chonmaneyo! That's "Thank you very much" (in Japanese) and "You're welcome" (in Korean), and that's all you need to know for the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center's Little Tokyo Korea Japan Festival. The downtown venue salutes both Japanese and Korean cultures with subtitled film screenings, live performance and traditional cuisine. Onscreen: Rough Cut (Yeong-hwa-neun Yeong-hwa-da), Hun Jang's 2008 Korean gangster flick; Tsubaki Sanjuro, Yoshimitsu Morita's 2007 remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1962 samurai story; and Tina Yanagimoto's documentary New Beginnings: Cultural Harmony in Little Tokyo. James Kyson Lee and Eriko Tamura of TV's Heroes host the cross-cultural celebration. JACCC, Aratani/Japan America Theater, 244 S. San Pedro St., dwntwn.; Sat., Feb. 6, 11 a.m.; $20 (includes box lunch). (213) 680-3700, jaccc.org. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, February 5, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 11:52 AM, ,

New Wave Theatre Friday, January 29, 2010

Cinefamily fires up the time machine once again for a return trip to late-night cable TV circa 1981. That's when USA Network first aired the wee-hour weekend trip known as Night Flight, an oddball bonanza of new wave videos, cult films, and underground animation. Night Flight Presents: A Tribute To New Wave Theatre salutes the show-within-the-show known as "New Wave Theater," an absurd amalgam of host Peter Ivers' stream-of-consciousness monologues and punk performances by the likes of the Circle Jerks, Fear, 45 Grave, Suburban Lawns (Sue Tissue, where are you?) and other SoCal alt-stars. Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.; Thurs., Feb. 4, 8 p.m.; $12. (323) 655-2510. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 29, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 11:24 AM, ,

Art Deco Society Fashion Show Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Get an eyeful at the Art Deco Society of L.A.'s 30 Years of Pin-Up Fashion Show, where decolletage is de rigueur. Sexy vintage cocktail dresses, evening wear, lingerie, and play and bathing suits from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s are all on show, as is "silhouette fashion" with live piano accompaniment. The glamorama also includes vintage costumes once worn by Hollywood dames like Ava Gardner, Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Esther Williams and Julie Andrews. Arrive fashionably early for the cocktail reception on the mezzanine prior to the show. Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. Sixth St., San Pedro; Sun., Jan. 24, 6-8:30 p.m.; $55, $45 in advance. (310) 833-4813, www.grandvision.org. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 22, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 1:15 AM, ,

Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan Friday, January 15, 2010

Immerse yourself in the history of Japanese panoramas at the Velaslavasay Panorama's "Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan," a lecture by media art scholar Dr. Machiko Kusahara. The discussion includes the doctor's explications on the historical significance of panorama-kan ("panorama exhibition halls") in Japan, including most famously Tokyo's Nippon Panorama, built in 1890 and demolished in 1910. While a phenomenon at the time, the popularity of the panorama in Japan was ultimately short-lived; the Meiji Era ended in 1912. Relive the magic! Velaslavasay Panorama, 1122 W. 24th St., L.A.; Sat., Jan. 16, 8 p.m.; $10, $8 students & seniors. (213) 746-2166, www.brownpapertickets.com/event/94258. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 15, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 12:20 PM, ,

Girls on the Wall Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The teenage drama queens incarcerated at the Warrenville State Juvenile Justice Facility for Girls aren't exactly debutantes. With attitudes and world-views cultivated in the ghetto, they're likely to scare you more than Freddy Krueger. "I cut her from her ear down to her neck and I stabbed her in the back," says one young lady. Can these badass chicks really be redeemed through musical theater? Director Heather Ross aims to find out in her 2009 documentary Girls on the Wall, profiling three teenage inmates as they prepare for their prison play's opening night. Tonight's screening is the film's Los Angeles premiere, and a discussion follows with director Ross. "Live acoustic prison music" sets the mood starting at 7 p.m. in the courtyard. American Cinematheque at Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Wed., Jan. 13, 8 p.m.; $10, $8 students & seniors. (323) 466-3456, girlsonthewallmovie.com. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 8, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 12:23 AM, ,

Project: Wonderland Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Reverend Charles Dodgeson, a.k.a. Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, put the "trip" in trippy when he first sent Alice down the rabbit hole, and now Bootleg Theater promises to make that trip the trippiest yet. In Project: Wonderland, writer-director Robert Prior combines choreography by Ken Roht (99c Only Calendar Girl Competition), puppetry by Lynn Jeffries (The Gogol Project), and an original score by Indira Stephannia to create a visionary phantasmagoria. The Bootleg crew's offbeat homage transforms the original text into a "dreamlike, ever-morphing carnival of wonder, mystery, grotesquery and mischief." No hallucinogens required. Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; opens Sat., Jan. 9, 8 p.m.; perfs Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Jan. 31; $25, $15 students & seniors. (323) 833-1567. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 8, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 10:02 PM, ,

Sherlock Jr. Sunday, January 3, 2010

The American Cinematheque celebrates five years at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica with a free screening of Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. The 1924 silent film throws a daydreaming film projectionist into the action onscreen, and hilarity, as they say, ensues. Keaton is a wannabe detective, framed for theft by a mustachioed baddie who has eyes for Keaton's paramour. All it takes is a quick nap in the projection booth to transform our hapless hero into a super sleuth, who solves the case as the world collapses around him, narrowly escaping dismemberment at every turn. It's a film within a film, a mystery within a mystery, an illusion within a paradox wrapped in a mystery within an illusion — kind of like the Internet, where you can also watch this film for free. Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica; Wed., Jan. 6, 7:30 p.m.; free. (323) 466-3456. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 1, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 8:58 PM, ,