Groundhog Day Monday, January 31, 2011

How best to celebrate the most ridiculous holiday on the calendar? Go back in time to 1993's Groundhog Day and relive the day over and over again with Bill Murray and the folks of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. While covering the annual emergence of the groundhog whose behavior is said to predict winter weather, Murray's self-centered meteorologist ends up trapped: not in place, but in time, as a Sisyphean twist of the supernatural causes him to repeatedly awaken on Groundhog Day. Director Harold Ramis elevates this high concept to something akin to a meditation on the meaning of life, where anything is possible and every day begins with Sonny and Cher's "I Got You, Babe" on the clock radio. Fun fact: According to the StormFax Weather Almanac, Punxsutawney Phil has been right just 39 percent of the time since 1887. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Wed., Feb 2, 7:30 p.m.; $11, $9 students & seniors. (323) 466-3456. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 28, 2011.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 12:54 AM, ,

Wayne White Monday, January 24, 2011

What you may not know about Wayne White: (1) he designed the iconic meta-cartoon sets of avant-garde TV kids show Pee-Wee's Playhouse; (2) he art-directed Peter Gabriel's music video "Big Time," ubiquitous in MTV's 1980s rotation; (3) he's now a fine-art painter. On canvas, White paints 3-D-esque letters over landscape lithographs, with phrases like "Dick Jokes From Sherman Oaks" laid atop autumn forestscapes. On stage, he plays harmonica and banjo. With his autobiographical stage show You're Supposed to Act All Impressed, the erstwhile puppeteer begins a four-week residency at Largo, in a continuing attempt to bring humor to the art world. Good luck! Largo at the Coronet, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A.; Tues., Feb. 1, 8 p.m.; & every Tues., 8 p.m., thru Feb. 28. $20. (310) 855-0350. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 21, 2011.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 1:00 PM, ,

A Very Special Episode Returns Friday, January 7, 2011

"Pills? You mean you really are taking drugs?" "I need them! I have to sing! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so ... scared!" With those words came to a crushing halt the teen-TV Shangri-La known as Saved by the Bell, when amphetamine addiction interrupted the innocence of zinger-slingers Zach Morris & company. It was yet another "very special episode," those preachy sitcoms-turned-public-service-announcements that ran rampant on network TV in the 1980s. Thankfully, the half-hour PSA has gone the way of legwarmers and jelly shoes, but the best of the worst live on at Cinefamily's "TV Tuesday: A Very Special Episode Returns!" Other "touching" moments include Mr. Belvedere's prepubescent Wesley getting touched by an older dude, Diff'rent Strokes' Gary Coleman getting touched by WKRP's Gordon Jump, and Blossom getting touched by her period. Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.; Tues., Jan, 18, 8 p.m.; $10. (323) 655-2510. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, January 14, 2011.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 2:46 PM, ,

League of Imaginary Scientists Sunday, January 2, 2011

Who is this League of Imaginary Scientists anyway? Turns out they're part-time comedians, pseudo performance artists, half subatomic particles, and 100 percent awesome. As this winter's winners of the Museum of Contemporary Art's "Engagement Party," MOCA's showcase of new works by SoCal artist collectives, the Imaginary Scientists present three programs bound to blow your mind: "Wormholes," wherein transdimensional jumps originate with actual worms; "The Automatoggle," an invention of such power I dare not even describe, except to say that it makes toast; and "The Zephyr Experiment," mocking rockets. Want to join the League? They're a self-proclaimed "non-exclusive society for creative scientists, mechanically-inclined artists, absurdist inventors and self-proclaimed quacks," so if this sounds like you, please turn yourself in to the authorities immediately. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Thurs., Jan. 6, 7 p.m.; free. (213) 626-6222. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, December 31, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 5:39 PM, ,