vol 06 issue 51

www.lacitybeat.com

December 18-24, 2008 VOL 6 NO 51 MUNTATHER ZAIDI MAKES US WISH WE HAD THREE FEET

inside: SHOP & ROLL! Our last-minute holiday gift guide

EL MAYOR

IF OBAMA WAS A MEXICAN FROM MAYWOOD P.09

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CONTENTS December 18-24, 2008 volume 6 issue 51

14 Film

Speaking of sports: For the first time in years, Andy Klein likes Mickey Rourke, this time in The Wrestler. Also w/r/t: Bush’s response: he didn’t whine as he usually does that he’s misundertaken. He joked: “If you want the facts,” the president told reporters, “it’s a size 10 that he threw.” That’s the pinnacle of athleticism, right there, like the ability of a guy like Manny Ramirez (unsigned) to describe the rotation of the seams on a ball crossing home plate.

33 Eat 06 Latter Days

Half-finished apartments for elephants, incomplete baseball teams: Steve Lowery thinks he’s discovered the pattern in apparently random L.A. behavior: we don’t do nothing, and we do it downtown. On the other hand: Muntather Zaidi!

09 News

Anyone notice that Maywood Mayor Felipe Aguirre looks just a bit like Saddam Hussein? No? Neither does Matthew Fleischer.

10 On the Cover

We could have spent all week just writing about Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes—first one, then the other—at George W. Bush during a Baghdad news conference Sunday. Instead, we spent inordinate amounts of time writing about gift-buying. But then: Gifts such as shoes.

No. No shoes in the Last-Minute Gift Guide.

13 Seven Days

Ron Garmon gives you seven good reasons to leave home. In at least a few of those cases, you might consider leaning across the bar to talk politics with the publican, and give Bush his due: did you see the way he dodged those shoes? Reflexes of a Major League ballplayer, that guy. And the speed on those things? The way Zaidi just up and chucked them at the head of the world’s most powerful leader?

Note to Dodgers: Sign Zaidi now.

Miles Clements writes about Don Huarache, the NoHo restaurant whose specialty is, indeed, a sandwich called huarache, which is Spanish for (yes) “shoe.” Part of what we liked about the whole thing involving Zaidi’s shoes was Bush’s handling of it. Seriously.

34 Music

Back to sampling old school with the film SureShots, AWOL ONE and Daddy Kev, The New York Dolls, DJ Phers1 and harddrinking The Duke Spirit. And please: no angry letters from readers sans peds.

40 Art

Something here about truth and beauty by Don Shirley. Re: truth: did you see the letter to the Los Angeles Times in which reader Thomas Patronite writes of Zaidi, “It’s interesting how quickly they learn to use their recently obtained freedoms to rebel at the democracy that granted them, and see no irony in doing so.” Because of course the price of having free speech is that you can’t ever use it, right? And remember, Thomas, that democracy doesn’t grant inalienable rights. We’re, um, born with them. Like feet.

COVER ART: Dipping Into the Pond by Betsy Walton. Walton says her “paintings and drawings explore the tension and balance between the mysterious nature of our existence and the objects and environments in everyday life.” She’s part of a three-person exhibition (with Aya Kakeda and APAK Her) at Junc Gallery in Silver Lake ( juncgallery.com). See your work featured on the cover of City Beat: contact Paul Takizawa at pault@lacitybeat.com.

MANAGING Editor Tom Child Senior Editor Matthew Fleischer Arts Editor Ron Garmon Music Editor Chris Ziegler Film Editor Andy Klein Calendar Assistant Arrissia Owen Turner Copy Editor Joshua Sindell Editorial Contributors Ramie Becker, Paul Birchall, Andre Coleman, Michael Collins, Miles Clements, Mick Farren, Richard Foss, Matt Gaffney, Andrew Gumbel, Marc B. Haefele, Tom Hayden, Bill Holdship, Jessica Hundley, Mark Keizer, Carl Kozlowski, Kim Lachance, Ken Layne, Steve Lowery, Wade Major, Browne Molyneux, Anthony Miller, Chris Morris, Amy Nicholson, Arrissia Owen Turner, Donna Perlmutter, Joe Piasecki, Neal Pollack, Ted Rall, Erika Schickel, Tom Sharpe, Don Shirley, Kirk Silsbee, Brent Simon, Coco Tanaka, Don Waller, Jim Washburn, Wonkette, Chris Ziegler Editorial Interns Gabrielle Paluch, Nathan Solis Art Director Paul Takizawa Web & Print Production Manager Meghan Quinn Advertising Art Director Sandy Wachs Classified Production Artist Tac Phun Contributing Artists and Photographers Bob Aul, Jordan Crane, Scott Gandell, John Gilhooley, Alexx Henry, Maura Lanahan, Gary Leonard, Melodie McDaniel, Joe McGarry, Luke McGarry, Nathan Ota, Ethan Pines, Josh Reiss, Rosheila Robles, Gregg Segal, Elliott Shaffner, Bill Smith, Ted Soqui Co-op Advertising Director Spencer Cooper Music & Entertainment Sales Manager Jon Bookatz CLUBS ACCOUNT MANAGER Patrick Hodgins Account Executives Diana James, Sarah Stacey, Bill Child, Andy Enriquez Classified Supervisor Michael DeFillippo Classified Account Executives Sarah Fink, Jason Rinka, John Schoenkopf, DeKeithrich Johnson, Sonia Campbell, Jean-Paul Lamunyon VP of Operations David Comden VP of Finance Michael Nagami Human Resources Manager Andrea Baker Accounting Ginger Wang, Archie Iskaq, Tracy Lowe, Christie Lee, Angela Wang (Business Manager) Circulation Supervisor Andrew Jackson Receptionist Candon Murry Associate Publisher Mark Kochel Publisher Will Swaim LA CITYBEAT newspaper is published every Thursday and is available free at locations throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. One copy per reader, additional copies are $10 each. Copyright: No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other editorial matter or advertisements herein may be reproduced without written permission of copyright owner.

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LACITYBEAT 4 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

LETTERS CLEOPATRA

VARIOUS ARTISTS “HIGH VOLTAGE BOX: THE ULTIMATE AC/DC TRIBUTE”

AND RADIO, RONI, BURGERS Re: Chris Morris’s “Hard-Disc Jockeys: Indie 103.1 dumped him for a computer, and all DJ Chris Morris got was this column” [December 10]: Someone finally said it. What little hope there was when

VARIOUS ARTISTS “AMERICAN 80’S HAIR METAL” A blockbuster 2CD set of American hair metal classics featuring Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)," Warrant's "Cherry Pie," Ratt's "Round & Round," Great White's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," plus Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff & Steven and a whole lot more!

VARIOUS ARTISTS “HAIR METAL LIVE”

In “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Albert Camus wrote that the only question we really confront in life is whether to commit suicide. Novelist David Foster Wallace said no to life, and it’s hard for me to take seriously the sense I once had that his sweet, compassionate, but critical look at the world was a model for me.

I’m a little less hopeful today.

Re: Richard Foss’s “Taking Down-Home Artbob Upscale: Southern gets fancy at Tart” Via email [December 10]: How can you have such a glorious photograph of a delicious looking burger and not even review it? It REDS MEANCE This is what passes for “alternative”: a looks to be something I would certainly bunch of drunks dressed up as Santa, order.

ReelMike84 drinking and smoking dope and yelling Via lacitybeat.com at people who are just trying (in the middle of the Bush economy and a war and the destruction of the Constitution) The editor responds: We don’t think to maybe bring a little light to their kids’ you literally mean “how,” because that lives during the holidays [Ron Garmon’s story—of simple miscommunication and “Santa: The Red Menace,” December a photographer’s idiosyncratic appetite 11)? We tried that kind of bullshit whenI and unleashed impulse—is, well, not was younger—remember Altamont? I terribly interesting. But we get your point: had hoped that younger people (people she says the burger “was like heaven, if younger than me) might be more heaven were made out of ground beef.”

VARIOUS ARTISTS “80’S MONSTER BALLADS” Lift those Bic lighters high for this phenomenal 2CD set of the very best ballads including the unforgettable tear jerkers “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “Take My Breath Away,” “Total Eclipse Of The Heart,” “Don’t Stop Believing” and many more! Features several of the original artists who made these ballads popular such as Berlin, Nazareth, Bonnie Tyler, Warrant, Cinderella, Juice Newton & more!

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 5 LACITYBEAT

CLEOPATRA

A killer 3CD set of hair metal legends performing their biggest hits live including the favorites “Cum On Feel The Noize,” “Nobody’s Fool,” “Sister Christian,” “Breaking The Chains,” “Wrathchild” and more!

Nothing can match the energy and excitement of Dokken, Cinderella Quiet Riot, Ratt, Night Ranger and others as they lay it all on the line in these smoking hot concert recordings

it came to relief from KROQ, that hope is now dying slowly.

StitchPunk44 Via lacitybeat.com Re: Chris Ziegler’s “Pure Country: Roni Stoneman can’t be sensuous with you if you’re too stupid” [December 10]: I loved this article! Brings back memories. I am a big fan of the Stoneman Family and am so glad to see us getting back to our roots!

Pure Country. It will never die. Thank you for sharing this special article and bring back a very special person...Roni!

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

Becky Benton Via lacitybeat.com

CLEOPATRA

Garmon responds: You’re right, Ray. The SantaCon 2008 I described was just like Altamont, except for the fatal stabbing and the Hell’s Angels, of course.

Remember Warhol, Ron Garmon: There’s nothing more bourgeois than the fear of being bourgeois. ster!? please, what about making your wife cut your body down you self-loathing douche bag. Let’s not forget what his whole work boils down to now. But that does not mean that it wasn’t something worth living for. We live out that paradox. Embrace it.

Thomasdubio Via lacitybeat.com

A host of celebrated musicians gather on this 2CD collection for the ultimate tribute to the bad boys of rock, AC/DC! Features performances by members of Ratt, Twisted Sister, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Rainbow, Skid Row, Anthrax and others doing stellar cover versions of “Highway To Hell,” “Back In Black,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” “Whole Lotta Rosie,” “Sin City” and more!

compassionate. But no. Condemned to repeat the sins of the radical elders.

Remember Warhol, Ron Garmon: There’s nothing more bourgeois than the fear of being bourgeois.

RayCee Via email

CLEOPATRA

SUICIDE? PAINFUL I too have spent the past several months haunted by David’s death [Cornel Bonca’s “Seven False Starts About the Death of David Foster Wallace,” December 4]. I have a Google alert for DFW and I have read every article post-suicide and yours is one of the best, if not the best. The one thing I have missed in any article, and here I am in my cowardly way writing behind a pseudonym, is any sense of rage at him for this. Not that attenuated Kubler-Rossian “anger” but actual STINKING RAGE at him for being so callous to his wife and family and himself and his friends, not to mention all of us who loved him. And the usual suicide’s fantasy that the punishment is bound up in the act. Consider the lob-

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LATTER DAYS

Except that we don’t throw our shoes at the president. Not yet. by steve lowery Monday, December 8 Word is the Tribune Company, the corporation that “runs” the Los Angeles Times “newspaper” is going to file for bankruptcy. Now, this isn’t the kind of bankruptcy you and I would file for, the kind where they put all your stuff outside for your neighbors to pick through. No, this is most likely that super-secret bankruptcy the government reserves for corporations that allows them to stiff their creditors (in this case, that includes the Times’ freelance writers) and lay off employees but still claim millions of dollars in corporate welfare as well as a court-ordered management bash at some Sedona luxury resort. The Tribune Company has been hemorrhaging money – and, in the Times’ case, staff – for months. Tribune CEO/Gollum tributeer Sam Zell has let it be known that all parts of his company are for sale, including the Times, the Chicago Cubs and the Precious.

Tuesday, December 9 Does anybody still have a job?

Wednesday, December 10 In a surprising show of decisiveness, the Los Angeles City Council decisively steps into the ongoing dispute between

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Controller Laura Chick and decisively tells them they’re not going to do anything – though, they added, they might do something in 30 days. Or not. The dispute in question is such that even those presently involved in the dispute, dispute what the dispute is all about. Delgadillo says he is simply blocking Chick from auditing a workers’ compensation program in his office.

Chick says, sure, she wants to do that, but what is more important is that under the City Charter she has the right to do that and wants that made clear. She says this requires a judicial interpretation of L.A.’s City Charter which, I believe, was written on the back of a Tiny Naylor’s placemat.

Chick wants to hire an attorney at $100K to make her point. The Council doesn’t want to do that because it says times are tough, plus, if they start looking into the City Charter they might discover all types of things they didn’t know like maybe the City Council is actually supposed to do something besides roll over for the mayor. So they tell Chick she’s not getting the money but that they might change their minds in a month because that’s how they do it downtown.

And this crew avoids doing. Remember, just the week before, after approving a

$40 million elephant enclosure at the L.A. Zoo, the council decided to kill it, after already spending $12 million. They didn’t say that the project was exactly dead; in fact, there was talk they may revisit the project or do an even bigger elephant project in the Valley or maybe they would just follow their childhood dream of being a fire truck.

Thursday, December 11 The New York Yankees sign pitcher C.C. Sabathia, the most prized free agent during this baseball off-season.

Sabathia gets $161 million for seven years from the Yankees, but apparently he does so with a bit of a heavy heart, if that’s possible. Turns out that Sabathia, a native Californian, told Dodger GM Ned Colletti that he preferred to play for the Blue. Colletti crowed about this and then – following the lead of the L.A. City Council – did nothing to make it happen.

Of course, most people felt the Dodgers didn’t have a chance to sign Sabathia because, under owner Frank McCourt, the organization has successfully convinced people that the Dodgers can’t compete financially with the other big free agent swingers such as the Yankees, Red Sox and Angels for free agents.

Never mind that the team plays in the

nation’s second-largest media market, is a top merchandise earner and averages better than 3.7 million customers a year – one million more than the National League average. Somehow the McCourts have been able to convince people that they run the Kansas City Royals and can’t afford the likes of Sabathia or Manny Ramirez – who the team first lowballed and now has taken to taunting.

Dodger fans: If the team doesn’t make a significant signing in the off-season and you still show up for games, you get everything you deserve: nothing. Or a half-finished elephant enclosure. Or not.

Friday, December 12 State economists announce that the state budget will likely post a state record $41.8 billion budget gap by 2010, putting the state in a hell of a state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly criticizes Republican lawmakers for their partisan game-playing and inaction. “When you have a crisis, the most important thing is to make a decision. The worst thing is not to make a decision. The most costly thing we can do is not to take any action.”

Normally, you’d dismiss this as partisan grandstanding but, if you’ve forgotten, Schwarzenegger is a Republican, a Republican who went on to say, “I have felt many times that Republicans did not come prepared and Republicans have not been specific [about] what they need. They have been very vague.”

Damn, you got Arnold calling out his own party, you’ve got congressional Republicans telling George W. Bush, and American car companies, to go screw themselves and, apparently, John McCain and Sarah Palin were not the head-over-heels couple we all wanted them to be. You know, I’m old enough to remember when the Republicans were the party of unity.

But here they are all petulant and pissy like Democrats, while the Democrats are ... naw, the Democrats are still pretty much acting like Democrats.

Saturday, December 13 Just asking: if one were looking to hoard something – say, gas – how would one go about hoarding that?

Sunday, December 14 Muntather Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, throws two shoes at the head of George W. Bush during the president’s Baghdad press conference. Surprisingly, Zaidi is not a member of the Republican congressional leadership. Zaidi makes us wish we had three feet.

And that the White House press corps owned between them a single set of balls. And that the Dodgers would make him an offer.✶

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LACITYBEAT 8 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

NEWS

Birth of a Machine Maywood mayor’s recall victory means big things from a small town

By Matthew Fleischer Nepotism is now against the law in Maywood. Cronyism, on the other hand, seems just fine.

Despite allegations of corruption, Maywood Mayor Felipe Aguirre – an immigrant’s rights advocate and emerging political star – and his two City Council allies brushed aside recall and possible political extinction last week to further consolidate their power in the tiny city of Maywood.

That may not seem like much.

“sanctuary city” for the undocumented, and then appeared on TV and in daily papers across the country to defend his decision. He has taken up several progressive environmental causes, most notably the quality of Maywood’s drinking water, notorious for emerging from the tap in colors worthy of a crayon box. As a board member of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments – an association of leaders from cities along the I-710 corridor – Aguirre has made a

policy – one that many say was intended to benefit Maywood Club Towing, a major campaign contributor to certain council members.

At the time, Martin’s father, Tomas, a former Maywood mayor himself, served as a political advisor to Aguirre. When city council elections were held in 2007, Rizo and former Maywood police commissioner Ramon Medina were supposed to run on Aguirre’s ticket.

Then, Aguirre and Martin the senior

PAUL TAKIZAWA

mayor aguirre: coming to a highprofile office near you

Maywood is a backwater L.A. County city whose residents are more likely than your average American to be poor and born elsewhere. But Aguirre – with his sensitive touch where immigrant rights, the environment and, most important, raw power are concerned – has become a regional and even national player.

His victory last week was a blowout.

He beat the recall 57 to 43 percent, and then celebrated as local voters approved his ethics reform measure raising standards for Maywood’s police chief and outlawing nepotism in city government.

Measure M, as it was called, is a political fuck-you to Aguirre’s council rival, Thomas Martin, whose father is on the city payroll as a consultant.

Like Barack Obama, Aguirre has a gift for embracing the self-promoting cause célèbre. In 2006 he declared Maywood a

name for himself advocating air pollution clean-up on the packed trucking route.

That sort of activity has earned him powerful friends. In 2007, the Los Angeles Chapter of the California League of Conservation Voters, along with the Service Employees International Union, helped raise $15,000 for the campaigns of Aguirre allies Ana Rizo and Veronica Guardado. Last week, after Aguirre and company claimed victory in the recall, the CLCV published an article on their Website touting: “The Good Guys Win Again in Maywood.”

In reality, things are a little more complicated.

Aguirre’s bitter rival in Maywood city politics, Thomas Martin, was an ally on the 2006 city council that helped Aguirre end the city’s predatory car-impound

had a falling out – sources close to the campaign say Martin doubted a woman could run for and win a council seat in Maywood. Aguirre dropped Medina, picked up Guardado, hired a new political consultant, Leonardo Vilches, and proceeded to stomp his former allies in the election.

Medina and Ray Lopez, who were on the losing end of that election, were also Aguirre’s primary opposition in last week’s recall. That may be an indication that the recall was more about personal politics than moral indignation over the mayor’s behavior.

Likewise, the passage of the not-sosubtly titled Measure M (as in “Martin,” perhaps?) was likely Aguirre’s attempt at political payback – its nepotism clause stripping Martin’s father of his city consulting gig.

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 9 LACITYBEAT

But while Measure M was a public slap in the face of the Martin family, it did nothing to address the fact that Aguirre has been steering city funds toward himself and his friends.

As City Beat reported in the runup to the recall, Aguirre has accepted $95,000 in city money to refurbish his business and home since taking control of the mayor’s office. City checks from Maywood’s Commercial Façade Program were supposed to have been made out to V and M Ironworks, the contractor who performed the work; instead, even Aguirre says, they were improperly made out to his business partner, Hector Alvarado. How that violation of city policy happened remains a mystery. Also a mystery is how the money was spent: our request for an itemized bill has so far turned up nothing. At his office, Maywood Planning Commissioner David Mango sent an aide to tell me that Mango was “too busy” to comment. At press time, a week later, he was still too busy.

On top of that, City Beat has discovered that Aguirre’s political advisor Vilches and Union de Vecinos, his Boyle Heights-based nonprofit advocacy group, have been the beneficiaries of nearly $35,000 in city contracts to perform lead abatement surveys. Vilches also happens to be a Maywood city employee – working as a translator for City Council meetings.

Aguirre’s questionable relationships extend beyond Maywood. This past fall, Aguirre and his council allies attended several Southeast DemsUnited events for the Obama campaign. Aguirre and state senator, and California Latino Caucus chair, Gil Cedillo, were the featured guests. Those events were organized by Cedillo’s troubled protégé, Bell Gardens councilman Mario Beltran – who, as Jeffrey Anderson documented in both City Beat and the L.A. Weekly, has had repeated run-ins with the law. Perhaps most infamously, Beltran was convicted of filing a false police report last year after a wild night with a downtown prostitute.

Shortly thereafter, Los Angeles County District Attorney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons told Anderson that Beltran was under investigation by county and state D.A.’s offices, as well as the FBI, for his involvement in a crooked towing scheme.

None of that seemed to matter last Tuesday, when Aguirre looked untouchable.

Having successfully throttled the small town’s old guard as well as its recall effort, his star is now free to continue rising unabated. And despite the fact he’s in far-off Maywood, you won’t need a telescope to see him.✶

0 to $275,000!

Last-minute $ gifts froM

by Kim Lachance

Just in time for the final days of the Shopocalypse, we’ve put together this festive, fun, unique assemblage of our favorite holiday picks, all made in L.A. or sold here. From the edible to the ecotrendy and the eye-popping, we’ve got something affordable for everyone on your list – beauty queens, drag queens, tree huggers, wee huggers (kids), wine snobs, gadget geeks and more. (Killer East L.A. tamales included.) Just for fun, we’ve thrown in a few ridiculously high-end means of communicating holiday cheer, including a 24-karat gold vibrator (bang!), a personal Guinness Pub, and even a perky new rack (not the kind for wine). So, from the City Beat family to yours, we give you our fabulous “Holiday Stimulus Package.” $

o

Walking in L.A.

There’s no better way to get to know a city than to get lost in it for hours on foot. There’s also no better way to get mugged. So, please, do a few thousand worried Midwestern moms a favor: Give their aspiring-actor offspring the gift of knowing where the hell they are in the cruel, 100-block maze that is downtown.

Of course, nothing says old-school like a $14 Thomas Guide. But there’s a better way and it’s free: be a dear and download one of Downtown LAWalks’ free walkingtour podcasts into your F.O.B. friend’s iPod or mp3 player. If they don’t have one, loan them yours. Better yet, get out there and hoof it with them. Download four 11-to-18-stop strolls: the Arts and Culture Tour, downtown’s grandest art venues (from the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels to Exposition Park); the Shopping Tour (from the St. Vincent Jewelry Center to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising); the International Tour, downtown’s many worldly highlights, from Central Plaza to 410 Boyd; and the Historic Tour, from Union Station to the Central Public Library. Blisters included. www.downtownlawalks.com.

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Peace, Love and Free Art

Picky artsy/culture types are difficult to buy for any time of year. No-return original art isn’t usually affordable, and it’s risky. Save your friend the hassle of hanging unwanted pictures of martinidrinking cats shooting craps with a dog that looks like Sinatra every time you visit.

Give them what they really want – the “experience” of art and culture – for free.

Zero wrapping paper, zero investment. A surprisingly long list of L.A. art, culture and science museums offer free admission, some seven days a week, others on select days only. To get you started, we give you 10 that cost nothing all the time: California African American Museum, Exposition Park, California Science Center, also in Exposition Park; UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Westwood; the Getty Center, Brentwood; the Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades; Hollywood Bowl Museum, Hollywood; MOCA, Los Angeles; the Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood; the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), Beverly Hills, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. There’s only one catch. Your gift: you pay for the parking. www.caamuseum.org; www.californiasciencecenter.org; www. fowler.ucla.edu; www.getty.edu; www. hollywoodbowl.com; www.moca.org; www. pacificdesigncenter.com; www.paleycenter. org; www.smmoa.org.

a.m.!) spilling down Cesar Chavez Avenue to legendary Tamales Lilianas, where the steamed, cornhusk-jacketed traditional Mexican holiday treats are much cheaper ($1.50 cada uno) than the illegal street version and every bit as spicy, moist and fluffy. Choose from chile rojo con puerco (red chile with pork); chile verde con puerco (green chile with pork); chile verde con queso (green chile with Monterey Jack cheese); rajas con queso (pepper sticks with cheese); pollo con verduras (chicken and veggies); dulce pasitas con pina (dessert! sweet raisins with pineapple) and elote (plain corn). Vámanos, spice up that boring office Christmas party with una docena ($17.00) and give the stiffs something to chisme about. Don’t forget to pick up a hearty bowl of rico menudo for the morning after. Tripe (stomach) is medicine for hangovers. Tamales Lilianas, 4629 E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 780-0989.

4.99

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Shudder to Think Shades

We’re not sure why, but shudder shades are back. A penny shy of a five-spot buys you a blindingly bright pair from our favorite local online “urban trendoid” headquarters, Van Nuys-based icedoutgear. com. Shudder shades are “way more computer-rock-weird-science and severe” than their equally whack ’80s predecessor, aviator sunglasses as one fashion blogger put it. At this price, you can afford to stuff every stocking with every color: yield sign $ yellow, hot pink, neon green, and white glow-in-the-dark. What’s next? Lopsided The Incredible, Edible new wave bob cuts? Wait, too late. 17216 East L.A. Tamale Tamales are like weed – bagged in Saticoy St., Van Nuys, (866) 44-BLING. someone’s Boyle Heights’ kitchen, sold on www.icedoutgear.com. the down-low, addictive. Score some from a sketchy dealer and you get schwag. Score to $ from a well-connected hookup with a solid $ reputation and you get the good shit every Travel Light time. Don’t know any off-the-books masa L.A.-based Flight 001 takes the hassle out knuckled tamaleras? You could either of airport security with those clear plastic troll the barrio back streets or follow the “liquid” baggies we’ve grown to loathe enormous, hours-long line (it starts at 5 ever since the loonies ruined flying for the

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LACITYBEAT 10 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

rest of us. The hand-sized containers range from $5 to $24 and work for the most travel essentials (liquid and not), everything from a To Go Bottle Set (seven regulation threeounce travel bottles – how convenient) to Coghlan’s famous Survival Kit-in-a-Can (including: sardines; a bullion packet; fishing hooks; gum; one note; one pencil; two cubes of fire starter; one tea bag and a packet of sugar – how about a cigarette, a shot of whiskey and some cyanide?). Our favorites in the shop’s small luggage section are the bright yellow “Obscenity” luggage tags (pick up four for $24) that passiveaggressively articulate what we wish we could Tourette’s at fellow aggravation spiral (baggage carousel) luggage stalkers: Move your *%!?#!, so I can dive bomb my luggage and go home! We sprang for a sturdy stain-resistant luggage strap that tells fellow travelers (or your sig other or your kids or anyone) to simply “Go Away!”

Flight 001, 8235 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (323) 966-0001. www.flight001.com.

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Bath Bombs Away!

A hundred years ago baths were a luxury.

We might soon suffer in our own stink for days on end if we don’t protect the world’s diminishing fresh water supply in, like, the next five minutes. So lavish in a soothing soak while you can with someone you love (or want to or just can’t but wouldn’t mind seeing naked anyway) this holiday season.

When you take the plunge, “don’t waste the opportunity and put some mediocre, nondescript cheap bathing stuff in it,” says Brandi Halls of LUSH Cosmetics. Drop in a fragrant, fizzing ball of LUSHness, a.k.a. a slow-dissolving carbonated Bath Bomb.

LUSH’s baseball-sized bain ballistics are made from fresh-picked organic (well, 70 percent organic) fruits, flowers and herbs.

Better make room in your bubble buddy’s fridge. Every LUSH product – soap, shower jelly, lotion, lip balm, natural hair colorant, etc. – is vegetarian, preservative free and “best before” dated, like the

ALPHA

sweets they look and smell freakishly like.

Our faves: slippery Gold, Frankincense and Beer Shower Jelly, $5.50 (hard on the eyes, easy on the skin); the glam glitterfilled Jingle Spells Bath Bomb, “an herbal hangover cure from Santa,” $5.50; LUSH Pud Bath Bomb, $5.50, a spicy almond pudding for the bath “to help you rejoin the human race after all that holiday partying,” $5.50; and the “Go Green” solid citrus perfume for “eco-warriors, enviro-mentals and cycle paths.” LUSH Cosmetics, 1404 3rd St. Promenade, Santa Monica, (310) 255-0030. www.lushusa.com.

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Give the Shit List

Revenge is one thing, but organized, methodical, slow-release revenge is just plain evil, which is why KNOCK KNOCK’s “Shit List” makes the perfect funny ha, ha gift for the bitter, grudge holders on your list. Basically, everyone. We imagine tight-ass HR bosses particularly taking pleasure in this 60-spreadsheet notepad, an Excel-precise outlet for systematically rating violations and carefully plotting payback (check one: “stew,” “confront,” “avenge,” “talk shit,” “ignore”…. What?

No “fired”?). More listmania: the “Why I Must Have Sex With You” list (check “please,” “pretty please,” “I’ll pay you,” and “or else”); the “Don’t Kill the Kids” list for inexperienced babysitters (and on-again-off-again baby daddies), the relationship-saving (or killing?) “Mood Alert” list and “Things You Could Do to Make Me Happier” list; and a dozen more that we can’t possibly, uh, list here. Alpha, 8625 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (310) 855-0775. www.alpha-man.com.

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Booty Call in a Bag

For the cold-hearted players on your list, and there are probably a few, we give you Flight 001’s practical “Shame on You Kit”

by Herbal Essentials, for “when you just

can’t make it home.” The nifty six-bysix-inch zip-up booty call emergency kit comes with a toothbrush; toothpaste; a onesize-fits-all thong (really?); three condoms (good lord!); a phone card; a packet of pain reliever and a “leave behind note” with an envelope. Play on. Flight 001, 8235 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (323) 966-0001. www. flight001.com.

we like it. They make swell gifts for the “future heartbreakers and junior hot-rod mechanics” on your list. Choose from a dozen one-of-a-kind “kustomized kid” styles, including “Swifty’s Garage – You Wreck ’Em, We Fix ’Em,” “Li’l Gasser,” and “Hot Rod Buggy,” among others.

Infant sizes: three to 18 months. Toddler sizes: two to six years. Are you still punk rock enough, even at the sellout holidays, to give Sweatshop Watch retailers the $ one-finger salute right where it counts: Straight Up on the Rocks the cash register? P.O. Box 480355, For whiskey aficionados, this swish set of Dept. CRM, Los Angeles. www. eight Vermont-quarried soapstone cubes swivelindustries.com. will “chill but not dilute” their cherished Whiskey Blitz (or scotch or wine or any to $ liquor of choice, hopefully not Wild Irish $ Rose in a paper bag). Drop one or two un- Slurp-n-Burp, Baby meltable “rocks” into a single malt to take Seal Beach designer Theresa handmade Minithe edge off, sit back and get your holiday Miraglia’s drink on. Whiskey Stones wait in the freezer MANIACS punk rock crumb until they’re needed, and they’re reusable catchers are big, sturdy cotton/ and easy to clean. Just rinse, refreeze and pleather novelty bibs that wipe out pastel repeat libation. Fitzsu, 7970 Melrose Ave., overkill and outlast sloppy, inexperienced Los Angeles, (323) 655-1908. www.fitzsu. eaters. Novelty inserts include chunky rapper chains and dollar signs; dice and com. poker chips; chopsticks and plastic sushi; and safety pins and zippers with no other $ function than fashion, tucked neatly (and Hot Threads for Little Punks safely) behind clear, mildew-resistant Kids just love getting clothes for vinyl. You won’t find slurp-and-burp sets Christmas, don’t they? The question with names like these at the Children’s is: will you swallow your procreator Place: “Poser Baby,” “Ahh So Baby,” status this Christmas and do the Walk of “High Roller,” and “G-Dog.” When Shame to Target, loading up on corporate your baby finally masters saliva cookie-cutter baby wear, or suck it up and control, upgrade to Miraglia’s neodefiantly dress your offspring like the cool, vintage concert flyer tees, featuring anti-establishment misfit you used to be (or iron-ons of the Dead Kennedys, claimed to have been)? If it’s the former, the Misfits and Social Distortion. good luck. You’re on your own. But if you SugarBaby, 7523 W. Sunset Blvd., opt for cool, Swivel Industries has you (or Los Angeles, (323) 969-9143. in this case, your drool bucket) covered. www.sugarbabyonsunset.com.

The graphic designer behind Swivel Industries hot-rod and tiki culture and retro pin-up inspired kid designs is (full $ disclosure) City Beat’s own Sandy Wachs. The Luxe Life for a Day His custom “toddler rod wear” T-shirts Need something for day spa dopamine and Onesies are light wearing, heavy on junkies who can’t afford expensive attitude and made right here in L.A., like treatments and massages but still crave ➤

LUSH

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DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 11 LACITYBEAT

ALPHA

Spa luce

SWIVEL

the perks? Give them a $25 day pass to Spa Luce, at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, just steps away from the Kodak Theatre and the Academy Awards. Minus the massage, facial, and other book-ahead treatments, your recipient will have access to the rest of the spa: a dreamy eucalyptus steam haven; two cushy, candlelit allwhite relaxation lounges stocked with fresh, healthy nibbles and refreshing iced cucumber water; private rain showers complete with aromatherapist-to-the-stars Dr. Sharon Zanadoff’s frothy (unofficially) orangesicle-scented shampoo (8 oz., $22), conditioner (8 oz., $22), and body wash (8 oz., $24); and the best part, access to Wolfgang Puck’s glamorous rooftop pool overlooking the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. The lavish, sevenroom spa-sanctuary was the crux of the hotel’s recent $29 million renovation.

“Luce,” which means “light” in Italian, was evidently the guiding principle for its sleek, yet tranquil, modernminimalist design. Soothing natural sunlight glimmers dimly throughout the spa, radiating from behind smooth slabs of chiseled, whitewashed stone imported from Jerusalem, and from a canopy of hollows carved in the ceiling. You’ll be out only 25 bucks and they’ll think you spent a grand. Spa Luce at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel (at the Hollywood & Highland Center), 1755 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, (323) 491-1376. www. spaluce.com.

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The Taste of Malibu Grapes

LULA

FITZSU

the gift that keeps on giving all year, the Rosenthal Wine Club. Price varies based on number of bottles per month. Here’s to a long, sloppy night of Christmas cheer and a tipsy New Year. 29000 Newton Canyon Rd., Malibu, (800) 814-0733. www.rosenthalestatewines.com.

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Wetsuits for DigiCams

Underwater (not just waterproof) digital camera cases make nice gifts for snow bunnies, beach bums, surfers, sailors, divers and snorkelers. Several major brands manufacture the lightweight snap-on cases, including Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Olympus, Panasonic and Nikon. The clear, durable polycarbonate frames protect your investment up to 130-feet deep in the drink, out in the pouring rain or snow, or in almost anything else that feverish Mother Nature hurls at us. 9997 E. Rose Hills Rd., Whittier, (800) 390-1119. www.newegg.com.

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Guilt-Free Gift Basketry

We know, we know. You cringe at the idea of giving generic, factory-packed gift baskets.

They’re outdated, loaded with space cheese and mystery meat best left to silver-haired “secretaries.” Or so we thought – until we stumbled upon Lula Organic’s adorable line of “modern, organic, planet-friendly” gift baskets. Easily handle the Prius-driving crunchy granolas off your list with these green beauty baskets: “In the Raw,” an earthy straw basket bundle of sustainable, fair trade exfoliation and relaxation essentials ($85); “Every Man,” a “spit kit” complete with a Preserve razor, dye-free Every Man Jack shaving gel and other metrosexual skin stuff in a handsome wooden box ($45); and, for every man’s best friend, the ultimate “Doggy Bag,” a reusable jute tote filled with Happy Tails paraben-free fur shampoo, organic apples and molasses bone-treats, a hemp rope toy – that unfortunately does not work like catnip – and, of course, a slobber-resistant tennis ball ($75). Each guilt-free basket bundle is crafted by hand at Lula’s Venice Beach location (no store, order by phone or online) using au natural and vegan skin care goodies packed in attractive reusable containers and eco-consciously shipped with biodegradable cellophane, cornstarch peanuts, etc. Take that, Harry and David!

Lula Organics, 361 Vernon Ave., Venice, (310) 663-9250. www.lulaorganics.com.

As Christmas gifts go, wine is almost always a safe bet. Just don’t show up with a bottle of two-buck Chuck. Not even frilly bows and velvet drawstring bags can fix crappy taste. Support local vintners this year and introduce your party host to Rosenthal, the Malibu Estate wines. “Yes, these wines are from grapes grown in Malibu, not on the famous (Baywatch) beach, but in a scenic valley four miles from the coast, 1,400-feet up, above the coastal fog, in Malibu Newton Canyon.” You might recognize the Rosenthal brand from wine lists at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air and dozens of local steakhouses. Give-to-get works best with wine. Besides, drinking alone on Christmas is suicidal. Share a bottle – or two or three – with the person you gave it to. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Surfrider Foundation when you buy either the Surfrider 2007 Pinot Gris, $20 a bottle; or the surfboard- $ labeled 2004 Surfrider Malibu Newton Relaxing Recess Mani-Pedi Canyon Red Wine, $29 a bottle. Or give Recess for Your Hands and Feet is the

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country’s first (yes, first!) vegan, nontoxic, 100 percent eco-built nail salon.

Owner Nidhi Lal was obsessed with banning anything toxic from the upscale, 2,000-square-foot boutique spa. You could practically eat every inch and live to tell: from the rustic post-and-beam ceiling to the slick no-VOC emitting resin floor, to every last vegan paint drop that touches clients’ nails, right down to the oxygen they breathe. Yes, the air, which always reeks of acetone and acrylic at traditional nail salons, smells vanilla sweet and coconutty here, like warm macaroons. No surgical mask required. Recess offers two longlasting eco-friendly nail lacquers, vegan recycled glass SpaRitual and all-natural Zoya. Both are free of synthetic dyes and, of course, the Toxic Three – toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate. Get on your mother-in-law’s good side this Christmas and spoil her with (about) an hour and 15 minutes of deluxe, greenguilt free mani-pedi bliss. She’ll get an amazingly gentle nail shaping and buff; an organic scented salt soak of her choice; TLC cuticle care; vigorous, hydrating hands and feet massages; a soothing aromatic footbath and three brilliant coats of the purest polish on the planet. You get her off your back, at least for another year. Maybe. 8408-B Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 782-9919. www.recess-la.com.

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Hide and Wake-Up

SUGARBABY

of Prestidigitation), a walk through the Houdini Séance Room and other weird wonders we’re sworn not to tell or we’d have to saw you in half. Students (12-18), $50; adults, $100. The secrets, priceless. 7001 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, (323) 465-7900 x803. Email tours@ hollywoodmuseum.com.

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Golden Vibes

The golden gift that keeps on giving: the Citizen Little “Gold Fuck” Design vibrator, five-and-a-half AA batterypowered inches of pure vibrating gold.

You know what they say. All that quivers is gold and, uh, waterproof. Good vibes are best given in sets of five on the Fifth Day of Christmas. Fitzsu, 7970 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, (323) 655-1908. www. fitzsu.com.

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Plastic Surgery Gift Card

Nothing says unconditional love at the holidays like a perky new rack. Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery puts out this plastic carte blanche just for the holidays and it actually sells. No, we’re not kidding. Why stop at silicone floaters when you can load up your Barbie (or Ken) Doll’s nip-tuck gift card with even more self-esteem in a scalpel, like, say, a butt lift, a mummy tummy tuck, and, the ultimate Hollywood stocking stuffer, a new nose? Unless you like kissing ass beneath the mistletoe, steer clear of gifting the “fat recycling” surgery, when chub cells are often sucked from the ass and put into the pout. Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery, 421 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 550-6300. www. rodeodriveplasticsurgery.com.

Rise and shine, heavy sleepers. Meet Mr. Clocky, a durable, indefatigable digital alarm clock on wheels that beeps bloody murder, then runs away and hides until you come tumbling out of bed. It’s sort of like an annoying kid or yapping dog. Actually, just tap the “off” button, remove the batteries and go back to sleep. Alpha, 8625 Melrose Ave., $ West Hollywood, (310) 855-0775. www. Your Own, Personal Guinness Pub alpha-man.com.

Muckers don’t let muckers get feckin’ bolloxed alone, especially not at Christmas. $ to $ It’s a fact. A friend who brings a six-pack Magical Mystery Tour of the good stout is a friend indeed. Now For the first time in 45 years, the Magic you can bring the bar, too – custom-built, Castle, the private clubhouse for the fully functional Irish pub, complete with Academy of Magical Arts and world’s authentic Guinness décor, glassware and most exclusive members-only magician’s a keg-dispenser, plus a year’s supply of fraternity, opens its doors to the public fresh Guinness draught and a first-class for behind-the-scenes VIP tours. The trip to the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Monday, 2 p.m., Hollywood historian- Dublin. Sláinte! What gift tax? Who cares led spoiler tours are offered through the when you’re this loaded and … loaded?

Hollywood Entertainment Museum and Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Blvd., include a private magic show (perhaps Beverly Hills, (877) 9NM-GIFT. www. in the Close-Up Gallery or the Parlour neimanmarcus.com.✶

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LACITYBEAT 12 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

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Seven DAYs IN L.A.

Edited by Ron Garmon

SUnday: Might as well jump: The Mae Shi

Thursday 18

Municipal Oversight Remedied The City of Los Angeles having unaccountably failed to declare my birthday a public holiday, the next best thing is likely Punk Rock Tribute Night, set to go off at The Knitting Factory. Thrill to the music that helped make us what we so obviously are, with a relay of punks manqué like The Gabba Gabba Heys (essaying The Ramones), The Bitchfits (appearing as The Misfits) and TransexPistols (you get the idea) reviving the ever-receding glory days of first-wave punk. 7:45 p.m. $10. Knitting Factory, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 463-0204. la.knittingfactory.com.

(Ron Garmon)

Friday 19

Inner Space Invaders In the 1970s, Father Yod and The Source band put together many albums’ worth of eclectic, psychedelic music, selling them at the Source vegetarian restaurant in Hollywood. The music was the type of stuff you’d expect – long interludes, explosive drums, saw blades with violin bows and everything in between. Well, Father Yod died in a hang-gliding accident,

and the band, aptly named Ya Ho Wa 13, reform at Spaceland for some trippy shit.

8:30 p.m. $12. Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake, (323) 661-4380. clubspaceland.com. (Nathan Solis)

Echo Park, (213) 413-8200. atthecho. com. (NS)

Monday 22

The Admiral and the Dick

Saturday 20

The Goodbye Look Nestled closely to Dodger Stadium, Chinatown hosted a boom in art galleries a few years ago. Many have since closed, but the remaining handful is lively – like Chung King Project, featuring artist Meaghan Reid’s untitled exhibit. This is the last night of Reid’s work (mixed media, with photo clippings and material strips).

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Chung King Gallery, 945 Chung King Rd., downtown L.A., (213) 6251802. chungkingproject.com. (NS)

Sunday 21

The New Beverly tonight screens a brace of too-new-to-be-classic SF blockbusters directed by Dutch demolitionist Paul Verhoeven. Leading off is Total Recall (1990), a minor Philip K. Dick story inflated into a big-time Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. Up next is the satirical rendering of Robert A. Heinlein’s jingoistic Starship Troopers (1996), a clever update for this Man vs. Intergalactic Bug yarn that must’ve come quite naturally to a director who as a boy saw Nazis up close. 7:30 & 9:45 p.m. $7. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 W. Beverly Blvd., L.A. (323) 938-4038. newbevcinema.com. (RG)

Don’t Flurry, Be Happy

Tuesday 23

The Snow in L.A. show at the Echoplex brings cool music to the warm all-ages music fest. With the likes of The Mae Shi, Busdriver, Entrance Band, Rumspringa and Daedelus, you’ll have few problems jumping up-and-down to stay warm. $5, 5 p.m. The Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd.,

The Soweto Gospel Choir brings their blend of traditional Christian and African music to the acoustically stupendous Walt Disney Hall. This much-honored ensemble has performed with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Celine Dion, and Red Hot Chili Peppers

Voices from Heaven

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 13 LACITYBEAT

and their debut, Voices from Heaven, went to No. 1 on Billboard’s World Music chart.

This is about as much Yuletide uplift as a causal sinner might want, but less than one likely needs. 8 p.m. $24-$74. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. (323) 850-2000. laphil.com. (RG)

Wednesday 24 Foreskin-Free Seeks Kosher-Cuddles

The night before Christmas is perhaps not the easiest for Jews – but there’s no need to feel lonely this year; not if you can go to the largest Jewish singles event in the nation, along with about 1,500 other “chosen people” looking to get lucky. The Ball 2008, organized by JDate and Matzo Ball Parties, will raise funds for The Guardians of the Los Angeles Jewish Home, which offers kosher accommodations for the disadvantaged elderly. Admission gets you five hours of potential spouse-hunting across seven different dance floors. One piece of advice: Before you go home with anybody, compare family trees. You would probably want to know sooner rather than later if you’ve latched onto a cousin. $25.

9 p.m. The Highlands Hollywood, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 433, Hollywood. theball2008.com. (Gabrielle Paluch)

FILM

Niko Tavernise

Wrestling with his demons: In his new film, Mickey Rourke stages the comeback his character is denied

Rourke Revival There’s nothing dreamlike in Darren Aronofsky’s requiem for another kind of heavyweight

By Andy Klein There’s already been lots of ink spilled and pixels displayed about The Wrestler being a comeback for actor Mickey Rourke. He’s pretty much a lock for a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and he deserves it, though Sean Penn, for Milk, is a better bet to win.

The title character is so tailored to Rourke’s talents and has so many similarities to his real-life career (or at least his “legend”) that it seems impossible that it wasn’t written for him specifically. But Nicolas Cage was at one point lined up for it, which would have made for a very different film.

Under the opening credits, we see a collage of wrestling magazines and newspaper stories about the glorious Randy “The Ram” Robinson (real name: Robin Ramzinski), a hugely popular professional wrestler. It’s hardly a downbeat start, until the image is replaced with an ominous “20 Years Later.”

Randy is still popular, but his glory days are over. He plays to smaller houses and just barely makes ends meet. Whenever he can’t pay the rent on his trailer park home, he sleeps in the back of his van and takes on menial jobs. But he still has some kind

of equilibrium: Except for his recurring cash flow problems, he seems reasonably comfortable with his existence. He’s not one of those guys who is always dreaming of the big comeback. His life has simply flowed from greater to lesser fame and fortune; and it’ll manage to keep afloat as long as he can perform in the ring for his diminishing fan base.

Except he no longer can: No sooner do we get a general sense of Randy’s routine than he has a heart attack. After a bypass operation, the doctors make it clear that he can’t risk the exertion of wrestling.

The loss of his vocation suddenly drives home how little else he has in his life. He’s a nice, generally affable guy, and most everyone likes him; but outside of his professional colleagues, around whom he now feels awkward, his closest friends are the neighborhood kids and his favorite stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), from whom he buys lap dances.

His ancient Randy the Ram Nintendo game character represents how time has slipped by without him noticing. A neighborhood adolescent, quickly bored by its slow action and boxy graphics, raves about the latest PS3 game. With

his Whitesnake coif and his heavy metal persona, Randy has become an artifact of the ’80s – a relic.

Given the gaping void in his life, he tries to forge something more real with Cassidy, as well as patch up his relationship with his long-estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood).

The autobiographical parallels are striking. In the early ’80s, Rourke quickly became a favorite with critics for a small supporting role in Body Heat; his status grew exponentially after Diner.

But his performances became more mannered and his career choices odder: He was hilariously funny in Barfly, but it’s not clear just how intentional that was. The 1989 Johnny Handsome was his last decent film for a long stretch, much of which was the result of his bizarre decision to switch from acting to professional boxing, despite being in his late 30s.

He took either enough punches or enough steroids that the next time I saw a photo of him – a publicity still for the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Double Team – I didn’t recognize him, even though I had seen nearly every film he made between 1980 and 1992.

First I thought it was mislabeled; then

LACITYBEAT 14 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

I thought they had taken Rourke’s head and badly pasted it onto to someone else’s body. It was, in a word, creepy.

He had a few semi-comebacks, starting with his supporting role in Francis Coppola’s The Rainmaker (1997) and then in a pair of Robert Rodriguez films. (He was always best as a “character actor,” not as a romantic lead.) The Wrestler is handily his best leading performance in years ... possibly ever. Because he wears the part so comfortably and avoids histrionics and mannered affectations, you can almost believe you’re watching a documentary.

Director Aronofsky is on his best behavior here as well. His previous films – Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain – have been stylistically goosed up, with lots of flashy gimmicks and attempts at thematic profundity. In The Wrestler, he plays it straight, giving us a clear, linear narrative, interrupted only by one intercut flashback. The step away from pyrotechnics becomes him. V The Wrestler. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Screenplay by Robert D. Siegel.

With Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood. At Pacific’s ArcLight and The Landmark West Los Angeles.

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BY ANGELO MILLI PRODUCERS DAVID CROCKETT DAVID BLOOMFI ELD KEN STOVITZ DOMENICO PROCACCI

BY GRANT NI EPORTE PRODUCED DIRECTED

BY TODD BLACK JAMES LASSITER JASON BLUMENTHAL STEVE TISCH WILL SMITH

BY GABRI ELE MUCCINO STARTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 HOLLYWOOD ArcLight Cinemas At Sunset & Vine 323/464-4226 On 2 Screens Digital Projection Daily 11:15 AM, 2:05, 5:05, 8:05 & 11:00 PM 35MM Projection Daily 10:10 AM, 1:10, 4:10, 7:00 & 10:10 PM Fri & Sat Late Show 12:15 AM 4 Hours Validated Parking - $2

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LATEST REVIEWS

Schrader, a filmmaker who has many talents, but no feel for whimsy, let alone magic. The result moves briskly enough, but it remains resolutely ear thbound.

(Andy Klein) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)

ADAM RESURRECTED In the '20s and '30s, Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum) was a popular magician/comedian in Germany. But, just as his star ascended, so did Hitler's; he is hauled off to a camp and separated from his wife and daughter. This would be bad enough, but the camp is run by Commandant Klein (Willem Dafoe), whom he had once mildly humiliated during a performance. Klein forces him to be his private "dog" – literally running around on all fours, barking, and eating out of a dish. Now, 16 years after the war, Adam is lives at the Seizling Institute, a mental hospital for Holocaust survivors in the middle of the Israeli desert. He is adored by all, and most specially by the head nurse (Ayelet Zurer), who has become his lover. But things get weird when Adam – who has been promised that no dogs will ever be allowed at Seizling – psychically detects a canine presence.

This modestly budgeted indie provides a flashy part for Goldblum, one that exploits his unique comic style. But he can't save the film. It seems to have been written in a tone of magical realism, but the director is Paul

THE CLASS With a title literally meaning Between the Walls in the original French, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival winner is an unqualified triumph for veteran director Laurent Cantet (Time Out, Human Resources) and co-screenwriter/star François Bégaudeau. Loosely based on Bégaudeau’s semi-autobiographical 2006 novel, this is a gritty, unflinching look at the power struggle that unfolds between a French high school teacher and his undisciplined, often hostile class of mostly immigrant students. Though set almost entirely within the confines of the classroom itself, it’s the walls that divide the various ethnic student cliques from one another (and from the teacher) that most define the film’s core struggle – the clash between education and assimilation, identity and homogenization.

Cantet’s decision to shoot the classroom scenes with three simultaneously running cameras – one on the teacher, another on the scripted student, and another free to roam for spontaneous, unscripted moments – is nothing short of brilliant, infusing the picture with

-David Sheehan, HOLLYWOOD CLOSE-UPS

“ The

MY NAME IS BRUCE

HILARIOUS FROM START TO FINISH... SAY YES TO ‘YES MAN.’” Jim Ferguson, ABC-TV

HILARIOUS! A Great Movie For The Holidays.”

-Bonnie Laufer, TRIBUTE TV

“Jim

Carrey

AT HIS BEST.” -Ross King, KTLA

GOMORRAH Italy’s official entry for the Foreign Language Oscar, this portrait of mob activity in and around Naples is based on a ripped-from-theheadlines book by Roberto Saviano (whose work reportedly forced him to go into hiding from the Camorra crime family). Director Matteo Garrone (The Embalmer, First Love) intertwines five stories: a longtime mob debt collector (Gianfelice Imparato) is getting in beyond his depth; a dress manufacturer (Salvatore Cantalupo) secretly farms out work to a local sweat shop of Chinese immigrants; an educated young man (Carmine Paternoster) goes to work for a seemingly legitimate businessman (Toni Servillo), whose operations are less than savory; an adolescent boy (Salvatore Abruzzese) tries to ingratiate himself to the local mobsters; and two shallow twentysomething halfwits (Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone) take Al Pacino in Scarface as their role model and try to muscle in on mob turf.

Garrone may be trying to give us a panorama of Camorra activity and the ways it twists everyone’s lives, but a little more focus would have helped. It takes forever to learn to distinguish the characters and to figure out what minor characters fit into whose story. But, even if the actors hadn’t included so many lookalikes, the constant intercutting would still have made the film hard to follow.

Add to that Garrone’s realistic, faux cinemaverité style, and there’s nothing here to draw us in – nothing particularly interesting or engaging about the stories or the characters.

(Andy Klein) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5)

“THE BEST COMEDY OF THE YEAR! “POSITIVELY

a chilling realism rarely achieved in modern narrative cinema. In a strange, unsettling way Cantet’s picture could almost be seen as a tragic sequel to Bertrand Tavernier’s equally brilliant 1999 film It All Starts Today, as if Tavernier’s socially neglected, working-class kindergartners were now finally old enough to carry out the consequences of that neglect as Cantet’s confrontational immigrant high schoolers. A provocative, indelible achievement. (Wade Major) (The Landmark West Los Angeles)

“Jim

Carrey Is A

HIGH-ENERGY COMIC GENIUS!” Comedy You Don’t Want To Miss This Holiday Season.”

-Pete Hammond, HOLLYWOOD.COM

The author of If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor could never be accused of taking himself too seriously: The director/producer/star continues to poke fun at himself in this good-natured spoof, in which Bruce Campbell the B movie actor is mistaken for the action hero he plays in Cave Alien and its sequels. When Jeff (Taylor Sharpe), Bruce’s biggest fan, who calls his idol “the best actor of his generation,” inadvertently rouses Guandi, the Chinese god of war and protector of the dead (oh, and also the patron saint of bean curd), from the site of a cave-in where 100 Chinese miners died, he seeks out Bruce to lead the town of Gold Lick (population 339 ...

338 ... 337 ...) into battle. Bruce goes along with the plan, thinking it’s a birthday prank by his agent (Ted Raimi, in one of three roles) and enjoying the perks of being famous in a small town – including free booze and Jeff’s sexy MILF (Grace Thorsen). Ego-free – or, rather, egoless – Campbell portrays himself alternately as a prick and a drunken lout, although he does always look good (maybe too good) for the part. In the tradition of Campbell’s Evil Dead series, the acting is stiff and the effects low-rent, but it’s all in good fun, especially for fans who will appreciate the allusions to his oeuvre. (Annlee Ellingson) (Nuart)

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

STARTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 - CHECK DIRECTORIES FOR LISTINGS

When repor ter Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) outs CIA agent Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga), she becomes the target of relentless special counsel Patton Dubois (Matt Dillon), who has been hastily appointed to trace the source of the leak. Naturally, Rachel stands on principle and refuses to reveal the informant to Dubois’s grand jury. Despite the entreaties of her venerable lawyer (Alan Alda), the judge (famed attorney Floyd Abrams) throws her in jail for contempt. Nobody expects this to be a longterm situation, but they’re all wrong; Rachel is in stir so long that her relationship with her husband (David Schwimmer) and son (Preston Bailey) begins to fray.

Writer/director Rod Lurie (The Contender, Resurrecting the Champ) has an affinity for political subject matter, and here he’s taken a number of facts from the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson/Judith Miller case of a few years ago and spun them into a more linear narrative. He also abandons significant aspects of the story, some of which would have led to more interesting ethical questions than the film deals with.

Lurie’s style has grown increasingly fluid, and the players (especially Farmiga) deliver, but he tosses everything away with the last twist. It’s only a surprise because, if you see it coming, you won’t believe that he would actually dare use it. (Andy Klein) (Majestic Crest)

SEVEN POUNDS Will Smith often shares the screen with aliens and zombies and superheroes, yet this is his first film to be wholly unbelievable. Smith plays Ben Thomas, a miserable IRS agent, who takes his job too seriously, stalking tax offenders (Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, both good, as always) and asking their acquaintances if they’re “Good People.” He’s obviously up to something, but we don’t find out what until it’s far too late to care – writer Grant Nieporte’s clumsy big reveal triggers giggles, not gasps. What I love about Smith’s films is that he approaches each as though the former teenage millionaire, box office king, and twotime Oscar nominee still has something to prove. If his character is going to glower and sulk and plot, then by golly, he’s going to outHamlet Hamlet. His commitment gives decentenough movies the verve of a touchdown. Still, Seven Pounds is a stinker that will be immortalized as Smith’s first flop; like The Pursuit of Happyness, Smith’s last outing with director Gabriele Muccino, it’s handsome, self-serious nonsense – an anecdote from Reader’s Digest that swaggers in like a life-changing event.

(Amy Nicholson) (Citywide)

WENDY AND LUCY Alone except for Lucy (her retriever) and some vaguely defined dreams of a new life, Indiana native Wendy (Michelle Williams) is driving through the Pacific Northwest to Alaska, in hopes of a summer of lucrative work at a fish cannery. When her car breaks down in a sleepy, boarded-up Oregon mining town, however, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, and she confronts a series of increasingly dire economic decisions, with farranging repercussions for herself and Lucy.

Director Kelly Reichardt (working from a screenplay written with her Old Joy collaborator Jon Raymond) uses a formal minimalist style to construct an emotionally impressionistic road movie that feels rudderless in ways mostly enthralling but sometimes frustrating. A carefully observed film about sympathy and generosity at the dirty-fingernailed edges of American life, Wendy and Lucy also touches on the limits and depths of people’s duty to one another. If the film sputters a bit in conveying much of substance about what Wendy thinks about her predicament, Williams is never less than hypnotizing. And in the current recessional times, the film’s empty canvas and melancholic tones serve as a vessel for those looking to turn the personal into the political. (Brent Simon) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5, Laemmle’s Town Center 5, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7)

WHERE GOD LEFT HIS SHOES Gulf War veteran and aspiring boxer Frank Diaz (John Leguizamo) has always tried to do the best for his family. However, when they are thrown out of their tiny apartment and forced to move into a filthy homeless shelter, their only chance at a Section 8 apartment hinges on Diaz’s finding a job by five o’clock on Christmas Eve. He pounds the pavement, accompanied by his adorable son (David Castro), but paying gigs are elusive.

Writer-director Salvatore Stabile’s Christmas weepie explores that unexpectedly subtle line separating those who are just making it from those who have fallen into despair and desperation. It tries to tug the heartstrings like a violin, but the central situations inevitably feel more forced than sympathetic.

For instance, why doesn’t Diaz’s wife (played by an increasingly brittle and frustrated Leonor Valera) get a job herself, instead of pouting like a trophy bride all day? Leguizamo is a dynamic and appealing performer, but he often seems too burly for the supposedly vulnerable character he’s playing here: It’s hard to buy that he can’t find any work. The film is ultimately one long Christmas trudge through the drab and grey streets of Manhattan. Yes, the piece is meant to be somber and glum, but as a holiday film, it’s a tedious work of ho-ho-humdrum.

(Paul Birchall) (Laemmle’s Grande 4)

THE WRESTLER See Film feature.

THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF On the day he is released from prison, Brett (an excellent William Hurt) enjoys a cold beer, inquires about southbound bus routes, and finds himself in a convertible with Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), an awkward, clearly white boy who claims to be Native American, and Martine (Twilight’s Kristen Stewart), a teenager left to her own devices by an absent father. Erin Dignam’s script contrives to keep the unlikely trio together as they travel toward New Orleans – nature conspires to force them into a crummy motel one night and an abandoned farmhouse another – but the bond they form is complicated and real: Each has felt apart from the world around them and through the others

LACITYBEAT 16 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

finally feels a part of something larger than him- or herself.

Brett, it turns out, is heading toward May (Maria Bello), and what starts out as a road movie turns into a powerful love story. The interplay of the two plotlines works best when Brett’s past with May comes in snatches of memory and imagery and it remains unclear how such a seemingly decent man ended up behind bars. Eventually, he relates his story in episodes to his traveling companions, a format that is narratively necessary but sacrifices the elegiac beauty of the early part of Udayan Prasad’s film. (Annlee Ellingson) (Laemmle’s Town Center 5)

YES MAN Loan officer Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is a walking vortex of negativity, determined to cloister himself in his own negative little world by refusing even his best friends their most innocuous requests. A chance encounter with an old friend (John Michael Higgins), however, leads him into the world of a frighteningly charismatic self-help guru (Terence Stamp), who peers into Carl’s tattered soul and challenges him to change his life by saying “YES!” each time opportunity presents itself.

Extremely loosely based on the 2005 memoir by British journalist Danny Wallace (“loosely” meaning “shares nothing but the basic premise”), this hyper-high-concept comedy from director Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) would seem to be ripe Jim Carrey material, trading on a karmic conceit not unlike that of 1997’s hugely successful Liar Liar. Ironically, the way in which that conceit is tackled differs markedly from previous films, as if its makers really wanted the audience to take home something more substantial than a belly full of laughs. Make no mistake, this is still formulaic romantic comedy fare – a routine boy-meetsgirl-boy-loses-girl-boy-gets-girl-back scenario with the always delightful Zooey Deschanel (flawlessly cast opposite Carrey) as the free spirit who helps set his spirit free. But it’s formula in the service of a noble idea – one which promises to infect even the most jaded viewer with the power of the word “Yes!” (Wade Major) (Citywide)

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: The Tale of Despereaux. Exiled from his home, a mouse (voice of Matthew Broderick) is befriended by a princess (Emma Watson) and a rat (Dustin Hoffman). Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen directed this animated feature from a script by Gary Ross; the voice cast also includes Robbie Coltrane, Richard Jenkins, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, William H. Macy, Tracey Ullman, and Sigourney Weaver. (AK) (Citywide)

SHOWTIMES DEC. 19-25, 2008 Note: Times are p.m., and daily, unless otherwise indicated. All times are subject to change without notice.

DOWNTOWN & SOUTH L.A. Downtown Independent, >251 South Main St, (213) 617-1033. Call theater for titles and showtimes.

Laemmle’s Grande 4-Plex, 345 S Figueroa St, (213) 617-0268. Australia Fri 5; Sat-Sun 1:30, 5, 8:30; Mon-Wed 7.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri 5; Sat-Sun 1:40, 5, 7:30, 10; Mon-Wed 5, 7:30; Thur 1:40, 5, 7:30, 10.

Marley & Me Thur only, 1:30, 4:10, 7, 9:40.

The Spirit Thur only, 1:50, 5, 7:40, 10:15.

Where God Left His Shoes Fri 5; Sat-Sun 1:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:15; Mon-Wed 5:20, 7:50.

Yes Man Fri 5:10; Sat-Sun 1:55, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10; Mon-Wed 5:10, 7:40; Thur 1:55, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10.

Magic Johnson Theaters, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 4020 Marlton Av, (323) 290-5900. Bolt FriSun 10:05 a.m., 12:25, 2:50, 5:20, 7:55, 10:25; Mon-Tue 12:25, 2:55, 5:20, 7:55, 10:20; Wed 12:25, 2:55, 5:20, 7:55.

Cadillac Records Fri-Sat 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:25, 10:10; Sun 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:25, 10:05; Mon-Tue 1:55, 4:45, 7:25, 10:05; Wed 1:55, 4:45, 7:25.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sat 11:35 a.m., 12:05, 2:10, 2:40, 4:55, 5:25, 7:40, 8:10, 10:20, 10:50; Sun 11:35 a.m., 12:05, 2:10, 2:40, 4:55, 5:25, 7:40, 8:10, 10:15; Mon-Tue 12:05, 2:10, 2:40, 4:55, 5:25, 7:40, 8:10, 10:15; Wed 12:05, 2:10, 2:40, 4:55, 5:25, 7:40, 8:10.

Four Christmases Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:40, 5, 7:05, 9:30; Mon-Tue 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:05, 9:30; Wed 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:05.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Fri-Sun 11:50 a.m., 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40; Mon-Tue 12:15, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40; Wed 12:15, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Sat 11:40 a.m., 2:15,

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4:50, 7:35, 10:05; Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:15, 4:50, 7:35, 10; Mon-Tue noon, 2:20, 4:50, 7:35, 10; Wed noon, 2:20, 4:50, 7:35.

Seven Pounds Fri-Sat 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:30, 11; Sun 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:25; Mon-Tue 12:10, 1:30, 2:15, 3:10, 4:30, 5:15, 6:05, 7:30, 8:15, 9, 10:25; Wed 12:10, 1:30, 2:15, 3:10, 4:30, 5, 6:05, 7:30, 8.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Sat 10 a.m., 12:20, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15; Sun 10 a.m., 12:20, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10; Mon-Tue 12:20, 2:50, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10; Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:15, 7:45.

Transporter 3 Fri-Sat 10:10 a.m., 12:35, 3, 5:35, 8:05, 10:40; Sun 10:10 a.m., 12:35, 3, 5:35, 8:05, 10:30; Mon-Tue 12:35, 3, 5:35, 8:05, 10:30; Wed 12:35, 3, 5:35, 8:05.

Twilight Fri-Sat 10:25 a.m., 1:25, 4:20, 7:10, 10; Sun 10:25 a.m., 1:25, 4:20, 7:10, 9:55; Mon-Tue 1:25, 4:20, 7:10, 9:55; Wed 1:25, 4:20, 7:10.

Yes Man Fri-Sat 11:25 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 2:05, 2:35, 4:40, 5:10, 7:20, 7:50, 9:55, 10:35; Sun 11:25 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 2:05, 2:35, 4:40, 5:10, 7:20, 7:50, 9:50; Mon-Tue noon, 2:05, 2:35, 4:40, 5:10, 7:20, 7:50, 9:50; Wed noon, 2:05, 2:35, 4:40, 5:10, 7:20, 7:50.

University Village 3, 3323 S Hoover St, (213) 7486321. The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sat 12:30, 2, 3, 4:30, 5:30, 7, 8, 9:30, 10:30, midnight; SunWed 12:30, 2, 3, 4:30, 5:30, 7, 8, 9:30, 10:30.

Yes Man Fri-Sat noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 10, 12:20 a.m.; Sun-Wed noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 10.

HOLLYWOOD ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Bl, (323) 464-4226. A Christmas Story Mon only, 8, 10:30.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri 11 a.m., 12:05, 2:45, 4:20, 5:45, 8:45, 10:20, 11:30; Sat 12:05, 2:45, 4:20, 5:45, 8:45, 10:20, 11:30; Sun 11 a.m., 12:05, 2:45, 4:20, 5:45, 8:45, 10:20, 11:30; Mon 11 a.m., 12:05, 2:45, 4:20, 5:45, 8:45, 11:30; Tue-Wed 11 a.m., 12:05, 2:45, 4:20, 5:45, 8:45, 10:20, 11:30.

Doubt Fri-Sat 10:35 a.m., 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:05, 12:25 a.m.; Sun-Wed 10:35 a.m., 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:05.

Four Christmases Fri 10:50 a.m., 1:20, 4, 7:15, 9:50; Sat 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4, 7:15, 9:50; SunWed 10:50 a.m., 1:20, 4, 7:15, 9:50.

Frost/Nixon Fri-Wed 10:40 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:30.

Gran Torino Fri-Wed 10:25 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 1:15, 2, 4:15, 5, 7:05, 8, 10:15, 11:10.

Milk Fri-Wed 10:45 a.m., 1:55, 4:55, 7:55, 10:55.

Seven Pounds Fri-Sat 10:10 a.m., 1:10, 4:10, 7, 10:10, 12:15 a.m.; Sun-Wed 10:10 a.m., 1:10, 4:10, 7, 10:10.

Slumdog Millionaire Fri-Sun 11:35 a.m., 1:30, 2:25, 5:25, 7:20, 8:25, 11:05; Mon 11:35 a.m., 1:30, 2:25, 5:25, 8:25, 11:05; Tue-Wed 11:35 a.m., 1:30, 2:25, 5:25, 7:20, 8:25, 11:05.

The Wrestler Fri-Sat 10:15 a.m., 11:05 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:05, 1:45, 2:30, 4:05, 4:45, 5:30, 7:10, 7:45, 8:30, 9:45, 10:35, 11:15, 12:10 a.m.; SunWed 10:15 a.m., 11:05 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:05, 1:45, 2:30, 4:05, 4:45, 5:30, 7:10, 7:45, 8:30, 9:45, 10:35, 11:15.

Grauman’s Chinese, 6925 Hollywood Bl, (323) 464-8111. Yes Man 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:40, 7:30, 10:30.

Los Feliz 3, 1822 N Vermont Av, (323) 664-2169.

Happy-Go-Lucky Fri-Tue 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40; Wed 1:40, 4:20, 7.

Milk Thur only, 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40.

Slumdog Millionaire Fri-Tue 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40; Wed 1:40, 4:20, 7; Thur 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40.

Synecdoche, New York Fri-Tue 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40; Wed 1:40, 4:20, 7.

Valkyrie Thur only, 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40.

Mann Chinese 6, 6801 Hollywood Bl, (323) 4613331. Australia Fri 2:40; Sat-Tue 2:40, 9; Wed 2:40.

Cadillac Records Fri-Tue 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10; Wed 1:10, 4:10, 7:10.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Tue noon, 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:20; Wed noon, 2:30, 5, 7:40.

Private Screening Fri only, 7:30.

Quantum of Solace Fri 11:50 a.m.; Sat-Wed 11:50 a.m., 6:20.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Tue 11:40 a.m., 12:50, 2:10, 3:20, 4:30, 6, 7, 8:20, 9:20; Wed 11:40 a.m., 12:50, 2:10, 3:20, 4:30, 6, 7.

Yes Man Fri-Tue 1, 3:40, 6:30, 9:30; Wed 1, 3:40, 6:30.

Pacific’s El Capitan, 6838 Hollywood Bl, (323) 467-7674. Bolt in Disney Digital 3D 10 a.m., 1, 4, 7, 9:55.

Pacific’s The Grove Stadium 14, 189 The Grove Dr, Third St & Fairfax Av, (323) 692-0829. The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sun 11 a.m., 12:05, 1:30, 2:50, 4:20, 5:30, 7:10, 8:15, 10, 11, 12:35 a.m.; Mon 10:55 a.m., 12:05, 1:30, 2:50, 4:20, 5:30, 7:10, 8:15, 10, 11, 12:35 a.m.; Tue 11 a.m., 12:05, 1:30, 2:50, 4:20, 5:30, 7:10, 8:15, 10, 11, 12:35 a.m.; Wed 11 a.m., 12:05, 1:30, 2:50, 4:20, 5:30, 7:10, 8:15, 10, 11.

Doubt Fri-Tue 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:25, 7:20, 10:05, 12:05 a.m.; Wed 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:25, 7:20, 10:05.

Four Christmases Fri-Wed 10:25 a.m., 12:30, 2:45,

5:05, 7:25, 9:45.

Frost/Nixon Fri-Wed 11:10 a.m., 2, 4:50, 7:45, 10:45.

Milk Fri-Wed 10:30 a.m., 1:25, 4:40, 7:50, 11:05.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Wed 8:05, 10:50.

The Reader Fri-Wed 10:45 a.m., 1:45, 4:45, 7:40, 10:40.

Seven Pounds Fri-Tue 10:40 a.m., 12:50, 1:50, 4, 4:55, 7:05, 8, 10:15, 11:10, 12:15 a.m.; Wed 10:40 a.m., 12:50, 1:50, 4, 4:55, 7:05, 8, 10:15, 11:10.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Wed 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 12:35, 1:55, 3:05, 4:30, 5:35, 7:15, 9:50.

Twilight Fri-Wed 10:35 a.m., 1:35, 4:35, 7:35, 10:35.

Yes Man Fri-Sun 10:50 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:40, 4:15, 5:25, 7, 8:10, 9:55, 10:55, 12:30 a.m.; Mon 11 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:40, 4:15, 5:25, 7, 8:10, 9:55, 10:55, 12:30 a.m.; Tue 10:50 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:40, 4:15, 5:25, 7, 8:10, 9:55, 10:55, 12:30 a.m.; Wed 10:50 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:40, 4:15, 5:25, 7, 8:10, 9:55, 10:55.

Regent Showcase, 614 N La Brea Av, (323) 9342944. Australia Fri 4:30, 7:30; Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:30; Mon-Thur 4:30, 7:30.

Vine, 6321 Hollywood Bl, (323) 463-6819. Vista, 4473 Sunset, (323) 660-6639. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Thur only, 1:15, 5, 8:45.

Milk Fri 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Sat-Sun 1, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Mon-Tue 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Wed 3:45, 6:45.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY Century 8, 12827 Victory Bl, (818) 508-6004.

Bedtime Stories Thur only, 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40.

Bolt Fri-Tue 11:45 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40; Wed 11:45 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Thur only, 11:55 a.m., 3:25, 7, 10:30.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Tue 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:40, 10:20; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:40.

Four Christmases Fri-Tue 12:20, 2:50, 5:05, 7:20, 9:35; Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:05, 7:20.

Marley & Me Thur only, 11:20 a.m., 2, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Tue 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10; Wed 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45.

Seven Pounds Fri-Tue 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:25; Wed 1:25, 4:25, 7:25; Thur 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:25.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Tue 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Wed 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7; Thur 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30.

Twilight Fri-Tue 1:35, 4:20, 7:15, 10:05; Wed 1:35, 4:20, 7:15.

Yes Man Fri-Tue 11:35 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:15; Wed 11:35 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:35; Thur 11:35 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:15.

Loews CityWalk Stadium 19 with IMAX, 100 Universal City Dr at Universal CityWalk, (818) 5080588; IMAX Theater (818) 760-8100. Bolt in Disney Digital 3D Fri-Sat 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:20, 6:45, 9:15, 11:40; Sun 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:20, 6:45, 9:15; Mon-Tue 2, 4:20, 6:45, 9:15; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:20, 6:45, 9:15.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sat 12:30, 1, 1:55, 3, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:05, 7:05, 8:05, 8:35, 9:35, 10:55, 11:15, 12:05 a.m.; Sun-Wed 12:30, 1, 1:55, 3, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:05, 7:05, 8:05, 8:35, 9:35.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: The IMAX Experience IMAX Fri-Sat 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:45, 10:30;

®

GOLDEN GLOBE

NOMINEE “#### 1/2

FAST, LIVELY AND PACKED WITH SHARP PERFORMANCES– this is how true-life movies should be done.”

Rafer Guzmán, Newsday

“THE ENSEMBLE IS STUPENDOUS – HOWLINGLY GREAT – AND THE MUSIC GOES DEEP.” David Edelstein, New York Magazine

“JEFFREY WRIGHT IS SUPERB”

“BEYONCÉ KNOWLES IS A REVELATION” Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

SEAN PENN

SONY MUSIC FILM AND PARKWOOD PICTURES PRESENT A SONY MUSIC FILM PRODUCTION ADRIEN BRODY JEFFREY WRIGHT “CADILLA ADILLAC RECORDS RECORDS” GABRIELLE UNION COLUMBUS SHORT CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI EAMONN WALKER WITH MOS DEF COSTUME DIRECTOR OF AND BEYONC BEYONCÉÉ KNOWLES CASTINGBY KIMBERLY R. HARDIN DESIGNER JOHNETTA BOONE PRODUCTION DESIGNER LINDA BURTON PHOTOGRAPHY ANASTAS MICHOS, ASC COEXECUTIVE MUSIC ORIGINAL EDITOR PETER C. FRANK, A.C.E. PRODUCER PETRA HOEBEL MUSIC PRODUCER MARSHALL CHESS PRODUCER STEVE JORDAN SCORE TERENCE BLANCHARD MUSIC EXECUTIVE AND BEYONCÉÉ KNOWLES MARC LEVIN PRODUCEDBY ANDREW ANDREWLACK LACK SOFIA SONDERVAN WRITTEN SUPERVISOR BETH AMY ROSENBLATT PRODUCERS BEYONC DIRECTED BY DARNELL MARTIN

WINNER

EMILE HIRSCH JOSH BROLIN DIEGO LUNA AND JAMES FRANCO FROM THE DIRECTOR OF “GOOD WILL HUNTING”

SOUNDTRACK FEATURES MUSIC BY BEYONC BEYONCÉÉ, Q-TIP, BUDDY GUY, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, NAS FEATURING OLU DARA DARA,, SOLANGE AND MORE

NOW PLAYING CENTURY CITY AMC Century 15 • 310/289-4AMC Daily 10:20 AM, 3:30 & 8:40 PM 3 Hours Free Parking Additional 2 Hour Parking $3.00 with AMC Validation

HOLLYWOOD Mann Chinese 6 • 323/777-FILM #002 Daily 1:10, 4:10, 7:10 & 10:10 PM 4 Hour Parking at Hollywood & Highland Only $2.00 (with Validation)

LOS ANGELES Regency Theatres Fairfax Cinemas 3 • 323/655-4010 Fri-Sun 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20 & 9:40 PM Mon & Tue 2:40, 5:00, 7:20 & 9:40 PM Wed 2:40, 5:00 & 7:20 PM WEST LOS ANGELES The Bridge Cinema De Lux 310/568-3375 Digital Projection Daily 11:30 AM, 2:05, 4:40, 7:15 & 9:50 PM Fri & Sat Late Show 12:20 AM

AND AT A THEATER NEAR YOU FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS. AMPAS and Guild Members: Your card will admit you and a guest to any performance (subject to seating availability).

AMC: AMPAS, ACE, ADG, ASC, BAFTA-LA, CAS, DGA, HFPA, MPEG, MPSE, PGA and WGA Members.

ARCLIGHT and PACIFIC: AMPAS, DGA and WGA Members. MANN: AMPAS, DGA and WGA Members (Mon-Thur Only).

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 19 LACITYBEAT

PRODUCER GUILD O S AMERICAF STANLEY KR AMER AWARD

HOW DO YOU NEVER BLEND IN? Share your story at milkthemovie.com

µ HOLLYWOOD ArcLight µ BEVERLY HILLS Pacific’s The Grove µ WEST LOS ANGELES The Landmark at § SANTA MONICA µ WEST LOS ANGELES µ SHERMAN OAKS Cinemas at Sunset & Vine Stadium 14 323/692-0829 #209 W. Pico & Westwood 310/281-8233 AMC Loews The Bridge ArcLight Cinemas at the 323/464-4226 4 hours on-site validated www.landmarktheatres.com Broadway 4 Cinema De Lux Sherman Oaks Galleria 4 hours validated parking -$2 parking only $2.00.

800/FANDANGO #706 310/568-3375 818/501-0753 FREE PARKING µ GLENDALE Pacific’s PASADENA Laemmle’s § MANHATTAN BEACH Pacific’s Glendale 18 The Americana Manhattan Village 310/607-0007 #056 Playhouse 7 Cinemas 626/844-6500 at Brand 866/PAC-9790 ∂ NEWPORT BEACH Edwards the § REDLANDS Krikorian’s Island Cinemas 800/FANDANGO #151 Redlands Cinema 14 909/793-6393 HUNTINGTON BEACH ∂ ALISO VIEJO Cinemark Century 20 £ µ NORTHRIDGE Pacific’s Northridge Fashion µ RIVERSIDE Regal Cinemas Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20 Bella Terra 714/895-3456 800/FANDANGO #116 Center Stadium 10 818/501-5121 #092 Riverside Plaza Stadium 16 800/FANDANGO #1722 ∂ IRVINE ∂ BREA Edwards ¥ ONTARIO Edwards Westpark Cinema 8 Brea Stadium 22 Cinemas AMC Ontario Mills 30 909/484-3000 ¥ ROLLING HILLS AMC Rolling Hills 800/FANDANGO #120 800/FANDANGO #144 310/289-4262 ¥ ORANGE ¥ BURBANK AMC µ LAGUNA NIGUEL AMC 30 At The Block 714/769-4AMC ¥ ROLLING HILLS ESTATES Burbank 16 818/953-9800 Regency Rancho Niguel 8 µ PALM DESERT Regal Cinemas Promenade 949/831-4359 Stadium 13 800/FANDANGO #158 Cinemas Palme D’Or 760/779-0730 µ CLAREMONT Laemmle’s Claremont 5 909/621-5500 § LONG BEACH § PALM SPRINGS § SAN LUIS OBISPO The Movie Experience United Artists Marketplace Downtown Centre 805/546-8600 Camelot Theatres 760/325-6565 µ FOOTHILL RANCH Regal Cinemas 800/FANDANGO #509 Foothill Towne Center Stadium 22 CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORIES SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT 800/FANDANGO #135 ∂ LOS FELIZ Vista 323/660-6639 OR CALL FOR SHOWTIMES ∂ ALHAMBRA Edwards Renaissance Stadium 14 800/FANDANGO #438

§ SANTA ANA Regency South Coast Village 714/557-5701

§ SANTA BARBARA Fiesta 805/963-9503 µ VENTURA Cinemark Century Downtown 10 805/641-6500 § WEST HILLS Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7 818/340-8710 § WESTLAKE VILLAGE Regency Westlake Village Twin 818/889-8061 ¥ WOODLAND HILLS AMC Promenade 16 818/883-2AMC

MOBILE USERS: For Showtimes – Text MILK with your ZIP CODE to 43KIX (43549) For group sales information, log on to www.milkthemovie.com/groupsales or please call 866-617-7175.

Saturday • December 20 • 4pm

AMOEBA AUCTIONS = GREAT GIFTS! Every Saturday in December our host, Brently Heilbron, auctions everything from rare and collectable memorabilia to wacky, off-beat promo items and all things in-between. All proceeds benefit local and global relief efforts! As always, Amoeba will match your individual donation up to $1,000!!

12/20 AUCTION ITEMS INCLUDE: • FLIGHT OF THE CONCORDS autographed CD and autographed poster • Two tickets to O.A.R.’s January 23rd show at Club Nokia @ LA Live • A pair of tickets to see the SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR on 12/23 at Disney Concert Hall • Autographed DAVID LYNCH DVDs • A pair of tickets to see SNOW IN LOS ANGELES ALL AGES MUSIC FESTIVAL featuring Bus Driver and Daedelus and the Mae Shi at the Echoplex!

• Star Wars, Radiohead & The Simpsons memorabilia and more!

FREE PARKING AT THE ARCLIGHT GARAesGfoEr TW! O hours

Amoeba validat se! of parking with purcha

AM GIFT CERTOIEFBICA ATES M A K E G Buy at the stor REAT GIFTS! e, order online OR call (323 at Amoeba.c

) 245-6400 om Available in A ! We’ll mail anywhere!

NY denominat ion.

6400 SUNSET BLVD. (323) 245-6400 MON-SAT 10:30AM-11PM • SUN 11AM-9PM VALIDATED PARKING AT THE ARCLIGHT GARAGE! Amoeba validates for two hours of parking with purchase!

BUY-SELL-TRADE: CDS, LPS, DVDS, VIDEOS, BLU-RAY, TAPES, POSTERS, 45S, 78S, MEMORABILIA & MUCH, MUCH MORE!

SELL US YOUR STUFF! WE’RE ALWAYS BUYING QUALITY CDS, DVDS & LPS!

AMOEBA.COM

IMAX Sun 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:45, 10:15; IMAX Mon-Tue 2:15, 4:55, 7:45, 10:15; IMAX Wed 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:45, 10:15.

Four Christmases Fri-Sat 12:25, 2:45, 5, 6:15, 7:15, 8:40, 9:40, 10:50, midnight; Sun-Wed 12:25, 2:45, 5, 6:15, 7:15, 8:40, 9:40.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Fri-Sun 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 4; MonTue 1:45, 4; Wed 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 4.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Sat 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:10, 6:10, 8:55, 11:20; Sun 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:10, 6:10, 8:55; Mon-Tue 1:50, 4:10, 6:10, 8:55; Wed 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:10, 6:10, 8:55.

Role Models Fri-Sun 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 9:55; MonTue 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 9:55; Wed 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 9:55.

Seven Pounds Fri-Sat 11:25 a.m., 12:25, 1:30, 2:35, 3:25, 4:25, 5:25, 6:20, 7:30, 8:30, 9:10, 10:35, 11:35, 12:05 a.m.; Sun 11:25 a.m., 12:25, 1:30, 2:35, 3:25, 4:25, 5:25, 6:20, 7:30, 8:30, 9:10, 10:20; Mon-Tue 12:25, 1:30, 2:35, 3:25, 4:25, 5:25, 6:20, 7:30, 8:30, 9:10, 10:20; Wed 11:25 a.m., 12:25, 1:30, 2:35, 3:25, 4:25, 5:25, 6:20, 7:30, 8:30, 9:10, 10:20.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Sat 11:55 a.m., 1:25, 2:25, 3:55, 4:50, 6:30, 7:25, 8:50, 9:50, 11:10; Sun 11:55 a.m., 1:25, 2:25, 3:55, 4:50, 6:30, 7:25, 8:50, 9:50; Mon-Tue 1:25, 2:25, 3:55, 4:50, 6:30, 7:25, 8:50, 9:50; Wed 11:55 a.m., 1:25, 2:25, 3:55, 4:50, 6:30, 7:25, 8:50, 9:50.

Transporter 3 Fri-Sat noon, 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:25, 11:50; SunWed noon, 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:25.

Twilight Fri-Sat 12:45, 3:45, 6:40, 9:20, 12:10 a.m.; Sun-Wed 12:45, 3:45, 6:40, 9:20.

Yes Man Fri-Sat 11:55 a.m., 12:35, 1:35, 2:40, 3:15, 4:15, 5:20, 6, 7, 8, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15 a.m.; Sun 11:55 a.m., 12:35, 1:35, 2:40, 3:15, 4:15, 5:20, 6, 7, 8, 8:45, 9:45, 10:30; Mon-Tue 12:35, 1:35, 2:40, 3:15, 4:15, 5:20, 6, 7, 8, 8:45, 9:45, 10:30; Wed 11:55 a.m., 12:35, 1:35, 2:40, 3:15, 4:15, 5:20, 6, 7, 8, 8:45, 9:45, 10:30.

SANTA MONICA AMC Santa Monica 7, 1310 Third Street Promenade, (310) 395-3030. Bolt in Disney Digital 3D Fri-Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:15, 4:50, 7:20, 9:55; Mon-Wed 2:10, 4:50, 7:20, 9:40.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sun 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 5:10, 8, 10:30; Mon-Wed 1:40, 4:10, 6:45, 9:30.

Frost/Nixon Fri-Sun 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20; MonWed 1:30, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55.

Quantum of Solace Fri-Sun 11:20 a.m., 2:05, 5:15, 7:50, 10:25; Mon-Tue 1:50, 4:25, 7:15, 9:45; Wed 1:50, 4:25, 7:15.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Sun 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7:10, 9:30; Mon-Wed 2, 4:30, 7, 9:15.

Yes Man Fri-Sun 11 a.m., 12:05, 1:35, 2:30, 4:20, 5, 7, 7:40, 9:40, 10:10; Mon 1:20, 2:20, 4, 5, 6:30, 7:30, 9, 10; Tue 1:20, 2:20, 4, 5, 7:30, 10; Wed 1:20, 2:20, 4, 5, 6:30, 7:30, 10.

Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex, 1332 Second St, (310) 394-9741.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Fri-Wed noon, 2:45, 5.

Doubt Thur only, noon, 2:40, 5:10, 7:45, 10:15.

Let the Right One In Fri-Wed 1, 4, 7, 9:50.

The Reader Fri-Wed noon, 2:20, 5:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10; Thur 1, 4, 7, 10.

Slumdog Millionaire 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10.

Loews Cineplex Broadway, 1441 Third Street Promenade, (310) 458-1506. Call theater for titles and showtimes.

Mann Criterion, 1313 Third Street Promenade, (310) 3951599. Four Christmases Fri-Tue 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10.

Gran Torino Fri-Sat 11:30 a.m., 1:10, 2:30, 4:10, 5:20, 7, 8, 9:50, 10:40, 12:30 a.m.; Sun-Tue 11:30 a.m., 1:10, 2:30, 4:10, 5:20, 7, 8, 9:50, 10:40; Wed 11:30 a.m., 1:10, 2:30, 4:10, 5:20, 7, 8.

Seven Pounds Fri-Sat 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30, 10:30, 12:15 a.m.; Sun-Tue 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30, 10:30; Wed 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 6:30, 7:30.

Twilight Fri-Tue 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20; Wed 1:20, 4:20, 7:20.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, BEVERLY HILLS, CENTURY CITY AMC Century City 15, 10250 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 2772011. Bolt in Disney Digital 3D Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 12:45, 3:20, 5:45, 8:25, 10:50; Mon-Wed noon, 2:30, 5:10, 7:45, 10:10.

Cadillac Records Fri-Sun 10:20 a.m., 3:30, 8:40; Mon-Wed 3:30, 8:40.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri-Sun 11:15 a.m., 2, 5, 7:55, 10:40; Mon-Tue 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 5, 7:55, 10:40; Wed 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 5, 7:55.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: The IMAX Experience IMAX Fri-Sat 9:55 a.m., 12:55, 3:50, 6:45, 9:40, 12:20 a.m.; IMAX Sun 9:55 a.m., 12:55, 3:50, 6:45, 9:40; IMAX Mon-Wed 12:55, 3:50, 6:45, 9:40.

Four Christmases Fri-Sat 11:20 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:10, 9:35, 11:55; Sun 2:05, 4:40, 7:10, 9:35; Mon-Wed 11:20 a.m., 2:05, 4:45, 7:10, 9:35.

Frost/Nixon Fri-Sun 10:35 a.m., 1:35, 4:35, 7:35, 10:30; MonWed 11:25 a.m., 2:15, 5:05, 8:05.

Gran Torino Fri 11:05 a.m., 1:10, 2:10, 4:05, 5:20, 7:05, 8:20, 10:05, 11:15, 12:45 a.m.; Sat 11:05 a.m., 1:15, 2:10, 4:05, 5:20, 7:05, 8:20, 10:05, 11:15, 12:45 a.m.; Sun 11:05 a.m., 1:10, 2:10, 4:05, 5:20, 7:05, 8:20, 10:05, 11:15; Mon-Wed 11:05 a.m., 1:10, 2:10, 4:05, 5:20, 7:05, 8:20, 10:05.

Metropolitan Opera: Thais Sat only, 9 a.m.

Nothing Like the Holidays Fri-Sun 10:05 a.m., 1, 6:10, 9:45; Mon-Wed 1, 6:10, 9:45.

Quantum of Solace Fri-Sat 11 a.m., 4:20, 7, 12:25 a.m.; SunWed 11 a.m., 4:20, 7.

Seven Pounds Fri-Sat 10 a.m., 12:05, 1:05, 3:15, 4:15, 6:15, 7:25, 9:25, 10:35, 12:30 a.m.; Sun 10 a.m., 12:05, 1:05, 3:15, 4:15, 6:15, 7:25, 9:25, 10:35; Mon-Tue 11 a.m., 12:20, 1:55, 3:20, 4:50, 6:20, 7:50, 9:20, 10:45; Wed 11 a.m.,

12:20, 1:55, 3:20, 4:50, 6:20, 7:50, 9:20.

The Tale of Despereaux Fri-Sun 9:45 a.m., 12:25, 3, 5:35, 8:15, 10:45; Mon-Wed 11:10 a.m., 2, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50.

Transporter 3 Fri-Sun 1:45, 11:20; Mon-Tue 1:45, 10:55; Wed 1:45.

Twilight Fri-Sun 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:30, 7:40, 10:45; Mon-Tue 1:20, 4:30, 7:30, 10:25; Wed 1:20, 4:30, 7:30.

Yes Man Fri-Sat 11:30 a.m., 12:40, 2:25, 3:40, 5:15, 6:30, 8:10, 9:15, 10:50, midnight; Sun-Tue 11:30 a.m., 12:40, 2:25, 3:40, 5:15, 6:30, 8:10, 9:15, 10:50; Wed 11:30 a.m., 12:40, 2:25, 3:40, 5:15, 6:30, 8:10, 9:15.

Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, 9036 Wilshire Bl, (310) 274-6869.

H‰nsel und Gretel Mon only, 7:30.

I’ve Loved You So Long Fri 5:30, 8:15; Sat noon, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15; Sun 2:45, 5:30, 8:15; Mon-Tue 5; Wed 5:30, 8:15.

Nutcracker (Ballet) Sat 11 a.m.; Tue 7:30.

Otello Sun only, 11 a.m.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona Fri 5; Sat noon; Sun 2:30; Mon-Wed 5.

W. Fri 5, 8; Sat-Sun 1, 4, 7, 10; Mon-Wed 5, 8.

Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Theatre, 8000 Sunset Bl, (323) 8483500. Adam Resurrected Fri-Tue 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55.

Gomorrah Fri-Tue 1:30, 4:45, 8.

Let the Right One In Fri-Tue 1:10, 4, 7, 9:50.

Rachel Getting Married Fri-Tue 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45.

Wendy and Lucy Fri-Tue 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:50.

Beverly Center 13 Cinemas, 8522 Beverly Blvd., Suite 835, (310) 652-7760. Australia Fri-Tue 11:40 a.m., 2:50, 3:30, 6:40, 9, 9:50; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:50, 3:30, 6:40.

Changeling Fri-Tue 12:50, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10; Wed 12:50, 3, 4, 7.

Happy-Go-Lucky Fri-Tue 12:10, 2:30, 5, 7:20, 9:40; Wed 12:10, 2:30, 5, 7:20.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year Fri-Tue 11:50 a.m., 2, 4:10, 6:40, 8:50; Wed 11:50 a.m., 2, 4:10, 6:40.

JCVD Fri-Tue noon, 2:30, 5, 7:10, 9:30; Wed noon, 2:30, 5, 7:10.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Fri-Tue noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:10, 5:10, 6:30, 7:20, 8:50, 9:30; Wed noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:10, 5:10, 6:30, 7:20.

Punisher: War Zone Fri-Tue 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:50, 10:20; Wed 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:50.

Quantum of Solace Fri-Tue 12:20, 1:10, 3:10, 5:30, 6:50, 7:50, 10:10; Wed 12:20, 1:10, 3:10, 5:30, 6:50, 7:50.

Transporter 3 Fri-Tue 1:10, 3:20, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10; Wed 1:10, 3:20, 5:20, 7:40.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona Fri-Tue 12:30, 1, 2:40, 4:40, 6, 7, 9; Wed 12:30, 1, 2:40, 4:40, 6, 7.

WESTWOOD, WEST L.A. AMC Avco Center, 10840 Wilshire Bl, (310) 475-0711.

Australia Fri 1:20, 4:35, 8:10; Sat-Sun 11:20 a.m., 3, 6:30, 10; Mon-Tue 1:20, 4:35, 8:10; Wed 3, 6:45.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Fri 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20; SatSun 11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20; Mon-Tue 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20; Wed 1:50, 4:40, 7:30.

Seven Pounds Fri 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; Sat-Sun 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; Mon-Tue 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; Wed 1:15, 4:15, 7:15.

Twilight Fri 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50; Sat-Sun 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50; Mon-Tue 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50; Wed 1:30, 4:20, 7:10.

Laemmle’s Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 4775581. 2001: A Space Odyssey Tue only, 8.

The Abyss Sat only, 4.

Alien Mon only, 8.

Aliens Sat only, 11.

Fiddler on the Roof (Sing-a-long) Wed only, 7.

Gremlins Sun only, 4.

The Hunt for Red October Tue only, 4:45.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Sun only, 7.

Pink Floyd: The Wall Fri only, 11.

The Remains of the Day Fri only, 5:15.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Mon only, 5:15.

Titanic Sat only, 7.

Tommy Fri only, 8.

Top Gun Sun only, 1.

The Untouchables Sun only, 10.

Waltz With Bashir Thur only, 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:30, 9:45.

Landmark’s Nuart Theater, 11272 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 2818223. My Name Is Bruce Fri 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50, 11:59; Sat-Tue 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50; Wed 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30; Thur 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Midnight Sat only,.

Landmark’s Regent, 1045 Broxton Av, (310) 281-8223.

Bedtime Stories Thur only, 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Fri-Tue 2:45, 5, 7:30, 9:45; Wed 2:45, 5, 7:30.

The Landmark West Los Angeles, 10850 W Pico Bl, (310) 2818223. The Class Fri-Tue 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:30, 7:20, 10:10; Wed 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:30, 7:20; Thur 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:30, 7:20, 10:10.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Thur only, 11:40 a.m., 1:10, 3:20, 4:50, 7:05, 8:30, 10:40.

Doubt Fri-Tue 11:20 a.m., 1, 2, 3:30, 4:45, 6:10, 7:20, 8:45, 9:50; Wed 11:20 a.m., 1, 2, 3:30, 4:45, 6:10, 7:20, 8:45.

Last Chance Harvey Thur only, 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:15, 9:45.

Milk Fri-Sun noon, 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 8:50, 10:10; Mon noon, 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:10; Tue noon, 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 8:50, 10:10; Wed noon, 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 8:50.

The Reader Fri-Sun 11 a.m., 1:50, 3, 4:40, 6, 7:30, 10:20; Mon 11 a.m., 1:50, 3, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20; Tue 11 a.m., 1:50, 3, 4:40, 6, 7:30, 10:20; Wed 11 a.m., 1:50, 3, 4:40, 6, 7:30.

Seven Pounds Fri-Tue 11 a.m., 12:20, 1:50, 3:10, 4:40, 6, 7:30, 8:50, 10:20; Wed 11 a.m., 12:20, 1:50, 3:10, 4:40, 6,

LACITYBEAT 20 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

7:30, 8:50.

Slumdog Millionaire Fri-Tue 11:20 a.m., 12:40, 2:10, 3:30, 5, 6:20, 7:50, 9:10, 10:35; Wed 11:20 a.m., 12:40, 2:10, 3:30, 5, 6:20, 7:50.

Valkyrie Thur only, 11:30 a.m., 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10.

The Wrestler Fri-Tue 11:15 a.m., 12:40, 2, 3:20, 4:50, 6:05, 7:40, 8:40, 10:15; Wed 11:15 a.m., 12:40, 2, 3:20, 4:50, 6:05, 7:40, 8:40.

Majestic Crest Theater, 1262 Westwood Bl, (310) 474-7866.

Nothing but the Truth 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45.

Mann Bruin, 948 Broxton Av, (310) 208-8998. Four Christmases Fri-Tue noon, 2:30, 5, 7:20, 9:50; Wed noon, 2:30, 5, 7:20.

Mann Festival 1, 10887 Lindbrook Av, (310) 208-4575.

Quantum of Solace Fri-Tue 1:30, 4:10, 7, 9:40; Wed 1:30, 4:10, 7.

Mann Village, 961 Broxton Av, (310) 208-5576. Yes Man Fri-Tue 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30; Wed 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:30, 7:30.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Av, Santa Monica, (323) 466-3456.

Aerotheatre.com. Movies with Holiday Spirit – White Christmas, 7:30.

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 466-3456.

Egyptiantheatre.com. Movies with Holiday Spirit – Fiddler on the Roof, 7:30.

Laemmle's Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Bl, West L.A., (310) 477-5581. Laemmle.com. Laemmle Through the Decades: 1938-2008 – 70 Years in 7 Days – Y Tu Mamá También, 2:30, 5, 7:30.

New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Bl, L.A., (323) 9384038. Newbevcinema.com. My Winnipeg, 7:30; The Saddest Music in the World, 9:10.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, 7:30.

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – The Shop Around the Corner, 7:30.

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, Spielberg Theatre Cult Cinema Club – Two rare, hard-to-see ’50s Japanese horror films, 7:30; screened from a digital source.

Laemmle's Royal Remains of the Day, 5:15. Tommy, 8.

Pink Floyd The Wall, 11. (All shows part of 70/70: A Series of 70mm Films Celebrating Laemmle's 70th Anniversary) New Beverly Cinema The Killing, 7:30; Paths of Glory, 9:15.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – Fiddler on the Roof, 7:30.

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – Scrooge (1970), 2; carolers, jugglers, and free hot chocolate. Movies with Holiday Spirit – The Man Who Came to Dinner, 7:30; followed by Holiday Affair.

Laemmle's Royal The Abyss, 4. Titanic, (1997), 7. Aliens, 11. (All shows part of 70/70: A Series of 70mm Films Celebrating Laemmle's 70th Anniversary) New Beverly Cinema The Killing, 3:55, 7:30; Paths of Glory, 5:40, 9:15. Jingle All the Way, 11:59.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – It’s a Wonderful Life, 7:30.

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Movies with Holiday Spirit – White Christmas, 7:30.

Laemmle's Royal Top Gun, 1. Gremlins, 4; actor William Schallert in person. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 8; with special 70mm trailers. The Untouchables, 10. (All shows part of 70/70: A Series of 70mm Films Celebrating Laemmle's 70th Anniversary) New Beverly Cinema Total Recall, 2:45, 7:30; Starship Troopers, 5.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22 Laemmle's Royal Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, 5:15.

Alien, 8. (All shows part of 70/70: A Series of 70mm Films Celebrating Laemmle's 70th Anniversary) New Beverly Cinema Total Recall, 7:30; Starship Troopers, 9:45.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23 L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre, 5905 Wilshire Bl, L.A., (323) 857-6010. Lacma.org. Tuesday Matinee – Doctor Zhivago, 1; free.

Laemmle's Royal The Hunt for Red October, 5:15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 8. (All shows part of 70/70: A Series of 70mm Films Celebrating Laemmle's 70th Anniversary) New Beverly Cinema Total Recall, 7:30; Starship Troopers, 9:45.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24 Laemmle's Royal Sing Along! – Fiddler on the Roof, 7.

New Beverly Cinema Theater closed for holiday.

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 21 LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Kirov Ballet and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre

The Nutcracker DECEMBER 17 — 20, 2008

CELEBRATING ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY with three electrifying programs including the West Coast premiere of Go in Grace featuring choreography by Hope Boykin with music by Sweet Honey In The Rock and the beloved Revelations.

Kirov Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Photo courtesy Kirov Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Linda Celeste Sims. Photo by Andrew Eccles.

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

CELEBRATE WITH THE ENTIRE FAMILY!

March 18-22

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Tickets can be purchased at , 213-365-3500 or the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office.

For more information, visit musiccenter.org or call 213-972-0711.

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 22 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

A Special Advertising Supplement

staff Ok, readers, it’s time! Go! Go get presents!

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Yes—yes, that’s it, isn’t it? You don’t know—do you?

Well, well, well. Aren’t you lucky that we here at CityBeat have once again teamed up with the local businesses to bring you the very special tome you have right here in your hands— The 2008 Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide. It’s true: we’ve got many worthy gift ideas in these pages.

So many, actually, we don’t know if you’re really ready.

You see, it’s just that these ideas are really solid. Powerful, even. So much so that we are actually scared to give it to you. You might spend too much and then you’ll be in danger of having bar none the best Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa ever, which may not sound bad to you right now, but think about years to come! How will you ever be able to enjoy the holidays again knowing that you cannot possibly have a better time than you had in 2008?

Just consider it, readers. Use caution, that’s all we’re saying.

That, and welcome to the The 2008 Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide.

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Amoeba Music

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK “PUSHING DAISIES” Features new songs by stars Kristin Chenoweth, Ellen Greene and the Emmy winning music score by Jim Dooley.

Available 12.23.08

The World’s Largest Independent Music Store 6400 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles (323) 245-6400 www.amoeba.com Music-lovers of every breed know they have not celebrated the holidays properly until they’ve gotten lost in corridors of Amoeba Music a few times. With hands-down the largest in-store selection of records, CDs, LPs, cassettes, DVDs, laserdiscs, VHS tapes and rare memorabilia available anywhere on Earth, the Sunset Amoeba is the center of Southern California’s music and movies retail universe.

Amoeba stocks every genre imaginable, from jazz to punk, drum-and-bass to folk, rap to rockabilly, classical to Afro-samba, roots to death metal, and synth-pop to Balinese Gamelan (that just about covers it, right?).

Throw in a knowledgeable staff, top-notch customer service, listening stations, and the lowest prices in town, and it’s easy to see why it’s the record store of choice for knighted rock stars to perform in. It’s also why Amoeba is staying put while other record stores bite the dust.

Amoeba is Southern California’s number one independent source for music. f

Store Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 10am-9pm Fri. & Sat. 10am-10pm • Sun. 11am-7pm

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Best Buy

Best Brands, Best Prices (Call for additional locations) 1015 N. La Brea Ave., W Hollywood, 90038 (323) 883-0219 www.bestbuy.com Technology should serve people, not the other way around. You might say that we love technology, but we’re not in love with technology. Technology makes a lot of promises, and we’re here to make it live it up to those promises. For people. Through a Reward Zone program membership (or a Reward Zone-branded credit card), the relationship magic happens in a variety of ways. An exclusive magazine, members-only coupons and sales, and the Reward Zone Racing Club are just a few examples of the special efforts expended to meet members’ special needs. And of course, Reward Zone program members get a nice benefit for staying true to the blue (and yellow). With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and China, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. f

CD Trader

New And Used Music 18926 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana (818) 705-3544 www.cdtradertarzana.com We may be called CD Trader, but don’t let the name fool you. Sure we have the best CD selection in the Valley, but did you know we have records, too? We have any kind you want: cheap ones, expensive ones, new and used, audiophile or not, the ubiquitous and the collectible, disabled and not. And we even have a great movie selection—good ones and bad ones. No kidding.

We are ready 7 days a week to buy your stuff for lots of money, or sell you stuff for very little money. Your loved ones are waiting to be joined with their future favorite music or movie this holiday season. We have it right here, and we’ve got it for cheaper than any of the other guys, even on the other side of town. f

Downtown Business Improvement District

Enhancing the Quality of Life in Downtown Los Angeles

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 24 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

626 Wilshire Blvd #200, Los Angeles (213) 624-2146 24-hour Response to Safety and Maintenance Concerns 528 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, (213) 624-2425 www.downtownla.com 1,200 property owners, united by their commitment to improve the quality of life in Downtown Los Angeles, forming a coalition called Downtown Center Business Improvement District, operates in the 65-block central business district between the Harbor Freeway, First Street, Olympic Blvd. and Main Street. Founded in 1998, they fund the clean and safe team known as the Purple Patrol, as well as business retention and recruitment programs. Housing resources are offered to potential residents and developers as well as marketing programs that include special events, promotional offers, advertising campaigns and public relations efforts. BID A.C.T.I.O.N., another project of the coalition, is a full-service community outreach program that offers assistance and resources to the homeless within the Downtown district. Employees establish contacts with healthcare and social services providers that are then matched to the needs of the homeless population. Crew members are recruited from Chrysalis, a non-profit program offering employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged and formerly homeless individuals. f

Freakbeat Records

The Right Place for the Your Favorite Music 13616 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks (818) 995-7603 www.freakbeatrecords.com Chances are you’ve got friends who always have those stories about finding legendary albums really cheap somewhere totally unexpected. Maybe you’ve even found yourself nearly fighting some guy for a rare recording that you know you’ll never see anywhere again. The truth is that finding the best records and CDs often means knowing where to look. You can have all the retail resources you want at your fingertips, but in the end it all comes down to being in the right place at the right moment. Freakbeat Records is the rightest place in town.

Freakbeat has an easily browsed setup and a talented set of buyers. They have a whole room of 99 cent CDs. Most importantly they have the knowledge and the know-how to point you in the right direction.

Freakbeat Records makes it its business to be the place you go to look for music. Just remember, there’s no such thing as dibs. f

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Mad Platter

Used Records 1223 University Ave Riverside, Ca. 92507 (951) 328-1600 www.rhinorecords.com Mad Platter is keeping the ears of Claremont and Riverside well-fed with all the freshest and spiciest sounds. From the large splashes to the latest underground ripples, these guys work to keep their customers happy and in the know.From rock and noise to underground hip-hop, Mad Platter delivers

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DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 25 LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Costa Mesa 949.646.1967 Huntington Beach 714.843.6911 Long Beach 562.438.8169 San Clemente 949.366.9977

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 26 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 27 LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

A Special Advertising Supplement like never before thought possible. Meanwhile, its sister store Rhino never reneges on its commitment to music on the local, national and international level, taking local musicians’ recordings on consignment and hosting shows on its in-store stage, besides stocking the best stuff available anywhere.Check out their DVDs and other memorabilia as well. Rhino and Mad Platter are Claremont and Riverside’s greatest musical connections.The Mad Platter is nestled next to UCR in University Village and stocks an ever-changing selection of music and movies with even more of an ear bent and finely tuned to the Inland Empire.

pipes, water pipes, hookas, hand-blown glass pieces, accessories, incense, and fine premium cigars/tobaccos and so much more! Owner Linda Becker has three holiday gift recommendations this holiday season: *Cigars and fine tobacco accessories – Nirvana’s humidors have the most extensive collection of fine and high quality cigars, smoking accessories, ashtrays and rolling papers, with several brands from all across the world. *Hand-blown glass and water pipes – This exclusive room houses some of the most beautiful, custom, handblown glass pieces ever made. Each piece is truly a work of art! *Hookahs – Linda offers one of the most elaborate collections around, more than fifty in stock with new pieces arriving daily.

In addition to smoking supplies, they also have games, cards, toys and unique gifts for great stocking stuffers.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, a Nirvana gift certificate is your perfect solution. Open late seven days a week, stop by Nirvana Smoke & Gift today! f

Noisebug

f

Music Center

Los Angeles County’s Performing Arts Center 135 N. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles (213) 972-3335 www.musiccenter.org The L.A. Music Center, home to the L.A. Philharmonic, L.A. Master Chorale, Center Theatre Group, and L.A. Opera, has year-round, world-class programming in all the performing arts, where it’s all about inspiration, exhilaration, and entertainment. Very special this holiday season, the Kirov Ballet and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre present the beloved family holiday classic, The Nutcracker, December 17-20 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This fairy tale ballet, choreographed in 1934 by Vasily Vainonen, has dazzled audiences around the world and is a perfect way to celebrate the festive holiday season. Tickets can be purchased at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office; gift certificates are available and make a great present for loved ones during the holiday season. f

Nirvana Smoke & Gift

The ultimate Smoke Shop Experience 10800 Washington Blvd., Culver City (310) 559-9420 Looking for something unique and special for that smoker on your holiday list? Look no further. Nirvana Smoke and Gift has the largest selection of hand

Vintage Musical Gear 252 a. North Main Street, Pomona, 91766 (909) 622-4556 www.noisebug.net Noisebug is located in downtown Pomona in the Arts Colony and around the corner from The Glass House which is the premier music venue in The Inland Empire, and filled with arcane musical gear gleaming with forgotten gems of yesteryear and highlights of our present time. Here you will find keyboards, drum machines, guitars, basses, guitar effects and other odds and ends of the musical world. . Noisebug is also home to Plan B who are the only hand built American analog modular synthesizer maker who pound, sauter, file and test daily, created by none other than Cal Arts graduate and electronic musical instrument pioneer Peter Grenader. It’s worth the trip, if not just for the modular magic theater. Open late every Art Walk on the 2nd Saturday of each month. f

Objets d’Art & Spirit

Magical and Decorative Products 7529 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles (323) 436-5238 objetsdartandspirit.com Let a murti of Ganesha, The Remover of Obstacles, or eco-friendly candles guide your way into 2009. We specialize in making your home your space for personal spiritual expression with our antique and new statues, crystals, artwork from every global spiritual tradition.

Give holiday gifts of alchemical jewelry, malas, rosaries made of sacred gemstones and archetypical symbols.

Fill stockings with eco-friendly bath products, incense, magical oils and “Toys for the Soul.” Renew your body

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with limpias/cleansings and refresh your mind with inspirational books, cards or a personal consultation.

Gifts for all ages from the ages at Objets d’Art & Spirits. f

Record Surplus

The Last Record Store 11609 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles (310) 478-4217 www.recordsurplusla.com The best thing about Record Surplus is their massive inventory. The next best thing about Record Surplus is their entire attic room full of 92-cent items. They have a whole room full music for less than a mere dollar. That’s whole albums for less than one measly low-quality song on iTunes! Don’t you know what that means? It means more music than you can even listen to that day for the price of a burrito! It’s like if a record store were having a yard sale all the time.

With 20 years of experience under their belt, Record Surplus’ managers Neil Cantor and Mike Colstock Jr. know how to make you happy. That’s by giving you one of the largest music selections on the West Coast for cheap, and helping you to feel the noise in whatever way they can. The last record store you’ll ever need to go to is Record Surplus. f

Rhino Records

Rhino Records/Video Paradiso Independent Since 1976 235 Yale Ave., Claremont (909) 626-7774 www.rhinorecords.com Rhino Records, under the same ownership as Mad Platter, stocks new and used CD’s, DVD’s, & LP’s to Claremont and Riverside year after year, keeping the kids’ heads filled with the freshest music. Rhino is located in downtown Claremont (“city of the tress and phd’s”) and is 5000 sq ft of music goodness and also home to a keen selection of books, toys, stickers, record players and a full line of audio accessories. Adjacent to Rhino and accessible through the back parking lot, one finds Video Paradiso whose selection of films for rent and new and used DVD sell through rivals the best independent video stores in LA. Their “Director’s Sections” are not to be missed!

Rockaway’s selection of used CDs, DVDs and vinyl is extensive, and they have an incredible amount of memorabilia both in-store and online.

Rockaway has been buying and selling music collectibles worldwide since 1979. Check out their online store to see their vast selection of high-end vinyl and memorabilia. They have everything from rare Beatles paraphernalia to hard-to-find vinyl, awards, T-shirts and posters from all your favorite musicians.

And for the everyday music fan, Rockaway’s store is packed with records, CDs, DVDs, books, magazines, posters, guitar picks and more. Bring in your unwanted items and trade them in for more buying power this holiday season.

Rockaway buys, sells and trades music and collectibles every day, so their inventory is constantly changing. Stop in the store and visit their website regularly for the best selection. If you are looking for something special, give them a call. They might just be able to make your holiday dreams come true. f

SecondSpin.com

Retail Stores for the Internet’s Largest Buyer and Seller of Used CDs, DVDs and Games!

1332 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica (310) 395-4334 14564 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks (818) 986-6866 1781 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa 949-650-8870 www.secondspin.com Going to the music store and coming out with a stack of new CDs, movies or video games is the greatest thing since going to the grocery store and coming out with a stack of sliced bread. No, wait. Actually, it’s much better. Sliced bread doesn’t come with artwork and lyrics sheets – and don’t try to sell it again when you need a little cash.

It’s been a long time now that Second Spin.com has dominated the field as the best place to get mountains of that used media fun for discounted prices, or to sell discs for good old money and trade. These guys always have some kind of deal going on. From now until December 25th, for instance, the un-faze-able “buy 3, get 4 free.” Personally, that covers my entire family, plus four free ones for me. I don’t even think they do those kinds of deals with sliced bread. f

f

Rockaway Records

Serving Music Lovers Worldwide 2395 Glendale Blvd., Silver Lake 323-664-3232 www.rockawayrecords.com Whether you’re shopping for a serious music collector or a casual fan, Rockaway Records has the perfect gift.

Secret Desires

2414 Lincoln Blvd Santa Monica, CA 310-255-0506 1645 Sepulveda Blvd Torrance, CA 310-530-7600 Not your average adult novelty store! At Secret

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CASBAH CAFÉ

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Tina’s Trees

Fresh Christmas Trees 4827 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks (818) 990-2571 www.tinastrees.com Tina’s Trees, dedicated to providing service and quality for over thirty years, has moved locations, but is still in Sherman Oaks to wish you happy holidays.

Tina’s Trees are guaranteed to be fresh, straight through January, and makes a fresh cut on each tree to open up the pores, which have been clogged by sap. They immediately fill the bowl with water while it is on the lot. In addition to picking up your tree for recycling, they will drain the water from your stand and vacuum up the needles for a fee starting at $10.

Remember, never burn any part of a Christmas tree in a fireplace!

We stock a full assortment of exciting gifts from Pipedream!

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Email: info@SecretD.net LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 30 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

Dog training for Los Angeles, boarding, daycare 1776 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga (310) 455-9663 www.topangapetresort.com The Topanga Pet Resort, a stunning six acre country camp for pets set in the heart of Topanga Canyon, offers dog training classes taught, designed and supervised by Keith Tomlinson, a licensed guide dog instructor with over 30 years of experience. A variety of classes for all types of dogs are available, and the schedule is available online. Through consistency, patient repetition and praise, we can teach you how to improve your dog’s responses to commands. Our goal is to help each client understand how to best communicate with their dog so that a relationship based on love and respect can be developed and maintained in and out of the home. Daycare or boarding at the resort offers your pet hours of play time in one of our large outdoor exercise areas. Open Monday through Saturday, 8:30-5:00, plus Sunday drop-off/pickup at 10:30 a.m. or 4 p.m.

UPS

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The UPS Store (call for more locations) 5482 Wilshire Blvd.

(323) 939-6001 www.theupsstore.com We’re ready to help get your gifts where they’re going—on time, safe and sound. Our friendly packaging experts have the know-how and the resources to pack everything to arrive intact. Come to us for unparalleled service and low UPS™ shipping rates on a variety of reliable shipping options: UPS Next Day Air®, UPS 2nd Day Air®, UPS 3 Day Select™, UPS Ground, and International. Now you can also store your address book online, to make shipping even easier when you register for My UPS. We’ll store up to 2,000 addresses in your My UPS Address Book, which you can conveniently import from an external source, like an iPhone.

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PHOTO by roshEIla robles

eat

in spanISh, it means “shoe.” in english, it’s bigger than your head.

Masa Master Don Huarache does Mexico City

By Miles Clements It’s a dusty world out on Don Huarache’s solitary stretch of Burbank Boulevard, a dry drag where cracked concrete abuts only the occasional nursery or upholsterer. Drop off onto the side streets and the North Hollywood neighborhood fades into rows of apartments and ramblers; the restaurant is one of the block’s few shining storefronts. But even as removed as it is from the so-called NoHo Arts District, you can’t help but think that’s for the best: the restaurant’s excellent Mexico City-style cuisine deserves undivided attention.

Though it still wears a golden Grand

Opening banner from its fall debut, Don Huarache has grown up, graduating from a series of handwritten menus taped above the register to laminated lists that detail the restaurant’s options with appropriate diligence. There are burritos and enchiladas, tacos and tortas, but those are formalities, residual recipes of an American existence. Look past those plates to find Don Huarache’s true (if not obvious) specialty: huaraches.

Dedicated fans of the huarache revere places like Highland Park’s El Huarache Azteca for their renditions of the oblong oddity. It’s a shoe-shaped staple of fried

masa with a name literally meaning “sandal,” but Don Huarache’s version is more precise. While some diners waste space with lettuce and the like, Don Huarache tops its masa with only the essentials: crumbles of creamy cheese, a protein of your choice, and grilled onions and nopales – these latter, strips of de-prickled prickly pear cactus. The huaraches here are also outrageously oversized, overtaking every inch of their platters.

Entry-level eaters should consider easing into the experience with the steak huarache, which adds a lean, pounded-flat hunk of meat to the masa.

Those seeking exotic flavors, however, should go straight to the chicharrón prensado, shards of pigskin pressed through something like a sieve with other pork pieces until it all recombines in a tomato-soaked sauce.

Besides that namesake plate, Don Huarache’s quesadillas also make a mark. They’re hefty things, made from uneven mounds of masa, instead of the all-too-usual pre-packaged tortillas. It’ll take only a few bites for you to realize this is the dish precisely as it’s intended, heavy with a handmade taste that’s tough to replicate.

The sopes are similarly organic.

Though just one sope is suitable as a makeshift side, Don Huarache often ends up serving its sopes in pairs, little discs of masa piled high with shredded lettuce, cheese and either chorizo, chipotle-bathed chicken or beef or classic carne asada. If you can’t shake the urge to order a couple of tacos, take solace in sopes instead – they’re roughly the same three-bite size.

For those hungry for handheld options, Don Huarache is also a sandwich specialist. There’s the cemita poblana, for example, a lesser-known sesame-seeded sandwich born in the city of Puebla; order a cemita milanesa for great breaded beef. Or pick up a pambazo, a sandwich stuffed with potato and chorizo that, like its meaty analog the torta ahogada, is drenched in a crimson chile sauce; think of it as a southerly relative to our own French dip.

Don Huarache isn’t much of a dinner destination, but it’ll draw you out during off-hours. Maybe you’ll end up scheduling an early-morning breakfast for an honest plate of huevos rancheros.

Or maybe you’ll start spending Saturdays with fellow weekenders waiting for twoday specials like menudo and barbacoa.

However it happens, you’ll be back: Don Huarache will consume as much of you as you will of it.✶ Don Huarache, 10719 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 766-8307. Open Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Street parking. Cash only. Food for two $10-20.

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 33 LACITYBEAT

BITES EAT and Be Merry A last-minute gift arrives just in time as EAT: Los Angeles ships onto shelves. Collaboratively edited by contributors from everything from Westways to the L.A. Times, the guide covers the entire county, featuring favorite food neighborhoods, essential L.A. bites and more. It tackles a lot of territory, but does a solid job – covering not only the classics but also some fine finds. It’s available at most local stores – Skylight, Vroman’s, Book Soup and the like – and is keeping print alive over at eat-la.com, where its writers dispense a daily dose of food musings.

Stuffed Beverly Hills’ Fulfilled continues to rack up the celebrity press thanks to its spin on the Japanese staple pastry imagawa-yaki, officially adding another notch to L.A.’s niche pastry belt. Imagawa-yaki is a doughy, pancake-like thing stuffed with all sorts of fillings.

Unfortunately, that means campy titles (Nutty Buddha, Sumo Italiano) pinned to sweet and savory ima like chocolate, toffee and peanut butter and prosciutto, ham, basil and Parmesan. Fulfilled takes its ima seriously, though, deploying specialized machines to cook the things. The place is also an important find for those looking to gawk at Paris Hilton, who has been caught chomping on Fulfilled’s pastries just enough to be shot by the paparazzi. Stop in at 9405 S. Santa Monica Blvd., or plan a virtual visit at fulfilledpastries.com.

Seven Fishes If price isn’t a problem for this laidaway holiday season, Providence is hosting a Christmas Eve dinner themed around the Italian tradition “Feast of the Seven Fishes.” Chef Michael Cimarusti is claiming familial inspiration for the meal, which will be focused around, you guessed it, seven different seafood varieties. The festivities kick off at 4 p.m. and cost $115 per person. Visit providencela.com for more info.

–M.C. Tips accepted … e-mail miles@ eatfoodwith.me or visit eatfoodwith. me.

MUSIC

‘If found, please tell dublab’ Secondhand Sureshots @ Cinefamily Sunday, December 7 The Dublab guys call themselves a Web radio collective, but they dabble in video production, too, and thus was instigated a particularly amorous relationship with the Silent Movie Theatre, resulting in some of the most delightful musicvideo-performance events in town.

Today’s exhibit: sampling stripped to its philosophical fundamentals.

Secondhand Sureshots, a documentary project started in 2005, sent four progressive L.A. beat-makers – Daedelus, Nobody, Ras G, and J. Rocc – to various Out of the Closet thrift stores with $5 to buy five records – based on such criteria as “cool cover” or “1978 was a good year for flares” – to make into a brand-new song. “You keep the dust, that’s the seasoning,” Ras G tells us, examining the bins. “Ooh,” “damn,” and other monosyllabic expressions of joy abound as the artists sift through nursery-rhyme records, esoteric world-music albums and Barbra Streisand LPs by the metric ton. Cameras followed each producer to his homemade ducttape studio – Ras G works in a tiny shack outside his house; Nobody assembles his work in his bedroom with a portable lo-fi record player connected to a sampler. And finally, a single vinyl copy of each finished song was slipped back into the thrift stores that birthed them, with a golden ticket requesting that “if found, please tell Dublab, because they’re losing sleep wondering where this record ended up.” (Only one has been recovered so far – happy hunting!). After the screening but before Daedelus played a live set, Ras G and Nobody sat down with audience-provided mystery vinyl and an hour to build tracks out of the Logan’s Run soundtrack, Aesop’s Fables and Rick Wakeman, among others. Meanwhile, music geeks flexed their muscles and their lungs in the back patio. More smiling.

While the film didn’t present the final cuts in their entirety, we got a happy ending nonetheless: The scene when J. Rocc’s track hits its first beats, and Daedelus, Nobody, and Ras G appear in profile, each of their heads bobbing in exactly the same approving rhythm.

–Daiana Feuer

gee, times are tough

CAN’T BEAT THE BEAT AWOL ONE and Daddy Kev resurrect ‘Souldoubt’

By Chris Ziegler It’s a busy day. Rapper AWOL One is interrupted while recording a new, still unnamed project with Xzibit – a long-time friend he used to visit in Azusa – and Aesop Rock. Producer Daddy Kev is recovering from a nearmiss with jury duty and another late night at his club Low End Theory, the center of a new wave of independent L.A hip-hop. And there’s just about a week left before AWOL and Kev take a 40-minute trip back in time to resurrect and perform Souldoubt, an album they made together on six Monday nights seven years ago that remains as bold as it is bleak and as powerful as it is minimal. At a certain solitary time of night, Souldoubt will still be waiting in the dark for you to wake up and limp downstairs.

And so AWOL turns out to be right, finally flattening the doubters called out on Souldoubt’s single “Rhythm” – “Stupid suckers, so fucking temporary!”

In 2001, Souldoubt was an album that wasn’t supposed to be an album, Kev explains. Back then he was producing for and working at his own Celestials label, and AWOL – who’d gained notice as a member of the Shape Shifters – was working for Mean Street magazine after about a million pizza jobs. It was a three-song assignment that concluded so pleasantly that Kev and AWOL booked five more sessions, and finished AWOL’s first widely available solo release with 10 songs, each with a oneword title indicating a philosophical direction.

Single “Rhythm” was picked up

on Power 106. Its best reviews – Vice nominated it for Album of the Year and Village Voice for Single of the Year – all clustered around Souldoubt’s simplicity, its precision and its obvious if uncomfortable honesty. A year or two ago, he noticed a sudden surge in interest, says Kev, who now handles Souldoubt’s digital distribution through his label Alpha Pup. Now it’s one of his most consistent releases.

“It takes that long,” he says. “Seven years to consider something classic.

Souldoubt is one of my few records I wouldn’t change anything on.”

His other productions can sometimes be “ego spray,” Kev says, but with AWOL, he learned to keep it simple. Souldoubt’s beats are nervous (the cardiac flutter on “Greed”) and ominous (the pixilated drone that backbones “Agony”) and queasy (the warped Hermann strings on “Feel”). But most of all they are skeletal – frame demanding animation, which all comes from AWOL. On one eightbar loop left to unroll for four minutes, he makes everything else himself: intro, verse, chorus, hook, punchline, foley effects, ambient sound, wild noise and outro all from a capable cement-mixer of a voice that’s exactly the same in conversation as it is in performance. He could be making an AWOL ONE record every time he speaks.

“In one way, I’m really, really responsible,” says AWOL now. “But then I have another side that’s just like a reckless mess. I try to balance myself, but once in a while I lean one way too much. And in some ways, [Souldoubt] reminds me of being a reckless mess!”

LACITYBEAT 34 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

He’ll say it best when he’s interviewing himself, in songs that explain how he grew up in the 605 corridor cities with a father who “taught me how to drink and throw up in the sink/taught me how to cheat on the woman I love/I learned how to take and hide my drugs/learned that part-time jobs come a dime a dozen....” (from “The Child’s Eyes,” a “nonfiction” story on album Number 3 On the Phone) and how he was born in “Southern Cali but grew up on East Coast music/just like all of us/every name had a letter in it/P.E./B.D.P./D.M.C. and J.B.s /N.W.A or W.C.” (from “Feel” on Souldoubt).

Now, he says, he’s “grown through” those situations, though he’s “still the same cat.” But on Souldoubt, the reckless mess had the most lasting lines. On “Solitude,” AWOL sneaks downstairs and saws his tongue out of his head with a butter knife and a pair of kitchen scissors as Kev pours in glottal gurgles; as the song ends, mute AWOL washes the blood from his face and crawls back into bed with his still-sleeping girlfriend. “The bad is always curious about the good,” he warned. “And there’s no doubt – the cured is always curious about the bad.”✶ 2 Mex and Chinky Eyed present awol One and Daddy Kev performing Souldoubt, with 2Mex and Mums the Word performing as the Mindclouders, Luckyiam and Sunspot Jonz performing as Mystik Journeymen plus Ellay Khule/ the Rifleman, Xololanxinxo, Foreign Legion and more at the Regent, 448 S. Main St., Downtown L.A., Sun., 9 P.M. $17-$20. All ages. myspace.com/2mex or myspace.com/chinkyeyedfridays.

NEW MUSIC! WAR TAPES War Tapes

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This Los Angeles 4-piece successfully creates epic anthems of angst, blending the attitude and edge of today’s post-hard-core scene with an appealing nod to 80’s new-wave and post punk.

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A gifted musician, Adams has a Masters in Composition, and before venturing into songwriting and performing he had a thriving career in film and TV scoring.

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Minimalist, polyrhythmic, organic, and electronic all at once, Jeanrenaud’s work is accessible to listeners unfamiliar with contemporary classical music, thanks to her bold experimentation with electro.

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MUSIC

THE SONGS TAKE YOU PLACES

SHAKE OR MOOCH ABOUT OR PROWL The Duke Spirit: close to the fire, shaking their thang

BY DAIANA FEUER “We’re a band that likes to drink, oh dear,” says Duke Spirit singer Liela Moss.

“I’m quite often in a bit of a pickle.”

The London rock ’n’ rollers toss back a few with the Clash and the Stones and Tina Turner and Irma Thomas. David Bowie appears late in the afternoon, when everyone has moved on to red wine. Kim Deal just went out for a cigarette, but she’ll be right back.

“Both alcohol and music enable you to contact some sort of giddy, excited, open, unselfconscious part of your psyche – which is really important,” Moss explains. “You access an excitable, universal part of yourself. And that’s exactly what alcohol does. It’s something that sort of colors my world. It’s always there and I’m curious about it.... It’s this wonderful social lubricant for us all until it reaches a level where it becomes destructive and ultimately incredibly boring.”

The band’s second studio album, Neptune, released to wide praise in February, unravels in a hardened but still romantic spiral, as much concerned with the cosmic order – solitude, destruction, memory – as it is with drinking and other wet metaphors. “When nothing’s fluid, you drink yourself through it,” Moss sings on “Dog Roses.” The Duke’s music makes an armored shell for her liquid subject matter: lush synchronized guitars, drums punching at the air, plenty of tambourine. Says Moss: “The songs take you places – make you shake or mooch about or prowl.”

Like – finding yourself in some wild woodlands? “A bit like my head is when

LACITYBEAT 36 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

we write music,” Moss confirms. She’s somewhere secluded, reached only on foot, beyond “these pavement fields” she sings about on single “The Step and the Walk” – an oddly bright tune about joylessness and rain. On a foggy evening a fire burns, and there’s moonshine (in the sky and in your cup). “Right in mother nature’s bosom,” says Moss. “It would be cool – we’re close to the fire and shaking our thang.”

Another panorama opens onto the desert, in Joshua Tree, California.

The Duke Spirit recorded Neptune in J-Tree in April 2007, after visiting Master of Reality Chris Goss in the famed Rancho de la Luna studio a year earlier to collaborate with UNKLE on a song called “Mayday.” Over seven weeks, the Duke Spirit rose at dawn to hike the mountains, and wandered the scrublands at sunset before stepping into the studio with producer Goss.

It was a point when the mixed-drink metaphors dried up – maybe what they call a “moment of clarity.” Asks Moss: “Can you imagine making a record – taking your turn to sing your song or play your bit having stood under the stars, and for 10 minutes just completely zoning out on the clearest picture of outer space?”✶ The Duke Spirit with the Cheat at the Roxy, 9009 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Fri., 8:30 P.M. $15. All ages. theroxyonsunset.com. The Duke Spirit’s Neptune is out now on You Are Here.

Visit the Duke Spirit at thedukespirit. com.

SUGAR SUGAR Phers1 on Slum Village and ‘Planet Rock’

There’s a crimson tint in the Carbon Bar where DJ Phers1 spins. Red light bulbs and silent movies make the room glow in a way that seems too quiet, too warm. Phers1, a co-founder of the DP Sound crew, sets the needle on a record, and the room revives. He’s been DJing for more than 20 years, and he honestly can’t even remember where he made his debut.

What’s your go-to album when the club is dying down? The one I always turn to, that I know for sure people will get into, probably anything from the Slum Village album. “Players,” or anything on that album, is guaranteed to get people back into it. Maybe some Tribe. Some of the classics. Some De La. Anything in that era.

PHOTO BY SOULSOL

likes the archies

Are you a fan of mash-ups? Definitely. I respect a lot of those cats that do that.

When we first started DJing, that was kind of a … I don’t want to say a “joke” thing, but people would always try to mash-up the most unlikely things just to see how it would sound. We never thought that it would become a genre of its own. Everything we were playing with growing up was “Planet Rock” and other things – maybe “Sugar, Sugar” by

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 37 LACITYBEAT

the Archies. The first person that I know did that was Dr. Dre. He used to do all the old Roadium Mix tapes and we used to buy them. He did “Mr. Postman” with “Planet Rock.” That’s when everyone started to do that.

What is the one rookie mistake that you made coming up? A lot of DJs think it’s about them. They step up and if the people don’t get it they think it’s the people’s fault. People go to spots to have fun. It’s give and take.

You’re about something, but you have to feel what the crowd’s about, too.

That was my mistake. But now that I’m older, I pretty much gauge a crowd and go from there. But a lot of guys still don’t get it. It’s funny – I always think of it as a junior high dance.

Everyone’s mingling at the bar and no one wants to make the first move. But then once someone starts doing it, it’s contagious, and everyone wants to do it.✶ –Nathan Solis Phers1 At Van Damn Thursdays at Carbon Bar, 9300 Venice Blvd., Culver City. Every Thurs., 10 P.M. Free. 21+. carbonla.com. Visit Phers1 At myspace. com/dpsound.

LUKE McGARRY

MUSIC

One Nuclear Bomb The New York Dolls, the lord’s own sluts By oliver hall It’s not nice to call them the Two York Dolls, but there it is: R.I.P. lead guitarist Johnny Thunders (4/23/91), drummer Jerry Nolan (1/23/92), bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane (7/13/04), and the Reaper’s first pick, original drummer Billy Murcia (9/6/72). Nearly two thousand and nine years after the beginning of the greatest story ever told, only original Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain and singer David Johansen remain undrafted for

the All-Star Jam Band in the sky. Last night on the radio, I heard Ray Manzarek describe this eternal gig in some detail, commemorating Jim Morrison’s 65th birthday, and I wondered: are there auditions for the celestial supergroup?

What angel gets the job of telling your uncle who played the spoons that Mr. Hendrix is too busy to jam with him in Paradise?

The Lord’s own sluts, the New York

DECK THE HALL WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

Dolls emerged as a fantastic thing in the hard-drug hard-rock genderfuck bohemian wasteland of early ’70s NYC, following the First Atomic War. They were fantastic not because they “invented punk” or “changed the world” or any such hyperbole; they were fantastic because they were brash, arrogant, and unwholesome young people with no money who made compelling drama out of their gang. Kane seemed a blond barbarian who would cannibalize his own grandmother in savage ignorance of law or custom, though of course he turned out to be a meek Mormon librarian. Thunders’s unmistakable guitar tone and personal style shone through the band’s performances, making him a particular hero of Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and most lead guitarists in most subsequent punk bands.

Fewer musicians have attempted to mimic Dolls singer David Johansen than Thunders because it’s much harder. Johansen developed his voice and enormous stage presence in the avant-garde theater company Playhouse of the Ridiculous before joining the Dolls, and you may have seen him at the movies. But as the singer for the Dolls, Johansen camps it up grandly, managing to sound freshly outraged by every one of the boring things and people he encounters as he makes his way through the city, not least “all the old ladies that are on their way to church – ya goin’ ta CHURCH?!”

In 2004, curating a Meltdown festival in the U.K., former New York Dolls Fan Club president Morrissey invited surviving Dolls Johansen, Sylvain and Kane to reunite at the Royal Festival Hall, documented on the concert film and album Morrissey Presents: The Return of the New York Dolls (Sanctuary, 2004). Shortly after the reunion, Arthur Kane – whose sad story is told in the

documentary New York Doll (2005) – checked into a hospital and died four hours later of previously undiagnosed leukemia. Johansen, Sylvain, guitarist Steve Conte, bassist Sam Yaffa and drummer Brian Delaney recorded a third New York Dolls album, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (Roadrunner, 2006). It has its good moments, and even one song that sounds pleasantly like R.E.M. with guest vocals from Michael Stipe; I suspect that others may not enjoy the idea of the New York Dolls sounding like R.E.M. as much as I do.

As survivors of the First North American Atomic Disaster, men witnessed firsthand the abominable mutations resulting from the Long Island radioactive incident of 1971, the New York Dolls were uniquely positioned to translate Andrew Marvell’s 17th century poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” into a single postapocalyptic couplet which though aesthetically superlative is not an effective pick-up line: “ONE NUCLEAR BOMB THEY GONNA BLOW IT ALL AWAY / SO COME ON BAD GIRL GIVE US SOME LOVIN’ TODAY.” And, behold, she did; and the New York Dolls did fructify the planet with their offspring; and it was good—so good that, about 30 years later, the record industry decided to declare victory, withdraw from the whole “music” thing and die quietly in Malibu. In the end, it was the thirtysixth president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, who provided the rationale for the Dolls’ sonic terrorism: “I saw our bombs,” Johnson said as he blew up Vietnam, “as political resources for negotiating peace.”✶ The New York Dolls, with X, and Cracker, at Club Nokia, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Downtown L.A., Sat., 7:30 p.m. $36.50.

All ages. clubnokia.com.

Sun DEC 21 11:30am

Holiday Sing-Along David Prather, host • Angeles Chorale All ages can sing “Rudolph,” “Frosty,” “Jingle Bells,” and more with organ, choir, band, and a very merry special guest! Lyric sheets provided.

Tickets start at $24

LAPhil.com/DeckTheHall • 323.850.2000 Box Office (Tue-Sun, 12-6pm) • Groups (10+) 323.850.2050 Programs, artists, prices and dates subject to change.

LACITYBEAT 38 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

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ALL THE HALLUCINATION THAT’S FIT TO PRINT FEAR & LOATHING ON MY DESK ’08 “The people who don’t know me not only resent me, but worry about me.” This bit of preaching to the choir opens Disc One of The Gonzo Tapes box set, but Dr. Hunter S. Thompson might as well be preaching to the choir as he sounds off from my desk speakers this full-moon weekend. The late Doc Gonzo, like his pal, Tricky Dick, loved tape recorders, and the Golem’s march of the doctor’s prose is evident as he bitches from Bass Lake while Hells Angels tear the place up on July Fourth weekend, 1965. This five-disc boildown of Thompson’s intermittent attempts to document the hallucination he lived sounds as lucidly familiar as half the drughead mumbling I hear in Clubland. From the posh bars of Cahuenga to the art-dives of Echo Park, everyone is their own gonzo these excessive days, even as the American Dream crumbles to ash. Continuity with the past is especially important where decay is concerned, so props to Shout! Factory for this revelatory release.

ONCE MORE, SANS COPS

Last month’s Plump all-nighter died before midnight due to LAPD action. This latest manifestation of a year-long cop-crackdown on parties would’ve been enough to sink most promoters, but the gang at Project Eva is not only determined, but as used to rootlessness as the hillfolk I come from.

Having been chased from an abandoned second-floor office in Filipinotown to a studio in Burbank to a commercial partypad too near USC to avoid detection by J.Q.

Law. Plump landed last Saturday night at a spacious, spray-painted hole on Imperial Street, in the stylish blight of the Warehouse District. As the economy disintegrates and the street people who formerly had nothing now have even less, this rat-and-roach Xanadu has become less safe than ever, but I legged in anyway, brushing aside a halfhearted mugging attempt from some fellow whose heart plainly wasn’t in it. It was almost midnight, but the Pocket DJ crew – Jesse Wright, Sammy Bliss and the rest – were offloading the funky technohouse for dozens of writhing pretties. At the core of Plump is a community of about 50 or so Burning Man freaks, and they drew me in. Men passed their pipes, ladies balmed themselves against my heart, and I had the first civil words with a much-doted ex in over a month. The rest was all Saturday Night Fever taking place just beyond my suddenly fuzzy visual range, and I danced with blueeyed Gwen until 4:30 a.m., when she folded me into her car and drove me back to Boyle Heights.

SUNSET BOULEVARD ZEN

By L.A. underground standards, the Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk gig at the Echo Curio last Sunday was well publicized, but only a dozen hipsters showed up. From Lawrence, Kansas, these shoegaze wonderboys are all the bloggerly rage and drop-dead pro enough to give it their shimmering, psychedelic best. At one point, I saw Grant, one of the curators, gazing off into space, as if rainslicked Sunset Boulevard were somehow Nirvanic. As is writ, Selah.

–Ron Garmon

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 39 LACITYBEAT

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ART

currently playing The Bourgeois Gentilhomme.

Molière wrote this satire of the nouveau riche as spoken interludes within a lavish ballet. This adaptation by director Frederique Michel and designer Charles Duncombe is smaller but retains an elegant look.

The laughs don’t flow freely until after intermission, perhaps because the first scenes focus on the title character’s (blissfully goony Jeff Atik) “studies” instead of his and his daughter’s love lives. Ruthie Crossley, Troy Dunn, Deborah Knox and others deliver precisely chiseled comic performances. City Garage, Santa Monica. Dark Dec. 22-Jan. 8. (310) 319-9939. citygarage.org.

Closes Feb. 22.

Cheryl Games

Brain Capers: It's a Stevie Wonderful Life

George Bailey Boogie Three holiday offerings revamp the classics

BY DON SHIRLEY December holiday shows are often considered bland and predictable cash cows for theater companies. But maybe that image will change, in the wake of the economic crisis. When potential theatergoers are pinching pennies, even cash cows might falter. Yet the sagging economy has also endowed some of these holiday shows with startling topicality and urgency.

I’m thinking not only of the most popular source for holiday shows – A Christmas Carol, with its images of the poor Cratchits and the avaricious Scrooge. Consider Troubadour Theater’s It’s a Stevie Wonderful Life, which retells the story from the 1946 Frank Capra movie, flavored by Wonder hits with freshened lyrics. It’s the most up-to-date holiday show I’ve seen this year, as well as the best.

The original Hollywood movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, isn’t just a sentimental feel-good film. Its characters see their options diminished and their bank accounts threatened because of an economic panic – and the greed of their small town’s richest man.

Troubies mastermind Matt Walker and his troops launched their own version of the same story five years ago in the first It’s a Stevie Wonderful Life.

But the 2008 edition is rewritten, with references to events as recent as the Black Friday Walmart stampede and Plaxico Burress’ self-inflicted wound – as well as a slew of jokes about Ben Bernanke, collateralized debt obligations, the

recent election campaign, Obama’s victory, even Proposition 8.

Are all of these wisecracks organic to the material? Not according to the standards of “well-made plays,” but those aren’t the Troubie standards.

The Troubies’ goal is to simultaneously spoof and honor the source material while nonetheless dragging it – by any jokes necessary – into December 2008.

They’re successful, on all counts.

They don’t expect every spectator, of whatever age, to get all the gags. Besides the current one-liners, the show offers doses of more old-fashioned verbal humor.

You’ve got to see Morgan Rusler as mean Mr. Potter in what looks like a circa-1920 vaudeville routine, based on rhyming words, with his mini-skirted nurse.

Sight gags abound – note the steadily inflating Afros worn by Walker as the Wonderful George Bailey. Besides the usual song and dance numbers, the physical business includes a second-act black light extravaganza, with actors swinging over the first few rows, and a burst of activity with a video camera that takes the action into the theater’s control booth (which plays the role of the Bailey home). At the performance I saw, a ringing cell phone in the audience resulted in what looked like an impromptu conversation between the caller and Walker, snagging some of the show’s biggest laughs.

It’s a bulging Christmas stocking – one of the longest Troubie shows ever, with two or three apparent “endings.”

But the comedy is so resourceful that you wish it wouldn’t end.

That’s more than you can say for many of this year’s latest variations on A Christmas Carol. I review some of these in the Currently Playing listings, but none of them is as interesting as another version that’s back after a one-year hiatus, Theatre of NOTE’s A Mulholland Christmas Carol. Bill Robens’ script turns Scrooge into William Mulholland, the water czar of early L.A. I haven’t yet seen this year’s version, at Sacred Fools Theater, but anyone who wants a different take on the Dickens tale should probably start there.

Furious Theater’s non-Dickensian, non-Capraesque one-act, The Night Before Christmas is this holiday season’s most original offering.

Anthony Neilson’s adults-only fantasy, with a grimy realistic surface, is about a Christmas elf caught in a London warehouse. Even though it dates from 1995, its lower-class characters betray the same bottom-line desperation that’s occurring right now, worldwide. See more about it and many other shows in Currently Playing at lacitybeat.com. V It’s a Stevie Wonderful Christmas, Falcon Theatre, Burbank. (818) 955-8101.

FalconTheatre.com. Closes Jan. 4.

A Mulholland Christmas Carol, Sacred Fools Theater, Heliotrope near LACC. (310) 281-8337. sacredfools.org. Closes Dec. 21.

LACITYBEAT 40 DECEMBER 18-24, 2008

A Chicago Christmas Carol.

Crown City Theatre’s overmusicalized Dickens adaptation is set in Chicago, 1908. Scrooge (Michael Vodde) runs Fezziwig’s pork processing plant and an eviction business – his greed is Blagojevichian, though Vodde is strangely subdued. Tiny Tim is a 17-year-old agitator, but a little girl serves as the waif. Author/ composer William A. Reilly, lyricist Gary Lamb and director Tam Warner should cut at least a third of the would-be Weill-like songs. Crown City Theater, North Hollywood. (818) 377-4055. crowncitytheatre.com.

Closes Dec. 21.

The Night Before Christmas. In Anthony Neilson’s 1995 one-hour one-act, an intruding elf (Katie Davies) is captured on Christmas Eve by a London warehouse worker (Doug Newell), who enlists a pal (Troy Metcalf) and a prostitute (Nina Silver) to evaluate the elf’s fantastic story. Despite a few awkward narrative twists, the quartet’s discussion is perceptive and entertaining. Robert Pescovitz directs a sharp Furious Theatre cast. Pasadena Playhouse Carrie Hamilton Theatre. (800) 595-4849. furioustheatre.org. Closes Dec. 20.

Smokey Joe’s Cafe. This 1994 revue of 36 of Jerry Leiber’s and Mike Stoller’s rock/pop hits, mostly from the ‘50s and ‘60s, is smoothly staged and choreographed by Jeffrey Polk. Two of the original cast members, DeLee Lively and Robert Torti, return. The songs are catchy but extremely lightweight. Such jukebox musicals need narratives (a la Mamma Mia) – in a dramatic context, the songs require more substance, even if it’s strictly artificial. Still, if you like cruise ship-style revues, this one sails along nicely. El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood. (818) 508-4200. elportaltheatre.com. Dark Dec. 2425. Closes Jan. 4.

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DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 45 LACITYBEAT

Week of Dec. 18 ARIES

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY (March 21-April 19)

What I foresee for you in 2009 is an upgrade in your approach to creating and maintaining your alliances. I envision you having dramatically enhanced intuition about how to connect with people in satisfying and interesting ways. I picture you being able to push beyond your habit-bound ways of conducting your relationships, ensuring that you'll be entertained and moved by them more than ever before. If I could give you a symbolic holiday gift to inspire you in this work, it might be a long, thick golden thread interwoven with a long, thick silver thread. Happy Holy Daze, Aries!

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20)

Happy Holy Daze, Taurus! If I were gong to give you a holiday gift, it might be a ticket to go visit your imaginary friend -- you know, the invisible ally you've been neglecting . . . the sweet, fierce companion who lives in the threshold between the light and dark . . . the "other you" who abides there patiently on the cusp between waking and dreaming, hoping that someday you will fully embrace your relationship. Don't worry, your imaginary friend isn't demanding or possessive in the least, but mostly just wants you to think of your link every now and then so that you might feel less alone.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20)

One of your most fun assignments in 2009 will be not only to think way outside of the box but also to think way outside of the bigger and more interesting (but nonetheless boxy) boxes that all the outside-the-box thinkers customarily think inside. That's why, if I could give you a Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, and Kwanza gift, it would be a nice, clean, square, white box punched full of big holes with ragged edges where the inside has burst into the outside.

Happy Holy Daze, Gemini!

CANCER

(June 21-July 22)

In the Broadway play "Passing Strange," the narrator Stew says, "You know how one morning you wake up as an adult and you realize your entire life is based on a decision you made as a teenager?" If that description applies to you, Cancerian, 2009 will be the best year ever to do something about it. In the coming months, you will have the power to correct errors or misjudgments you made way back when.

You'll be able to figure out how to start over in an area of your life that you've always assumed you were doomed to accept just the way it is. You may even find that you can, in a sense, change the past and reconfigure your memories.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22)

Happy Holy Daze, Leo! If I could give you one gift for the holidays, it might be a magic object to add to your love altar -- something like a pomegranate resting on red velvet, or a golden heart-shaped magnet, or Pablo Neruda's book 100 Love Sonnets. What? You don't have a love altar?

Well then please begin creating one as soon as possible, and continue building it throughout 2009. For the next 12 months, the time will be right to get smarter, wilder, and kinder in your approach to creating intimate connection.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

"My deepest emotional wound has also been the source of inexhaustible blessings." I'm not going to tell you why that statement is true for me -- it's way too personal -- but I assure you that it's one of the fundamental facts about my destiny.

Could you make a similar assertion, Virgo? Is it possible to interpret your life in such a way that you could see how a painful experience you suffered in the past has also given you tremendous insight, inspiration, and vitality? Two thousand nine will be an excellent year to make that leap of understanding. And the time around the solstice -- right now!

-- is a perfect moment to get started.

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

At Salon.com's forum "Table Talk," participants were urged to come up with a six-word sentence that captured the essence of their lives. One person wrote, "Broke. Payday. Broke.

Payday. Broke. Payday." Another said, "Oh, no, not again. Again. Again." But the testimony I really wanted to call your attention to is this: "I never learned how to swashbuckle." Why is this pertinent for you? Because I believe that if you have a similar regret -- that you've never mastered the art of swashbuckling -- you will have an excellent chance to fix that problem in the coming months. In fact, I'm tempted to name 2009 as the Year of the Swashbuckle for you Libras.

If I could give you a symbolic holiday gift to get you started, it might be a superhero's costume created by a top fashion designer. Happy Holy Daze!

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Happy Holy Daze, Scorpio! If I could give you one symbolic gift to set the right tone for 2009, it might be a clear glass vase with a potato growing partially submerged in water, allowing you to see its gnarly roots. I'd hope that would inspire you to put diligent yet playful effort into getting reacquainted with and exploring your own personal source code -- you know, the master plan of your life that you formulated before you were born. The coming months will be an excellent time to cultivate a wise innocence as you get to the bottom of who you really are.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Let's say that on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus hopes to deliver toys to every child who believes in him. Thanks to the fact that his distribution area stretches over many time zones, he'll have at least 24 hours to accomplish this feat. Still, that means he's got to visit approximately a thousand homes per second. I don't know what astrological sign Santa is, but if he's a Sagittarius he'll have the highest possible chance at success. Beginning any day now, and lasting throughout 2009, your tribe will have the potential to move faster, think quicker, and multi-task better than every other tribe. If I were going to give you a symbolic holiday gift, it would be greased lightning. Happy Holy Daze!

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Four out of every five people testify that if such a thing were possible, they would buy more time. If you're one of those four, I'm here to tell you that conditions in the coming months will provide some interesting opportunities. While you may not be able to actually purchase more of that precious commodity, it's quite possible that you'll be able to legally steal it, barter for it, and even create it from scratch. I've got to be cryptic here, because the promise I'm hinting at is of course not true in a strictly literal sense: You'll have to tweak your imagination and think a bit sideways and upside-down in order to cash in on the temporal expansions that will be available.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

When she applied for admission to New York University as an undergraduate, Rehka Malhotra was rejected. Years later, after she'd become a well-known Brooklyn DJ, that same school invited her to teach a class, "Pop Culture:

DECEMBER 18-24, 2008 46 LACITYBEAT

By Rob Brezsny

South Asians in the U.S." "It was the sweetest revenge," she told Good magazine. I predict a comparable development for you in the coming year, Aquarius. You will find power in a place where you were formerly weak, or you will achieve success in a situation that once shut you out.

PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20)

Happy Holy Daze, Pisces! My gift to you is advice about the coming year. First, read this quote from W.H. Auden's book The Dyer's Hand.

"A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish." With this as your touchstone, I urge you to be a gourmet in your approach to daydreaming during 2009. It will be time for you to make your fantasy life into an art form instead of a chaotic, unconscious diversion. If you put more intention into your generation of mental images, you will find yourself better able to create what you really want.

In addition to the horoscopes you're reading here, Rob Brezsny offers EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES and Daily Text Message Horoscopes.

To access them online, go to RealAstrology.com.

The Expanded Audio Horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

Rob's main website is at FreeWillAstrology.com.

Check out his book, "Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.â&#x20AC;?

"I've seen the future of American literature, and its name is Rob Brezsny."

- Tom Robbins, author of "Jitterbug Perfume" and "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates"

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