Vol 06 Issue 21

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SHARON LITTLE Perfect Time For A Breakdown

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These songs were written by Sharon and collaborator, Scot Sax, who co-produced with Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams). Opening for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss this summer on their North American Tour. Available 5/27.

CAROLINA LIAR Coming To Terms OLD 97’S Blame It On Gravity

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Fusing the anthemic elements of U2 and the Killers with the electro production of Swedish pop maestro Max Martin, Coming To Terms swings between soul-searching ballads and spunky guitar rave-ups. The single “I’m Not Over” is top 10 most requested on KROQ!

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EDITORIAL Acting Editor Rebecca Schoenkopf rebeccas@lacitybeat.com News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt alanm@lacitybeat.com Film Editor Andy Klein andyk@lacitybeat.com Calendar Editor Alfred Lee alfredl@lacitybeat.com Editorial Contributors Donnell Alexander, Paul Birchall, Michael Collins, André Coleman, Cole Coonce, Mark Cromer, Perry Crowe, Mick Farren, Richard Foss, Ron Garmon, Andrew Gumbel, Tom Hayden, Bill Holdship, Jessica Hundley, Chip Jacobs, Mark Keizer, Carl Kozlowski, Wade Major, Allison Milionis, Anthony Miller, Chris Morris, Amy Nicholson, Arrissia Owen Turner, Donna Perlmutter, Joe Piasecki, Neal Pollack, Ted Rall, Erika Schickel, Don Shirley, Kirk Silsbee, Brent Simon, Joshua Sindell, Don Waller, Jim Washburn Calendar Assistant Ayse Arf Editorial Interns Ashley Archibald, Ed Carrasco, Alexander Comisar, Emma Gallegos, Sylvia Masuda, Daniel Stainkamp, Carman Tse ART Art Director Paul Takizawa artdirector@lacitybeat.com Web & Print Production Manager Meghan Quinn Advertising Art Director Sandy Wachs Classified Production Artist Tac Phun Contributing Artists and Photographers Jordan Crane, Scott Gandell, Max S. Gerber, Alexx Henry, Maura Lanahan, Gary Leonard, Melodie McDaniel, Nathan Ota, Ethan Pines, Gregg Segal, Elliott Shaffner, Bill Smith, Ted Soqui ADVERTISING Director of Business Development Joe Cloninger Retail Sales Manager Diana James Co-op Advertising Director Spencer Cooper Music & Entertainment Sales Manager Jon Bookatz Account Executives Norma Azucena, Daphne Marina, John Metzner Susan Uhrlass, and Carl Wolf

P C ON T E N T W W W. L A C I T Y B E A T . C O M

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Film

29 Sonic Nation. What happened to Chris Morris? He’s usually such a nice guy! Oh, that’s right: Then Scarlett Johansson went and murdered Tom Waits.

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Our favorite hobo, Andy Klein, talks with the wonderful John Cusack (and fails to ask a single question about Say Anything or Sixteen Candles), the schrecklich Uwe Boll (with Brent Simon for the assist), and the fascinating Arthur Dong, while Brent Simon chimes in with a chat with The Foot Fist Way’s Danny McBride. Please to enjoy!

Eat. Richard Foss swish-swishes at Nabe, and something about a giraffe, in Bites!

31 Stage. Did you see the funny joke I made on the cover about Don Shirley’s take on David Mamet? I wish I could repeat that here.

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CALENDAR 32

FRONTLINES 6

7 Days and Listings. Alfred Lee runs through your week, while Alex Comisar talks about nude ladies what got no clothes.

L.A. Sniper. Alan Mittelstaedt’s got a peach of a column about the DWP chief’s big-ass house, which he visited with only the merest hint of an invitation. I heard alllll about it from the DWP’s communications guy later. He had taken his Outrage Pill.

Free Will Astrology. The best in the business.

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The FBI vs. the Police Chief. New kid Alex Comisar (best name since Dallas Raines!) tries to get any of Bell Gardens’s newest indictees to come to the phone. Did you try a house call?

Film. Andy continues his week with a look at Indiana Jones and the Gerontologist’s Scope, positions thumbs just so, and then gets geeky on Bollywood and Hong Kong flicks in DVD Eye.

Classifieds

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ON THE COVER:

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Classified Account Executives Sarah Fink, Jason Rinka

Third Degree. Mawiage! Sylvia Masuda grills Lambda Legal’s Jennifer Pizer, if by “grills” you mean “has a warm and simpatico chat with,” which is exactly how it should be.

VP of Operations David Comden

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Classified Supervisor Michael Defilippo

BUSINESS

4 Letters & Letter from the Editrix. It’s not me. It’s you! Plus Ted Rall.

28 Classical. Donna Perlmutter sings hosannas to a host of heavenly voices.

John Cusack is surrounded by sulfur and smoke to match his blackened, Halliburtonish soul. This is from his new movie War, Inc. I did not get to meet him.

Controller Michael Nagami Human Resources Manager Andrea Baker andreab@southlandweeklies.com

TA K E M Y P I C T U R E , GARY LE ONARD

Accounting Ginger Wang, Archie Iskaq, Tracy Lowe, Christie Lee, Angela Wang (Supervisor) Circulation Supervisor Andrew Jackson Front Office Managers Sheila Mendes Coleman, Candon Murry Executive Publisher Charles N. Gerencser charlesg@lacitybeat.com Los Angeles CityBeat newspaper is published every Thursday and is available free at locations throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Circulation: 100,000. 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. All rights reserved, 2008.

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MAY 22~28, 2008

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Blood and Honor .......................................

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oor Kathleen Parker. All she’s trying to do is explain why West Virginians won’t vote for people who aren’t “full-blooded Americans,” and everybody’s trying to censor her by stating their disagreement! Just because she talks about “blood equity”! And natters on about how Hillary “Clinton’s own DNA is cobbled with many of the same values that rural and small-town Americans cling to. She understands viscerally what Obama has to study”! (You remember him? Raised for several years by his maternal grandparents, from Kansas?) And says that not liking people for being black doesn’t make them racist at all! So Kathleen Parker is a Nazi and an idiot. Focus on blood purity pretty much makes that a given. Thousands have commented on Parker’s column at one blog or another, but it’s Memorial Day, and I’m thinking of my own veteran grandfather, the one who’s buried at Punchbowl Cemetery (the “Acres of Honor” military resting place) in a volcano on Oahu because he captained a ship during World War II. He comes in handy when I’m crashing a Rush Limbaugh Club breakfast and need to allay suspicion and ensure free talk at my table, and so I serve up offhandedly my own American bona fides and the mean old white people thaw and smile, and I am full-blooded and blood-equitied enough. At Rush Limbaugh Club breakfasts, I rarely mention that my grandfather’s daughter is a communist, or that she married a succession of Jews. Last time I went to Hawaii, I stopped to lay a lei on his grave, and I sat down and chatted at him. He died in 1953, when my mom was a little girl, and I caught him up on 50 years of family news. His son Johnny, for instance, was now Annemarie, and I apparently will gossip even with the dead. But here I am calling Kathleen Parker a Nazi – and I probably should be careful with that. Last week’s travel issue featured the opening sentence, “Did you know Hitler managed to give every German man, woman, and child a yearly vacation at either the mountains or the sea?” and I was accused of being a Nazi myself. My kinder defenders argued that it wasn’t anti-Semitic per se, just a “crappy” attempt at “dumb” humor. Actually, I wasn’t joking; what I was doing was stating a fact. Is mentioning Hitler in any other context than “Did you know that evil Hitler managed to evilly give every German man, woman, and child a yearly vacation at either the mountains or the sea, with evil?” pro-Hitler or racist in some way? I honestly can’t see how. And maybe that’s what’s wrong with me, that I can’t even see that it’s wrong. (I’m sure Parker too is wondering, “What’s the fuss?”) But no, really, I think it’s just you. ✶

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EDDIE LOVES FONZIE Regarding Third Degree (May 1): Even if I’d not been a teenager in the “nifty fifties,” my “happy days” (with Carnation Ice Cream on Wilshire as our Arnold’s hangout and my buddy Lov as the Fonz), I would appreciate Henry Winkler, having been impressed with his cool New York personality in the film Lords of Flatbush, with another virtual unknown, Sylvester Stallone, and also in Crazy Joe. Unlike other young actors who have their moment of glory then fade into obscurity, it’s refreshing to see that Henry Winkler is still very much around. --EDDIE CRESS SYLMAR

ROGER DODGER Neal Pollack’s article [“The Old Ball Game,” May 8] helped organize a lot of my dissatisfaction with the team. I grew up watching the Dodgers in these last 20 years and never had a problem with their mediocre play, and apparently not many others did either as they still drew three million people a year, always among the tops in the league. I think one reason why going to Dodger games now feels strange is because your attention is constantly being diverted AWAY from the game. Neon wrap-around message screens, asinine Jumbotron games, worse Jumbotron commercials, bad “best of” music blaring out of the speakers, an all-you-can-eat pavilion ... c’mon, man! You can’t go 10 seconds

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before being led to something else. Whatever happened to Nancy Bea Hefley? Or the guys that throw peanuts? Whatever happened to escaping for a few hours into the unknown and unscripted and actually remembering it all when you got home? --JOE GUERCIO VIA E-MAIL

I don’t want to sound like an apologist for the team, but it’s just wrong to perpetuate the myth that the Dodgers kicked Chavez Ravine residents out of their homes and uprooted that vibrant community. In the early 1950s, before the Dodgers even thought about moving to the West Coast, the city of Los Angeles used eminent domain to remove Chavez Ravine residents from their homes with the eventual aim of building low-cost housing to be designed by architect Richard Neutra. Residents were none too happy about it, of course, but they were promised that they could return and live in the new houses and apartment complexes. That never happened due to real estate interests and red-baiting tactics used against Housing Authority chief Frank Wilkinson, and the land, cleared of houses, lay for the most part empty until the Dodgers arrived in 1958. Yes, O’Malley did get a sweetheart deal and yes, some remaining residents were forced out of their homes, but the damage to the Chavez Ravine community was largely done before the team arrived here. --D.M. GOODSTEIN VIA E-MAIL CITYBEAT

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BIKETOPIA Past bike plans have called for the right kind of changes in L.A.’s infrastructure [“A Rough Ride,” May 15], but then left the measurements of a bike lane’s success up to automobile traffic engineers. I hope Alta Planning is able to come up with something that will require the LADOT, Planning, and other agencies to properly measure the effects of bike planning. I also hope they pick a few projects deserving of funding that will best demonstrate the benefits of bike planning. Take the focus off of bike lanes, and onto the positive impact planning for cycling can make in a community. Bicycle-friendly commercial corridors have slower car speeds. Slower car speeds mean more customers in local shops. Why is there no provision for the measurement of retail sales tax income vs. car speeds? This would allow probike policies to become more visible. Lower automobile speeds, and a lower volume of cars on a street, make it more likely that residents on a street will know one another, will feel safer, and will perceive their “home” to extend outside the walls of their dwelling. This can be measured using a social survey of residents along a street. These two measures can objectively show how bicycle planning can benefit a community, and not just serve some sort of moral point about cycling. --“UBRAYJ02” VIA LACITYBEAT.COM A clarification: In addition to the four recent public meetings, we are currently analyzing over 1,000 surveys and over 600 unique

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public comments, including hundreds of route suggestions submitted in writing or through on-line mapping web sites. We are also analyzing nearly 400 miles of major (arterial) streets and 1,000 miles of collector streets. The majority of the routes suggested by the public are already covered in this analysis, along with an additional 10 miles (ones that were not already being analyzed) coming out of the public process. Happy Bike to Work Day! --MATT BENJAMIN L.A. PROJECT MANAGER AND BICYCLE COMMUTER ALTA PLANNING + DESIGN

SMALL-“MINDED”? Why does Dr. Theodore Sallis’s letter [May 1] have to identify our editor as a vagina? If the editor was male, would he have called him a prostate or a scrotum? Probably not, because he is just another common, smallminded little chauvinist. Sorry, Dr. Sallis, but Lenny Bruce wants me to stick it to the boring Squares. --CAROLYN DOSWELL STUDIO CITY

SEND LETTERS! Letters to the editor should include a return address and telephone number. All correspondence becomes property of Los Angeles CityBeat and may be edited for space. Send to LETTERS, CityBeat, 5209 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Or by fax (323) 938-1661 or e-mail: editor@lacitybeat.com.

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POWER AND WATER: DAVID NAHAI AND HIS DIGS ~

The DWP’s King of Water Seeking conservation tips at David Nahai’s $4.6 million Benedict Canyon mansion with seven bathrooms ~ BY ALAN MITTELSTAEDT ~

WHAT A PERFECT WILLIAM Mulholland day – searing hot and dry enough to fuel the near-hallucinatory fervor and deceptive powers of public officials trying to sell a controversial policy. On this day, at the Japanese Garden in Van Nuys, Mayor V gathers his entourage to talk up the latest grand plan for water supremacy. With the sour smell of a nearby sewage treatment baking in everyone’s nostrils, Mayor V calls to the podium the modernday Mulholland, a.k.a. David Nahai, the top dog at the Department of Water and Power, to explain how we can conserve enough water and recycle enough crappy water to somehow fill the taps of the gazillions more headed to our desert paradise over the next few decades. I can’t help but wonder whether Nahai might be willing to sacrifice any part of his share of the California Dream so that others can drink. But I will have to wait to find out later. Sweat beads on Nahai’s glacial forehead as he talks up his goals to retain L.A.’s water might by using top technologies that would bring us current with Australia and Singapore and even Orange County. It all sounds ingenious and probably more realistic than my idea to order people to drink from their swimming pools and turn golf courses into orange groves before the water runs out. We should all be open-minded to the idea of replenishing our aquifers with treated bathroom water; instead of the inaccurate slogan toilet-to-tap that helped defeat a similar plan seven years ago, think of this as the Save the Aquifers campaign. The treated water is further cleansed by the

earth’s natural filters before it flows to your tap. It’s nowhere near as scary as the alphabet soup of chemicals that have seeped into groundwater supplies since the advent of the industrial and space ages in Southern California. If we can cleanse trichloroethylene from the water supply, we can remove bacterial demons from sewage water. If only Mulholland could be here today. He would be proud of the latest water wizard to take the controls of the DWP. Yet aside from their acute knowledge of water works, these two water masters would have little in common. Their styles are as different as a rain forest is from a volcano. The coarse Irishman who talked the people of Owens Valley out of their water rights has been replaced a century later by a man with a gift of refined speech. Born in Iran and educated in London, the King of Water talks with a patrician accent and blends words better than anyone in public office in L.A. “We should not be deterred or defeated by demagoguery or ignorance,” he says. “We should not allow ourselves to fall prey to catchy, facile phrases. This is serious business. We will be mounting a very extensive communications campaign with the people of Los Angeles in order to tell them the facts.” Like all good politicians, Nahai can keep the truth from percolating out when he thinks it’s in his best interests to do so. As he speaks, I try to imagine what the King of Water’s own conservation measures might be at home. Does he have lowflow toilets? Does he abide by the fiveCITYBEAT

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minute shower rule? Do succulents fill his garden? Does he rush out to fix leaking faucets before they produce enough water to fill a reservoir? When asked if his deeds back up his words, Nahai says, “We could do better. We’re a family of five. We try to conserve and I think we’re doing better. I try to enforce in my family an ethic of water conservation.” Certainly he must have a yard full of succulents, right? “I like desert plants. At some point, when I get back to gardening, I’d like to replant my garden with all California native plants.” At this point, I’m starting to picture a den of water licentiousness, with an outdoor mister running 24/7 to keep alive a jungle of ferns, epiphytes and equatorial vines. Oh, come on, how much is your water bill every month? “I don’t know,” he said. “You’d have to ask my wife.” I made sure I heard him correctly and took his words as an open invitation to visit the Nahai residence and see for myself how the King of Water uses the most precious resource. I found his address and was soon soaring over his modern Mediterranean-style palace high up in Benedict Canyon via Google Earth. It’s a nice spread, big enough to house a legion of the newcomers he says are headed our way in the next 20 years. OK, it’s massive – 6,012 square feet, with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. Set on a narrow lot, with homes sandwiched in close on both sides, the property stretches back a third of an acre. From the air, it looks like a large MAY 22-28, 2008

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swimming pool is within a few steps of a stone patio. Maybe this is just the sort of abode a water visionary should have in 21st Century Los Angeles, where smart planners must consider each raindrop to be the last, and the odds of an abundant sierra snowpack next winter to be as long as the straggler in the ninth race at Santa Anita. How 19th Century of me to think that it might take an ascetic to lead us to conservation or that someone must renounce the profligate ways of the California Dream to chart a more responsible course. I set out for a visit to this mountainside laboratory of water science. Maybe I could learn some water-saving gardening tips. The King of Water’s mansion is three or four miles north of Sunset in Benedict Canyon. The most striking architectural feature is the three-car garage, a design flaw that can be blamed on our sick love affair with the automobile as much as a necessity dictated by the cramped street frontage. Off to the side of the tile driveway is a staircase leading up to the double front doors. Several ficus trees shroud the house valued at $4.6 million by zillow.com. A handful of white Iceberg roses and bougainvillea fill the narrow planting area next to the street. Boring, but not abysmal choices. But dude, toss the tired, water-sucking Ficus benjaminas that look so sad on your front porch. Some stately Euphorbia ingens or Aloe bainesii – or my favorite, Pachypodium lamerii from Madagascar – would save water and be more in keeping with a man of cultivated tastes. I ring the doorbell and the water king’s son comes to the door. Standing on the sec-

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ond step of a nearby staircase is Gina Nahai, the water king’s wife and bestselling author, most recently of Caspian Rain last year. I find them delightful people who shouldn’t have to deal with the prying questions of an obnoxious columnist invading their private space. I apologize profusely for barging in on them with my mundane request to inspect their water bill. I try to blame the water king for setting me on this little treasure hunt, but Gina sets me straight. “Did you tell David you were coming here? It would have been a good idea to do so.” They promised that the water king would call me back when he got home that night. But he never called. Instead, I heard from the public affairs department at the DWP. To make a long story short, I ended up sending in a public records request for the past year’s worth of water and electric bills for the water king and his wife.

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If the bimonthly water and electric bill for a family home is $120, I’m figuring Nahai’s is close to $1,000 or more. Let’s see what he’s willing to do without before he asks the rest of Los Angeles to give something in return. And, what about Brian D’Arcy, the union boss who gets away with calling many of the shots at the giant utility? Is he willing to conserve water in the name of the higher good? Back at the press conference in Van Nuys, I asked one final question of the King of Water David Nahai: Do you have any idea what kind of garden Brian D’Arcy has at his house? “I don’t,” responds the water king. “Call him up and ask him.” Now that sounds like a challenge. ✶

Send insults and ammo to BigAl@lasniper.com.

FBI vs. Bell Gardens’s Police Chief The feds want answers on towing contracts ~ BY ALEX COMISAR ~ THE FBI MADE A VISIT TO BELL Gardens City Hall last week. They served Police Chief Keith Kilmer and two other officials with subpoenas for records in connection with charges against Councilman Mario Beltran and others accused of embezzlement in their dealings with the United Motor Club, a tow company whose contract with the city was renewed in 2005, city sources said. Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI have declined to comment on the nature of the subpoenas delivered to Kilmer, Finance Director Misty Cheng and City Manager John Ornelas. A yearlong investigation recently ended with the indictment of Beltran, a Bell Gardens city councilman. Beltran is charged with seven counts of felony theft, one felony count of perjury and five misdemeanor campaign disclosure violations. Neither Cheng nor Kilmer returned several calls left at their offices. Ornelas said he did not receive a subpoena, and said “I’m not going to deal with you or CityBeat.” At issue is the tow company with which Bell Gardens contracted in 2005 – the United Motor Club – at the behest of Councilman Beltran, Mayor Jennifer Rodriguez and Chief Kilmer himself. Beltran and Rodriguez were adamant about giving United the lucrative exclusive towing contract in 2005, even suggesting that the length of the contract be extended from three years to five, but Kilmer had said he thought employing two towing companies would better assure quality service to the community. United’s self-proclaimed manager and spokesman, Sharam Shayesteh, is a

three-time felon. Shayesteh has also been served with a restraining order for apparent threats made against Bell Gardens City Councilman Daniel Crespo, a longtime political rival of Beltran’s. Shayesteh had also been charged with money laundering, as he was accused of depositing $64,000 into the account of a drug kingpin. Those charges, however, were dropped. Beltran and Rodriguez said they had no knowledge of Shayesteh’s criminal record when they awarded United the contract, although Shayesteh by that time had already built a lengthy record, which included three felonies in three states. Since the beginning of the contract, Shayesteh has given the city $50,000 in franchise fees and made a $1,000 donation to a police boxing club. Upon hearing of Shayesteh’s criminal past, the city of Bell Gardens promptly suspended United’s exclusive contract with the city, but Chief Kilmer reinstated it thereafter, saying he did not see any reason why the tow company’s shady past was relevant. Kilmer insisted that he was interested only in quality service. Kilmer also told reporters he was assured that Shayesteh was no longer associated with United as of the suspension. Officially, United Motor Club is owned by brothers Seyed and Bahran Madaen, who are linked financially with both Shayesteh and Beltran. One of the brothers, Bahran, is also a registered agent for Beltran’s consulting firm. Beltran confirmed that Bahran Madaen was an agent for his firm, but denied that he knew of his position as vice president of the towing company. ✶ MAY 22-28, 2008

Share your vision at metro.net/imagine.

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If you’d like to know more, please call us at 1.800.464.2111, or visit metro.net.

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ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT GANDELL

Jennifer Pizer A civil-rights lawyer talks about the battle ahead for gay marriages

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF left-as-hell Massachusetts, the California Supreme Court last week overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage. Online message boards buzzed with approval over the landmark decision. Gay couples’ tender kisses and awww-inducing hugs ran rampant up and down the state, notably in our darling gay villa of WeHo. For a good number of the gay community (and many others), Thursday was a heady cocktail of romance, liberation and pride. But many is the key word here. The opposition’s one step ahead; they’ve already submitted a ballot measure aimed at derailing the decision. In a few weeks, we’ll learn whether their measure obtained enough signatures to put the amendment on the November ballot. Jennifer Pizer is a senior counsel for Lambda Legal, a major coalition of activists pushing for equality in the GLBT community. As a civil rights lawyer, she’s advised same-sex domestic partnerships and people who have been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. Over the phone last Friday, her voice rang with triumph and pride. Despite last week’s victory, though, the road’s still rocky. Pizer remains optimistic. To her, it’s just a matter of time and understanding before that trail can smooth over. –Sylvia Masuda CityBeat: Anti-gay marriage advocates are already biting the heels of this result. Feels a bit rabid, really. Give me some history on what they’ve done. Jennifer Pizer: In 2005 and 2006, multiple far-right groups submitted proposals to the attorney general to place constitutional amendments on the California ballot for the 2006 election. These different groups trying to put an initiative on the ballot were unable to raise much money and unable to bring together many volunteers, and they did not gather enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot. That was heartening to all of us because it was a good indication that California is generally not supportive of amending the state Constitution.

Give an example. I represented a man whose domestic partner was a flight attendant on the first American Airlines plane that was crashed into the World Trade Center. This horrific tragedy that struck those people and New York and the country – you know how many people came together in their grief. It was so shocking and terrifying and awful. And yet, for gay and lesbian people who lost a loved one, generally, the legal system treated their horrifying loss as insignificant or like it didn’t even happen. This relationship wasn’t legally recognized. My mind can hardly grasp what that felt like. It’s almost inhuman. Humanity’s off the wall sometimes. All these people aren’t really looking at what they’re doing. They’re not understanding the pain they’re inflicting on other people. It’s an unacceptable message of society’s that we’re not good enough to get married and, in many states, we’re not good enough to have any legal recognition.

3rd DEGREE And what of them now? There are alarmists who claim that domestic partnerships have caused problems in the state and that providing legal protection to gay and lesbian couples would have negative repercussions. The state has had an opportunity to see that that is completely untrue, that when the law includes everyone, it makes our society more orderly, stronger and safer, and that benefits everyone. It’s just a process of people coming to understand that gay and lesbian people aren’t so different. Marriage is important to us for the same reasons it’s important to other couples. In recent years, support for same-sex marriage has gone up in California. That’s a big change from earlier this decade, when California was split almost 50-50 on the issue. Every day, more people decide that they want to stop hiding who they are and come out to the people who know them and care about them. The process of social change is

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as simple as one-to-one conversations that take place at work, at church, and around dinner tables. Each conversation leads to more conversations, and human understanding moves forward from there. Understanding spreads wider and wider. Yeah. I mean, so many people say that the process of sharing who they are is very freeing and very positive. For many people, that experience is met with warm support and affirmation. You have extensive experience interacting with gays and lesbians working to fight discrimination against sexual orientation. What is it like to be the victim? I’ve represented a number of people who have had a legal problem that arose upon the sudden death of their partners. We’re talking about relationships that lasted decades. When that committed relationship was suddenly severed because of some kind of tragic event, society or an employer or

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How do you respond to foes of gay marriage who say they are doing the same thing as are supporters of gay marriage: standing up for what they believe in? People have many different views and our state constitution protects each and every one of us. The government respects the fact that each person is free to fall in love and make a commitment with the person of his or her own choosing. It’s not up to the state government, it’s not up to a committee or [gay individuals’] neighbors whether they can or can not marry the person that they love. That’s how it should be. Those who do believe in marrying someone only of the same religion, of the same ethnicity, and so on – I guess they just have to deal? Many people have come to understand and accept that divorce is legal under California law whether or not the Catholic Church approves. Interfaith marriage is legal whether or not some people approve. They do not have the right to inscribe their beliefs into the family code. So for one, this ruling’s just passed. For another, there’s a possible ballot measure that may try to block that right. What’s the next step here? Heterosexual marriages are not threatened by gay and lesbian couples being able to marry. Over time, people will come to see that. Modern life involves lots of challenges. But this change is a really nice one and I think people will come to see that. ✶

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Iamazingly donĘźt I put that meeting right in the movie. His cover The is as energy aCandidate, functionary for Tamerlane, in chargecinema, of staging a huge trade – part [HufďŹ ngton] this connected person, so sheĘźs always meeting really particularly The PresidentĘźs and Network. interesting people. She called me up in New York and said [he briey imitates Cusack plays Brand Hauser, who of is “the either contract hit man or government agent or a festivities ďŹ rsta outsourced war anda USA expo!â€? Performing at the is the [HufďŹ ngton] is this She amazingly connected person, soand sheĘźs always meeting really particularly ďŹ lms Brand like The PresidentĘźsisAnalyst, The Candidate, and Network. interesting people. called me upsee in New York said [heCouncil briey imitates Cusack plays Hauser, either atotally contract hit man or government agent or a HufďŹ ngtonĘźs accent], “IĘźm going to Chalabi speak on the of Foreign lethal corporate enforcer. ItĘźs notwho thatMiddle his job title is ambiguous; itĘźsaBabyyeah that the(Hilary distinctions have 7HEN YOU READ ABOUT #HALABI SPECIlCALLY IT S LIKE HE SOMEHOW TOOK THE ENTIRE ESTABLISH Eastern pop sensation Yonica Duff), essentially Britney Spears interesting people. She called me up in New York and said [he briey imitates Cusack plays enforcer. Brand Hauser, who iswith either a contract hit man or a government agent or a HufďŹ ngtonĘźs accent], “IĘźm going to see Chalabi speak on the Council of Foreign lethal corporate ItĘźs not that his job title is ambiguous; itĘźs that the distinctions have an ďŹ lmĘźs accent. Meanwhile, leftie reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei) is trying tocome MENT FOR A RIDE 4O ALL THESE PEOPLE HIGH IN THE GOVERNMENT HE WAS 4HE 'UY 7HO 7OULD "E Relations, with me.â€? So I went with her, and we went to meet Chalabi afterwards. become vague to meaningless – one of the central notions. HufďŹ ngtonĘźs accent], “IĘźm going to see Chalabi speak thetoCouncil of Foreign lethal corporate ItĘźs not thatof histhe jobďŹ lmĘźs title actually is ambiguous; itĘźsjust thatwho thethedistinctions haveis; simultaneously Relations, come with me.â€? Sodeep I went with her, and we on went meet become vague toenforcer. meaningless – one central notions. 7ELCOMED "ACK WHICH IS PATENTLY INSANE "UT ) GUESS THAT S WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR ďŹ nd out whatĘźs going on and hell really You knewheĘźs this guy was neck in the muck, as dirty as they come.Chalabi And heafterwards. thought he Hauser is dispatched by an ex-Vice President (Dan Aykroyd) to Turaqistan to Hauser assassinate Relations, come with me.â€? So I went with her, and we went towith meet Yeah. They were looking for muck, people who would agree whatChalabi they wanted to do and he become vague to meaningless –ex-Vice one of the for ďŹ lmĘźs central notions.to Turaqistan to assassinate falling her. (Dan You knew this guy was neck deep in the as dirty as they come. And heafterwards. thought Hauser is dispatched by an President Aykroyd) was using Arianna, and Arianna – just being the diplomat – was sitting there, being the Omar Sharif (Lyubomir Neikov) – not the actor, but a Turaqi oil minister, who may provide would help makedeep their argument. So thereĘźs mutually destruction. Cusack, who frequently blogs attothe HufďŹ ngton Post, is clearly well-informed and thusthis guy You knew was neck in thebeing muck, asdiplomat dirty as assured they come. And he thought he Hauser is dispatched by an ex-Vice President (Dan Aykroyd) Turaqistan tomay assassinate was using Arianna, and Arianna – just the – was sitting there, being the Omar Sharif (Lyubomir Neikov) – not the actor, but a Turaqi oil minister, who provide wily Arianna and being a beautiful woman and letting this guy think heĘźs seducing her. It trouble for the Tamerlane Corporation, a multinational well-being trumps (inevitably) passionate whose about theďŹ nancial Iraq War and the Bush administration. was using Arianna, and Arianna – just being the diplomat – was sitting there, being the Omar Sharif (Lyubomir Neikov) – not the actor, but a Turaqi oil minister, who maytrumps provide wily Arianna and being a beautiful woman and letting this guy think heĘźs seducing her. It trouble for the Tamerlane Corporation, a multinational whose ďŹ nancial well-being 4HERE S THE SCENE IN 7AR )NC WHERE THE ALLEGEDLY hEMBEDDEDv JOURNALISTS ARE JUST SITTING was the most surreal thing IĘźve ever seen. mere national security interests. wily Arianna and being a beautiful woman and letting this guy think heĘźs seducing her. It trouble for the security Tamerlane Corporation, a multinational whose ďŹ nancial well-being trumps was the most surreal thing IĘźve ever seen. mere national interests. INSIDE THE 'REEN :ONE WITH GOGGLES AND HEADSETS BEING FED THIS VIDEOGAME $ISNEYLAND #ITY"EAT (OW LONG AGO DID YOU START ON THIS PROJECT We said to him, “What did you think the plan was?â€? And he said, “The Americans didnĘźt Hauser is a burnt-out case, who has to swig increasingly ďŹ ery shots of hot sauce to make VERSION OF WHAT S GOING ON OUTSIDE ) ASSUME n ) HOPE n THAT WAS AN EXAGGERATION I would say since Bush won reelection. IĘźdtobeen working with Mark wasWe thesaid most thingdid IĘźve ever seen. mere national interests. to surreal him, you think thelike plan was?â€? And They he said, Americans didnĘźt Hauser is asecurity burnt-out case, has *OHN #USACK: to swig increasingly ďŹ ery shots of hot sauce make have anytoplan. They“What went inthatĘźs guns blazing John Wayne. did“The what they always do it through his assignments. Hewho is haunted byonea of Tragedy in His Past andlooking would quit ifanother quitting Yeah, but case of following theAnd trends tosaid, a logical conclusion. IĘźve never Leyner, the writers, and weĘźd been to write project. We wanted Weany saidplan. to him, “What did youanother think thelike plan was?â€? he “The Americans didnĘźt Hauser is a assignments. burnt-out case, who has to swig increasingly ďŹ ery shots ofwould hot sauce toquitting make have They went in guns blazing John Wayne. They did what they always do it through his He is haunted by a Tragedy in His Past and quit if – make upitas they along. eitherthemake me courageous president journalists. ... or maybe theyĘźll werenĘźt a presumed death sentence. write something about American imperialism and the neoconservative movement, beengo to Iraq, but TheyĘźll I learned about war from But there are try all to kill anditput have anyitplan. went in guns blazing like John Wayne. They...did what they always do itwerenĘźt througha presumed his assignments. He is haunted by a Tragedy in an His Past and would quit if quitting – make upknow.â€? asThey they along. TheyĘźll either make me president or maybe theyĘźll to kill death sentence. these people corporate media who justmovie. repeat White House talking points and alltry go to through a different lens – of artistic, lens.trade show – part me. I donĘźt I go put thatinmeeting right in the His cover is as a functionary for Tamerlane, in charge stagingsatiric a huge –me. make it upknow.â€? as they go TheyĘźll either me president ... or as maybe theyĘźll to kill werenĘźt a presumed death sentence. theIsame parties and just keep feeding machine. They might well have chipstry in the I donĘźt putalong. that meeting right inmake thethe movie. We were thinking aboutofpeople likethe Heller people we His cover is as aoutsourced functionary forand Tamerlane, in charge staging aJoseph huge tradeand show part the of “the ďŹ rst totally war USA expo!â€? Performing at festivities is Terry the –Southern, back of the head, becauseright theyĘźre admire in expo!â€? thisinarea, the great ones, at even We decided to –call Jeremy Pikser, me. I another donĘźt know.â€? I put that meeting innot thereporting movie.the stuff that the brave, real journalists are His cover is as a outsourced functionarywar for and Tamerlane, charge of staging a Kafka. huge trade show part of “the ďŹ rst totally USA Performing the festivities is the Middle Eastern pop sensation Yonicawriter Babyyeah (Hilary Britney Spears ďŹ nding out. I admire, who did Duff), Bulworthessentially Reds with Warren Beatty. I think we 7HEN YOU READ ABOUT #HALABI SPECIlCALLY IT S LIKE HE SOMEHOW TOOK THE ENTIRE ESTABLISH just came of “the ďŹ rst totally war andBabyyeah USA expo!â€? Performing atandthe festivities is Spears the 7HEN YOU READ ABOUT #HALABI SPECIlCALLY IT S LIKE HE SOMEHOW TOOK THE ENTIRE ESTABLISH Middle popoutsourced sensation Yonica (Hilary Duff), essentially Britney MENT FOR A RIDE 4O ALL THESE PEOPLE HIGH IN THE GOVERNMENT HE WAS 4HE 'UY 7HO 7OULD "E with an Eastern accent. Meanwhile, leftie reporter (Marisa Tomei) is trying to spiritually, togetherNatalie with the Hegalhuzen idea of “LetĘźs do something stylistically, and maybe irreverent 7HEN YOU READ ABOUT #HALABI SPECIlCALLY IT S LIKE HE SOMEHOW TOOK THE ENTIRE ESTABLISH Middle Eastern pop sensation Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff), essentially Britney Spears MENT FOR A RIDE 4O ALL THESE PEOPLE HIGH IN THE GOVERNMENT HE WAS 4HE 'UY 7HO 7OULD "E with an accent. Meanwhile, leftie reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa is trying toits application, &INALLY ARE YOU ENDORSING ANYONE and as who absurd as the of really these guys making policy that, in is obscene 7ELCOMED "ACK WHICH IS PATENTLY INSANE "UT ) GUESS THAT S WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR ďŹ nd out whatĘźs actually going on and just the hellideology Hauser is;Tomei) simultaneously heĘźs MENT FOR A RIDE 4O ALL THESE PEOPLE HIGH IN THE GOVERNMENT HE WAS 4HE 'UY 7HO 7OULD "E with an accent. Meanwhile, leftie reporter Natalie is trying to IĘźll endorse for anybody whowho exposes this new economy. think they either wanted one of them be criminal.â€? 7ELCOMED "ACK WHICH IS PATENTLY INSANE "UT ) GUESS THAT S WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR ďŹ nd out whatĘźs just who theHegalhuzen hell Hauser (Marisa really is;Tomei) simultaneously heĘźs Yeah. They were looking people would agree with Iwhat to would do and falling for her. actually going on andand a vast improvement. That was the the impetus of the movie. captures some of the insurrectionary spirit of dissent 7ELCOMED "ACK WHICH IS PATENTLY INSANE "UT ) GUESS THAT S WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR ďŹ nd outfor whatĘźs actually going on and just who hell Hauser reallyItis; simultaneously heĘźs Yeah. They were looking for people who would agree with what they wanted to do and falling her. would help make their argument. So thereĘźs mutually assured destruction. Cusack, who frequently blogs at the Post, is clearly well-informed thus andHufďŹ ngton satire, versus this obscene corporate narrative weĘźreand fed. If you donĘźt put itYeah. through They were looking for people who would agree with destruction. what they wanted to do and falling for her. would help make their argument. So thereĘźs mutually assured Cusack, who frequently blogs at the HufďŹ ngton Post, isgetclearly well-informed and (inevitably) passionate about the Iraq andlens, theyou Bush !ND hEITHER ONE OF THEMv DOESN T MEAN *OHN -C#AIN RIGHT /NE OF THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE a War different canĘźtadministration. out of bed. And this is what we thus do. We tell stories; weĘźre would help make their argument. So thereĘźs mutually assured destruction. Cusack, who frequently blogs the HufďŹ ngton Post, is clearly well-informed and thus (inevitably) passionate about the at Iraq War and the Bush administration. IĘźm sure that McCain would be – ďŹ lmmakers. So we decided to put our money where our mouth is. 4HERE S THE SCENE IN 7AR )NC WHERE THE ALLEGEDLY hEMBEDDEDv JOURNALISTS ARE JUST SITTING

(inevitably) passionate about the Iraq War and the Bush administration. 4HERE S THE SCENE IN 7AR )NC WHERE THE ALLEGEDLY hEMBEDDEDv JOURNALISTS ARE JUST SITTING INSIDE THE 'REEN :ONE WITH GOGGLES AND HEADSETS BEING FED THIS VIDEOGAME $ISNEYLAND #ITY"EAT (OW LONG AGO DID YOU START ON THIS PROJECT n MORE OF THE SAME 7HAT WAS THE STYLISTIC INTENT 4HERE S THE SCENE IN 7AR )NC WHERE THE ALLEGEDLY hEMBEDDEDv JOURNALISTS ARE JUST SITTING INSIDE THE 'REEN :ONE WITH GOGGLES AND HEADSETS BEING FED THIS VIDEOGAME $ISNEYLAND #ITY"EAT (OW LONG AGO DID YOU START ON THIS PROJECT VERSION OF WHAT S GOING ON OUTSIDE ) ASSUME n ) HOPE n THAT WAS AN EXAGGERATION *OHN #USACK: I would say since BushWewon reelection. IĘźd been working with Mark – a disaster. were trying to make a subversive, commercial movie, playing aroundINSIDE THE 'REEN :ONE WITH GOGGLES AND HEADSETS BEING FED THIS VIDEOGAME $ISNEYLAND with the #ITY"EAT (OW LONG AGO DID YOU START ON THIS PROJECT VERSION OF WHAT S GOING ON OUTSIDE ) ASSUME n ) HOPE n THAT WAS AN EXAGGERATION *OHN #USACK: I would say since Bush won reelection. IĘźd been working with Mark Yeah, but thatĘźs another case of following the trends to a logical conclusion. IĘźve never Leyner, one of the writers, and weĘźd been looking to write another project. We wanted to VERSION OF WHAT S GOING ON OUTSIDE ) ASSUME n ) HOPE n THAT WAS AN EXAGGERATION *OHN #USACK: I would sayand since Bush won reelection. IĘźdanother been working with Mark Yeah, but thatĘźs anotherabout case of trends to ajournalists. logical conclusion. never Leyner, one of the writers, weĘźd been looking to write project. We wanted to been to Iraq, but I learned thefollowing war fromthe courageous But there IĘźve are all write something about American imperialism and the neoconservative movement, and put it Yeah, but thatĘźs another about case ofthe following the trends to ajournalists. logical conclusion. IĘźve never Leyner, one of theabout writers, and weĘźd been looking to write another project. We wanted to been to Iraq, but I learned war from courageous But there are all write something American imperialism and the neoconservative movement, and put it these people in corporate media who just repeat White House talking points and all go to through a different lens – an artistic, satiric lens. been topeople Iraq, but I learned media about the from courageous journalists. But there are write something about American imperialism and the neoconservative movement, and put it these in corporate whowar just White House talking points allall gothe to through a different lens – anpeople artistic, satiric lens. the same parties and just keep feeding therepeat machine. They might as well haveand chips in We were thinking about like Joseph Heller and Terry Southern, the people we these people in corporate mediafeeding who just repeat White House talking points and all in go to through a different lens – anpeople artistic,like satiric lens. the same parties and just keep the machine. They might as well have chips We were thinking about Joseph Heller and Terry Southern, the people we back of the head, because theyĘźre not reporting the stuff that the brave, real journaliststhe are admire in this area, the great ones, even Kafka. We decided to call Jeremy Pikser, another the same parties just keep feeding the machine. Theythat might well real havejournalists chips in the We werethis thinkingthe about people Joseph Heller and Terry Southern, the people we back of out. the head,and because theyĘźre not reporting the stuff theas brave, are admire ones,like even Kafka. WeWarren decided to call Jeremy another ďŹ nding writer I in admire,area, who didgreat Bulworth and Reds with Beatty. I think wePikser, just came back of the head, because theyĘźre not reporting the stuff that the brave, real journalists are admire inadmire, this area, thedid great ones, even Kafka. WeWarren decidedBeatty. to callI Jeremy Pikser, another ďŹ nding out. writer I who Bulworth and Reds with think we just came together with the idea of “LetĘźs do something stylistically, and maybe spiritually, irreverent ďŹ nding out. writer I admire, who did and Reds with Warren Beatty. I thinkspiritually, we just came together with the ideaideology of Bulworth “LetĘźsofdo something stylistically, irreverent &INALLY ARE YOU ENDORSING ANYONE and as absurd as the these guys making policy and that,maybe in its application, is obscene together with the idea of “LetĘźs do something stylistically, and maybe spiritually, irreverent &INALLY ARE YOU ENDORSING ANYONE and criminal.â€? as absurd as the ideology of these guys making policy that, in its application, is obscene IĘźll endorse anybody who exposes this new economy. I think either one of them would be and &INALLY ARE YOU ENDORSING ANYONE and as absurd as the ideology of these guys making policy that, in its application, is obscene IĘźll improvement. endorse anybody who exposes this new economy. I think either one of them would be andThat criminal.â€? was the impetus of the movie. It captures some of the insurrectionary spirit of dissent a vast IĘźll endorse anybody who exposes this new economy. I think either one of them would be andThat criminal.â€? improvement. wasversus the impetus of the corporate movie. It captures theIfinsurrectionary of dissent a vast and satire, this obscene narrativesome weĘźreoffed. you donĘźt put itspirit through That wasversus the impetus of the movie. It captures some offed. the Ifinsurrectionary spirit of dissent a vast improvement. and satire, this obscene corporate narrative weĘźre you donĘźt put it through !ND hEITHER ONE OF THEMv DOESN T MEAN *OHN -C#AIN RIGHT /NE OF THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE a different lens, you canĘźt get out of bed. And this is what we do. We tell stories; weĘźre and satire, versus thiscanĘźt obscene out corporate narrative fed. you donĘźt put it through !ND hEITHER ONE OF THEMv DOESN T MEAN *OHN -C#AIN RIGHT /NE OF THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE aďŹ lmmakers. different lens, you And where this weĘźre is our whatmouth weIfdo. IĘźm sure that McCain would be – So we decidedget to put of ourbed. money is.We tell stories; weĘźre !ND hEITHER ONE OF THEMv DOESN T MEAN *OHN -C#AIN RIGHT /NE OF THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE aďŹ lmmakers. different lens, canĘźt gettoout bed. And where this is what we do.is.We tell stories; weĘźre IĘźm sure that McCain would be – So you we decided putofour money our mouth IĘźm sure that McCain would be – ďŹ lmmakers. So we decided to put our money where our mouth is. n MORE OF THE SAME 7HAT WAS THE STYLISTIC INTENT n MORE OF THE SAME 7HAT WAS THE STYLISTIC INTENT – a disaster. We were trying to make a subversive, commercial movie, playing around with the n MORE OF THE SAME 7HAT WAS THE STYLISTIC INTENT – a disaster. We were trying to make a subversive, commercial movie, playing around with the – a disaster. We were trying to make a subversive, commercial movie, playing around with the

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atire closes on Saturday nightâ€? goes the old adage about live theater. With modern booking practices, ďŹ lm satire is generally guaranteed not to close before Thursday ... if, that is, it gets booked at all. So what are the odds of two deliberately outrageous satirical comedies opening in Los Angeles the same week? Nonetheless, while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (see Film feature) is hoovering all the change out of the pockets of America’s ďŹ lmgoers, these two ďŹ lms will be among the dozen or so scrambling for what’s left. And, while both inevitably involve the Iraq War, they are very, very different. On the one hand, we have War, Inc., which mows down its targets with studied precision. On the other hand, we have Postal, which is more like an Uzi being wielded by a palsied blind man, striking whatever’s in its path without discrimination and often without reason – exactly the kind of image the ďŹ lmmaker would likely embrace. The latter is the work of Uwe Boll – more or less rhymes with “reprovableâ€? – a German ďŹ lmmaker frequently bashed online (and even lately in The New York Times) as the worst director currently working. Detractors have spread rumors that he ďŹ nances his ďŹ lms with Nazi gold; “Ed Wood for the new millenniumâ€? is not one of his harshest epithets. In his defense, it should be noted that he has specialized in movie adaptations of videogames – including BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark, and now Postal – and much of this hating comes from videogame geeks who feel he isn’t being faithful 6ERNE 4ROYER FAR FROM 0ARADISE enough (whatever that would mean in this context). “There’s a marketing thing implied,â€? Boll recently told our Brent Simon. “It’s like comic book movies. You have a big fan base – even if it’s sometimes an empty fan base that thinks, ‘Oh, he hurts our game and he’s an asshole,’ or whatever.â€? Not a man to sit by and be idly insulted, Boll is thinking of issuing a mano a mano challenge to these detractors, much as he has already done to reviewers and Michael Bay.

:ACK 7ARD AND *ACKIE 4OHN HAVE A "OLL GOING POSTAL

In September 2006, he bested ďŹ ve Internet and print critics in the boxing ring. More recently, he challenged Michael Bay to a ďŹ ght, but Bay has demurred. “I got an e-mail ďŹ rst ... from his fan club, I guess. They said he will do it, he kicks your ass, and so I said the ďŹ ght was on. Then he wrote me – or, actually, his attorney wrote me – that he will not do it now. And I have to face legal consequences if I say anymore that he will do it.â€? Boll cultivates being a provocateur. Postal opens in the cockpit of one of the 9/11 planes, with the hijackers arguing about how many virgins they’ll be given in the afterlife. Six and a half years after the fact, you want to yell, “Too soon! Too soon!â€? Much of the action takes place at the Little Germany theme park, where Boll – playing himself as the park’s owner – admits the Nazi gold rumors are true and pays celebrity guest Verne Troyer with a handful of gold teeth. Six and a half decades after the fact, you still want to yell, “Too soon! Too soon!â€? (Troyer is later raped by a hundred monkeys.) Boll explains, “The videogame is cultish and funny .... I mean, it’s totally absurd in a way. I felt that it was an opportunity for me to make something that was funny, but also to put a lot of my frustration in the script – the frustration about myself, and how I get bashed in the Internet about my career and ... the frustration about the whole political landscape since September 11, like we’re all running in between fundamentalist terror and George Bush craziness, in big danger. “And I wanted to make a comedy like my personal favorites, like Naked Gun or Life of Brian or The Blues Brothers. And I felt like this is all missing in the last few years ... . The Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell comedies have their moments, but overall they are all kind of clichĂŠd, with happy endings where families are back and weddings are the best, and it’s all about being nonpolitical. I wanted to make a ruthless movie and hit everybody with a hammer.â€?

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rthur Dong is best known for his trilogy of gay-themed documentaries – Coming Out Under Fire (1994), Licensed to Kill (1997), and Family Fundamentals (2002). His latest, Hollywood Chinese (opening in Los Angeles May 30), represents a change in focus: It looks at Chinese-Americans and their relationship to Hollywood ďŹ lmmaking, both as participants and onscreen subjects. During an interview a few weeks ago, I ask him about the shift. “I’m a ďŹ lm lover,â€? he says, indicating the collectible posters on the wall. “When I was a kid, I didn’t go play in the playground and play kickball or whatever; I watched movies. It’s always been a part of my life. “But, also, having worked on a trilogy of pretty hardcore gay issues – killers of gay men, fundamentalist Christians with gay kids, gays in the military – it was time for a break. That was a 10-year chunk of time on some heavy-duty stuff. So it was a welcome break from all of that.â€? Nonetheless, Dong says, “It’s all about perception. In some ways, Hollywood Chinese is pretty gay. I mean Hollywood’s just ... it’s Hollywood. You can’t be ‘not gay’ in Hollywood and tell the story of Hollywood. Even if it’s not blatantly gay, or overtly gay, it’s gay ... because it’s Hollywood. Studio heads will differ with me ... but then a lot of the studio heads are gay.â€? Dong did exhaustive research for Hollywood Chinese, discovering the existence of forgotten landmarks like Marion Wong’s 1917 The Curse of Quon Gwon and James B. Leong’s 1921 Lotus Blossom. He interviews leading ChineseAmerican directors like Justin Lin and Wayne Wang; authors Amy Tan and David Henry Hwang; stars Joan Chen and Nancy Kwan; and ubiquitous characters actors James Hong, Lisa Lu, and James Shigeta. He also speaks to white actors with experience playing in “yellow faceâ€? – Turhan Bey (Lao Er Tan in the 1944 Dragon Seed); nonagenarian Luise Rainer, who won the 1938 Best Actress Oscar for The Good Earth; and, of course, Christopher Lee, who played Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu several time in the ’60s. In and among the other stories, it’s the career of Nancy Kwan – not to mention the radiant Kwan herself – that provides the blend of glory and frustration that still dogs Chinese-American performers in today’s Hollywood. Kwan was the ďŹ rst Chinese-American to star in a major Hollywood production ... in fact, in two – The World of Suzie Wong (1960, opposite William Holden) and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song (1961). But her breakthrough turned out to be a one-off; no one was as successful following in her

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footsteps. By the ’70s, shefootsteps. was starring likewas Wonder Women (1973), asWonder the By in themovies ’70s, she starring in movies like Women (1973 evil Dr. Tsu, of an of sexy female martial artists. (Let me note that as I artists. love evil Tsu, leader of anlike army of sexy female martial footsteps. Byleader the ’70s, shearmy wasDr. starring in movies Wonder Women (1973), the (Let me note th such grindhouse stuff am dying to see Wonder but doesn’t map to but still, it doesn’ such grindhouse stuffmartial andWomen, am dying tostill, see Women, evil Dr. Tsu, leader of and an army of sexy female artists. (Let meitWonder note that I love the arc a young starthe would hope for.) career arcsee a young star would but hope for.)it doesn’t map to suchcareer grindhouse stuff and am dying to Wonder Women, still, half-Chinese, and she washalf-Scottish, cast in a number Kwan is half-Chinese, and of shenon-Asian was cast in a number of nontheKwan careerisarc a young starhalf-Scottish, would hope for.) roles. “When you talk about Hollywood,â€? Dong says, “it’s marketing. Could roles. “When you talk about Hollywood,â€? Dong says, Nancy “it’s all marketing. Cou Kwan is half-Chinese, half-Scottish, and she was cast inall a number of non-Asian Kwan have marketed as ahave white actress? It’s say, but she started as a to say, but she start Kwan marketed astoaall white actress? It’s hard roles. “When you talkherself about Hollywood,â€? Dongherself says,hard “it’s marketing. Could Nancy Chinese actress. In herherself subsequent roles,actress? she Italian, French, native American, Chinese actress. In played herIt’s subsequent roles, played Italian, Kwan have marketed as a white hard to say, butshe she started as a French, native A generic/no race, and Asian. She wasroles, able toand cross over; there was resistance from generic/no race,she Asian. She was ablenoto crossAmerican, over; there was no resistan Chinese actress. In her subsequent played Italian, French, native the audience. Notand allAsian. of them were ďŹ lms, that’sthere not her fault. Shebut was able the audience. all but of over; them were good ďŹ lms, that’s generic/no race, She wasgood ableNot to cross was no resistance fromnot her fault. She w to she was and and the role that was to transcend theďŹ lms, fact Chinese that she was Scottish and Chinese and just play the role thetranscend audience.the Notfact all that of them wereScottish good but that’s notjust herplay fault. She was able given to her. the I can’t of any other any Chinese blood, given her. actress I can’t think of any other actress with anydrop, Chinese blood, even o to transcend factthink that she wasto Scottish andwith Chinese and just play theeven roleone that was who doneI that Hollywood – done uidly moved from group to another.â€? who that inwith Hollywood –ethnic uidly moved from one ethnic group to an givenhas to her. can’tinthink of anyhas other actress any one Chinese blood, even one drop, Hollywood it’sInthe Christopher Leeethnic who group brings upanother.â€? a Hollywood Chinese, it’sone the venerable Christopher Lee who brings up a whoInhas done thatChinese, in Hollywood –venerable uidly moved from to remarkable historical irony: During World War II, the sudden rush ofWar patriotic remarkable historical irony: During World II, athewar sudden rush of patrioti In Hollywood Chinese, it’s the venerable Christopher Lee who brings up movies meant a boomirony: in juicy villain roles for Japanese-American actors in Hollywood. movies meant a boom juicy villain roles for Japanese-American actors in H remarkable historical During World War II,inthe sudden rush of patriotic war Unfortunately them,inthey were all roles in internment camps, went tocamps, so the parts went Unfortunately forfor them, they weresoallthe in parts internment movies meant aforboom juicy villain Japanese-American actors in Hollywood. Chinese-Americans, whothey were regarded by the who studios as regarded indistinguishable – to generic Chinese-Americans, were by the studios as indistinguishable – Unfortunately for them, were all in internment camps, so the parts went East Asians. East Asians. Chinese-Americans, who were regarded by the studios as indistinguishable – generic notion in Hollywood –The andnotion in theindominant culture in in America, in general – that Hollywood – and the dominant culture in America, in gen EastThe Asians. The notion in Hollywood – and in the dominant culture in America, in general – that

'RAUMAN S #HINESE 4HEATER

'RAUMAN S #HINESE 4HEATER

'RAUMAN S #HINESE 4HEATER

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, dozens ofCambodian, other ethnicand groups Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, dozens of other eth are all interchangeable comes up interchangeable throughout the movie. group has own areVietnamese, all comes updozens throughout thetheir movie. “Each group has thei Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, and“Each of other ethnic groups story. one point, I hoped to up cover all point, of them in a four-part When couldn’t series.â€? When h story. Atthroughout one I hoped to “Each coverseries.â€? all of them in he a four-part are allAt interchangeable comes the movie. group has their own get theAtfunding and Ihad toget limit his scope, he decided to deal Chinese-Americans funding had limit his with scope, heWhen decided to deal with Chinese-A story. one point, hoped tothe cover all ofand them in to a four-part series.â€? he couldn’t only. try to and do them allonly. together would have been like clumping together performers “To try to do them all together would have been like clumping together get the“To funding had to limit his scope, he decided to deal with Chinese-Americans from countries: Story of White on Screen. jobperformers was on Screen. My jo allThe thewould European countries: The Storytogether ofMy White People only. all “Tothe tryEuropean to do them allfrom together have beenPeople like clumping to make that this wasn’t about generic Asians, but about Chinese and speciďŹ c to make it clear that this wasn’t genericMy Asians, but about Chinese and from all it theclear European countries: The Story of White People on Screen. job was issues ofitChinese history and culture. That’s what this documentary is about. issues of Chinese history andbut culture. what documentary is about. to make clear that this wasn’t about generic Asians, about That’s Chinese andthis speciďŹ c “Still, you can history understand –culture. though maybe not forgive – why all the Asian groups–are you can understand – though maybe not forgive why all the Asian issues of Chinese and“Still, That’s what this documentary is about. clumped Even Asian can’t always differentiate clumped together. Even Asian people can’t always differentiate “Still, together. you can understand –people though maybe not forgive – whythe all different the Asiangroups. groupsSo are the different g why would we expect to? can’t In Hollywood, they don’t care; all theygroups. care about whypeople would we expect non-Asians to?the In Hollywood, they don’t clumped together. Evennon-Asians Asian always differentiate different So care; all they is how the audience perceives it. If weaudience keep feeding the audience a certain image, is how the perceives it.don’t If wecare; keep feeding the and audience why would we expect non-Asians to? In Hollywood, they all they care about a certain im they’re happy with itperceives and they expect well ... Hollywood is a machine makes they’re withfeeding it and they expect it,awell ...that Hollywood is how the audience it. Ifhappy weit,keep the audience certain image, and is a machine that you happy.â€? you happy.â€? they’re happy with it and they expect it, well ... Hollywood is a machine that makes clear talking to Dong It’s thatclear Hollywood a condensation of talking Chinese to Dong represents that Hollywood Chinese represents a condens youIt’s happy.â€? his It’s research. He’s hugely knowledgeable, our yakking about Chinese-Americans his research. He’ssohugely knowledgeable, so our yakking clear talking to Dong that Hollywood Chinese represents a condensation of about Chinese-A and Chinese-Chinese andand Hollywood and Hong Kong stretches my Hong half-hour Chinese-Chinese and Hollywood Kong stretches my half-ho his research. He’s hugely knowledgeable, so our yakking aboutand Chinese-Americans appointment with himand to appointment three times that length. I’m hungry more and I’m ask hungry him if for more and with him to three timesfor that length. and Chinese-Chinese Hollywood and Hong Kong stretches my half-hour he ever thought about the that material into a book. ever thought about expanding thefor material intoask a book. appointment with him expanding to he three times length. I’m hungry more and him if “Are thought you kidding? love“Are to. Ithe want to do ainto coffee table I have thesetable book; I have all you kidding? I’d love to. Ibook; want to do aall coffee he ever aboutI’d expanding material a book. posters stuff I book; want aI publisher tohere. say, I want a publishe posters and historical documents stuff just sitting “Areand youhistorical kidding? documents I’d love to. and I want tojust do asitting coffeehere. tableand have all these ‘Here’s a $50 thousanddocuments advance! Go work on your book forIGo awant year!’ Itonwould be ‘Here’sand a $50 thousand advance! work your book for a year!’ It would posters and historical stuff just sitting here. a publisher to my say, dream I mean, it’s not going beI the deďŹ nitive in Hollywood. dream project. mean, it’sbook not story going toChinese be It thewould deďŹ nitive story of Chinese in H ‘Here’sproject. a $50 thousand advance! Go to work on your for a of year!’ be my It would be myIversion, based on my and based my work onofthis ďŹ lm. and Iinwould love on this ďŹ lm. I wo Itnot would betoresearch my on my research my work dream project. mean, it’s going beversion, the deďŹ nitive story Chinese Hollywood. to use thebeextended interview transcripts. And interview get more ofon thethis stories. Luise Rainer to use transcripts. And in more of the stories. Luis It would my version, based onthe myextended research andinmy work ďŹ lm.get I would love has some stories about in Hollywood the time working onat her hasworking some great stories working instories. Hollywood the time and working to use the great extended interview transcripts. And getabout in at more of theand Luise Rainer character. I would loveabout to character. would love to at the time and working on her has some great stories workingI in Hollywood do a book!â€? character. I would love to do a book!â€? I’d love to read it. Well, I’d love to read it. do Well, a book!â€? Well, I’d love to read it.

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-Asian uld Nancy or a 16mm movie shot in three weeks on a shoestring budget of credit card ted as a financing and $30,000 in savings, The Foot Fist Way has paid huge dividends American, for ascendant funnyman Danny McBride, even though it hasnʼt grossed dollar nce from one from audiences. was able McBride first met his Foot Fist Way (opening May 30) collaborators, Jody Hill and that was Ben Best, at the North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2005, though known only for one drop, the supporting role of Bust-Ass in David Gordon Greenʼs All the Real Girls (2003), his nother.” sole feature film credit, McBride became the center of a comedy about a blustery, small a town Tae Kwon Do instructor, Fred Simmons, who undergoes personal and professional ic war turbulence when his wife starts to cheat on him and he finds out his idol, a preening Hollywood. t to – generic

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competition champion turned movie star named Chuck “The Truck” Wallace (Best), isnʼt all heʼs imagined. The movie was accepted into competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it was embraced by a legion of comedic heavyweights, among them Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Surprised it wasnʼt acquired at the festival, the pair later snapped up the movie (via their Gary Sanchez Productions) for distribution through Paramount Vantage. Itʼs had a long and winding path to release, but the movie quickly conferred “made man” status upon McBride, helping him land memorable supporting parts in Andy Sambergʼs Hot Rod, Ben Stillerʼs The Heartbreak Kid, Owen Wilsonʼs Drillbit Taylor, and two of this summerʼs most highly anticipated comedies, Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder. “Itʼs been pretty insane,” says McBride of his at-once-quiet-and-quick career trajectory. “I live in Virginia, and every time I would come back out to L.A., I would suddenly hear of all these other people who had seen the film. “When we were in college, we would just sit around and drink beer and watch the hnic groups same movies over and over again,” McBride continues. “And when we made this film, ir own we wanted it to be something that could have that sort of lifespan – something that some he couldn’t other guys in college would sit around and drink some beers to and enjoy. Now Iʼm Americans running around with Will, and running from dinosaurs in Land of the Lost. It doesnʼt r performersseem real.” ob was Much like mentor Ferrell – with whom heʼs currently shooting director Brad specific Silberlingʼs aforementioned adaptation of the 1970s TV series – McBride specializes in . portraying charismatic blowhards, men emboldened by false or unearned confidence. In n groups are person, though, the Georgia-born McBride has a soft and completely unassuming nature groups. So that belies the tense, tightly wound nature of many of his characters. “Since I went to y care about film school and have a writing and directing background, I think a lot of the stories Iʼm mage, and most interested in are about antiheroes, or people who audiences might not normally get makes behind,” he says. A canted, slow-burn comedy of very personalized turmoil, The Foot Fist Way sation of embodied those characteristics, especially since it unfolds against such a mock-serious Americans backdrop. “The fascinating thing about Tae Kwon Do that a lot of people donʼt know is our that itʼs only useful against other people who know Tae Kwon Do,” jokes McBride, who ask him if says he enjoyed “the idea of a strip-mall dojo instructor dispensing the wisdom of this ancient martial art to kids that are basically [there for] after-school day care.” these While the filmʼs mouthful of a title (the literal translation of Tae Kwon Do) presents er to say, its own potential commercial hurdle, McBride, for one, hopes folks get it wrong. “I just d be my love the idea of people butchering it, like The Fist Fudge Way,” he says. Hollywood. Either way, this summer is sure to raise his profile. McBride is then set to tap back ould love into his Southern roots, playing a character in some ways slightly reminiscent of se Rainer Fred Simmons; heʼll reunite with his Foot Fist Way cohorts on the tentatively titled on her Eastbound and Down, an HBO comedy about a fallen baseball hero who returns to his small hometown to try to find some answers in his life. “I said, ʻI donʼt think you can name a TV show after the theme song of Smokey and the Bandit, but weʼll try it,ʼ” says McBride with a shrug and a smile.

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Going Back to Indiana Spielberg raids his own ancient artifacts one more time ~ BY ANDY KLEIN ~

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DON’T KNOW IF YOU’VE HEARD – AFTER all, a few of you may have spent the last several weeks in a sensory deprivation chamber – but Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford have made a new Indiana Jones film. Cue the John Williams fanfare. Twenty-seven years after Indy’s debut in Raiders of the Lost Ark ... 19 years after his adieu in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ... America’s favorite non-X-rated whipwielding hero returns in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Let’s get the thumb-orientation, star-quantity business out of the way first: thumbs up firmly but unenthusiastically; two and a half stars out of four. That is to say, it’s pretty good. Of course, it has to go up against a very high standard – our collective memories of Raiders. And even Raiders itself doesn’t seem to match up to that standard any more. If KotCS never reaches such heights, it also never comes close to the embarrassing depths of George Lucas’s other series resurrection. This time around, it’s 1957 – which means that Ford has aged exactly the right amount to match up with his age in Last Crusade. (Viewed together, the chronology of all four films doesn’t quite jibe, but big deal.) Indy is kidnapped by a band of Soviet military thugs, led by dragon lady Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). (“Stalin’s fairhaired girl,” we are told, although her hair is black and Stalin had been dead for three years.) They drag him and sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) into a warehouse to locate a mysterious, immensely valuable collectible, before things turn into a pretty neat fight/chase/escape sequence. Indy ends up in an absolutely fatal situation but saves himself through a bit of shtick that is very clever, if totally implausible. Of course, plausibility has never exactly been an issue in this series: Didn’t Raiders have our hero hanging onto the outside of a submarine as it crossed an ocean? During these opening scenes, Spielberg et al. introduce a stronger, mildly more controversial dollop of social context than in the earlier Nazis-vs.-good-guys episodes. Despite having just evaded a group of Communist operatives, Indy is accused by a pair of FBI crewcuts of having Red sympathies. In no time flat, he’s forced out of his university job. By coincidence, he is then approached by rebellious 18-year-old Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), the son of some former acquaintance named Marion. Okay, I can accept liberties with history, liberties with

~ THREE MEN ON A TORCH: FORD, LABEOUF, AND WINSTONE DO A LITTLE SPIELBERGIAN SPELUNKING ~

logic, even liberties with Newtonian physics in these films. What I can’t accept is that Indy shrugs this off with a crack about “a lot of Marions under the bridge” in 20 years. Dude, remember Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the love of your life? When Mutt identifies his mom as Marion Williams, it’s not going to enter your mind that Williams might be her married name? You’re not even going to ask her maiden name? Criminy, Marion wasn’t even that common a name in that era (or now); it’s not exactly Mary or Sue or Debbie or Nancy. No no no no no! That I cannot accept. Of course, everyone in the audience who’s either glanced at the poster on the way in or paid attention to the opening credits will already know that it is Marion Ravenwood. From there, it takes no more than a rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic and reproductive biology to predict the film’s next big “surprise.” (I’m not suggesting that Spielberg expects anyone but Indy him-

FILM self to be surprised, but then why not goose up the road to the revelation with some comic foreshadowings or something?) Most of the film involves Indy and Mutt – eventually joined by Marion and a temporarily deranged old friend (John Hurt, in mutter mode) – running around foreign landscapes, competing with Spalko and her Red Army second-in-command (Igor Jijikine, looking more than a little like Vladimir Putin) to decipher a bunch of riddles and locate the titular kingdom ... in short, it’s a series of chases, fights, and ridiculously narrow escapes. The action sequences may be largely retreads of ancient ideas, but they’re still exciting and well-handled. Without giving much away, the solution – like the back story of Stargate – more or less retreads the concept of my beloved Five Million Years to Earth, a.k.a. Quatermass and the Pit. (Go rent it today!) Is it possible that one sound effect was deliberately designed to reference that underappreciated 1967 sci-fi film? Or do I need to get out more? Ford looks every bit of 65, but he’s still a handsome, charismatic 65, so it’s great to see him, even when it’s clear that he can’t be doing his own stunts. (Hell, it’s the seemingly gaunt, 58-year-old Jim Broadbent – playing CITYBEAT

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Indy’s academic superior at the beginning – that I’m worried about.) The movie acknowledges Ford’s age amusingly a few times, and he’s romantically paired off with the relatively age-appropriate (nine years younger) Allen, who looks great. (Her face is almost too devoid of age.) So, if the movie’s mostly action stuff, and the action stuff is well-done, what’s my beef? First of all, the law of diminishing returns: Even after a nearly two-decade hiatus, there’s still a sense of beenthere-done-that. The series is a victim of its own success. It became so ingrained in the culture and so influential on popular filmmaking that it can’t possibly feel as fresh. (I suspect this is why Raiders has lost some of its zing with time, as well.) But there’s also the gimmickry of the plot, which depends too heavily on verbal riddles, as though this were Da Vinci Code 2: Peruvian Posers. The details here are simply pointless plot hinges, and the actors don’t really seem any more interested than we are. This is in contrast to the brilliantly clever shtick in Raiders – the betraying monkey, the burnt image on Toht’s hand, all the little explanatory devices that made us go, “Whoa! Cool!” ... things that we might have been able to figure out ourselves. Instead we get a lot of archaeological/mystical mumbo jumbo, whose significance is suddenly revealed by Indy’s exclaiming, “Aha! This must refer to the burial fetishes of the ancient Biftec Indians and their development of veeblefetzer runes!” (Or something like that.) Like: Huh? And: Who cares? There’s not much one can do about the problems with extending a series (though every 15 years or so, the Bond producers seem to figure out a way to energize things). But the plot-device problem is simply a matter of the quality of the shtick the filmmakers come up with – and, after the early sequences, it feels uninspired. ✶ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by David Koepp; story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson; based on characters created by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. With Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, and Igor Jijikine. Citywide.

Digital Asia One of the greatest Hong Kong films arrives on DVD, and a recent Bollywood dazzler makes it to Blu-ray ~ BY ANDY KLEIN ~

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ONG KONG ACTION fans can check another long-awaited DVD release off their “Why isn’t this out?” lists: This week, Dragon Dynasty will release King Hu’s 1966 Come Drink with Me, starring the great Cheng Pei-Pei, who decades later found her broadest audience as the villainous Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). In Hu’s breakthrough hit, the 19-yearold Cheng plays Golden Swallow, a female martial artist, who works together with a drunken, retired swordsman (Yueh Hua) to free her brother from kidnappers. The movie has that joyous, inescapable sense of a cinema artist discovering his true voice in one blinding flash of energy. Even after his career went into eclipse in the ’80s, Hu remained the greatest influence on the generation of “New Wave” Hong Kong filmmakers who became popular in America. (The notable exception is John Woo, who cites Chang Cheh as his mentor.) DVD When Celestial Films started rolling out the massive Shaw Bros. catalog on DVD in 2002, Come Drink with Me was unsurprisingly their first release. For me (and at least a half-dozen friends), this Region 3 Hong Kong disc was the final impetus for buying a region-free player. Dragon Dynasty, having bought the American video rights, didn’t include it in their first batch, but now it’s arrived in a terrific edition. Unlike the HK transfer, the image on the new release is properly presented “enhanced for widescreen TVs,” so, on newer sets, it fills the entire width of the screen, where the earlier version showed it shrunken in the middle of the screen, with thick black bands on all four sides. (On old-style standard TVs, both discs display the same way.) And it seems to preserve a tiny bit more of the originally intended widescreen image on the sides, perhaps 5-10%. The extras include interviews with Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China) (14 minutes), Cheng Pei-Pei (16 minutes), and Yueh Hua (17 minutes), as well as A Classic Remembered: A Retrospective with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan (18 minutes). Most of these sound like repackagings of many of the extras on the Celestial, but in fact all are from brand new interviews and in English, where their equivalents on the older disc were primarily in Chinese, with English subtitles.

More importantly, there is a new commentary track from Logan and Cheng. The commentary on the older release was a technical disaster; Logan and Cheng were joined by the latter’s daughter, the talented American-born actress Eugenia Yuan (Charlotte Sometimes). Unfortunately, Yuan must have been the closest to the mike and her mother the farthest, because every time she giggled, she totally drowned out Cheng and Logan. This time around, Cheng and Logan are properly balanced; they repeat much of the same info, but (obviously) more audibly, including, once again, a refutation of the rumor that the 12-year-old Jackie Chan appears in the film’s chorus of children. Come Drink with Me is so visually striking that I wish it had received a high-definition Blu-ray release as well, but we’ll have to wait with fingers crossed for that one. In the meanwhile, Sony has issued one of the first Bollywood Blu-rays – last year’s spectacular Saawariya from director Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Devdas). EYE I have my problems with Saawariya’s story – adapted from Tolstoy, no less – but the neon/candy production design and cinematography are dazzling, among the most gorgeous I’ve yet seen in hi-def ... Moulin Rouge times two. Ranbir Kapoor, from the latest generation of one of the leading Bollywood families, makes a simply terrific debut, with instant star quality. The extras are trivial: These two 20minute shorts – one about the music, the other about the big premiere – actually include a lot of the same footage. ✶

MUST READ

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Come Drink with Me. Directed by King Hu. Written by King Hu and Yang Erh. With Cheng Pei-Pei, Yueh Hua, and Chen Hung Lieh. Genius/Weinstein/Dragon Dynasty, $19.99. Saawariya. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Written by Prakash Kapadia & Sanjay Leela Bhansali; based on the story White Nights by Leo Tolstoy. Original music by Monty Sharma. With Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Zohra Sehgal, and Salman Khan. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD, $26.96; Blu-Ray Disc, $38.96.

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LATEST REVIEWS THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI In 1937, amid the chaos of Japan’s invasion and occupation of China, English journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) helps orchestrate an exodus of young, male orphans to save them from inevitable conscription and certain death. Arguably veteran director Roger Spot-

tiswoode’s most accomplished film to date, this old-fashioned wartime melodrama is very much intended to feel like a throwback – the kind of earnest, unabashedly humanistic heart-thumper for which filmmakers like Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were rightly renowned. Rhys Meyers and costars Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, and Michelle Yeoh all do excellent work, but the real stars are the film’s boys, scrappy urchins who – ably aided by David Hirschfelder’s evocative score and Xiaoding Zhao’s sterling photography – evolve into heroes before our very eyes.

For some the film will inevitably feel like too much of a throwback, old-fashioned in ways that seem more dusty and dated than charming and nostalgic. There’s also the rather obvious and unfortunate influence of the Chinese government (an apparent precondition to shooting in China) in soft-pedaling the politics and unfairly demonizing Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalists. But Spottiswoode’s passion for the project, which consumed close to ten years of his life, erases whatever rough edges might otherwise have seemed cloying, contrived, or unduly manipulative. In this

“One of those rare films where one listens carefully to the dialogue as one laughs,

weeps.” GORE VIDAL. “Riddled with hilariously executed absurdities. Totally fresh.” LIZA RICHARDSON/KCRW. “Great! Reminds me of Dr. Strangelove.” BILL MAHER. “Surprising, shocking and one to keep you mulling for hours....” VICKY WARD/VANITY FAIR.

“A movie about the comedy and of greed.” SARAH SILVERMAN. “Love

horror it!!! The world’s a fucked-up place, you have to laugh or else you’ll cry.” DAMIEN HIRST. “A movie with guts, content, laughs and heart.” TIM ROBBINS. “A pyrotechnic genre-buster that will diddle your synapses.” DIABLO CODY. “A rare satire with the danger left in.... Can these guys

case, they really don’t make ’em like this any more – and more’s the pity. (Wade Major) (Landmark West Los Angeles, Laemmle’s Town Center 5, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7)

THE COOL SCHOOL In the late 1950s, as the postwar rise of Abstract Expressionism became the new wave of painting in the United States, a small but determined band of California artists, curators, and collectors exercised impulse over calculation and, in the process, created their own scene. Eschewing the trickle-down influence of the New York City set, and battling an apathetic public and the L.A. Board of Supervisors – who derailed citywide arts fairs using communist infiltration as an excuse, at one point claiming a painting of a sailboat nefariously concealed a hammer and sickle – these headstrong Left-Coasters brought a new and vigorously American slant to contemporary painting, as this lively documentary details. Director Morgan Neville, who has to his name a smattering of excellent serial biography small screen credits, imbues The Cool School with a style at once engaging and unpretentious. Using Walter Hopps, co-owner of the influential Ferus Gallery, as its nexus, the film shows how art of the time came to be informed by the laid-back, anything-goes culture of the Southland and particularly Venice Beach. Similar in perspective to Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants, which documented the origins and rise of skate and sur f culture, respectively, The Cool School is a fascinating stor y of outsiders cracking the mainstream. Jeff Bridges narrates, and interviewees include critic Peter Plagens, dozens of artists, and scenester benefactors Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell. (Brent Simon) (Laemmle’s Grande 4)

HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD The members of Acrassicouda – Latin for Black Scorpion – have had a slightly rougher ride than most metal bands. As this engaging documentary shows, these young Iraqi men hoped to succeed as a recording and touring group, despite societal pressures and hardships under Saddam ... and still after the U.S. toppled him. Get this, dudes: You can’t wear T-shirts of your favorite Western bands in Baghdad these days – that shit will get you shot in the streets. Heck, your band’s practice space might even get leveled by a mortar round. (Theirs did.) Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi’s film was inspired by an article that appeared in a 2003 issue of Alvi’s magazine, Vice, and the duo managed to get around the streets during some pretty hairy moments ... with the help of a cadre of guides and guards. (Still, you have to commend the filmmakers for repeatedly placing their lives on the line to simply chat with a bunch of decent, if struggling, guys.) Filming took place over the last three years in Baghdad and, later, Damascus, and the tension and danger out-

really get away with this?” NAOMI KLEIN.

MILLENNIUM FILMS PRESENTS A NEWMUSICRIME PRODUCTIONCOSTUMEJOHN CUSACK “WAR, INC.” HILARY DUFF MARISA TOMEI JOAN CUSACK AND BEN KINGSLEY CASTING EDITED C PRODUCTION BY VICTORIA THOMAS BY DAVID ROBBINS DESIGNER VICKI GRAEF BY MICHAEL BERENBAUM, A.C.E. DESIGNER MILJEN “KREKA” KLJAKOVIC DIRECTOR OF PRODUCED PRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHY ZORAN POPOVIC BY LES WELDON DANNY LERNER CO-PRODUCER DOUG DEARTH CO-PRODUCER KATSU J.J.YOSHIDA BY JOHN CUSACK GRACE LOH EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS AVI LERNER BOAZ DAVIDSON DANNY DIMBORT TREVOR SHORT DIRECTED WRITTEN BY JOSHUA SEFTEL BY MARK LEYNER & JEREMY PIKSER & JOHN CUSACK

“AN

John Powers, VOGUE

VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE AND BRIEF SEXUAL MATERIAL

THE PRIDE OF FRENCH INTELLIGENCE

OSS

©2007 BH&WFILMS, INC. ART & DESIGN ©2008 FIRST LOOK STUDIOS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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INSPIRED PIECE OF SILLINESS.”

L WEST LOS ANGELES The LANDMARK at W. Pico & Westwood (310) 281-8233 Free Parking. www.landmarktheatres.com Daily: 12:35 • 3:00 • 5:25 • 7:50 • 10:15 Thurs.: 12:35 • 3:00 • 10:15

MAY 22~28, 2008

OLD PASADENA Laemmle’s One Colorado (626) 744-1224 Daily: 1:50 • 5:00 • 7:30 • 9:55

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side the Green Zone are ever-present. But it’s Acrassicouda themselves who provide the clarity in the chaos: Alternately hopeful, despairing, frustrated, and exhausted, their faces palpably show the terrible uncertainty of living in wartime, haunted by the memories of a country that they currently fail to recognize. (Joshua Sindell) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5)

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL See Film feature. (Citywide)

POSTAL When one of the less offensive moments in a comedy features Verne Troyer getting gang-banged by a hundred transvestite chimpanzees, you know you’re in for, well, something. German cinemantagonist Uwe Boll – a director more proud of his detractors than his fans – knows that most of America regards him with disgust or apathy. The firstperson-shooter videogame that inspired his latest movie gives him the chance to return the favor; surprisingly, the obese trailer park wife (Jodie Stewart), the use of a cat as a silencer, and the decadent religious cult headed by Dave Foley and a cast of bimbos aren’t his invention. (The flourish of casting himself as a pedophile Nazi filmmaker is all his own.) Into this murky land of murderous cops, dolls shaped like testicles, and Osama bin Laden (Larry Thomas) plotting jihad from a secret lair in a mini-mart, wades Dude (Zack Ward), a loser in search of his inner Rambo. Twice as violent and half as funny as anything resembling a good movie, it’s still a hell of a ride as it coasts on the universal appeal of booing George Bush (Brent Mendenhall) and relishing the naughty catharsis of schoolchildren getting mowed down by machine gun fire. (Amy Nicholson) (Laemmle’s Monica 4, Culver Plaza)

SANGRE DE MI SANGRE With Under the Same Moon still on L.A. screens, another illegal immigrant story arrives with a similar setup but decidedly different tone. His mother dead, 17-year-old Pedro (Jorge Adrian Espindola) sneaks across the Mexican border to reunite with his father, who’s lived in Brooklyn for two decades. Along the way, he meets Juan (Armando Hernandez), a smooth talker to whom the naive teenager reveals his connection in the city and the sealed letter from his mother that will serve as his introduction. When they arrive at their destination, Pedro awakens to find his belongings – including the missive – missing. Posing as Pedro, Juan tracks down Diego (Jesus Ochoa), who turns out to be a dishwasher – not the French restaurateur Pedro believes him to be. In stark contrast to Moon’s sentimentality, first-time director Christopher Zalla goes for gritty realism. None of the characters in this 2007 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner are wholly angelic or villainous: Pedro’s innocence is compromised by his desperate bid for survival on the streets, and Juan’s ill intentions are offset by his charm. Diego, too, harbors bitterness beneath a cantankerous, hard-working exterior. Deeply felt performances are rendered all the more real by documentary-like handheld camera and natural lighting. (Annlee Ellingson) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7)

SURFWISE The nine children cranked out by surfing legend Dorian Paskowitz and his Mexican-American wife, Juliette, had an upbringing any kid would envy. The eight boys and one girl never set foot in pub-

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“THIS IS THE ‘INDIANA JONES’ FILM PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.” Kenneth Turan

“A SLEEK SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER. A NONSTOP THRILL RIDE ADVENTURE. Wow! ‘The Crystal Skull’ Delivers!” Richard Corliss

“#### 1/2

SENSATIONAL, AWE-INSPIRING SPECTACLES. ‘Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull’, Say It Aloud And It Causes Your Pulse To Quicken!” Roger Ebert

Claudia Puig

N O W P L AY I N G A T T H E AT R E S E V E RY W H E R E

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lic school, instead spending their entire childhood driving around North America in a camper with their parents, surfing, playing, and eating fish they caught themselves. It sounds idyllic, but in crafting this engrossing documentary, director Doug Pray slowly turns the narrative around to reveal how Dorian’s passively dictatorial fathering methods begat nine troubled adults. The family’s 24-foot camper was so cramped the kids couldn’t escape the sound of their parents having sex nor the bodily odors that prompted Juliette’s reminders to “wash your asshole.” Dorian – a Stanford-educated doctor and proud Jew, who went off the grid in the ’60s to pursue sex and surfing – is a wise and cantankerous fellow, who proudly flaunted his lack of money to his children. But his mantra of “eat clean, live clean, surf clean,” while shiny and happy, was ultimately a poor parenting guide. Although the film includes the estranged family gathering for a rather contrived reunion, Prey’s documentary is a gem, the story of a hippie tyrant who lived a fascinating life of fullbodied idealism and, as a result, ruined his family. (Mark Keizer) (Nuart)

TUYA’S MARRIAGE You may think you have it tough when your latte gets cold while you’re stuck in traffic on the 405, but if you compare

your travails to those of the heroine in director Wang Quan An’s utterly compelling drama, set in the desert wilderness of Inner Mongolia, you’ll realize you have nothing to worry about. The beautiful Tuya (Yu Nan) tends her flock of sheep while also taking care of her invalid husband and two kids. When her back forces her to give up shepherding, she is no longer able to support her clan. So she pragmatically does what she has to do: With her husband’s permission, she gets a divorce and coolly sets about trying to find a new hubby. Tuya inter views several loathsome candidates over ceremonial cups of milk tea – but most are understandably taken aback by her insistence that her new mate will also have to take care of her first husband. It takes a while to get used to the almost impenetrable canvas of the film’s near-otherworldly Mongolian customs and sensibility, but the intensity of the emotions underlying the occasionally bizarre (to a Westerner, anyway) situations are moving and universal. Yu’s performance as the headstrong, yet desperate Mongolian housewife is unusually powerful and subtle. Yet, the real star of the film is the unbearable expanse of the bleak Mongolian landscape, which is both beloved home and tormentor to the suffering characters. (Paul Birchall) (Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, Laemmle’s One Colorado)

WAR, INC. See cover stor y. (Landmark West Los Angeles)

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK Maiko Haaaan!!! Nobuo Mizuta directed this wacky comedy about a Japanese office worker (Sadawo Abe), who believes he is destined to fall in love with a “Maiko” – that is, an apprentice Geisha. Shinichi Tsutsumi and Kou Shibasaki costar. (AK) (ImaginAsian Theatre, 251 S. Main St., downtown L.A., 213-617-1033. Theimaginasian.com/la) Refusenik. Laura Bialis directed this documentary about the 30-year international movement to free Soviet Jews, as told through the eyes of activists on both sides of the Iron Curtain – many of whom survived life in the Soviet Gulag. Interviewees include Natan Sharansky and L.A. Country Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. (AK) (Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, Laemmle’s Town Center 5)

SHOWTIMES May 23-29 Note: Times are p.m., and daily, unless otherwise indicated. All times are subject to c hange without notice.

BURBANK AMC Burbank 16, 140 E Palm Av, (818) 953-

9800. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 11:25 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30, midnight; Mon 11:25 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 9:30 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:55, 1:35, 2:55, 4:20, 5, 6:20, 7:50, 8:25, 9:50, 11:10, 11:50; Mon 9:30 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:55, 1:35, 2:55, 4:20, 5, 6:20, 7:50, 8:25, 9:50, 11:10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 12:35, 3:10, 5:50, 8:30, 11:15; Mon 10 a.m., 12:35, 3:10, 5:50, 8:30. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Mon 9:55 a.m., 12:20, 3, 5:25, 8, 10:35. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sat 9:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45, 4:45, 5:45, 6:45, 7:45, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 11:45, 12:40 a.m.; Sun 9:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45, 4:45, 5:45, 6:45, 7:45, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 11:45; Mon 9:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45, 4:45, 5:45, 6:45, 7:45, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45. Iron Man Fri-Sun 10:40 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:40, 2:25, 4:50, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11, 11:40; Mon 10:40 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:40, 2:25, 4:50, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11. Made of Honor Fri-Sun 11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:45, 12:10 a.m.; Mon 11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:45. Sex and the City Thur only, 12:01 a.m. Speed Racer Fri-Mon 9:50 a.m., 1, 4:15, 7:30, 10:40. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 12:50, 3:30, 6:05, 8:40, 11:20; Mon 12:50, 3:30, 6:05, 8:40. AMC Burbank Town Center 8, 210 E Magnolia Bl, (818) 953-9800. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15. AMC Burbank Town Center 6, 770 N First St, (818) 953-9800. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Mon 12:10, 3:35, 7, 10:25. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Mon 11:20 a.m., 2, 4:55, 7:45, 10:40. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 2:15, 3:15, 5:15, 6:15, 8:15, 9:15, 11:15; Mon 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 2:15, 3:15, 5:15, 6:15, 8:15, 9:15, 11:05. Iron Man Fri-Mon 12:35, 3:40, 6:45, 9:50. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Mon noon, 2:30, 5:10, 7:40, 10:20.

CULVER CITY, MARINA DEL REY The Bridge: Cinema De Lux & IMAX Theater, The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, 6081 Center Dr, Westchester, (310) 568-3375. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45, 12:15 a.m.; Mon-Thur 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 10:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:15, 1:45, 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, 6:15, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 9:30, 10, 11, 11:30, 12:30 a.m.; Mon 10:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:15, 1:45, 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, 6:15, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 9:30, 10; TueThur 11:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:15, 1:45, 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, 6:15, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 9:30, 10. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Sun 12:15 a.m. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:50, 1:20, 2:20, 2:50, 3:40, 4:10, 5:10, 5:40, 6:30, 7, 8, 8:30, 9:20, 9:50, 10:50, 11:20, 12:10 a.m., 12:30 a.m.; Mon 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:50, 1:20, 2:20, 2:50, 3:40, 4:10, 5:10, 5:40, 6:30, 7, 8, 8:30, 9:20, 9:50, 10:50; Tue-Thur noon, 12:50, 1:20, 2:20, 2:50, 3:40, 4:10, 5:10, 5:40, 6:30, 7, 8, 8:30, 9:20, 9:50, 10:50. Iron Man Fri-Sun 11:25 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:20, 3:15, 5:15, 6:15, 8:10, 9:05, 10:35, 11, 11:55; Mon 11:25 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:20, 3:15, 5:15, 6:15, 8:10, 9:05, 10:35; TueThur 11:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:20, 3:15, 5:15, 6:15, 8:10, 9:05, 10:35. Sesame Street: Dinosaurs Sat-Sun 10 a.m.. Speed Racer 12:15, 3:15, 6:15, 9:15. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10, 12:30 a.m.; Mon-Thur 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10. Culver Plaza Theatre, 9919 Washington Blvd, (310) 836-5516. Call theater for titles and showtimes. Loews Cineplex Marina Marketplace, 13455 Maxella Av, (310) 827-9588. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 2, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05; Sat-Mon 11:15 a.m., 2, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05; Tue-Thur 1:30, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20. Iron Man Fri 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10, 10:35; Sat-Sun 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10, 10:35; Mon 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10; TueThur 1:45, 2:30, 4:45, 5:30, 7:45, 8:30, 9:50. Made of Honor Fri 1:25, 4:15, 7:20, 10:15; SatSun 11:05 a.m., 1:25, 4:15, 7:20, 10:15; Mon 11:05 a.m., 1:25, 4:15, 7:20, 9:50; Tue-Thur 1:25, 4:15, 7:05, 9:25. Speed Racer 1, 4, 7.

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What Happens in Vegas Fri 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10; Sat-Sun 11 a.m., 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10; Mon 11 a.m., 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 9:45; Tue-Thur 1:15, 4:25, 7:15, 9:35. Pacific Culver Stadium 12, 9500 Culver Bl, (310) 855-7519. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Mon 10:15 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:35, 2:35, 4:15, 4:55, 5:45, 7:30, 8:15, 9, 10:40; Tue-Thur 11:45 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 3:05, 4:10, 5:10, 7:05, 7:50, 8:35, 10:15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Mon 10:40 a.m., 1:20, 4:35, 7:20, 10:10; Tue-Thur 1:25, 4:05, 7:20, 10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Mon 10 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:45, 2:20, 4, 4:45, 5:20, 7, 7:45, 8:20, 10:05, 10:45, 11:10; Tue-Thur 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:20, 3:20, 4:20, 5:20, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 10:10. Iron Man Fri-Mon 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:30, 2:30, 4:25, 5:25, 7:25, 8:25, 10:20, 11:15; TueThur 11:50 a.m., 12:50, 2:45, 4, 5:40, 7:10, 8:40, 10:05. Speed Racer Fri-Mon 10:30 a.m., 1:40, 4:40, 7:55, 10:55; Tue-Thur 1, 4:15, 7:25, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Mon 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 7:10, 9:35; Tue-Thur 12:05, 2:35, 5, 7:30, 9:55. UA Marina, 4335 Glencoe Av, (310) 823-1721. Baby Mama Fri-Mon 9:40 a.m., noon, 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:20; Tue-Thur 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Mon 9:20 a.m., 9:50 a.m., 12:30, 1, 3:40, 4:10, 7, 7:30, 10:10, 10:40; Tue-Thur noon, 12:30, 3:10, 3:40, 6:30, 7, 9:50, 10:20. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Mon 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:10, 12:50, 1:20, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 10, 10:30, 11; Tue-Thur 12:10, 12:50, 1:20, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:40, 10:10, 10:40.

DOWNTOWN & SOUTH L.A. Laemmle’s Grande 4-Plex, 345 S Figueroa St, (213) 617-0268. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 5, 8:10; Sat-Mon 1:30, 5, 8:10; TueThur 5, 8:10. The Cool School Fri 5:30, 7:40, 10; Sat-Mon 1, 3:15, 5:30, 7:40, 10; Tue-Thur 5:30, 7:40. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri 4:10, 7, 9:50; Sat-Mon 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50; Tue-Thur 5:10, 8. Iron Man Fri 4, 10; Sat-Mon 1:10, 4, 7:10, 10; Tue-Thur 5:20, 8:20. Magic Johnson Theaters, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 4020 Marlton Av, (323) 290-5900. Baby Mama Fri-Mon 9:55 a.m., 12:10, 2:25, 4:45, 7:05, 9:30; Tue-Wed 4:45, 7:05, 9:30; Thur 12:10, 2:25, 4:45, 7:05, 9:30. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 9:50 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10, 10:50; Mon 9:50 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10; Tue-Wed 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10; Thur 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-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, 10:30, 11; Mon 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; TueWed 2, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:30; Thur 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:30. Iron Man Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1, 1:40, 2:20, 4, 4:40, 5:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10, 10:40; Mon 10 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1, 1:40, 2:20, 4, 4:40, 5:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10; Tue-Wed 4, 4:40, 5:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10; Thur 1, 1:40, 2:20, 4, 4:40, 5:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10. Prom Night Fri-Mon 10:25 a.m., 12:55, 3:25, 5:45, 8:10, 10:45; Tue-Thur 5:45, 8:10, 10:45. Speed Racer Fri-Sun 9:45 a.m., 12:25, 1:05, 3:30, 4:10, 6:50, 7:20, 9:55, 10:35; Mon 9:45 a.m., 12:25, 1:05, 3:30, 4:10, 6:50, 7:20, 9:55; TueWed 4:10, 6:50, 7:20, 9:55; Thur 1:05, 3:30, 4:10, 6:50, 7:20, 9:55. Street Kings Fri-Mon 11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:35, 7:10, 10:05; Tue-Wed 4:35, 7:10, 10:05; Thur 1:50, 4:35, 7:10, 10:05. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Mon 11:50 a.m., 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:25; Tue-Wed 5:10, 7:50, 10:25; Thur noon, 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:25. University Village 3, 3323 S Hoover St, (213) 7486321. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sat noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30, 12:30 a.m.; SunThur noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sat 11 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20, 12:45 a.m.; Sun-Thur 11 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20. Iron Man Fri-Sat 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50, 12:30 a.m.; Sun-Thur 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50.

HOLLYWOOD ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Bl, (323) 464-4226. The Fall 11:20 a.m., 2:20, 5:10, 8, 10:45. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Mon 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50; Tue-Thur 11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50.

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速

INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING OF

A FILM BY DENNIS DUGAN "YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN" JOHN TURTURRO COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITY MEDIA A HAPPY MADISON PRODUCTION NICK SWARDSON LAINIE KAZAN EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI AND ROB SCHNEIDER MUSIC SUPERVISIONBY MICHAEL DILBECK BROOKS ARTHUR MUSICBY RUPERT GREGSON-WILLIAMS EXECUTIVE WRITTEN PRODUCED DIRECTED PRODUCERS BARRY BERNARDI ROBERT SMIGEL BY ADAM SANDLER & ROBERT SMIGEL & JUDD APATOW BY ADAM SANDLER JACK GIARRAPUTO BY DENNIS DUGAN

2008 MTV MOVIE AWARDS SNEAK PEEK WEEK RSVP now at www.mtvsneakpeekweek.com to get tickets to an advance screening of No purchase necessar y. Limit one pass per person, while supplies last. Passes available on a first-come, first-served basis. Participating sponsors and t heir agencies are not eligible. No phone calls please.

IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE FRIDAY, JUNE 6

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 10:01 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 10:36 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 11:46 a.m., 1:10, 1:11, 1:25, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 2:45, 2:46, 4:10, 4:11, 4:25, 4:45, 4:46, 5:20, 5:55, 5:56, 7:20, 7:21, 7:35, 7:55, 7:56, 8:30, 9, 9:01, 10:15, 10:30, 10:31, 11:05, 11:06, 11:40, 12:05 a.m., 12:06 a.m.; Mon 10 a.m., 10:01 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 10:36 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 11:46 a.m., 1:10, 1:11, 1:25, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 2:45, 2:46, 4:10, 4:11, 4:25, 4:45, 4:46, 5:20, 5:55, 5:56, 7:20, 7:21, 7:35, 7:55, 7:56, 8:30, 9, 9:01, 10:15, 10:30, 10:31, 11:05, 11:06, 11:40; Tue-Thur 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30, 1:10, 1:45, 2:10, 2:45, 3:30, 4:10, 4:45, 5:20, 5:55, 7, 7:20, 7:55, 8:30, 9, 9:40, 10:20, 10:55, 11:30. Iron Man Fri-Mon 10:10 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 1, 1:50, 2:30, 4, 4:40, 5:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:15, 10, 10:40, 11:15; Tue-Thur 11:10 a.m., noon, 1:30, 2:30, 4, 4:40, 5:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:15, 10, 10:40, 11:15. Son of Rambow Fri-Mon 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:40, 7:30, 10:10; Tue-Thur 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7:30, 10:10. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Mon 11:25 a.m., 2:35, 5:05, 7:45, 10:35; Tue-Thur 11:35 a.m., 2:35, 5:05, 7:45, 10:35. Grauman’s Chinese, 6925 Hollywood Bl, (323) 464-8111. Speed Racer 12:30, 3:50, 7, 10:20. Los Feliz 3, 1822 N Vermont Av, (323) 664-

2169. The Fall 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 4:30, 9:30. Iron Man 2:45, 5:30, 8:30. Young at Heart 2, 7. Mann Chinese 6, 6801 Hollywood Bl, (323) 4613331. Baby Mama 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:30. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sat 4:10, 10:10; MonThur 4:10, 10:10. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 4:50, 7:30, 10. How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer Fri-Sat 1:10, 7:10; Mon-Thur 1:10, 7:10. Made of Honor 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7:20, 9:50. Speed Racer 11:40 a.m., 2:50, 6, 9:20. Pacific’s El Capitan, 6838 Hollywood Bl, (323) 467-7674. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 10 a.m., 1:20, 4:40, 7:55, 11:15. Pacific’s The Grove Stadium 14, 189 The Grove Dr, Third St & Fairfax Av, (323) 692-0829. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 9:25 a.m., 9:40 a.m., 10:25 a.m., 12:35, 12:55, 1:40, 3:50, 4:20, 4:55, 7:10, 7:45, 8:10, 10:25, 11:05, 11:25. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Mon 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:50, 10:45; Tue-Wed 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 10:45; Thur 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:50, 10:45. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4, 4:30, 5:05, 5:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30, 12:25 a.m.; Mon-Tue 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4, 4:30, 5:05, 5:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Wed 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4, 4:15, 5:05, 5:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Thur 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4, 4:30, 5:05, 5:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30. Iron Man Fri-Wed 10:15 a.m., 11:05 a.m., 1:10, 2:05, 4:10, 5, 7:20, 7:55, 8:20, 10:20, 10:55, 11:15; Thur 11:05 a.m., 2:05, 5, 7:55, 10:55. Made of Honor 10:10 a.m., 1:05, 4:05, 7:15, 10:05. Speed Racer Fri-Tue 9:45 a.m., 12:50, 3:55, 7:05, 10:10; Wed 9:45 a.m., 12:50, 3:55, 10:40; Thur 9:45 a.m., 12:50, 3:55, 10:10. What Happens in Vegas 10:45 a.m., 1:45, 4:40, 7:40, 10:15. Regent Showcase, 614 N La Brea Av, (323) 934-2944. Up the Yangtze Fri 7:30, 9:30; Sat-Mon 5:30, 7:30, 9:30; Tue-Thur 7:30, 9:30. Vine, 6321 Hollywood Bl, (323) 463-6819. Call theater for titles and showtimes. Vista, 4473 Sunset, (323) 660-6639. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Sat-Mon 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Tue-Thur 3:45, 6:45, 9:45.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY

BASED ON A TRUE STORY FROM CHINA, AT THE TIME OF THE SECOND LONG MARCH

JONATHAN RADHA CHOW RHYS MEYERS MITCHELL YUN FAT

AND

MICHELLE YEOH

“A FILM EVERYONE SHOULD SEE. A REMARKABLE, SWEEPING, DEEPLY-ABSORBING EPIC. A TRUE STORY OF INCREDIBLE COURAGE.” -Jeffrey Lyons, NBC/REELTALK

“A FEEL-GOOD TREAT!” -Karen Durbin, ELLE MAGAZINE

THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI DIRECTED BY ROGER SPOTTISWOODE

Century 8, 12827 Victory Bl, (818) 508-6004. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 10:45 a.m., 12:30, 2, 3:45, 5:15, 7, 8:40, 10:15. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6, 7:30, 9, 10:30. Iron Man 10:25 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 1:25, 2:55, 4:25, 5:55, 7:25, 8:55, 10:25.Speed Racer 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas 11:30 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55. Loews CityWalk Stadium 19 with IMAX, 100 Universal City Dr at Universal CityWalk, (818) 5080588; IMAX Theater (818) 760-8100. Baby Mama Fri-Mon 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:50, 10:40; Wed-Thur 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:50, 10:40. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:35, 2:50, 3:30, 4:05, 4:50, 6:10, 6:45, 7:15, 8:15, 9:25, 10:10, 10:45, 11:30, 12:35 a.m.; Mon 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:35, 2:50, 3:30, 4:05, 4:50, 6:10, 6:45, 7:15, 8:15, 9:25, 10:10, 10:45; Tue-Wed 12:15, 12:45, 1:35, 2:50, 3:30, 4:05, 4:50, 6:10, 6:45, 7:15, 8:15, 9:25, 10:10, 10:45; Thur 12:15, 12:45, 1:35, 2:50, 3:30, 4:05, 4:50, 6:10, 6:45, 7:15, 8:15, 9:25, 10:10. The Forbidden Kingdom 12:25, 3:20, 6:10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Mon 10:35 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 9:55; Tue-Thur 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 9:55. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Sun 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 8:10, 11:10; Mon 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 8:10, 10:50; Tue-Thur 1:50, 4:30, 8:10, 10:50. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3:15, 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:45, 9:15, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:40, 12:15 a.m.; Mon 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3:15, 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:45, 9:15, 10, 10:30, 11; Tue-Thur 12:15, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3:15, 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:45, 9:15, 10, 10:30, 11. Iron Man Fri-Sun 10:40 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 12:30, 1:45, 2:20, 3:40, 4:40, 5:20, 6:30, 7:45, 8:25, 9:30, 10:55, 11:20, 12:25 a.m.; Mon 10:40 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 12:30, 1:45, 2:20, 3:40, 4:40, 5:20, 6:30, 7:45, 8:25, 9:30, 10:55; Tue-Thur 12:30, 1:45, 2:20, 3:40, 4:40, 5:20, 6:30, 7:45, 8:25, 9:30, 10:55. Sex and the City Thur only, 12:01 a.m. Speed Racer Fri-Mon 11:50 a.m., 3, 6, 9; TueThur 3, 6, 9. Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience IMAX 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 6:50, 9:40, 12:20 a.m.; Mon 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 6:50, 9:40; Tue-Thur 1:40, 4:15, 6:50, 9:40.

NORTHRIDGE, CHATSWORTH, GRANADA HILLS

WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM

STARTS FRIDAY, MAY 23RD! L WEST LOS ANGELES The LANDMARK at W. Pico & Westwood (310) 281-8233 Free Parking. www.landmarktheatres.com Daily: 11:00 • 1:50 • 4:45 • 7:35 • 10:25

G ENCINO F ALHAMBRA Edwards Atlantic Palace 10 Laemmle’s Town Center 5 (818) 981-9811 L PASADENA (800) FANDANGO #115 F COSTA MESA Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 Cinemas Regency South Coast Village (626) 844-6500 Tickets available @ laemmle.com (714) 557-5701 SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT

F

G

L

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.THECHILDRENOFHUANGSHI.COM

Mann Granada Hills, Devonshire St & Balboa Av, (818) 363-3679. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 11:20 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:40, 3:10, 3:40, 6, 6:40, 7, 9:10, 9:50, 10:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:20. Iron Man 10:40 a.m., 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 10:30. Speed Racer 12:40, 3:50, 6:50, 10. What Happens in Vegas 11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40.

CITYBEAT

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22

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Pacific’s Northridge Fashion Center All Stadium 10, 9400 N Shirley Av, (818) 501-5121. Baby Mama Fri 2:20, 4:55, 7:25, 10; Sat-Sun 11:30 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:25, 10; Mon 11:30 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:30, 10; Tue-Thur 1:35, 4:55, 7:30, 10. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun noon, 1, 3:25, 4:20, 7, 8:05, 10:15; Mon noon, 1, 3:25, 4:20, 7, 8:05, 10:05; Tue-Thur 12:40, 1:05, 3:45, 4:20, 7, 8:05, 10:05. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 1:25, 4:10, 7:05, 9:45; Sat-Mon 10:50 a.m., 1:25, 4:10, 7:05, 9:45; Tue-Thur 1:25, 4:10, 7:05, 9:45. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri 12:30, 1:30, 3:55, 4:35, 7:10, 7:35, 10:10, 10:40; Sat-Sun 10:45 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 3:55, 4:35, 7:10, 7:35, 10:10, 10:40; Mon 10:45 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 3:55, 4:35, 7:10, 7:35, 9:55, 10:25; Tue-Thur 12:30, 1:30, 3:55, 4:35, 7:10, 7:35, 9:55, 10:25. Iron Man Fri-Sun 1:15, 4:15, 7:20, 10:25; MonThur 1:15, 4:15, 7:20, 10:10. Made of Honor Fri 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55; SatSun 11:10 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55; Mon 11:10 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50; Tue-Thur 1:50, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50. Speed Racer Fri-Sun 1:20, 4:25, 7:30, 10:35; MonThur 1:20, 4:25, 7:25, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:30; Sat-Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:30; Mon 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:15; Tue-Thur 2, 5, 7:40, 10:15. Pacific’s Winnetka All Stadium 21, 9201 Winnetka Av, Chatsworth, (818) 501-5121. Baby Mama Fri 1:45, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50; Sat-Mon 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50; Tue-Thur 1:45, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 12:35, 1:15, 1:35, 2, 2:35, 3:55, 4:35, 4:55, 5:30, 6:05, 7:15, 7:55, 8:15, 8:55, 9:30, 10:45, 11:15; Sat-Sun 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:35, 1:15, 1:35, 2, 2:35, 3:55, 4:35, 4:55, 5:30, 6:05, 7:15, 7:55, 8:15, 8:55, 9:30, 10:45, 11:15; Mon 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:35, 1:15, 1:35, 2, 2:35, 3:55, 4:35, 4:55, 5:30, 6:05, 7:15, 7:55, 8:15, 8:55, 9:30, 10:40; Tue-Thur 12:35, 1:15, 1:35, 2, 2:35, 3:55, 4:35, 4:55, 5:30, 6:05, 7:15, 7:55, 8:15, 8:55, 9:30, 10:40. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri 2:30, 5:25, 8:10, 11; Sat-Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 5:25, 8:10, 11; Mon 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 5:25, 8:10; Tue-Thur 2:30, 5:25, 8:10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 2:40, 5:35, 8:20, 11:10; Sat-Sun 11:45 a.m., 2:40, 5:35, 8:20, 11:10; Mon 11:45 a.m., 2:40, 5:35, 8:20; TueThur 2:40, 5:35, 8:20. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri 1:10, 4:25, 7:40, 10:35; Sat-Mon 10:35 a.m., 1:10, 4:25, 7:40, 10:35; Tue-Thur 1:10, 4:25, 7:40, 10:35. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri noon, 1, 1:45, 1:46, 2:15, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 5:20, 5:21, 5:55, 6:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 8:31, 9:15, 9:45, 10:10, 10:55, 11:30, 11:31; Sat-Sun 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 1, 1:45, 1:46, 2:15, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 5:20, 5:21, 5:55, 6:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 8:31, 9:15, 9:45, 10:10, 10:55, 11:30, 11:31; Mon 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 1, 1:45, 1:46, 2:15, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 5:20, 5:21, 5:55, 6:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 8:31, 9:15, 9:45, 10:10, 10:45; Tue-Thur noon, 1, 1:45, 1:46, 2:15, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 5:20, 5:21, 5:55, 6:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 8:31, 9:15, 9:45, 10:10, 10:45. Iron Man Fri 12:15, 1:40, 3:20, 4:45, 6:45, 8, 9:55, 11:05; Sat-Sun 10:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:40, 3:20, 4:45, 6:45, 8, 9:55, 11:05; Mon 10:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:40, 3:20, 4:45, 6:45, 8, 9:55; Tue-Thur 12:15, 1:40, 3:20, 4:45, 6:45, 8, 9:55. Speed Racer Fri 12:30, 1:55, 3:50, 5:15, 7:05, 8:25, 10:25; Sat-Mon 10:40 a.m., 12:30, 1:55, 3:50, 5:15, 7:05, 8:25, 10:25; Tue-Thur 12:30, 1:55, 3:50, 5:15, 7:05, 8:25, 10:25. What Happens in Vegas Fri 12:40, 1:30, 3:15, 4:15, 5:50, 7:25, 8:40, 10:05, 11:20; Sat-Sun 10:50 a.m., 12:40, 1:30, 3:15, 4:15, 5:50, 7:25, 8:40, 10:05, 11:20; Mon 10:50 a.m., 12:40, 1:30, 3:15, 4:15, 5:50, 7:25, 8:40, 10:05; Tue-Thur 12:40, 1:30, 3:15, 4:15, 5:50, 7:25, 8:40, 10:05.

SANTA MONICA AMC Santa Monica 7, 1310 Third Street Promenade, (310) 395-3030. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 11 a.m., 12:05, 1, 2, 3:30, 4:10, 5, 6:40, 7:20, 8:10, 9:50, 10:30, 11:15; Mon 11 a.m., 12:05, 1, 2, 3:30, 4:10, 5, 6:40, 7:20, 8:10, 9:50, 10:30; Tue-Thur 12:30, 1:15, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:10, 6:50, 7:35, 9:20, 10, 10:40. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Mon 11:10 a.m., 2:05, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10; Tue-Thur 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10:45, 12:15 a.m.; Mon 10:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10:45; Tue-Thur 12:15, 1:45, 3:15, 4:45, 6:15, 7:45, 9:15, 10:45. Speed Racer Fri-Mon 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:55, 7:55, 10:55; Tue-Thur 1, 4:05, 7:05, 10:10. Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex, 1332 Second St, (310) 394-9741. Bloodline 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50. Postal 1:40, 4:30, 7:10, 9:40.

MAY 22~28, 2008

Son of Rambow 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 9:55. The Visitor 1:30, 4:20, 7:20, 10. Loews Cineplex Broadway, 1441 Third Street Promenade, (310) 458-1506. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 12:45, 3:10, 5:40, 8, 10:30; Mon 10:15 a.m., 12:45, 3:10, 5:40, 8, 10:20; TueThur 1:15, 3:50, 6:30, 9. The Fall Fri-Mon 2, 7:20; Tue-Thur 1:30, 6:45. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Sun 11:15 a.m., 4:45, 10:15; Mon 11:15 a.m., 4:45, 10:10; Tue-Thur 4:15, 9:30. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:25, 5:25, 7, 8:25, 10, 11:20; Sat-Sun 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:25, 4, 5:25, 7, 8:25, 10, 11:20; Mon 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:25, 4, 5:25, 7, 8:25, 10; TueThur 1, 2:25, 4, 5:25, 7, 8:25, 10. Mann Criterion, 1313 Third Street Promenade, (310) 395-1599. Iron Man Fri-Sun 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:05, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Mon-Thur 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:05, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Made of Honor 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10. What Happens in Vegas 11:10 a.m., 12:10, 1:40, 2:40, 4:15, 5:10, 6:40, 7:40, 9:20, 10:20.

SHERMAN OAKS, ENCINO ArcLight Sherman Oaks, 15301 Ventura Bl, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-0753. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 1:05, 2:25, 3:25, 4:15, 5:35, 7:25, 8:05, 9, 10:35, 11:15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 11:20 a.m., 2, 4:40, 7:20, 10:15. Grease Mon only, 7:30. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri 10:30 a.m., 10:31 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:01, 12:30, 12:31, 1:10, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 3:15, 3:16, 3:45, 3:46, 4:20, 4:50, 4:51, 5:20, 6:30, 6:31, 7, 7:01, 7:30, 8, 8:01, 8:30, 9:40, 9:41, 10:10, 10:11, 10:40, 11:10, 11:11, 11:40; Sat 10:30 a.m., 10:31 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:01, 12:30, 1:10, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 3:15, 3:16, 3:45, 3:46, 4:20, 4:50, 4:51, 5:20, 6:30, 6:31, 7, 7:01, 7:30, 8, 8:01, 8:30, 9:40, 9:41, 10:10, 10:11, 10:40, 11:10, 11:11, 11:40; Sun 10:30 a.m., 10:31 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:01, 12:30, 12:31, 1:10, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 3:15, 3:16, 3:45, 3:46, 4:20, 4:50, 4:51, 5:20, 6:30, 6:31, 7, 7:01, 7:30, 8, 8:01, 8:30, 9:40, 9:41, 10:10, 10:11, 10:40, 11:10, 11:11, 11:40; Mon 10:30 a.m., 10:31 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:01, 12:30, 12:31, 1:10, 1:45, 1:46, 2:10, 3:15, 3:16, 3:45, 3:46, 4:20, 4:50, 4:51, 5:20, 6:40, 7, 7:01, 7:30, 8, 8:01, 8:30, 9:40, 10:10, 10:11, 10:40, 11:10, 11:11, 11:40; Tue-Wed 11 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:10, 1:45, 2:10, 3:15, 3:45, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 9:40, 10:10, 10:40, 11:10; Thur 11 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:10, 1:45, 2:10, 3:15, 3:45, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 9:40, 10:10, 10:40, 11:10, 11:40. Iron Man Fri-Sun 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:35, 4, 5:30, 7:05, 7:45, 8:25, 10, 10:45, 11:20; Mon 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:35, 4, 5:30, 7:05, 8:25, 10, 11:20; Tue 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:35, 4, 5:30, 7:05, 7:45, 8:25, 10, 10:45, 11:20; Wed 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:35, 4, 5:30, 7:05, 8:25, 10, 11:20; Thur 11:30 a.m., 1, 2:35, 4, 5:30, 7:05, 7:45, 8:25, 10, 10:45, 11:20. Sex and the City Thur only, 12:01 a.m. Speed Racer 11:10 a.m., 2:15, 5:25, 8:35, 11:30. What Happens in Vegas 11:45 a.m., 2:20, 4:45, 7:15, 9:50. Laemmle’s Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Bl, Encino, (818) 981-9811. The Children of Huang Shi 1, 4, 7, 9:55. Refusenik 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45. Roman de Gare 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10. Then She Found Me 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40. The Visitor 1:40, 4:30, 7:20, 9:55. Mann Plant 16, 7876 Van Nuys Bl, Panorama City, (818) 779-0323. Baby Mama 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 10:50 a.m., noon, 12:50, 2, 3:20, 4:10, 5:10, 6:30, 7:20, 8:50, 9:40, 10:30. The Forbidden Kingdom 2:40, 7:40. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 12:10, 5:15, 10:20. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 10 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15, 1, 1:45, 2:30, 3:15, 4:05, 4:45, 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 9:15, 10, 10:40. Iron Man 10:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:45, 1:30, 2:50, 3:45, 4:30, 5:50, 6:45, 7:30, 8:50, 9:50, 10:30. Speed Racer 12:40, 1:15, 3:40, 4:15, 6:40, 7:15, 9:40, 10:15. What Happens in Vegas 11:40 a.m., 12:20, 2:10, 2:50, 4:40, 5:20, 7:10, 7:50, 9:50, 10:20. Pacific’s Sherman Oaks 5, 14424 Millbank St, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-5121. Baby Mama 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 1, 4:05, 7:15, 10:20. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

p. 23

SARAH

JESSICA

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STIN DAVISN I R K L L A R T KIM CATMUSICBY AARON ZIGMA NATHAN FILLEY R E K R A P A SXSECIUCTIVE ALAAM REMI RYN BUSBY JO ATRICK KING E J H A R A S E KING .A. MUSIC PRODUCER S D BRENER KATHWRITTECNTAEDNDBY MICHAEL P K C I R T A P L AR DIRE , C.S HAE M BY MCAISCTING BERNARD TUTEIVLESEY EMMERICHBASREDICOHN THEY DARREN STAR L I F A N O I R PRODUCT CHRIS NOTH BY OMAS EPXREOCDUCERS TOBYNELL TV SERIES CREATED B A T S N E R R A FFICE A DANDICE BERGEN AND PDHIROETCOTGORRAPOHFYEJDOONHCNHATRAHCTOEKRSBY CANDACE BUSHie.com O X O B E M O WITH H R HUDSONU&CTCION EMY CONWAY FI BAS FROM THE BO tyMov N O E I T A I C O S E PRODDESIGNER JER D JOHN MEL heCi T F I AS N N I N E S J A T N H E T S I E S A PR D THE CITY” W NBAUM, A.C.E. RREN STAR AN x andt D E M E N I C E R N I E T NEW L A NIXON “SEX AN OR MICHAEL BERE ATRICK KING DA w w.Se H A T E P IT I w D H E L T E CYCONSTUME PATRICIA FIELD ARKER MICHA E H V T P R E N A A IG C I S S DE E D S E S J N PRODUC BY SARAH 30 YI TM

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This film is rated “R”. Children under the age of 17 will not be admitted into the screening unless accompanied by an adult.

1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30. Iron Man 1:15, 4:15, 7:20, 10:15. Made of Honor 1:45, 4:20, 7:10, 10:05.

Catts & Doggs Pet Supplies & Grooming

WEST HOLLYWOOD, BEVERLY HILLS, CENTURY CITY

Not your ordinary Pet Store • • • • •

AMC Century City 15, 10250 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 2772011. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 9:35 a.m., 12:15, 2:35, 5, 7:30, 10:05; Mon 9:35 a.m., 12:15, 2:35, 5, 7:30, 10; Tue-Thur 2, 4:35, 7:20, 9:55. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 9:30 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 12:10, 12:50, 1:25, 2:50, 3:30, 4:10, 4:50, 6:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 9:50, 10:35, 11:10, 11:50; Mon 9:30 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 12:10, 12:50, 1:25, 2:50, 3:30, 4:10, 4:50, 6:20, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 9:40, 10:15, 10:50; Tue 12:15, 12:55, 1:35, 2:55, 3:20, 4:10, 4:50, 6:20, 7:30, 8:10, 9:40, 10:15, 10:40; Wed 12:25, 12:55, 1:35, 2:55, 3:35, 4:10, 4:50, 6:20, 7:05, 7:30, 8:10, 9:40, 10:15, 10:40; Thur 12:15, 12:55, 1:35, 2:55, 3:20, 4:10, 4:50, 6:20, 7:30, 8:10, 9:40, 10:15, 10:40. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 9:35 a.m., 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:55, 10:40; Mon 9:35 a.m., 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:55, 10:35; Tue-Thur 2:20, 5:05, 7:50, 10:35. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Sat 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:55, 5:30, 8:10, 10:50; Sun 9:40 a.m., 12:20, 2:55, 5:30, 8:10, 10:50; Mon 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:55, 5:30, 8:10, 10:40; Tue-Thur 2:35, 5:15, 7:55, 10:30. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 9:45 a.m., 10:25 a.m., 11:05 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:10, 3, 4, 4:40, 5:20, 6:15, 7:05, 7:45, 8:30, 9:30, 10:20, 11, 11:45, 12:30 a.m.; Mon 9:45 a.m., 10:25 a.m., 11:05 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:10, 3, 4, 4:40, 5:20, 6:15, 7:05, 7:45, 8:30, 9:30, 10:05, 10:45; Tue-Thur 12:20, 1, 1:40, 2:30, 3:15, 4, 4:40, 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:40, 8:30, 9:15, 10, 10:40. Iron Man Fri-Sun 9:40 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:40, 1:20, 3:50, 4:35, 7:10, 7:50, 10:15, 10:55, 12:25 a.m.; Mon 9:40 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:40, 1:20, 3:50, 4:35, 7:10, 7:50, 10:15, 10:50; Tue-Wed 12:50, 1:45, 4:05, 4:45, 7:10, 7:45, 10:10, 10:45; Thur 12:50, 1:45, 4:05, 4:45, 7:45, 10:45. Sex and the City Thur only, 12:01 a.m. Speed Racer Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 1, 4:15, 7:25, 10:45; Mon 10 a.m., 1, 4:15, 7:25, 10:30; Tue-Thur 12:40, 3:55, 7:15, 10:25. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 9:55 a.m., 12:25, 3:05, 5:35, 8:15, 11:05; Mon 9:55 a.m., 12:25, 3:05, 5:35, 8:15, 10:45; Tue-Thur 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:20. Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, 9036 Wilshire Bl, (310) 274-6869. Jellyfish Fri 5:10, 7:20, 9:30; Sat-Mon 12:50, 3, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30; Tue-Thur 5:10, 7:20, 9:30. Refusenik Fri 5:20, 8; Sat-Mon noon, 2:40, 5:20, 8; Tue-Thur 5:20, 8. Tuya’s Marriage Fri 5, 7:30, 10; Sat-Mon noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30,

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City of Los Angeles Notice of Application for Police Permit

Notice is hereby given that application has been made to the Board of Police Commissioners for a permit to conduct dance academy. Name of applicant: Anyash, Inc., Doing business as Dances Studio Theater Located at 5772 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019

Any person desiring to protest issuance of this permit shall make a written protest before May 30, 2008. Los Angeles Police Commission 150 N. Los Angeles St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 Upon receipt of written protest, protesting person will be notified of date, time and place for hearing. BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS

City of Los Angeles

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Notice of Application for Police Permit

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Notice is hereby given that application has been made to the Board of Police Commissioners for a permit to conduct dance academy.

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Name of applicant: Anyash, Inc., Doing business as Dances Studio Theater Located at 5772 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019

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Any person desiring to protest issuance of this permit shall make a written protest before May 30, 2008.

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Los Angeles Police Commission 150 N. Los Angeles St. Los Angeles, CA 90012

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Upon receipt of written protest, protesting person will be notified of date, time and place for hearing.

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MAY 22~28, 2008

10; Tue-Thur 5, 7:30, 10. Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Theatre, 8000 Sunset Bl, (323) 8483500. Heavy Metal in Baghdad 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:35, 9:50. Reprise 1:30, 4:10, 7:10, 9:50. Roman de Gare 1:30, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55. Sangre de Mi Sangre 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:45. The Visitor 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40. Beverly Center 13 Cinemas, 8522 Beverly Blvd., Suite 835, (310) 652-7760. 21 1, 4:10, 7, 9:40.Baby Mama 11:50 a.m., 12:30, 2:10, 3, 4:30, 5:40, 7, 8, 9:30, 10:20. The Bank Job 12:40, 3:20, 5:40, 8, 10:30. Deception noon, 2:40, 5:10, 7:30, 10. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! 12:50, 3, 5, 6:50, 8:50. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed 12:40, 2:40, 5, 7:10, 9:20. The Forbidden Kingdom 12:20, 3:10, 5:30, 7:50, 10:20. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50. Nim’s Island 12:10, 2:20, 4:40, 6:50, 9:10. Redbelt 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:40, 10. Stop-Loss 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:10. Street Kings noon, 2:30, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10.

WESTWOOD, WEST L.A. AMC Avco Center, 10840 Wilshire Bl, (310) 475-0711. Baby Mama Fri 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35; Sat 10 a.m., 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35; Sun 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35; MonThur 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45; Sat 11:25 a.m., 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45; Sun-Thur 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45. Iron Man Fri 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45; Sat 10:30 a.m., 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45; Sun-Thur 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45. What Happens in Vegas Fri 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40; Sat 10 a.m., 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40; Sun 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40; Mon-Thur 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40. Laemmle’s Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 4775581. Up the Yangtze 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10. Landmark’s Nuart Theater, 11272 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 2818223. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Sat only, midnight. Sixteen Candles Fri only, midnight. Surfwise Fri-Sun noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 10; Mon-Thur 5, 7:30, 10. Landmark’s Regent, 1045 Broxton Av, (310) 281-8223. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 1, 4, 7, 10. The Landmark West Los Angeles, 10850 W Pico Bl, (310) 2818223. Before the Rains 11:30 a.m., 2:10, 4:50, 7:20, 9:45. The Children of Huang Shi 11 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:35, 10:25. The Fall 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:40, 10:20. Made of Honor 12:20, 2:50, 5:30, 8, 10:25. OSS 117: Cairo: Nest of Spies Fri-Wed 12:35, 3, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15; Thur 12:35, 3, 10:15. Reprise 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20. Roman de Gare noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 9:55. Son of Rambow 12:30, 3, 5:20, 7:45, 10. Then She Found Me Fri-Mon 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:35; Tue 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 10:10; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:35; Thur 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 10:10. The Visitor 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:30, 9:55. War, Inc. 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15. Young at Heart 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:20, 7, 9:30. Majestic Crest Theater, 1262 Westwood Bl, (310) 474-7866. Redbelt 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45. Mann Bruin, 948 Broxton Av, (310) 208-8998. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Midnight Fri-Sun. Made of Honor 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. Mann Festival 1, 10887 Lindbrook Av, (310) 208-4575. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 10:20. Speed Racer 1:20, 4:20, 7:25. Mann Village, 961 Broxton Av, (310) 208-5576. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 10 a.m., 1, 4, 7:15, 10:30.

WOODLAND HILLS, WEST HILLS, TARZANA AMC Promenade 16, 21801 Oxnard St, Woodland Hills, (818) 883-2262. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:35; Mon 10:15 a.m., 12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:30; Tue 12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:30; Wed 12:50, 8:15; Thur 12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:30. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 10:25 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:05, 12:40, 1:45, 2:20, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:20, 8:20, 8:50, 9:45, 10:45, 11:25; Mon 10:25 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:05, 12:40, 1:45, 2:20, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:20, 8:20, 8:50, 9:45; Tue 12:40, 1:45, 2:20, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:20, 8:20, 8:50, 9:45; Wed 12:40, 1:45, 2:20, 3:15, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 8:20, 8:50, 9:45; Thur 12:40, 1:45, 2:20, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:20, 8:20, 8:50, 9:45. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:35; Mon 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:30; Tue 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:30; Wed 4:45, 10:30; Thur 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:30. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 2:25, 4:55, 7:35, 10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Sun 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:15, 3, 3:45, 4:35, 5:20, 6:05, 6:50, 7:40, 8:25, 9:10, 9:55, 10:50, 11:30; Mon 9:45 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:15, 3, 3:45, 4:35, 5:20, 6:05, 6:50, 7:40, 8:25, 9:10, 9:55; TueThur 12:45, 1:30, 2:15, 3, 3:45, 4:35, 5:20, 6:05, 6:50, 7:40, 8:25, 9:10, 9:55. Iron Man Fri-Sun 10:10 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:15, 2, 4:20, 5:05, 7:30, 8:10, 10:40, 11:20; Mon 10:10 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:15, 2, 4:20, 5:05, 7:30, 8:10, 10:25; Tue-Thur 1:15, 2, 4:20, 5:05, 7:30, 8:10, 10:25.

MAY 22~28, 2008

25

CITYBEAT

CITYBEAT

26

MAY 22~28, 2008

SPECIAL SCREENINGS THURSDAY, MAY 22 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Av, Santa Monica, (323) 466-3456. Aerotheatre.com. Kevin Thomas' Favorites: Heaven's Gate, 7:30; restored and uncut. Film critic Kevin Thomas to introduce screening. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 466-3456. Egyptiantheatre.com. Why Be Good? Pre-Code Hollywood Films – Night Nurse, 7:30; followed by Three on a Match. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N Fairfax Av, Hollywood, (323) 655-2520. Silentmovietheatre.com. Music Thursdays: Folk Americana – John Cohen Films – The High Lonesome Sound, 8; followed by The End of an Old Song, Sara and Maybelle, Musical Holdouts, and Post Industrial Fiddle. Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N Alvarado St, Echo Park, (213) 484-8846. Echoparkfilmcenter.org. PXL This 17, 8. Festival composed entirely of films made on the PXL 2000 Fisher Price toy video camera. Filmmakers in attendance. Info: Indiespace.com/pxlthis. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre, 10899 Wilshire Bl, L.A. Info: (310) 206-3456 or Hammer.ucla.edu. Unburied Treasures: Classic Films Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive – The Man I Killed (a.k.a. Broken Lullaby), 7:30; followed by The Scoundrel. Shown with newsreel Hearst Metrotone News, Vol. 4 No. 226. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Bl, L.A., (323) 9384038. Newbevcinema.com. Psycho, 7:30; Frenzy, 9:40.

SATURDAY, MAY 24 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Seeing the Big Picture: 70 mm – Apocalypse Now, 7:30. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Why Be Good? Pre-Code Hollywood Films – Beast of the City, 7:30; followed by Skyscraper Souls. Angel City Drive In, 240 W Fourth St, second floor, downtown L.A. Myspace.com/angelcitydrivein. The Boondock Saints, gates at 7:30, show at 9. Cinespace Dinner & a Movie – The Wedding Singer, 8. Film in a restaurant/bar setting; call for reservations. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Noir Matinees: Femme Fatale Hall of Fame – Born to Kill, 1. Maysles: Direct Cinema – Maysles Short, Program 2 (Hollywood), 7. HolyFuckingShit: The Straight Dope – The People Next Door, 10:15. Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Bl, Beverly Hills, (310) 360-0455. Studioscreenings.com/FAT. No Place Like Home. Call for showtimes. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Telivision Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre Visualizing Visualizing the Sacred: Islam on Film/Family Matinee – Muhammad: The Last Prophet, 2. The Picture Starts in Heaven: James Stewart's Centennial – It's a Wonderful Life, 7:30; followed by The Shop Around the Corner. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre Fasten Your Seat Belts: The Essential Bette Davis – The Star, 7:30; The Catered Affair, 9:10. Landmark’s Nuart Theatre The Rocky Horror Picture Show, midnight; with live performance by Sins O’ the Flesh. New Beverly Cinema Next Stop, Greenwich Village, 3:05, 7:30; Harry and Tonto, 5:15, 9:40; Amoeba Midnights – The Creature from Black Lake, midnight. Old Town Music Hall Laurel and Hardy Festival – silent and sound comedies, 2:30, 8:15; with shorts and live musical accompaniment for silent films.

THE

Made of Honor Fri-Sun 10:05 a.m., 12:30, 3:05, 5:35, 8:05, 10:30; Mon 10:05 a.m., 12:30, 3:05, 5:35, 8:05, 10:25; TueThur 3:05, 5:35, 8:05, 10:25. Speed Racer Fri-Mon 10 a.m., 12:55, 4, 7, 10:05; Tue-Thur 12:55, 4, 7, 10:05. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 12:25, 2:50, 5:25, 7:55, 10:25; Mon 10 a.m., 12:25, 2:50, 5:25, 7:55, 10:20; Tue-Thur 2:40, 5:15, 7:55, 10:20. Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7 Cinemas, Fallbrook Mall, 6731 Fallbrook Av, West Hills, (818) 340-8710. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 1:30, 4:50, 8:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Fri-Mon 1, 4, 7, 10; Tue 2, 5, 8; Wed 11:10 a.m., 2, 5, 8; Thur 2, 5, 8. Iron Man Fri-Mon 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10; Tue 2:10, 5:10, 8:10; Wed 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 5:10, 8:10; Thur 2:10, 5:10, 8:10. Redbelt Fri-Mon 12:10, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:15; Tue 1:10, 3:50, 6:20, 8:50; Wed 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:50, 6:20, 8:50; Thur 1:10, 3:50, 6:20, 8:50. Son of Rambow Fri-Mon 12:20, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10; Tue 1:20, 3:40, 6:10, 8:40; Wed 11 a.m., 1:20, 3:40, 6:10, 8:40; Thur 1:20, 3:40, 6:10, 8:40. The Visitor Fri-Mon 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10; Tue-Thur 12:20, 2:50, 5:40, 8:30. Young at Heart Fri-Mon 1:30, 4:20, 7, 9:40; Tue-Thur noon, 2:30, 5:20, 8.

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SUNDAY, MAY 25 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Seeing the Big Picture – Playtime, 5:30. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Art Directors Society Screening – A Tribute to William Creber – The Detective, 5:30; followed by discussion with art director William J. Creber, in person. Ten minute clip reel before film. New Beverly Cinema Cabaret, 2:45, 8; Sweet Charity, 5:10. Old Town Music Hall Laurel and Hardy Festival – silent and sound comedies, 2:30; with shorts and live musical accompaniment for silent films.

MONDAY, MAY 26 AFI at ArcLight Cinemas Sherman Oaks, 15301 Ventura Bl, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-7033. Arclightcinemas.com. Summer Drive-In – Grease, 7:30. New Beverly Cinema Cabaret, 7:30; Sweet Charity, 9:55.

FRIDAY, MAY 23 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Seeing the Big Picture: 70 mm – Tribute to Arthur C. Clarke – 2001: A Space Odyssey, 7:30. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Why Be Good? Pre-Code Hollywood Films – Why Be Good? Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema, 7:30; followed by Forbidden and Madam Satan. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Solid Gould – The Silent Partner, 7:30. Psychedelia Italiano – Dillinger Is Dead, 10:15. Cinespace Dinner & a Movie – The Wedding Singer, 8. Film in a restaurant/bar setting; call for reservations. Echo Park Film Center Garment Worker Center Benefit – Made in L.A. 7. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre The Picture Starts in Heaven: James Stewart's Centennial – Vivacious Lady, 7:30; followed by Born to Dance. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre, 5905 Wilshire Bl, L.A., (323) 857-6010. Lacma.org. Fasten Your Seat Belts: The Essential Bette Davis – Dark Victory, 7:30; Marked Woman, 9:30. Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Bl, West L.A., (310) 281-8223. Landmarktheatres.com. Sixteen Candles, midnight. New Beverly Cinema Next Stop, Greenwich Village, 7:30; Harry and Tonto, 9:40; Reservoir Dogs, midnight. Old Town Music Hall, 140 Richmond St, El Segundo, (310) 322-2592. Otmh.org. Laurel and Hardy Festival – silent and sound comedies, 8:15; with shorts and live musical accompaniment for silent films. Regency Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Bl, L.A., (323) 655-4010. Insomniaccinema.com. Insomniac Cinema – Enter the Dragon, midnight.

TUESDAY, MAY 27 CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Psychedelic Healing Visions: A Celebration of Lavender Diamond's Film Imagine Our Love, 8. With live variety show, a sneak preview of the film, raffle, limited edition poster sale, etc. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre Tuesday Matinees – Juarez, 1. New Beverly Cinema Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend, 7:30; Escape from Women's Prison, 10. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N Sepulveda Bl, L.A., (310) 440-4500. Skirball.org. Classic Films: Imagining Dylan – King Creole, 1:30.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 AFI at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Bl, Hollywood, (323) 464-1478. Arclightcinemas.com. The Wild West – The Wild Bunch, 8. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Outfest Wednesdays – A Song of Love (Un Chant d'Amour), 7:30; followed by Genet. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Silent Wednesdays: Bob Mitchell’s Favorite Westerns – The Iron Horse, 8. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre Unburied Treasures: Classic Films Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive – High, Wide and Handsome, 7:30; followed by One Touch of Venus. Shown with Betty Boop cartoon Grampy's Indoor Outing. New Beverly Cinema Bedazzled, 7:30; The Ruling Class, 9:35.

MAY 22~28, 2008

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The Songs Remain the Same

~ AVE MARIO ~

A bravura week in operaland ~ BY DONNA PERLMUTTER ~

O

NCE IN A GREAT WHILE there comes a genuine singing actor to the opera stage. You know this when suddenly a whole characterization unfolds before you in moment-to-moment, faceted, idiosyncratic ways – not in those generalized, mappedout moves we most often see. So here was Neil Shicoff, who, for all the world, seemed to be Al Pacino – same size, same body type – remonstrating while his jealous girlfriend, a grand diva, suspects another woman. Ever-so-subtly, he slapped his head, hunched his shoulders, slid his hands into his pockets or thrust them resignedly in the air as if to say “madon, madon.” A city boychik, Roman-style. I couldn’t take my eyes off him – because I knew who this Mario Cavaradossi was: not some paper cutout with a voice. Yes, you guessed it, Los Angeles Opera again revived its 1989 JudgeGunter production of Puccini’s political potboiler Tosca a few nights ago with cast original Shicoff, that nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn who, for the record, still lets out a dazzling cantorial cry, forces his bright tenor somewhat and often sacrifices good phrasing for polished notes. But not bad for the longtime resident of Vienna and renowned singer who’s been walking the boards since the 1970s and is scarcely seen anymore in the U.S. Adrianne Pieczonka, his Floria Tosca, made her role debut opposite him – perfect casting, as we could imagine, based on the elegant Canadian soprano’s fine fit as the company’s Marschallin and Countess and quite commanding vocally as well as for her stage presence. But she was not in a league with this staging’s original – the fascinatingly vulnerable and tiger-like Maria Ewing. Juan Pons sang Scarpia capably without effacing the more slinkily sinister police chiefs we’ve seen. Sir Richard Armstrong conducted, supporting his cast well while keeping the pot aboil with this score that plays so convincingly on the drama. s But now a question: What’s the difference between a singer’s sold-to-thewalls, glory-filled celebration of 40 years before his Los Angeles public and an uproarious victory speech following a political campaign? And now an answer: not a lot. The

fans scream and holler and jump to their feet in either case. Take Plácido Domingo, for instance, our internationally beloved tenor who graces this city sometimes as starry eminence onstage, sometimes as conductor-in-the-pit and always as general director of the Los Angeles Opera. Well, pure revelry is what he inspired at his recent Music Center gala concert – striding before Hollywood-prominent local VIPS who studded the crowd. And guess what? Everyone’s fave gave as good as he got. Undaunted at 67, Domingo was in superb voice – one that still rings thrillingly to the rafters in numbers like “Winterstürme” from Wagner’s Die Walküre and coos ever so softly in Federico’s Lament from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana. But just as much to the point was the spirit of this lovefest. Domingo’s passionate singing drew a flood of adoration from the audience and his hearty appreciation of it lit up the music-making. Not least in all this was the quite wonderful soprano Patricia Racette, his evening’s partner and one who strictly avoids diva-isms. Their duets were so tenderly intimate, their waltzing in The Merry Widow so gemütlich and, in the case of Don Giovanni, the scena between his Don and her Zerlina simply oozed with flirty sophistication. What’s more, it yielded a nifty baritone role for our hero. s Another hero, Jessye Norman, recently made the point that age for a singer (she’s 62) can be the same as for wine – risky past the peak but enjoying a leisurely lead to that moment (thanks to carefully husbanded resources).

CLASSICAL It was UCLA/Live that brought the sweepingly magnetic and gorgeous soprano to Royce Hall again in yet another incarnation – this time much-slimmeddown and able to etch onstage, even to the last rows and more effectively than ever, whole universes with her body, her oh-so-eloquent arms, hands; this time in a mix of arrestingly clever material. Who would think, for instance, of juxtaposing Alban Berg (he of Viennese musical pointillism) with Michel LeGrand (he of Hollywood romantic splendor) and making us hear their connection? How odd, but how apt then CITYBEAT

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was the sadly mysterious “Sommertage” next to “The Summer Knows” (the theme of Summer of ’42); the Wesendonck song “Träume” nearby to Harold Arlen’s “Sleepin’ Bee.” Oh, Jessye, keep coming back! We can forgive your sometimes wandering pitch and such – a small price to pay for grand artistry and the deep knowledge of how to navigate tricky vocal shoals. s Tricky, though, is not in the realm of Mahler. Instead, I can imagine singers bowing at the prospect of Das Lied von der Erde – so exquisite is the psychic pain of his symphonic song cycle. Arguably no other composer has wrought such a palpable sense of loss, such a poignant leave-taking of life – alternated with outbursts of remembered youth in all its sensual vigor. The work is to the music literature, perhaps, what Bergman’s Wild Strawberries is to cinema. So even if Anthony Dean Griffey – with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen – knew the tall order he had to fill, the American tenor left us a tad disappointed vocally. (After all, audiences here remember how,

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under the revered Carlo Maria Giulini’s baton, the great Jon Vickers’s voice rang out with deliriously lusty, swelling excitement.) But mezzo Lisa Paasikivi, singing the poetic farewell in burnished tones, brought out Mahler’s resigned, heavenly pathos. And while Salonen observed the score’s emotional outlines he did so with a certain computerized efficiency. For Lisa Gasteen, though, who, in an earlier concert, sang Brünnhilde’s Immolation scene from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, the conductor unfurled his accompanying orchestral forces big time but always with wonted control. Her voice, which seems to have all the right components as a dramatic soprano, came punching out machine-like but lacked the ideal amplitude. What always amazes, though, is how this composer’s fairy-tale world presupposes Harry Potter, when considered out of theatrical context. Just imagine, here’s Brünnhilde singing in pure ecstasy while being burned alive – as opposed to Mahler’s all-too-humanly introspective departure from the earth. ✶ L.A. Opera performances run through June 21; (213) 972-8001 or laopera.com.

BREA SOUDERS

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT ~

Everything Goes to Hell Scarlett Johansson buries Tom Waits ~ BY CHRIS MORRIS ~

I

DON’T LIKE WRITING negative reviews. There are still more than enough good and interesting records to keep me occupied. But sometimes an album is so overwhelmingly bad that it represents an immediate threat to the public health and safety. Scarlett Johansson’s Anywhere I Lay My Head is such an album. As some of you already know, the busty film starlet’s debut foray into music is, save for one original “song,” a recital of material by Tom Waits (and his co-author, wife Kathleen Brennan). We knew this was a bad idea to begin with, right? What a notion: The oeuvre of one of our most eccentric and highly stylized writers, essayed by a 23-year-old actress whose musical know-how doesn’t extend beyond her stint in the karaoke bar in Lost in Translation. The record lives up to the terrified expectations. Where to begin? Consider this: The songs of Waits, that most urban of American writers, were recorded in the middle of nowhere in Maurice,

SONIC NATION Louisiana, which would account for the silly wood-nymphet poses Johansson strikes in the album art. Produced by David Andrew Sitek of the momentarily au courant group TV on the Radio, and featuring his band mates Jaleel Bunton and Tunde Adebimpe and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ guitarist Nick Zinner, the set sounds as mossy as the locale. In Sitek’s hands, the junkyard clatter of Waits’s records has been incongruously transposed into a dank deep-pile approximation of This Mortal Coil’s lush 4AD cover collections. Listening to it, your feet stick to the floor. Anywhere I Lay My Head begins with a portentous instrumental version of Waits’s “Fawn,” as if the band is afraid to let Johansson onstage. Maybe they were. When she finally arrives for a cluttered rendition of “Town With No Cheer,” it is immediately obvious that we are in the presence of a tr ue non-singer.

Waits’s voice sounds like a rusty sled falling down a disused incinerator; Johansson’s voice, which is low, mannish, and affectless, will conjure memories of Nico after an especially bad dope burn. She could not carry a tune if she had an 18-wheeler to transport it: Her range is maybe half an octave, and she betrays no ability to remain on key or on pitch for an entire song’s duration. Worse, she appears to have no idea what these tunes of vagabondage and hardwon experience are all about. She strains to find meaning in a lyric like a fourthgrader fumbling through “This Land Is Your Land” in music class. Tom Waits is a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks; Scarlett Johansson matriculated at the Encino College of Beauty. It’s difficult to say which songs here are the worst, but I have some nominees. David Bowie, certifying the fact that his career has seen far better days, weighs in with background singing on a blank, pointlessly ornamented version of “Fannin Street.” On “I Wish I Was in New Orleans,” solo music box accompaniment (precious enough for ya?) accentuates every dying, uncertain note in Johansson’s vocal. The great atrocity may be a discofied take on “I Don’t Want to Grow Up”: The liner notes claim it was inspired by Johansson’s love of New Order, but it sounds like a tuneless swipe at “Heart of Glass.” Really, there’s no reason for anyone, be they Tom Waits fan (beware!) or curious moviegoer, to purchase this album. I get paid to hear this shit; it’s my job. You shouldn’t bother. My great regret is that I’ll never get back the hours I fruitlessly spent trying to find any virtue whatsoever in Anywhere I Lay My Head. I have Tom Waits’s home phone number, but I resisted the urge to call and ask him what he thought of this album. I hate to hear a grown man cry. As for Johansson’s future in music: Scarlett, your call time on the set is 5 a.m. ✶ Chris Morris hosts Watusi Rodeo every Sunday at 9 a.m. on Indie 103.1. MAY 22~28, 2008

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EAT Bites One Night in Kuala Lumpur … Carol Selva Rajah’s book Heavenly Fragrance is an intriguing exploration of the scents of Asian cooking. If you’re planning to try cooking any of the recipes and want to know if you’re getting them right, you should go to Tanzore in Beverly Hills tonight, May 22 – she will be cooking some of the foods described in the book, and of course autographing copies. At 30 bucks a person, it’s an incredible deal. Call (310) 652-3894 … . Does the TV Café Serve Giraffe Burgers? ... While driving down Alameda in downtown, I noticed the roof of the TV Café, which features a giant fiberglass hamburger flanked by statues of an elephant and a giraffe. The symbolism is a bit obscure – I’m presuming that no exotic African creatures have found their way into the grinder, but I can’t figure out any other reason for the animals to be next to that burger. Both species are vegetarian, so they’re certainly not going to eat any burgers themselves. And what do the burger or the critters have to do with watching TV? Verily, L.A. is a place of mysteries … . Sangria, Cigars, and a Pretty Patio … As the mercury climbs past the 80s, a pitcher of iced sangria looks better and better. The folks at Café La Boheme in West Hollywood have figured this out, and are serving both a traditional red and a distinctly modern white sangria (modern as in it actually doesn’t contain any wine, but uses infused vodkas instead). On Sundays, beverages are served in the courtyard with a live DJ and a Cuban cigar roller, which sounds like a recipe for a lively afternoon … . 390 Years of Practice … The M Café De Chaya location in Culver City doesn’t look almost 400 years old, but it is the latest flowering of a restaurant dynasty that began in 1618. That original location offered tea, sweets, and a place for your horse to rest. The tea and sweets are still available at 9343 Culver Blvd., Culver City, and if you show up on horseback they’ll probably fetch some salad for the poor beast. The new venture is a “European style café and deli, featuring macrobiotic cuisine,” an intriguingly modern concept for an offshoot of such a venerable company. The phone number is (310) 838-4300, in case you’d like to call for reservations or take-out ... . Scrape the Rust off the Barbecue … You’re going to be grilling this summer, so why not learn to do it right? Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feininger will demonstrate the art of grilling June 7 at the Border Grill in Santa Monica, and while you learn, you can demonstrate the art of eating the food you’ve just seen prepared. The menu includes cucumber jalapeño mojitos, fish tacos, grilled cactus salad, skirt steak, and grilled corn with cayenne and lime – with a tres leches cake for dessert, which I don’t know how they’re going to grill. Reservations? (310) 451-1655. -Richard Foss

~ SWISH-SWISH ~

Listen to Your Dinner The gentle sound of Shabu-Shabu at Nabe ~ BY RICHARD FOSS ~

I

LISTENED CAREFULLY, but couldn’t hear an actual swishing sound as I twirled thin strips of rib eye steak in soup stock. The shrimp, crab, scallops, and octopus were inaudible too. Maybe, I thought, this shabu-shabu stuff is misnamed. You see, shabu-shabu means swish-swish in Japanese, and was supposedly named for the sound meat makes when you briefly swish it in boiling water. The lively buzz at Nabe restaurant might have covered any gentle susurrus from our pot in any case. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Mycompanion and I were actually heading for another Little Tokyo restaurant, but the only place to park was a few blocks from our destination – right next door to a Japanese tavern and a restaurant called Nabe. We looked at the menu, at the modern but welcoming interior, and at the fact that they accepted credit cards and our original destination didn’t, and walked in. Tables were available, but we sat at the bar so we could watch the kitchen (both to ascertain cleanliness and learn techniques) – and when we saw the Cordon Bleu logo on the chef’s apron, we knew there were things to learn. We started with fried tofu with bonito shavings and sweet sesame ($6) and a calamari salad with lemon-soy vinaigrette ($9). The tofu starter is all about technique–when done right, the fried tofu has a soft, almost molten interior surrounded by crunch with a hint of tanginess. That’s exactly what this was – not a drop of oil present, all the flavors clean and separate. The calamari salad had a similar masterful technique, the squid in crisp tempura batter over a lightly dressed salad with just a hint of citrus and vinegar. The technique was impeccable, the flavors true to Japanese culture even while using Western ingredients and ideas. For main courses we chose seafood shabu-shabu ($19) and beef “sukiyaki”

We accept tips: Richardfoss@earthlink.net.

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($14.35). Sukiyaki is usually a simmered or stir-fried dish, but at Nabe it’s just a shabu-shabu with a sweet soy broth rather than the usual water with seaweed base. The sukiyaki was a plate of beautiful thin-sliced beef, the seafood a carefully arranged assortment with two large crab leg sections, three scallops, five medium shrimp, and a lot of octopus. (You can get a seafood shabu without octopus for an extra few dollars, which I assume gives you more of the expensive stuff.) Both plates of meat were served with an array of vegetables and two types of noodles, udon and clear glass noodle. When we asked what order was traditional to add everything, we were told, “However you like.” Some people add the vegetables first, some the meat, and some drink the broth while others just use it to cook everything else. We compromised, cooking some of the meat before adding the vegetables and finishing it off. The thin slices of beef cooked almost instantaneously in the water, infusing the stock in the process, and the vegetables and noodles were delicious. The seafood was less impressive; not bad at all, but I’ll order the meat next time. Unusually, some good wines are offered with dinner; I’m interested in the art of pairing wines with Asian food and will consider experimenting next time. This time I drank Ohyama sake, a dry, fruity, and aromatic beverage I’d happily order again. Our total was $85.14 for a very full dinner, and it was well-spent – we departed relaxed and content, and any gentle swishing we heard was the wind through the trees in Japantown. ✶

Nabe, 356 1/2 E. Second Street in Little Tokyo, (213) 808-1211. Open Thurs.-Sat. for lunch, and Mon.-Sat., 5:30 -10 p.m. Parking adjacent structure, no validation. Wine and beer, wheelchair access good.

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Mame Shmamet SPECIAL NEXT GENERATION COMMUNITY NIGHT! Wed, June 4 at 7pm

~ BY DON SHIRLEY ~

Live Music, Free Pizza & Soda, and an opportunity drawing to win DVD’s CD’s and a Nintendo Wii!

HE TITLE OF DAVID Mamet’s latest play, Keep Your Pantheon, is presumably meant to suggest “Keep your pants on.� In this extended, vaudeville-style sketch set in ancient Rome, many of the jokes are about the attempts by the leader (Ed O’Neill) of a three-man acting troupe to get inside the pants of the company’s young intern (Michael Cassidy). Yet the play is so negligible that I wonder if Mamet might also be tacitly acknowledging that he doesn’t belong inside the pantheon of America’s great playwrights – and that he doesn’t care. If so, Mamet’s assessment of his stature is more realistic than those of many of his admirers. In March, after he proclaimed that he’s no longer “a braindead liberal� in a Village Voice essay, the conservative Andrew Klavan in an L.A. Times piece and the liberal Michael Billington in The Guardian wrote very different responses. Mamet is “America’s best living dramatist,� wrote Billington, while Klavan – who isn’t a theater critic like Billington – was slightly more circumspect: “I don’t know if he’s America’s greatest living playwright, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a better one.� I’m hard-pressed to think of a reason why anyone would still consider Mamet America’s greatest living playwright. Sure, I like the ’70s/’80s plays that made him famous – American Buffalo, A Life in the Theatre and Glengarry Glen Ross. The latter seems to be revived every few months at different L.A. theaters. Although Speed-the-Plow and Oleanna aren’t on the same level, they can be interesting under the right circumstances. But most of Mamet’s other plays are hardly ever revived. Those who saw the revival of his Squirrels last year in Santa Monica would certainly understand why. Mamet apparently still has the ability, however, to get his new-to-L.A. plays scheduled at the mere drop of his name, regardless of their merits. That certainly seems to be true at Center Theatre Group. It produced his tired Romance in 2005, as well as the current bill of Two

Unrelated Plays – The Duck Variations and Keep Your Pantheon – which replaced Mamet’s twice-announced, twice-postponed A Waitress in Yellowstone. Geffen Playhouse offered the lame Boston Marriage in 2006. When will we see his recently panned Broadway opus November? If Mamet offered to introduce a new play at your theater, you probably wouldn’t turn him down either. His name is still likely to draw theatergoers who want to be able to say they saw the latest Mamet, even if they didn’t like it. Still, it’s likely that much better plays don’t make the cut at CTG or the Geffen because a slot was taken by Mamet’s latest mediocrity. Mamet certainly isn’t alone in being a playwright whose early success wasn’t sustained. You could say the same for Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and August Wilson. Edward Albee, however, is one exception – his The Goat was a latecareer revelation. I’m not saying Albee is “the greatest living American playwrightâ€? – I don’t like such generalizations. But I wonder if the difference between Albee and Mamet has something to do with the fact that Mamet, unlike Albee, devotes more attention to the movies now than he does to the stage. Lower your expectations if you’re going to see the Mamet one-acts, and maybe you’ll have a tolerable time. Keep Your Pantheon isn’t nearly as funny as the Getty Villa’s Roman comedy Tug of War last September, but it’s on the same level as a fairly sharp collegiate effort. Its partner at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, The Duck Variations, at least features the always enjoyable Harold Gould as one of two geezers who sit on a park bench, chatting. Of course, you could also wait for the next rendition of Glengarry Glen Ross. âœś

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In the Buff derty Saturday promises to be just another evening for Santa Monica’s arts community, complete with Malaysian food, cocktails, live music – and, of course, naked people. At Santa Monica’s DCA Fine Art, eight artists, including Alejandro Gehry and Katina Zinner, will each draw and paint three nude models in front of a live audience. The event – dubbed Live Draw! – will also feature music by DJ S.I.M.O., and benefits the Santa Monica Alternative Schoolhouse, a local alternative school led by working artists. DCA Fine Art founder Delia Cabral explains the creation of the event was inspired by a desire to re-incorporate the general public into the artistic community. “Some people think that if they can’t draw, they aren’t creative,” she says. “I believe that everyone is creative. I really want Live Draw! to be an invitation back into the creative process.” For Zinner, Live Draw! will mark the first time she has ever painted models in front of a live audience. “I think that it’s a very original way to present art to people who are not as familiar with it,” she says. “And it’s an opportunity to bring it in an environment that is very eclectic.” But Zinner also expects the experience of drawing with people and music in the background to be something of a pressure cooker. “You already have to be really focused when drawing a model,” she says. “Now it’s magnified by all the people and the music. I think it’s a very intense realm in which to create.” Cabral adds that she hopes to foster an atmosphere of immediacy. “People are going to be buying these sketches right off the pad,” she says. “Everyone is really going to be a part of this art.” What really prompted Zinner’s participation in the event was its cause, SMASH. “This [school] gets kids away from the video games,” Zinner says. “It gets them outside into nature and gives them an opportunity to create.” According to Cabral, 15 percent of the proceeds will be donated to SMASH, the K-8 school that her youngest child attends. “It really places the responsibility of the curriculum back onto the child,” she enthuses. “They aren’t studying archaic, fossilized history. It’s about what’s going on today.” –Alexander Comisar “Live Draw!” Sat., 7-10 p.m. $45 presale, $55 at door. DCA Fine Art, 3107 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 770-2525. Dcafineart.com.

~

HOW TO LIST WITH US Listings in “7 Days” and our world-famous calendar are accepted for arts and community events in the greater Los Angeles area. The deadline to be considered for “7 Days” is at least two weeks in advance of the event. Send all information to: “7 Days,” Los Angeles CityBeat, 5209 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Fax to (323) 938-1661, or e-mail calendar@lacitybeat.com. No phone calls, please.

7

DAYS IN L.A.

THURSDAY 22 SHOWTIME

The El Rey’s marquee tonight should include a “Not for Casual Fans” disclaimer. First off, headliner El-P is as close as hiphop has gotten to some kind of sci-fi apocalypse, having made a storied career out of remolding the genre into dense, unfriendly assaults full of kitchen-sink atmospherics and robot stepfathers. Bill-sharer Dizzee Rascal has leaned more and more mainstream ever since debuting with grime classic Boy in da Corner, but that doesn’t mean it’s gotten easier to understand a word the frenetic East London rapper is saying. Doors at 8 p.m. $21.50. El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (323) 936-6400. Theelrey.com.

FRIDAY 23 S T R I N G S AT TA C H E D The Puppet Show is an art exhibit and not marionette-acted theatre, an exhibition of 28 contemporary artists explorCITYBEAT

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ing the imagery of puppets in sculpture, film, video, animation, and 2D work. So, if I understand correctly, it’s more of a show about puppet shows, which are pretty meta in the first place. In addition to the works of participants, a collection of historic puppets is housed “backstage,” and there’ll be a workshop at tonight’s opening reception where the little ’uns can create their own. 7-9 p.m. Santa Monica Museum of Ar t, 2525 Michigan Ave., G-1, Santa Monica, (310) 586-6488. Smmoa.org.

SATURDAY 24 BLOWIN’ UP No one at the Aero tonight cares about your home theatre system, not when they have the sweet glor y of 70-mm to sink into. After last weekend’s stint at the Egyptian, the American Cinematheque’s “Seeing the Big Picture” series comes out to the Westside, with a rare 70-mil print of Apocalypse Now in tow. The real gem might be tomorrow,

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in the smile-inducing form of Jacques Tati’s massive, exquisite Playtime. That film was transferred to 35-mm for U.S. release, before being restored to the larger format it was originally shot in some 30 years later. 7:30 p.m. $9. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. Info: (323) 466-3456 or Americancinematheque.com.

SUNDAY 25 IN C(ONCERT) Decades after capturing hearts, blowing minds, and helping usher in that, um, little thing called the minimalist movement, Terry Riley is still writing music. He’ll premiere latest composition Universal Bridge at Disney Hall, having created it especially for the hall’s pride-and-joy of an organ. Riley may no longer be spry enough to throw his once-infamous all-night concerts – but it’s still Terry freakin’ Riley on organ, which I think we all can live with. 7:30 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., (323) 850-2000. Laphil.com.

DENNIS OPPENHEIM

HANGIN’ OUT: DENNIS OPPENHEIM’S THEME FOR A MAJOR HIT (SEE FRIDAY) ~

MONDAY 26 H E Y, B I G S P E N D E R Bob Fosse brought more than sex into the movie musical – even his earliest films reveal him jumping headfirst into the medium’s possibilities, all stark lighting and dynamo angles. Relive the choreographer and director’s first two bold strokes at the New Beverly, which hosts a Fosse double feature (for the price of one, per the New Bev norm) of Cabaret, perhaps his best known work, and 1969 debut Sweet Charity. 7:30 & 9:55 p.m. $7; $6 students. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 W. Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 938-4038. Newbevcinema.com.

TUESDAY 27 GONE BOWLING Nothing like opening up your brand-spanking new summer season with a bunch of old rockers. The Hollywood Bowl says hello to ’08 starting tonight with two evenings of the Police, fresh off a tour celebrating their 30th anniversar y, and Elvis

Costello. Is it a good thing or a bad thing at this point that half the Bowl’s lineup looks like possible Coachella headliners? I’m not sure either. Tues.-Wed. at 7:30 p.m. $54.50 and up. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, (323) 850-2000. Hollywoodbowl.com.

WEDNESDAY 28 I M I TAT I O N O F L I F E Speaking of old rockers at the Bowl – stillkicking R.E.M. is next in line on Thursday, May 29 (followed by the Cure and whatever’s left of Robert Smith and his possibly already-decomposing body). But a night before serenading Hollywood with new material from Accelerate, Michael Stipe makes an in-store appearance at Book Soup to sign R.E.M. Hello: Photographs along with photographer David Belisle. The book is largely a collection of photographs by Belisle, who’s traveled with the band for the past seven years. 7 p.m. $29.95 for book. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 659-3110. Booksoup.com. MAY 22~28, 2008

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JAZZ CRITIC’S CHOICE

Swinging Exchanges

~ HELEN MERRILL ~

No event signifies the current L.A. big band renaissance like the L.A. Jazz Institute’s biannual festivals at the LAX Four Points Sheraton (9750 Airport Blvd., L.A., 562-9857065). “Stage Door Swings” – Thursday afternoon to Sunday night – looks at how jazz has used music of the American musical theater. Helen Merrill, Annie Ross, Mark Murphy, Tierney Sutton, and scores of others will interpret memorable arrangements of Porter, Arlen, Rodgers & Hart and many other composers. The Bill Potts charts for Porgy and Bess, Merrill singing the Gershwins, Bill Mays playing Pal Joey, and Kenton’s take on West Side Story are just a few of the highlights. No current jazz singer has the majestic pipes that Dianne Reeves possesses. At Royce Hall on Thursday, she sings with the sublime guitarist Romero Lubambo, among others. The marvelous trombone choir, BoneSoir, will fill the cavernous acoustics of the open square at LACMA Friday night, for the free soiree. Sunday at the Jazz Bakery, pianist Marcin Wasilewski, another sublime interpreter, debuts locally with his trio. Their new ECM album, January, is full of intimate sonorities, smart readings (like Carla Bley’s “King Korn”) and elastic interplay. Tuesday, ukulele virtuoso (don’t laugh ’til you’ve heard him) Jake Shimabukuro lights at the Temple Bar. He can coax more feeling from those four strings than you’ve ever heard. –Kirk Silsbee

Times are p.m. unless otherwise indicated. Listing order does not necessarily indicate billing order. All events subject to sudden (hopefully not violent) changes.

For additional listings, visit WWW.LACITYBEAT.COM

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Avalon Hollywood, 1735 N Vine St, Hollywood, (323) 462-8900. Avalonhollywood.com. Thur: Club Tigerheat. Fri: Erick Morillo. Sat: Felix Da Housecat, Puppet Up! Uncensored. Tue: Mashina with Ram-2. Boardner’s of Hollywood, 1652 N Cherokee Av, Hollywood, (323) 462-9621. Boardners.com. Thur: Karaoke. Fri: Dekada. Sat: Bar Sinister. Mon: Blue Mondays. Tue: Institution Tuesdays. Wed: Club Moscow. Bordello, 901 E First St, downtown L.A., (213) 687-3766. Bordellobar.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Bl, Culver City, (310) 398-2583. Boulevardmusic.com. Call for showtimes. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Café-Club Fais Do-Do, 5257 W Adams Bl, L.A., (323) 954-8080. Faisdodo.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. The Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Dr, Agoura Hills, (818) 8795016. Canyonclub.net. Shows at 8 unless otherwise noted. Thur: Hollywood Men, 9. Fri: Kottonmouth Kings. Sun: Led Zepplica, One More For the Road. CIA, 11334 Burbank Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 506-6353. Ciabnormalarts.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Cobalt Café, 22047 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, (818) 3483789. Cobaltcafe.com. Thur: Boot Hill Gang, Media Control, Outtaseep, Vicious Threat, Politikal Dekline, Destruct, 7. Fri: Amherist, True Romance, Walking the Gray, I Am Orion Eyes, The Tommyknockers, Lorene Drive, Ten Seconds to Go, Eyes Set to Kill, 6:15. Sat: Skull F*cks, Narkotic Youth, Bill Skasby, Pobre Callejeros, DVML, Benzen, The Space Cookies, 6:30. Sun: The Wretched, 8:45. Tue: Open Reading. The Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Bl, Altadena, (626) 3987917. Coffeegallery.com. Fri: The Black Tongued Bells, 8. Sat: Dave Stamey, 7. Sun: The Late Bloomers, 7. Wed: The Refugees, 8. Cowboy Palace Saloon, 21635 Devonshire St, Chatsworth, (818) 341-0166. Cowboypalace.com. Call for showtimes. Thur: DooWah Riders. Fri: Mary White. Sat: Larry Dean. Sun: Brant Vogel. Mon: Talent Contest. Tue: Lee Harper. Wed: Debra Lee. Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood, (323) 466-6111. Thedragonfly.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. The Echo, 1822 Sunset Bl, Echo Park, (213) 413-8200. Attheecho.com. Thur: French Kicks, The Weather Underground, Roll the Tanks, 8; In the Echoplex: Stand Uppity with Eugene Mirman, Andy Kindler, Marc Maron, 8. Fri: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Foot Foot, Club Underground, 8; In the Echoplex: Oliver Future, Radars to the Sky, 8. Sat: Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, 8:30; In

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the Echoplex: Urge with Posers, 9. Sun: Part Time Punks, 10; In the Echoplex: The Brothers Unconnected, 8. Mon: Le Switch, Vanessa Micale, The Minor Canon, The World Record, 8:30. Tue: Jaguar Love, 8:30. Wed: White Rabbits; In the Echoplex: The Dub Club, 9. El Cid, 4212 W Sunset Bl, L.A., (323) 668-0318. Elcidla.com. Thur: Almardiente Flamenco Dinner Theater, 6:30. Fri: Flamenco Dinner, The Hundred Days, Idyllists, 6:30. Sat: Flamenco Dinner Theatre, 6; Club Macondo, 10. Sun: Flamenco Dinner Theater, 6:30. Mon: Garage Comedy, 8. Tue: Open Mic, 7. Wed: Flamenco Dinner, The Muse Project, 6:30. El Rey, 5515 Wilshire Bl, L.A., (323) 936-6400/4790. Theelrey.com. Shows at 8. Thur: El-P with DJ Mr. Dibbs and The Mighty Quinn and Dizzee Rascal, DJ Aaron LaCrate. Fri: Harrisgrade, Ofelia, Malea, McGuiness, Faculty, Love Among Liars, Young and the Damned. Sat: Kelley James, The Ruse, Kina Grannis. Tue: Babasonicos, Los Autenticos Decadentes. 14 Below, 1348 14th St, Santa Monica, (310) 451-5040. 14below.com. Call for showtimes. Thur-Wed: Call for info. The Gig, 7302 Melrose Av, L.A., (323) 936-4440. Liveatthegig.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Hallenbeck’s General Store & Café, 5510 Cahuenga Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 985-5916. Hallenbecks.net. Tue: Open Mike, 7. House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Bl, West Hollywood, (323) 848-5100. Hob.com. Thur: Morrissey’s “Unhappy Birthday” with Sweet and Tender Hooligans, Shaun Kamma & The Kings of the Wild Frontier, 9. Fri: The Dan Band, 9:30. Sat: In Thrash We Trust, Death Angel, God Forbid, Soilent Green, Light This City, 8:30. Sun: Raheem DeVaughn, Chrisette Michele, 9. Tue: Best of Metal Tributes, 8. Key Club, 9039 Sunset Bl, West Hollywood, (310) 274-5800. Keyclub.com. Call for showtimes. Thur: As Blood Runs Black, Stick to Your Guns. Fri: Trigger Point, Cursed Lullaby, Centox, Cromwell. Sat: United States of Drum and Bass. Sun: Mihalis, Hatzigiannis. Mon: Steel Panther with the Operation MD. Tue: Ruby, 8. Wed: Choreographer’s Ball. King King, 6555 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 960-9234. Kingkinghollywood.com. Thur: The Medicine Show, 8:30. Fri: Justin Michael, Bruno Mars, George Garcia, 10. Sat: Balance, 10. Tue: Descarga con Timba, 9. Wed: Shame – a Rock Opera, 8. Knitting Factory, 7021 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 463-0204. Knittingfactory.com. See also Knitting Factory AlterKnit Lounge. Thur: Radar Bros., The Parson Red Heads, Greater California, Ed Vallance, 7:30; In the Front: Destroid, Hex Rx, Delta-S, DJ Jason2, 8. Fri: Music Inspires Health, 8; In the Front: The Phenomenauts, The A.K.A.s, Supernova, Maldroid, 7:30. Sat: Trasho De Mayo III, 5:30. Sun: Club Beat It, 9. Tue: Blackcowboy, Just off Turner, Starving For Gravity, Jenny Archimede, 7:30; In the Front: Me & Heath, Throwing Seven, The Knife Confession, Delta Rose, 7. Wed: The Anaal Nathrakh, Sumeria, Lightning Swords of Death, Diabolos, Nekcrium, 7; In the Front: Breathe Carolina, Millionaires, I Am the Avalanche, Phonocast, 7.

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MAY 22~28, 2008

MICHAEL LAMONT

THEATER CRITIC’S CHOICE

‘Pippin’ Tim Dang’s fascinating revival updates the style of this Stephen Schwartz/Roger O. Hirson musical about the prince (Ethan Le Phong) who finally discovers that life’s simpler values should take precedence over the extraordinary achievements that he has pursued so unsuccessfully. Before Pippin’s epiphany, the show bombards us with glamour and glitz. This time around, the visual design is distinctively flavored with anime and other Asian strokes. The choreography is hip-hop-influenced, with a few remnants of the original Fosse, and the musical arrangements add a dose of punk to the song “Extraordinary.� Le Phong’s performance is extraordinary in itself, especially considering that he replaced Daniel May only a week before opening night. Marcus Choi slithers through the role of the Leading Player like a hit man from a Taiwanese gangster movie, Jenn Aedo is the world’s most eye-catching stepmother, and Gedde Watanabe does an amusing turn in drag as Pippin’s grandmother. –Don Shirley

~ ETHAN LE PHONG AS PIPPIN ~

David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St., Little Tokyo, (213) 625-7000. Eastwestplayers.org. Weds.-Sats. at 8 p.m.; Suns. at 2 p.m. Closes June 22.

L.A.'s Newest Performance Lab

cantina.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Zeropoint, 1049 E 32nd St, L.A. Zeropointspace.org. Thur-Wed: Call for info. –Ashley Archibald

fanaticSalon

CONCERTS

Y!SKICLASSES! LLHAL NAF MIC FIJEF

MAY 22-MAY 28 Note: Unless otherwise indicated, tickets are available through Ticketmaster, (213) 480-3232 or Ticketmaster.com. Adam Green, Thur, Amoeba Music, 6400 Sunset Bl, Hollywood, at 6. (323) 245-6400. Brian McKnight, Thur, The Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E Katella Av, Anaheim, at 8. (714) 712-2700. “The Stage Door Swings: A Four Day Jazz Festival,� Thur-Sun, The Four Points Sheraton LAX, 9750 Airport Bl, L.A., 9 a.m.-11. (562) 985-7065. “Hot 92—Hot Summer Nights� with War, Tierra, the Salas Brothers, El Chicano, Sat-Sun, Greek Theatre, 2700 N Vermont Av, Los Feliz, at 7. (323) 665-1927. Mindless Self Indulgence, Sat, The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Bl, L.A., at 8. (213) 380-5005. “Topanga Days Fair� with Chevy Metal, Jim Lauderdale & the Dream Players, Tim Easton, Sat-Mon, The Topanga Community House, 1440 N Topanga Canyon Bl, Topanga, at 10 a.m. (310) 455-1911. “The 22nd Annual Jazz Reggae Festival� with The Roots, Stephen Marley, Capleton, Sun-Mon, UCLA, Intramural Field, Westwood, 12-7. (310) 825-2101. The Cult, Sun, The Grove of Anaheim at 8. The Muslims, AAnchors Aaweigh, Tue, La Cita, 336 S Hill St, downtown L.A., at 10. (213) 687-7111. The Police with Elvis Costello and The Imposters, Tue-Wed, Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Av, Hollywood, at 7:30. (323) 8502000. Zhinin, Tue, Crash Mansion, 1024 Grand Av, downtown L.A., at 9. (213) 747-0999. “Battleground Earth,� with Ludacris, Tommy Lee, Wed, Greek Theatre at 7:30. I See Hawks in LA, Wed, Amoeba Music at 7. Mates of State, Wed, Music Box @ Fonda, 6126 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, at 8. (323) 464-0808. “Mighty Mic Save Darfur Concert� with OK Go, Rock & Roll, Rhymefest, Wed, Ackerman Grand Ballroom 308, UCLA, Westwood, at 7. (800) 4366-2433. –Emma Gallegos

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“MAMET, ONE OF THE UNDENIABLY GREAT PLAYWRIGHTS‌ Give him a genre — in any medium — and he’ll be more than happy to show you what he can do. From the meditative soul-searching of The Duck Variations to the capering nuttiness of Keep Your Pantheon, Mamet is like a shark shooting through the ocean, his very survival dependent on moving forward.â€? —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times

STAGE OPENING THIS WEEK April Fools Pig. Abstract per formance show in which everyone must either be a fool, a pig, or April. Written and directed by April Hava Shenkman. Theater Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood, (323) 960-7780. Plays411.com/aprilfoolspig. Opens Fri at 8:30. Fris-Sats at 8:30; Suns at 7. Closes May 31. El Ruco, Chuco, Cholo, Pachuco. Pepe Serna per forms his interpretation of the Chicano experience, portraying a wide range of characters and archetypes from various time periods. Written by Pepe Serna. The New LATC Theater, 514 S Spring St, L.A., (213) 489-0994 x107. Thenewlatcstore.com. Opens Fri at 8. Sat at 8; Sun at 3. Closes May 25. The Hiding Place. A struggling novelist and an aspiring actor meet at a secret location in Midtown Manhattan and, through a series of letters, develop a passionate affair in the heart of New York City. Written by Jeff Whitty. The Attic Theater, 5429 W Washington Bl, L.A., (323) 525-0600. Attictheater.org. Opens Fri at 8. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 28. I Gelosi. Taking place in the 16th century, the play tells the story of Italy’s first traveling theater troupe and their mocking satire that began a defiant clash with the pope. Written and directed by David Bridel. The Powerhouse Theater, 3116 Second St, Santa Monica, (310) 396-3680. Latensemble.org. Opens Fri at 8. Thurs-Sats at 8; May 25 at 8. Closes June 14. Jen and Angie. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Aniston, are the only survivors of a plane crash on an island in the South Pacific, and must overcome their differences to survive. Written by Laura Buchholz and Christina Casa. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, 5919 Franklin Av, Hollywood. Myspace.com/jenandangieshow. Two per fs only: May 28 & June 5 at 8. March on, Dream Normal. Lucid by Proxy presents a new play about a Midwestern family with a son who has just returned, psychologically broken, from the war in Iraq. Written by Jeanette Scherrer. Directed by Patty Ramsey & Jeanette Scherrer. Paul E. Richards Theater Place, 2902 Rowena Av, L.A. Info: (800) 8383006 or Lucidbyproxy.com. Opens Sat at 8. Sats at 8; Suns at 7. No per f June 1. Closes June 22.

MAY 22~28, 2008

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FINAL TWO ! WEEKS

Illustration by David Mamet.

Knitting Factory AlterKnit Lounge, 7021 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 463-0204. Knittingfactory.com. See also Knitting Factory. Thur: MC Lars, K Flay, Peachcake, Rocket, 8. Fri: Pride of Kenya, Charts & Maps, The Nocturnes, Cinder Cone, 8. Sat: Go West Young Man Fun Tree, Fawnhawk, 7:30. Sun: Club Beat It, 9. Tue: A&R Knights: Heartstop, Bluebox, 7. Wed: Raleigh Holmes, The Boxcar 5, 6. Kulak’s Woodshed, 5230 1/2 Laurel Canyon Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 766-9913. Kulakswoodshed.com. Thur: My Record Label Showcase, 8. Fri: Randy Sharp, 8. Sat: James Lee Stanley, 8. Mon: Open Mic, 7. Wed: Acoustic Jam Session, 8. Largo, 432 N Fairfax Av, L.A., (323) 852-1073/1851. Largola.com. Call for showtimes. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Little Temple, 4519 Santa Monica Bl, L.A., (323) 660-4540. Littletemple.com. See also Temple Bar. Shows at 9. Thur-Wed: Call for info. The Malibu Inn Bar and Restaurant, 22969 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, (310) 456-6060. Malibu-inn.com. Shows at 8. Thur: Film School, West Indian Girl. Fri: Ringside. Sat: Shwayze and Cisco, Lisa D Amato. Sun: E3PO, International Farmers, 6; HyperCrush, 10. Tue: Locals Night. McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica, (310) 8284497. Mccabes.com. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Mr. T’s Bowl, 5621 1/2 N Figueroa St, Highland Park, (323) 2567561. Mrtsbowl.tripod.com. Call for showtimes. Thur: Auto-Erotix, Zoopy, Demonika and the Darklings, International Espionage. Fri: Crooked Cowboy, Dogweed, Lungbutter, The Gobshites, The Sly Digs. Sat: Firethorn Record Release Party, Heard, Skywreck, The Sirens. Sun: Ana Lasso, Benefit for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Mon: JMrs. Brown’s Lovely Daughter, Surrender the Pink, The Pocket Rockets, 9. Wed: Unraveled, Earth at Night, Master Cylinder. Portfolio Coffeehouse, 2300 E Fourth St, Long Beach, (562) 434-2486. Portfoliocoffeehouse.com. Sat: Matt Kallish, 9. Wed: Open Mic. Room 5 Lounge, 143 N La Brea Av, second floor, Hollywood, (323) 938-2504. Room5lounge.com. Thur: Mark Franco, 8. Fri: Acoustic Playhouse, 12. Sun: Brad Stewart, Mark Franco, 7. Mon: Acoustic Mondays, 8. Tue: Ry Jarred, Ariana Hall, 8. Wed: Sonia Leigh, Emma Burgess, Tony Lucca, Gabriel Mann, Jay Nash, 7. The Roxy, 9009 Sunset Bl, West Hollywood, (310) 276-2222. Theroxyonsunset.com. Thur: Camp Freddy, Darling Stilletos, Moving Picture Show, 8; In the Rox: Jesse James Kinston, 8. Fri: Teitur, Jessie Baylin, Helgi, 8; In the Rox: Ivan Colon, Steven Luczy, Ry and Cal, Franchot Tone, 8:30. Sat: Mt. Helium, Floater, Chameleon Conductor, Vas Defrans, Valley Circle, 7:30; Dubconscious, Cipes and the People, International Farmers, E3PO, 9. Sun: Russell Brand, 6:30; Late Show: DJ Questlove, 10:30. Wed: Lizz Wright, 8. Safari Sam’s, 5214 Sunset Bl, Hollywood, (323) 666-7267. Safari-sams.com. Thur: Lemon Drop Kick, HDR, Supergiant, LoFI Man. Fri: The Von Bondies, Die! Die! Die!, The Shys, Io Echo. Sat: Battle of the Bands. Sun: Brunch Americana with The Honkys, Exotiki, Pep Torres; Custom Made, Concrete Guerillas, Brothaz Bent, Thirsty Fish, The Crux, 8. Mon: Blackbird, 7. Tue: Virtual Tuesdays, 8. Wed: Dirty, 9. Scene Bar, 806 E Colorado St, Glendale, (818) 241-7029. Thescenebar.com. Shows at 9. Thur-Wed: Call for info. Silverlake Lounge, 2906 Sunset Bl, Silver Lake, (323) 666-2407. Foldsilverlake.com. Thur: Greasy Beats, The Jane Doe’s, 9. Mon: Porterville, The Fizzies, Rose’s Pawn Shop, Sugar Panda, 8:30. Wed: Windy City Gentleman, Globes on Remote, Derek Halet, Manhole and the Manly Men, 8. The Smell, 247 S Main St, L.A., (213) 625-4325. Thesmell.org. Shows at 9. Thur: Bad Dudes, CPC Gangbangs, Experimental Dental School, Wounded Lion. Fri: Vivian Girls, Pocahaunted, Black Black, White and the Writing, Zombelle. Sat: Japanther, The Pharmacy, Bad Dudes, Bipolar Bear. Sun: Nanda Devi, Ox vs. Thunderbird, Green & Wood, Suns Beneath. Wed: Abe Vigoda, Parenthetical Girls, The Pwrfl Power, AU. Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Bl, Silver Lake, (213) 833-2843. Clubspaceland.com. Thur: Les Blanks, Amateurs, The Monolators, Correatown, 8:30. Fri: Illegal Substance, Hockey, The Growlers, 8:30. Sat: You Me and Iowa CD Release Party, 8:30. Sun: Big Bang, 8:30. Mon: Mezzanine Owls, The Quarter After, Exit Music, Asteroid #4, 8:30. Tue: Gran Ronde, 8:30. Wed: Club NME, 8. Tangier Lounge, 2138 Hillhurst Av, L.A., (323) 666-8666. Tangierrestaurant.net. Sun: Wisely, Ben Pringle, Alex and Sam, Mount Righteous, 7:45. Wed: Colorforms, Learning Music. Temple Bar, 1026 Wilshire Bl, Santa Monica, (310) 393-6611. Templebarlive.com. Thur: Jane Carrey Band, Christopher Hawley Rollers, 8:30. Fri: March Fourth Marching Band, Wylde Bunch, Medusa, 9. Sat: Future Funk Ensemble, Hope Kumasi, Steph Jones, Tilly Key, Malik Yuself, 9. Sun: Soul Nights, 9. Mon: Jake Shimabukuro, 8:30. Tue: Suzy Williams and her Solid Senders, Thelonious Dub, 8. Wed: Simply Kat, New Kingdom, Uncle Enrique & The Mariachi Seven, 8:30. Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Bl, West Hollywood, (310) 2766168. Troubadour.com. Thur-Fri: Daryl Hall & John Oates, 9. Sat: Foals, Maps & Atlases, 9. Wed: Superdrag, Kay Hanley, Senry, 8:30. UnUrban Coffee House, 3301 W Pico Bl, Santa Monica, (310) 3150056. Unurban.com. Fri: UnUrban Open Mike, 7:30. Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Bl, West Hollywood, (310) 358-1880. Viperroom.com. Thur-Sun: Closed. Mon: Ride on Rides, Foreign Born, Restaurant, Willoughby, 8:30. Tue: AI, She Died. Wed: Ride On Rides, St. Motel, Vauxhaul Broadcast, Rose Rossie, 8:30. Viva Cantina, 900 Riverside Dr, Burbank, (818) 845-2425. Viva-

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CITYBEAT

Norman’s Ark. Post-Katrina retelling of the Noah’s Ark story that takes place on a roof in the middle of a devastating flood. Music by Glen Roven. Book by Jerome Kass. Directed by Peter Schneider. Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Bl E, Hollywood, (323) 461-3673. Fordtheatres.org. Opens Wed at 8:30. Tues-Suns at 8:30. Closes June 8. Taking Steps. British farce takes place during the pending sale of an old Victorian home that depends on who comes out of which of the home’s doors. Written by Alan Ayckbourn. South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr, Costa Mesa, (714) 708-5555. Scr.org. Opens Fri at 8. Tues-Weds at 7:30; Thurs-Sats at 8; SatsSuns at 2:30. Closes June 15. –Alexander Comisar

JORDEN HALEY

NIGHTBEAT

★★★ CONTINUING ★★★

UPCOMING IN-STORES at AMOEBA!

~ MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE ~

All shows are FREE and ALL AGES! For full calendar of events visit: AMOEBA.COM

Mindless Self Indulgence

NEW DATE!

Thursday • May 22 • 6pm

ADAM GREEN

Adam Green’s fifth solo album, Sixes & Sevens is out now on Rough Trade. His music is reminiscent of Bacharach and Brel, and he’s created his own brand of playful pop while refining it with each release. “A queasy mix of super-sharp realism, clammy surrealism, and elegant melody.” — Mojo Playing live at the Troubadour May 21st!

Wednesday • May 28 • 7pm

It won’t be quite the same, seeing homocore New Yorkers Mindless Self Indulgence headlining their own show, in front of their own baying fans, as it is when they open for anyone else … like supporting some macho metal group, for example. (There’s nothing like the sheer spectacle of this quite swishy electro-punk band baiting a bunch of hostile knuckle-draggers out for a night in the mosh pit.) Taking elements of Soft Cell, Atari Teenage Riot, and PiL and throwing them all into a jarring industrial mélange, MSI has somehow thrived for a decade, leaving their dozens of doubters with gaping, yet strangely inviting, mouths. –Joshua Sindell With the Birthday Massacre, and London After Midnight. 8 p.m. Sat. at the Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (213) 388-1400. Info: avalonhollywood.com.

ISEE HAWKS IN LA Returning to Amoeba to celebrate their new CD Hallowed Ground — out May 20th! “Their songs are rife with mournful social commentary, environmental tragedy, wily humor, outsider guile, and political undercurrent.” — No Depression

Saturday • May 31 • 2pm

LENI STERN Jazz guitarist and musical explorer Leni Stern visits Amoeba to perform songs from her latest release Africa (out now). “...Stern fingerpicks gorgeous, subtle guitar solos that blur the lines between blues, jazz and African sounds.” — Downbeat Magazine Playing live at Cafe Metropol (cafemetropol.com), May 30th & 31st.

★★★ THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS ★★★ THURSDAY, MAY 22 Camp Freddy: The ego-stroking continues as the all-star lineup rolls on. The Roxy. El-P, Dizzee Rascal, Busdriver: Modern American indie hip-hop (El-P, Busdriver) joins forces with Dizzee, London’s mush-mouthed rapper. El Rey Theatre. French Kicks: Art-punk from the home of art-punk, New York City. The Echo. Daryl Hall and John Oates: Back to the clubs, eh? Those chart-topping Philly soul boys make an intimate appearance. Also Fri. The Troubadour. Eugene Mirman, Andy Kindler, Marc Maron: Alternative comedy with Mirman (Flight of the Conchords), Kindler (The Daily Show), and Maron (formerly of Air America Radio). Echoplex. Radar Bros.: Desert-dry space-rock from these local studio rats. Knitting Factory.

Tuesday • June 3 • 6pm WEBCAST LIVE ON AMOEBA.COM

AIMEE MANN The highly esteemed and always amazing singer-songwriter Aimee Mann returns to Amoeba for a live in-store performance and CD signing in celebration of her new CD @#%&*! Smilers — available June 3rd on Superego Records. Playing live June 2nd & 10th at Largo and June 6th at Anaheim House of Blues.

Tuesday • June 17 • 7pm

DEVON WILLIAMS Performing a special live set (w/ string quartet!). His new CD, Carefree is out now on Ba Da Bing Records!“...Williams is unique in that he refuses to be another psych-folk-blues musician in Los Angeles. He’s just not having it. Instead, Williams writes refreshingly light tunes tinged with Westerberg-like self deprecation that could have been fitting on the soundtrack of any My So Called Life episode: songs for being distraught, but laughing about it.”— LA Weekly

TWO WEEKLY DJ SETS! MANDALA • WEDNESDAYS • 7-10PM RESONANCE • FRIDAYS • 8-9:30PM

AMOEBA MUSIC 6400 SUNSET BLVD. (323) 245-6400 MON-SAT 10:30AM-11PM • SUN 11AM-9PM BUY-SELL-TRADE: CDS, LPS, DVDS, VIDEOS, LASERS, TAPES, POSTERS, 45S, 78S, MEMORABILIA & MUCH, MUCH MORE!

AMOEBA.COM

FRIDAY, MAY 23 Oliver Future: Experimental, indie-pop charmers formerly of Austin, Texas, and now they’re locals! Echoplex. The Phenomenauts, The A.K.A.’s: Oakland wackos the Phenomenauts mix ’70s punk, surf rock, and rockabilly; Philly’s the A.K.A.’s are always an enjoyable punk blast as well. Knitting Factory. The Von Bondies, Die! Die! Die!: Detroit’s Von Bondies mix sex with garage rock for cheap thrillz; New Zealand’s Die! Die! Die! meld dissonance and raw fury to mind-warping effect. Safari Sam’s.

SATURDAY, MAY 24 Death Angel: The venerable Bay Area head-bangers have returned with a blazing new disc, Killing Season. With worthy support from God Forbid, and Soilent Green. House of Blues, Sunset Strip. Foals: Oxford, England-based crew with a nice line in minimalist dance-rock. The Troubadour. Jordan Zevon, The Living Sisters (Inara George, Eleni Mandell, Becky Stark): Just two of the names playing this year’s Topanga Days Fair, day one. Topanga Community House.

SUNDAY, MAY 25 Marc Ford & the Neptune Blues Club, Gary Louris, Johnathan Rice: More artists performing at the Topanga Days Fair, day two. Topanga Community House. The Roots, John Densmore’s Tribal Jazz, and more: The first day of the Jazz and Reggae Festival is heavily slanted toward jazz. UCLA Intramural Field. Russell Brand: British TV personality Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) closes a month of shows. The Roxy.

MONDAY, MAY 26 Chevy Metal (Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters), Venice, Everest: Topanga Days Fair, day three. Topanga Community House. Stephen Marley, Capleton, Mr. Vegas, and more: It’s “reggae day” of the Jazz and Reggae Festival. UCLA Intramural Field.

TUESDAY, MAY 27 Jaguar Love: The sound of cats being strangled sounds better than this whine-punk offshoot of the Blood Brothers. The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 Superdrag: Knoxville power-poppers stage a comeback from major-label dumpage. Also Thurs., May 29. The Troubadour. White Rabbits, Happy Hollows: Acclaimed “honky-tonk calypso” sextet White Rabbits are from New York; high-energy local trio the Happy Hallows might just blow them off the stage. The Echo.

FREE PARKING AT THE ARCLIGHT GARAGE! Amoeba validates for an hour of parking with purchase!

–Joshua Sindell

CITYBEAT

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Black & Bluestein. In 1963, a black doctor offers to buy a house in a white, mostly Jewish St. Louis suburb. The house is owned by the developer and his liberal wife, who face opposition from neighbors and relatives. Jerry Mayer’s meatier-than-usual autobiographical tale achieves considerable pungency, despite a few clunky components. The Other Space, Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 Fourth St, Santa Monica. Info: (800) 838-3006 or Santamonicaplayhouse.com. Sats at 8. No perfs May 24. Closes May 31. (Don Shirley) Blue Night in the Heart of the West. Brit writer James Stock’s semi-coherent 1991 play is a foreigner’s funhouse view of a bitter, gun-totin’, religion-clinging America. The caricatures of a casually incestuous mother (Hepburn Jamieson) and son (Benjamin Burdick) provide the most vivid moments in Amanda Weier’s enterprising staging. Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood, (323) 882-6912. Openfist.org. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 7. Closes June 21. (DS) Coffee Will Make You Black. A black Chicago girl (irresistible Diona Reasonover) wanders precariously through the racial and sexual revelations and revolutions of the ’60s in Michael Shepperd’s adaptation of April Sinclair’s novel, directed by Nataki Garrett. Although the male roles are cast too old, the play’s many awakenings feel fresh and vital. Celebration Theatre, 7051-B Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood. Info: (323) 957-1884 or Celebrationtheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes May 25. (DS) Compleat Female Stage Beauty. The new Rogue Machine company rearranged this venue for Jeffrey Hatcher’s account of the 1660s rise of actresses on the London stage and the fall of an actor (Michael Traynor) who previously played women’s roles. John Perrin Flynn’s staging seldom flags, but the mix of modern and period design falls flat. Rogue Machine in Theatre Theater, 5041 Pico Bl, L.A., (323) 960-7726. Roguemachinetheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 1. (DS) The Concept of Remainders. A middle-aged couple (Dan Gilvezan, Suzanne Ford) agrees to permit infidelity for 10 days, not suspecting that they might try out the same partner – or emerge with no one. One key coupling is announced, not seen, in Richard Martin Hirsch’s script, which lowers the plausibility of Mark L. Taylor’s likable staging. The Chandler Studio Theatre Center, 12443 Chandler Bl, North Hollywood, (800) 838-3006. Theprodco.com. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes May 30. (DS) Don Juan. Molière’s version of the legendary rake’s story is boldly admiring, and it seems fairly up-to-date in Michael Michetti’s quasi-modernist staging of Richard Nelson’s translation. Elijah Alexander and JD Cullum, per fectly cast as Don Juan and his skeptical valet, and the entire cast deliver savvy timing and perceptive per formances. A Noise Within, 234 S Brand Bl, Glendale, (818) 240-0910 x1. Anoisewithin.org. Call for performance schedule. Closes May 24. (DS) Emergency. Within 80 minutes, Daniel Beaty plays 43 characters who react to the sudden emergence of an old slave ship from the river next to the Statue of Liberty. Beaty’s a convincing chameleon, but his script is awfully shallow, largely neglecting the character who should be the protagonist so that Beaty can show off his actor’s versatility. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Av, Westwood, (310) 208-5454. Geffenplayhouse.com. Tues-Thurs at 7:30; Fris at 8; Sats at 4 & 8:30; Suns at 2 & 7. Closes June 1. (DS) The Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams’s great memor y play springs to vibrant life yet again in Brian Kite’s atmospheric interpretation, narrated with tender care by Toby Meuli as Williams’s alter ego. Lori Berg plays his domineering mother, Tawny Mertes his sensitive sister, and Stephen Van Dorn is a Gentleman Caller with a calculated laugh. Actors Co-op at Crossley Terrace Theatre, 1760 N Gower St, Hollywood, (323) 4628460. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2:30. Closes June 8. (DS) Hillary Agonistes. President Hillary Clinton (Priscilla Barnes) – whose daughter is now a Muslim by marriage – is stumped by the inexplicable disappearance of 65 million people, including Bill. Nick Salamone’s fantasy seems awfully arbitrary, and its shelf life has expired, despite Jon Lawrence Rivera’s meticulous direction for Playwrights’Arena. Playwrights’ Arena at studio/stage, 520 N Western Av, L.A. Info: (213) 627-4473 or Playwrightsarena.org. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 7. Closes June 1. (DS) A House With No Walls. Thomas Gibbons’s perceptively probing drama is set in two eras: among George Washington’s slaves in 1796 and in the present, when a controversy erupts during the construction of a museum on the site of Washington’s presidential home in Philadelphia. Ben Guillory’s staging for Robey Theatre Company is 90% solid. The New LATC, Theater 2, 514 S Spring St, downtown L.A. Info: (213) 489-7402 or Robeytheatrecompany.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 15. (DS) I’d Rather Be Right. In this pleasantly daffy Rodgers/Hart/Kaufman/Hart musical satire, a time capsule from 1937, FDR (Joe Joyce) encounters a couple in Central Park who can’t wed until he balances the federal budget. FDR and his cabinet put on their thinking caps. William Mead’s little production for By George captures the show’s sunny spirit. Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Bl., Hollywood, (323) 960-4429. Plays411.com/bygeorge. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 1. (DS) Lady. Craig Wright depicts three longtime friends, now bitter and armed, hunting in Illinois. Dyson (Shawn Michael Patrick) resents Graham (Mark Doerr), whom he helped elect to Congress, for inspiring Dyson’s son to join the Marines. Kenny (Matt Kirkwood) escapes a sick wife via weed and TV. Scott Alan Smith achieves the requisite tension. The Road Theatre Company, 5108 Lankershim Bl, North Hollywood, (866) 811-4111. Roadtheatre.org. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 14. (DS) The Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams. In Jack Heller’s staging of the writer’s most explicitly gay-themed script, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, a ’50s French Quarter designer (Brian Foyster) tries to seduce a ruggedly straight sailor (Chris Rydell). The brief curtain raisers are Mister Paradise and The Palooka. All are well done. Davidson/Valentini Theatre, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, 1125 McCadden Pl, Hollywood, (323) 8607300. Lagaycenter.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 7. No perfs May 30-June 1. Closes June 15. (DS) The Mission (Accomplished). Charles Duncombe injects material about the American “mission” in Iraq into Heiner Müller’s play about three French revolutionaries whose mission was to instigate a slave rebellion in 1798 Jamaica. Frederíque Michel’s staging is more ar tfully coordinated than the wandering narratives, which lack a cumulative power. City Garage, 1340 1/2 4th St, Santa Monica, (310) 319-9939. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 5:30. Closes June 1. (DS)

GLEN PAGE/HBO

TV EYE

Back to the Dimpled Chad

To watch a political drama on TV in which the story is simply told without any mendacious attempts at quasi-fairness or faux-balance is as refreshing as a breeze from a spring mountain, and this is exactly the case with HBO’s Recount. Recount is the story of the nightmare five weeks during which the ruthless James Baker (played by a close-to-Satanic Tom Wilkinson) combined with the near-insane Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (a majestic portrayal of psychotic vanity by the perfect Laura Dern), and the Supreme Court of the United States to steal the 2000 presidential election from Al Gore and initiate these eight long years of the George W. horrorshow. Facing off against these seemingly impossible odds are a bitterly desperate Kevin DENIS LEARY AND Spacey as Ron Klain, Gore’s fallen-from-favor Chief of Staff, and the loudly cursing Denis Leary as Michael Whouley, the Gore campaign’s national field director. The stoKEVIN SPACEY ry is, of course, a forgone conclusion. We only have to look to the White House to ~ know how it all came out, but writer Danny Strong and director Jay Roach are able to maintain a wholly plausible tension, and, as we go back to the nightmare of court battles over hanging chads and disputed Pat Buchanan votes, we can still suspend disbelief and believe the good guys might just win in the end, even when we know in our hearts and our recent history that it’s completely impossible. –Mick Farren HBO, Sun. at 9 p.m.

The Night of the Iguana. An ex-minister turned tour guide (Geoff Elliott), a newly widowed hotel proprietor (Deborah Strang), and a genteel pair of entrepreneurial wanderers (Jill Hill and Tom Fitzpatrick) enliven a Mexican outpost in Michael Murray’s impeccable staging of the Tennessee Williams play, complete with German tourists. A Noise Within, 234 S Brand Bl, Glendale, (818) 240-0910 x1. Anoisewithin.org. Call for per formance schedule. Closes May 25. (DS) Of Mice and Men. Paul Lazarus turns John Steinbeck’s California farm workers into Mexican migrants in 1942, as the bracero treaty draws Mexicans northward. But why do the Mexicans have Anglo names and speak only a few Spanish phrases? George (David Noroña) and Lennie (Al Espinosa) jerk a tear or two, but the concept is half-hearted. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S El Molino Av, Pasadena, (626) 356-7529. Pasadenaplayhouse.org. Tues-Fris at 8; Sats at 4 & 8; Suns at 2 & 7. Closes June 8. (DS) 1001. Jason Grote’s dreamscape morphs a contemporary Manhattan couple – Palestinian woman and Jewish man – into Scheherazade and her king, supplemented by a parade of minor characters and images. Like most dreams, it’s vivid in the moment but easy to forget in the absence of more coherent realworld connections. Michael Michetti directs. Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 N Mentor Av, Pasadena, (626) 683-6883. Bostoncourt.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 8. (DS) Park Your Car in Harvard Yard. A dying, retired teacher (Joseph Ruskin) unwittingly hires an ex-student he flunked (Jacqueline Schultz) as his housekeeper in Hope Alexander’s revival of Israel Horovitz’s two-hander. Horovitz recorded a deejay’s amusing voiceovers. Ruskin replicates the old man’s halting speech

a little too closely. International City Theatre at Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E Ocean Bl, Long Beach, (562) 4364610. Ictlongbeach.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes May 25. (DS) Pest Control. An exterminator (Darren Ritchie) in 1979 New York is mistaken for a hit man in this strained, pointless musical. Three composers added too many pop and rap songs (lyrics by Scott DeTurk) to John Jay Moores’s cluttered book (lyrics by Scott DeTurk). James Mellon’s cast includes top talent (Cleavant Derricks, Beth Malone). NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 508-7101. Thenohoartscenter.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 15. (DS) Point Break Live! The New Rock Theater takeoff on the 1991 Hollywood thriller Point Break adds a tsunami of comedy to the original story, about an FBI agent (who’s cast nightly from the audience and gets to read cue cards) investigating a gang of bankrobbing L.A. sur fers. Wicked caricatures and bare-bones action sequences abound. Charlie O’s in the Alexandria Hotel, 501 S Spring St, downtown L.A., (866) 811-4111. Theatermania.com. Sats-Suns at 7. (DS) Red Dog Howls. A 91-year-old woman (Kathleen Chalfant) is found by a grandson (Matthew Rauch) who never knew about her and eventually tells him a story from the Armenian genocide that feels about as real as a Grimm’s fairy tale in Alexander Dinelaris’s earnestly melodramatic script. Michael Peretzian’s staging is relentless. El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 508-2400. Elportaltheatre.com. Weds-Fris at 8; Sats at 3 and 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 15. (DS) Saturday Night at the Palace. In apar theid-afflicted South Africa, two young white guys (Shawn Lee, Eric Pargac) invade a

burger joint just as the Zulu owner (Sean Blakemore) is trying to close. Be patient as you decipher the accented English, Zulu, and Afrikaans in Paul Slabolepszy’s play. The ending is combustible, as staged by Dámaso Rodriguez. Carrie Hamilton Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S El Molino Av, Pasadena, (626) 7927116. Furioustheatre.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 7:30. Closes May 31. (DS) The Sunshine Boys. Jeffrey Hayden’s intimate revival brings out the best in Neil Simon’s comedy about two estranged ex-comedy partners (Hal Linden, Allan Miller) who are encouraged to re-unite for a TV special by the grumpier geezer’s agent and nephew (Eddie Kehler). Linden’s impeccable timing is a thing of beauty. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S Sepulveda Bl, L.A., (310) 477-2055. Odysseytheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. May 25 at 7 only. Closes June 1. (DS) The Sweetest Swing in Baseball. A suicidal artist (CB Spencer) enjoys her time in a mental hospital so much, she pretends to believe she’s Darryl Strawberry so her insurance will extend her stay. Yeah, right. Credibility aside, Ross Kramer’s staging of Rebecca Gilman’s script is a lively housewarming for West Coast Ensemble’s latest home. El Centro Theater, 804 N El Centro Av, Hollywood, (323) 906-2500. Wcensemble.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 8. (DS) The Time of Your Life. Matt McKenzie’s revival of William Saroyan’s panoramic look at a seedy barroom in 1939 San Francisco has some fine per formances and moments but loses steam in some of the logier scenes, at least when compared to last year’s Open Fist production. Robb Derringer is gruffly authoritative as the free-spending protagonist. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice, (310) 822-8392. Pacificresidenttheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 1. (DS) Trying. Alan Mandell is unforgettable as former bigwig Francis Biddle, approaching death in 1967-68 in his Georgetown office. Rebecca Mozo is wonder ful as his new, 25-year-old secretary, trying to get along with her querulous boss while sorting out her own life. Cameron Watson’s staging of Joanna McClelland Glass’s play is utterly engaging. Colony Theatre, 555 N Third St, Burbank, (818) 558-7000. Colonytheatre.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2 and 7. Closes May 25. (DS) Two Unrelated Plays. See Stage feature review. Wicked. New actors occupy four major roles in the Stephen Schwartz/Winnie Holzman musical steamroller about the form-

ative years of Oz’s witches. Most important are Caissie Levy as a crackerjack Elphaba and Jo Anne Worley, per fectly suited to the overbearing cackles of Madame Morrible. I like the show more each time I see it. Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (213) 365-3500. BroadwayLA.org. Call for performance schedule. Closes Jan 11. (DS)

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Week of May 22 ARIES

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny

(March 21-April 19)

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22)

After working for years in various jobs at San Francisco TV station KTVU, Frank Sommerville was promoted to the top of the heap -- lead anchorman of the 10 o'clock news program. He promised that his new power wouldn't make him lazy or complacent. "Nobody will out-curious me," he bragged. I hope you will adopt the same motto for the foreseeable future, Aries. Your world needs you to be intensely inquisitive about what's transpiring. Uncoincidentally, asking lots of smart questions (and even some dumb ones) will also be the best possible thing you can do for your mental health.

Guerrilla gardening is my favorite kind of prank: a benevolent one. The practitioners of this growing global movement are fertility agitators who sneak onto unused fields under cover of broad daylight, often in urban landscapes, and cultivate flowers, herbs, and food crops. In accordance with the astrological omens, I recommend that you experiment with a metaphorically similar project in the upcoming weeks. Without necessarily seeking permission or expecting appreciation, cultivate beauty and value in a place that's neglected or going to waste.

TAURUS

VIRGO

(April 20-May 20)

"The Irish don't know what they want and are prepared to fight for it," said British attorney Sidney Littlewood. I don't endorse that assertion, since it's an offensive ethnic stereotype, but I do want to borrow it to create a cautionary message for you. Please make sure that in the upcoming weeks no one can say to you, "You don't know what you want and yet you are prepared to fight for it." I definitely hope you aggressively champion an idea you believe in or a dream you care about, but you should get clearer about what exactly it is.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20)

Giuseppe Rebaudi and Silvie Basain started dating in 1952. This year they finally decided to take the next step. After a 56-year courtship, the 101-yearold Italian man wed his 98-year-old girlfriend. I predict that a comparable event will bless your love life in the second half of 2008, Gemini. Some romantic development that has been in the works for a long time will finally ripen into its full expression. Expect news about this soon.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22)

If you're normal, you periodically feel little surges of anger that you don't express. Over time they may accumulate into a mass of blind rage that can hurt innocent bystanders, damage your relationships, and tempt you to punch holes in walls. Is there a way to keep this from happening? Yes, there is: It's my patented Laughing Tantrum Release Therapy, a five-minute ritual that you perform once a week in a private place with no witnesses. For four minutes, you fume, seethe, curse, and yell. For the final 60 seconds, you compel yourself to laugh uncontrollably. This week would be an excellent time to start integrating Laughing Tantrum Release Therapy into your routine.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

"Dear Star-Reader Brezsny: You are the only wizard who can save me. I have a bad job -- just $72,000 a year -- plus a lover who's not all that cute and a home that's not worth as much as it used to be. My health is good but I hate my nose and ass. Can't afford a BMW or a vacation to Spain. My world is unraveling! Hope is fading! Please tell me what to do! - Virgo on the Verge." Dear On the Verge: I suggest that you temporarily suspend your strident yearning. This is one time when it's important to cultivate more appreciation for what you actually have. I urge you and all Virgos to turn your attention away from what you think you lack, and devote your psychic energy to loving what is.

LIBRA

you don't believe everything it tells you. In conclusion, Scorpio, get ready for entertaining adventures that will range from being a bit creepy to totally delicious.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

During America's first war on Iraq in 1991, I prophesied that one day there'd be a Disneyland in Baghdad. It was a surrealistically sardonic send-up of my native country's imperialism. But now, 17 years later, my absurd prediction is coming true. The same American company that designed the original Disneyland has announced plans to build the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience. If workers survive bombing, looting, and sniper fire, the first part of the 50-acre amusement park will open this year. While I question whether building a monument to fun is a good idea in an actual war zone, it's an excellent metaphor for you to apply to your personal life. Even if you can't extinguish a certain conflict that has been raging, try to introduce a spirit of play into the proceedings.

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

I'm issuing a too-much-of-a-good-thing warning. Soaking up too much pleasure could dilute the value of your bliss. Expressing too much personal power could scare away valuable allies who are competent but not entirely confident. Pushing too hard on behalf of your creative pragmatism could subtly undermine the labor of love you've worked so hard on. Therefore, Capricorn, please accept my invitation to enjoy a period of rest and assimilation. You can return later for another round of pure intensity.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Studies show that at least half the population would give up sex for a few months if they'd be rewarded for their abstinence with a free 60-inch plasma TV. But if you're offered a deal like that anytime soon, Aquarius, I suggest you reject it. According to my analysis of the omens, it will be crucial to your mental, physical, and spiritual health to have regular erotic experiences during the coming weeks. If you don't have a partner, have fun with your invisible muse, the angel in your dreams, or your personal version of God or Goddess.

PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20)

A professional dominatrix I know says that many of her clients are men whose jobs give them excessive authority over other people. When she's bossing around these honchos, she sees herself as an agent of karmic correction, counteracting a dangerous lopsidedness in their psyches. I bring this up, Pisces, because you're in a phase when you should rectify any imbalance of power that exists in your own sphere. If you're a swaggering alpha male or female, put in a stint as a humble servant. If you're normally a timid soul, flex your willpower with feisty abandon. If you're neither a control freak nor a doormat -- and thus have no karma to balance -- spend quality time meditating on how to gain more power over the wild ebbs and flows of your imagination.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Even if you're not sick, you need some medicine. What kind of medicine? The kind that can transform what's pretty good about your life into something that's really great; the kind that will super-animate your merely average efforts and blast you free of any lackadaisical attitudes you've come to accept as reasonable. This medicine won't come in the form of a pill or a potion, but rather will be produced by your own body if and when you slip away from your comfort zone and go out to play in the frontier. Be your own doctor, Libra. Break your own trance. Crack your own code. Escape your own mind games.

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Your life in the coming weeks may resemble a dream of sailing deep beneath the waves in a yellow submarine where a nonstop party is going on. It'll be as if you're plowing through deep, heavy, murky waters inside a brightly-lit high-tech vessel that is controlled by slightly chaotic connoisseurs of fun. You may feel a bit claustrophobic, but that could encourage your imagination to run wild, which will be a good thing as long as

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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" "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"

MAY 22~28, 2008

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6220 WEST 3RD STREET LOS ANGELES, CA 90036

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Ads may be submitted via email to classifieds@lacitybeat.com Deadline: Mondays 5pm Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9a.m. - 5p.m. Address: 5209 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036

CLASSIFIED ADS • JobSmart • Apartment Rentals • Mind, Body, Spirit • Adult Entertainment • BACKBEAT

Post Your Free Online Ad at www.lacitylist.com TERMS AND CONDITIONS Refunds cannot be granted for any reason. Adjustments will be credited to the advertiser’s account toward future classifieds placement only. We proof carefully, but even so, mistakes can occur. Report errors at once, as the CityBeat will not be responsible for errors continuing beyond the first printing. Adjustment for error is limited to re-publication. In any event, liability for errors (or omissions) shall not exceed the cost of space occupied by such an error (or omission). All advertising is taken subject to review by the Publisher in accordance with the CityBeats Standard of Acceptance. The CityBeat reserves the right to edit, properly categorize or decline any ad without comment or appeal.

Prepayment required for placement.

ApartmentRentals

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CANVAS L.A. BEAUTIFUL FLATS : Ultimate living downtown NOW LEASING starting @ $1810 Screening room, indoor social lounge, Luxurious Residents club with billiards,fireplaces Studio, 1,2 and 3 bdr. flats. CALL 1-888-552-6119. www.canvasla-apts.com TIMELESS BEAUTY MEETS MODERN HEARTHROB! Main Mercantile lofts built in 1907 in the historic core of Downtown, Los Angeles offer a phenomenal and cre-

ative living space to the discerning renter. Thirty five remarkable units make up the community ranging in size from 1,162 to 1,789 square feet. A pet friendly community with secure underground parking, Main Merc is one of Downtown L.A.’s hottest new Lifestyle properties. Close to Fashion District, Nightlife, Art & Theatres, Grocery Markets & the Metro. www.mainmerc. com. Email: mainmerc@ gmail.com. Call Josh for a Tour: (323) 605-3225. N HOLLYWOOD: 818-9801277. 1 BD $1150. Newer Bldg. Totally Remodeled. Gated entry & parking, AC, fridge, stove, dw, Pool, Laundry Room, BBQ Area. 6253 Lankershim

CITYBEAT

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N HOLLYWOOD: 818-9801277. 1 BD $1150. Newer Bldg. Totally Remodeled. Gated entry & parking, AC, fridge, stove, dw, Pool, Laundry Room, BBQ Area. 6253 Lankershim KOREATOWN: 213-384-7047 . $905+up Large single, ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED, Totally remodeled. A/C, Fridge, stove, refrigerator, ceramic tiles. Gated Entry, Gated Parking Available. Elevator, Laundry room. 509 S Manhattan Pl. 213-384-7047 KOREATOWN: 213-3896631. Bachelors $800 & up. ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED. Remodeled, refrigerator, Pool, Gated Entry. Laundry Room, Gated Parking Available. 245 S Reno St.

MAY 22~28, 2008

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MISSION HILLS: 818-9203753. Single $860+up. 1BD $1155. Newer building, totally remodeled, gated entry & parking, A/C, Dishwasher, Stove, Fridge, Laundry room, Balconies. 9929 Sepulveda Blvd. NO HO ARTS DISTRICT LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE: Single $945, Jr 1 BD $985+up. ALL UTILITIES PAID, Totally remodeled. A/C, Fridge, stove. Laundry, Balcony, Ceramic tile, Gated Entry. & Parking. 5751 Camellia Ave. 818-7616620. 2 WEEKS FREE WITH ONE YEAR LEASE TARZANA: 818-708-9554. $895 Large Jr One Bedrooms, Totally Remodeled, Air Cond, Fridge. Pool, Gated Parking & Entry, Laundry Room, No Pets. ASK ABOUT

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THE PLACE TO STAY IS PALMS/ WEST LA! Single $1150+up. 1BD $1350+up. Newer Building, Gated Entry & Subterranean Parking, 2 Elevators, Air Cond. Fridge, Stove, D/W, Laundry Room, 3848 Overland . 310-8393647

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JobSmart

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MedicalResearch

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For those who are over the age of 60 and who are feeling stressed or depressed, hopeless, sad, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, anxiety, or insomnia. UCLA is conducting a 4-month research study using a study drug and placebo (an inactive substance) in conjunction with Tai Chi Chih (a set of slow-paced movements) or health education. If you are not currently receiving any psychiatric treatment with effective medications, you may qualify. Medical and psychiatric evaluations and limited physical exams are provided as part of the study. Evaluations and study drug are provided at no charge.

For more information, call UCLA at

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MAY 22~28, 2008

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Summer in Los Angeles is a time for kicking back and relaxing but it is also a time for action! It is a time for cool days in the water and warm nights on the town.

If so, you may be eligible to participate in a Clinical research study. Study examinations, procedures, and investigational medication will be provided to you at no cost. If you or someone you know would like to participate in this study please contact:

In this special issue of CityBeat we help our readers get their summer off to a great start!

Dr. Timothy Simmons at 310-674-0144 West Gastroenterology Medical Group 8110 Airport Blvd. (At La Tijera) Los Angeles, CA 90045

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lacitylist.com

To Advertise Call 323-938-1001

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Find What You Are Looking For?

model: sandywasko.com

lacitylist.com

WOW!

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1 HR MASSAGE $35.00

S U N D AY S I G N I N G M AY 1 8 t h X X X P O R N S TA R A S H LY N N B R O O K E 8PM - MIDNIGHT

1043 E.Green St. Pasadena (between Catalina & Wilson)

(626)396-1848

DANCES ALWAYS 4 MINUTES LONG

82 N. Hill Pasadena (between Colorado & Walnut)

COME WATCH YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS AND RACING ON OUR 50" TV'S

(626)395-9787 Open 7 Days • 10am - 9pm GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

SUN-MON $10 DANCES ALL DAY & NIGHT

TELEPHONE ACTRESS Make money working from your own home!! Well established Entertainment Co. is in search of reliable, upbeat, open-minded individuals with great phone voice quality, for 1-on-1 phone conversations. Hourly pay plus bonus! FT/PT shifts available.

Call

(818) 558-7522

WEDS $150 1/2 HR. VIP DANCES

SEXY ASIAN MISTRESS * EROTIC MASSAGE * FOOT+BODY WORSHIP * SENSUAL2STRICT DOMINATION * FETISH/FANTASY * GSPOT MASSAGE/TOYPLAY

Brandy *82 310-497-3636

MAY 22~28, 2008

HOT TICKET TUES & Thursday FREE DRINKS & 2 FOR 1 DANCES PORNO PARTY WEEKENDS FREE XXX DVDs

12317 BRANFORD ST.

FREESunday-Thursday. ADMISSION!

SUN VALLEY • 818.890.7777

1 Drink Minimum WITH THIS COUPON

Friday & Saturday. until 8 PM EXCLUDING SPECIAL PROMOTIONS - LACB

ATM & ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED HOURS: MON-THURS 12PM-2AM •FRI-SAT 12PM-4AM/SUN 4PM-2AM

www.VintageStripClub.com

45

C M Y K

CITYBEAT

AdultEntertainment

lacitylist.com

To Advertise Call 323-938-1001 Sensual Massage

COMPLIMENTARY RUBDOWNS: Afro-Asian Male, Straight, No Drugs offering rubdowns for women only. Returning to industry. No charge/Tips accepted. Bob (310) 988-5225 WE LIKE SEX!! www. 900talkview.com, 900-4869700 or 800-680-5551. Only $1.99-4.99 per minute. You must be 18+ to call.

MEN!!! GET PAID TODAY!!! Need to make money NOW? Sierra Blue Internet is seeking young, attractive men for adult web, print, and video work. Flexible schedules. Make up to $500 - $1000. For more information or to set up an interview, please call us at (619) 295-5729, email mod els@sdtalent.com or visit our website at http://www.sd talent.com.

Find What You Are Looking For?

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Anna

Swedish/French

ENTERTAINMENT AND

Beautiful Busty Blonde Lady Full Body Massage 7 Fantasies + Prostate Stimulation 5’ 6” 127 lbs, 42DD

PARTY

RAVISHING REDHEAD: Relax and enjoy an exhilarating Rub Down in beautiful, comfortable surroundings. CALL ME 818-799-7575

Adult Employment

FEEL THE ENERGY!

Beautiful, Canadian Touch

Caring, Nurturing, Sensual/ Therapeutic Ecstacy

Abigail (626) 786-0586

Swedish & Sports Massage

You’ll feel like a Million!!!

Nice, Safe, Upscale

323-661-1093 Hollywood/Los Feliz/ Melrose Area

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Chinese Sunflowers Healing Hands, Warm Heart • Acupuncture • Acupressure • Swedish Oil Massage • Shower Available • Clean room very cozy

HOTLINE

323.960.2000

$50/hr. $35 1/2 hr. w/Ad

7 Days 10am - 9pm 178 W. Live Oak Ave, Arcadia 91007

“If you don’t like these parties, you’re crazy.”

Cross streets – El Monte between Baldwin & Sta Anita

626-294-2930 • Welcome Walk-in

www.partyhotline.net

(non-sexual)

SEX SELLS! MAKE BIG $$$ ONLINE WITH AN ADULT WEB SITE

NORTH HOLLYWOOD Studio Masseuse

$1.98/Min. 18+

1-800-410-6749

gives fabulous therapy to all!

$60 FLAT RATE

1-888-626-3888

818-508-6773

www.BigHitters.com

& The Men That Adore Them! e Browse & Record Ads FREE! e Put the fun back into dating! e Meet REAL people in your local area! (213) 316-0336 (310) 873-0573 (323) 451-1043

(562) 304-1018 (818) 942-1103 (626) 940-0671

Close Encounters! Browse ads FREE! Record ads FREE! Talk 1-On-1 in our Live Chatroom! MEN CALL! (213) 316-0780 (310) 873-0533 (323) 648-1149 (562) 304-1016 (626) 940-0845 (661) 361-1313 (818) 861-0018 (909) 380-8691 (951) 436-3496 LADIES CALL! (213) 316-0331 (310) 873-0532 (323) 648-1148 (562) 304-1015 "GENTLEMEN!! Receive FREE (626) 722-1160 O N E - H O U R c a l l i n g t i m e w i t h e a c h (661) 361-1312 p u r c h a s e ! L e a v e c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e (818) 861-1030 message from Main Menu." (909) 663-0233 (951) 436-3495 We do not pre-screen callers and assumes no responsibility for personal meetings Automated People Connection Incorporated

CITYBEAT

46

C M Y K

MAY 22~28, 2008

lacitylist.com

lacitylist.com

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Be on the BACKBEAT 323.938.1001 THERE IS SOMETHING YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT LIFE...

HAVE YOU BEEN FIRED? SEXUALLY HARASSED? DISCRIMINATED AT WORK? UNPAID WAGES & OVERTIME?

The knowing of which will dramatically change your life.

MONEYLOVEANDHAPPINESS.COM

Law Offices of Frank Hakim FREE CONSULTATION: (310) 789-2240

UCLA ADOLESCENT QUIT SMOKING STUDY Do you smoke? Do you want to quit?

SAVE $2.00 PER GALLON OF GAS

Are you 14-21 years of age?

For more information, please call 310-794-4962

New Coupon book save you $1000’s on gas, send a self addressed envelope + $29.00 (money order only) to John Hinton,

PO BOX 82382, LA, CA 90082

ELEGANT CANVAS LA LOFTS NOW LEASING BRAND NEW

RELAXING THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE & CALMING PEDICURE

Ultimate living downtown NOW LEASING starting @$1810 Screening room, indoor social lounge, Luxurious Residents club with billiards,fireplaces Studio, 1,2 and 3 bdr. flats.

Relief for tired feet, goddess style! ReEnergizing treatment for men & women, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., discount w/ad on 1st visit.

(323) 353-9756

CALL 1-888-552-6119 www.canvasla-apts.com

PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOPTION?

ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS IN 111 ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPERS LIKE THIS ONE

Talk with caring agency specializing in matching Birthmothers with Families nationwide. LIVING EXPENSES PAID. Call 24/7 Abby's One True Gift Adoptions

Over 6 million circulation every week for $1200. No adult ads. Call Stephanie at

202-289-8484. (AAN CAN)

866-413-6293 (AAN CAN)

***$700,-$800,000 FREE CASH GRANTS/ PROGRAMS-2008!

HOMES FOR $30,000.

Personal bills, School, Business/ Housing. Approx. $49 billion unclaimed 2007! Almost Everyone Qualifies! Live Operators 1-800-592-0362 Ext. 235. (AAN CAN)

Buy foreclosures! Must sell now! 1-4 bedrooms. For listings, call

1-800-903-7136. (AAN CAN)

MEDIA MAKE-UP ARTISTS

ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS

earn up to $500/day for television, CD/videos, film, fashion. One week course in Los Angeles while building portfolio.

in 111 alternative newspapers like this one. Over 6 million circulation every week for $1200. No adult ads. Call Stephanie at

Brochure 310-364-0665 http://www.MediaMakeupArtists.com

202-289-8484. (AAN CAN)

HELP WANTED

DATA ENTRY PROCESSORS

Earn Extra income assembling CD cases from Home. Start Immediately. No Experience Necessary.

Needed! Earn $3,500-$5,000 Weekly Working from Home! Guaranteed Paychecks! No Experience Necessary! Positions Available Today! Register Online Now!

1-800-405-7619 ext. 150 http://www.easywork-greatpay.com (AAN CAN)

http://www.BigPayWork.com (AAN CAN)

ALL AREAS - ROOMMATES.COM

HELP WANTED

Earn Extra income assembling CD cases from Home. Start Immediately. No Experience Necessary.

1-800-405-7619 ext. 150 http://www.easywork-greatpay.com

POST OFFICE NOW HIRING!

Coverage pay $20/hr or $57K/yr includes Federal Benefits and OT. Placed by adSource, not affiliated w/ USPS who hires.

1-866-616-7019. (AAN CAN)

• Need a Warrant Recalled? • Want to Smoke Pot on Probation? • All Criminal Defense, from Drugs to Murder.

Harvard Law, Affordable

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Earn $3,500-$5000 Weekly Processing Company Refunds Online! Guaranteed Paychecks! No Experience Needed! Positions Available Today! Register Online Now!

www.RebateWork.com (AAN CAN)

Office: 323-653-1850 (Ok to call from custody, 24-hours services)

MAY 22~28, 2008

C M Y K

47

CITYBEAT

Browse hundreds of online listings with photos and maps. Find your roommate with a click of the mouse! VISIT: WWW.ROOMMATES.COM.

HOMES FOR $30,000

Buy foreclosures! Must sell now! 1-4 bedrooms. For listings, call 1-800-903-7136.

REASONABLE PRICE, COME ON IN AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. FURNITURE 4 LESS Why pay for more, when you can pay for less. The finest furnitures in town. OPEN 7 days a week.

11142 Whittier Blvd. Whittier, CA 90606. Call Now! 562.695.4977

Hear it. Love it. ID it. Find song names using V CAST Song ID. Hear a song. Identify it. Download it as a full song, Ringtone or Ringback Tone. Right to your V CAST phone. Exclusively from Verizon Wireless. Try out V CAST Song ID NOW at verizonwireless.com/idasong and identify the hot new track from Natasha Bedingfield. You could win two tickets to the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.* y contest ends May y 31! Hurry,

The Voyager™ by LG

V CAST Song ID: V CAST Music phone & per song charges req’d; airtime may apply. Offers & coverage, varying by service, not available everywhere. Screen images simulated. *No purchase necessary. Must be 13 years or older and a legal resident of the United States to enter. Void where prohibited. V CAST Song ID may be subject to data transport charges and/or airtime. Contest ends 5/31/08. Sweeps begins at 12:00:01 AM EST on March 1, 2008 and ends at 11:59:59 PM EST on May 31, 2008. Subject to Full Official Rules available at verizonwireless.com/idasong or by sending a SASE to: VZW VMA Song ID Rules, c/o Contest Department, Vibes Media, 205 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 2300, Chicago, IL 60606. VT residents may omit postage. Voyager™ is a trademark of Plantronics, Inc. used under license by Verizon Wireless. © 2008 Verizon Wireless.

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