Things To Do In Los Angeles: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

TTDILA COMICS #41 - White with Red

by ARG

click comic to expand.

Happy Halloween!
Enjoy the comic and here's a special treat.
argtoons.com
My own website.

Enjoy the comic.

Happy Halloween LA!

Here's the last time were posting the Halloween guides. Making something to do possible for Halloween. Everything happening in LA from haunts at Universal to parties happening downtown is all here.

As our yearly tradition, we put up the same films we always put up at this time: Murder Balloon and Time Machine, they're both scary for other reason. Murder Balloon is unwatchable after the first 2 minutes.

Halloween Gaming Episode

Here's our Halloween episode of Things To Do In Games where James and Jonathan play Alien Isolation and The Evil Within if you missed it.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Damn You Slick Marketing, Amiibos!

This kids mom is a milf. Sorry... oh, this is a brand new commercial explains what amiibo's do in Smash-get you to buy amiibos.

Halloween Update: Some quick haunts

-Last-Minute Recommendations – Home Haunts

Uzumaki (3-in-1, Deluxe Edition)

Before he's creepy Pokemon work Junji Ito was into spirals. How can spirals be creepy? Anything that this man writes and draws can be creepy, he's a manga horror artist supreme. You can get his entire collection of spiral-inducing fears in Uzumaki (3-in-1, Deluxe Edition), which captures every bit of mayhem as a small town spirals in to oblivion. Kirie Goshima sees her town devolve into madness and horror story after horror story comes true all due to the Uzumkai (spirals) in town. Her boyfriend's Mom starts losing it and tries to get the spirals out of her head; her little brother turns into a snails...and are those babies talking?

HollyShorts Horror Nights

Tonight your in for some cinema scares with the HollyShorts Horror Nights. There's an anthology of shorts to see at the Chinese, tonight only. Do you dare get sucked in for $15?

HollyShorts Horror Nights
Thursday, October 30th 9:30pm
Hollywood Chinese Theare
$15
Pat Jankiewicz is actually hosting.

GDC Next Next Week

The halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center will be filled with game developers next week and it's not even E3. GDC Next will be taking over downtown LA Nov 3-4 showcasing new games, game design and panels on how to make and sell games. Withing GDC Next is the App Developers Conference (ADC) - serving those apps trying to reach a broader market and not necessarily have anything to with games. Some very large companies such as Sony will be in attendance showing their games and listening to those trying to sell theirs. It's also an opportunity to see what companies are hiring. The Videogame History Museum, one of the attendees, will have a breakdown of gaming through the decades in it's own booth area. They'll have already shown off the older systems at Comikaze Expo, happening this weekend.

Monster Hunter Crates, Boxes and Tissue Boxes

An assortment of boxes to hold your belongings... and tissues are up for purchase on PlayAsia, featuring the style of Monster Hunter. These decorated boxed coming in red and blue and are perfect for storing games and cell phone accessorizes, at least that's what the smaller ones are designed for. Keep your booty in these imported stylish boxes.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

ThinkGeek's Pipe Mug Looks A Lot Like Fangamer's Pipe Mug

ThinkGeek's Level-Up Pipe Mug

Fangamer's Pipe Mug

Mario, which will you drink out of? ThinkGeek's new Level-Up Pipe Mug looks considerably like Fangamer's Pipe Mug, created by artist Jon Kay. The differences are minor, the mug from ThinkGeek has a 16-bit ground bottom and lacks the pipe handle of the original. The coloring on the Level Up mug is the switched colors of green from the original with added pixels. The ThinkGeek mug can hold one more ounce of liquid at 15 oz..

Can you sue when the item in question is parodying a franchise that you are also not licensing?

Update:
Looks like Jon Kay isn't happy.

So @thinkgeek copied my pipe mug after failing to wholesale it from the manufacturer http://t.co/izFxPZ8M4x Disrespectful, shady, no ethics.
— Jon Kay (@thejonkay) October 30, 2014

Empress Pavilion Back From The Dead

Photo by Elizabeth Daniels

The beloved restaurant, Empress Pavilion, rose from its grave with a soft opening Oct 28th. A grand opening is planned for some time next week. Empress closed over a failure to pay its rent. Now it has a re-negotiated lease and redone dining room. The dim sum is to die for.

via EaterLA

Bamboo Plaza
988 N Hill #201
Chinatown
p:213-617-9898
hours 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily with dim sum served until 3 p.m

The Rise of Aurora West and In Real Life Reviews

We've gone over their signing around LA, now we have some reviews on their books. First Second's had some new books to pick up this fall.

The Rise of Aurora West is a prequel to the Battling Boy book by Paul Pope. We really enjoyed Battling Boy and are waiting for much wanted new chapters in the series due next year. This is a prequel story featuring Aurora West and her back story. For a prequel not featuring the main hero from the series it entertains with a mystery over Aurora's mother's death and a glimpse again into her upbringing as a city superhero. They mystery connects to a deeper revenge thread as a monster who helped in her father's death, in the main book, is connected to her mother's death. An intriguing mystery flows from the book and a bit more of the customs and world are brought into view of the Battling Boy story. What monster use for trade is gross and delightful. Aurora is a strong heroic girl and we see how she could be tapped to be more than a side character.

In Real Life takes the tale of gold farming into a love story... not really... a story of understanding other cultures and the empowerment of better working conditions? Anda is so good at playing an onlie game she gets chosen to be administrator warrior in-game dealing out justice to gold farmers. She befriends one, a big no-no and is shunned by her group of warriors in-game and out. Befriending this gold farmer doesn't have the best benefit to him either as she learns about his terrible working conditions of mining the game for real world currency and get him in trouble for asking for health benefits. Not really the romantic story you were looking for and not really a story you care to hear about with China's problem with farming games. The art was so passive it really didn't need to be a comic, maybe a short story in a collection of: Internet themes that start off to great plots of romance, then don't.

Halloween Update: The last trickle of Halloween treats

(Sponsored) Captured Aural Phantasy Theater presents

The Day of the Dead Spooktacular

Sunday, November 2

7:30 pm doors open
8:30 pm show starts

El Cid, 4212 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029
$10 Tix at the door or at capthalloween2014.bpt.me

Just missing Halloween by a few days, you still get spooked at this Spooktacular.

Captured Aural Phantasy Theater is teaming up with the legendary Famous Monsters magazine to produce their next show, the DAY OF THE DEAD SPOOKTACULAR! They'll take the stage at El Cid in Silverlake on Sunday, November 2, which is Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. This show combines Halloween, Day of the Dead, performances of vintage horror comic books, live music, prizes and even luchadores! You'll even be able to see magic performed, like sawing a girl in half. No joke.

They'll be be holding a Famous Monsters raffle for some awesome swag.

#LionsgateHorror Blog App is now out, we're giving away a UV digital HD download code for The Blair Witch Project, share the app with your friends, if you dare. The first person to comment on this post will win the code for The Blair Witch Project. You'll be asked to send your e-mail address to a private e-mail.
Each household is only eligible to win One (1) Digital Download code for The Blair Witch Project via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Theatricum BOO-tanicum
Friday, October 31 from 4 p.m.–10 p.m.
Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum
1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga CA 90290
General Admission: $15
Children 5 and under: free

from press release:
Bucolic Theatricum Botanicum transforms into the haunted BOO-tanicum with the theater company's fourth annual Halloween extravaganza. Wander Theatricum’s wooded grounds in the heart of rustic Topanga Canyon, where you’ll find a haunted house; ghost stories; pumpkin carving; game booths; performances by Creative PlayGround, Melanie Kareem's belly dance troupe and comedy improv group Off the Grid — and things that go bump in the night. Beware of zombie thespians! Come on down… if you dare. Perfect for ghosts and goblins of all ages.

Old Pasadena Halloween Celebration Trick-or-Treating

Friday, October 31 – 5:00 – 8:00pm

from press release:

Participating businesses throughout Old PasadenaOn Halloween, more than 100 stores and restaurants in Old Pasadena open their doors to all the costumed visitors for free store-to-store trick-or-treating. The Dog Bakery is giving out treats to furry friends that are in disguise. Be on the lookout for Old Pasadena ambassador guides handing out fun little Halloween eggs filled with surprises. Kids will have the opportunity to meet and greet various popular costumed characters along Colorado Blvd. Take your dressed-up family and even four-footed friends over to the One Colorado Courtyard for free professional photos against a Halloween-themed background and hundreds of pumpkins.

Re-Animator The Musical has been extended until Nov 23, don't miss out on it, we loved here at TTDILA.

DOWNTOWN DIA DE LOS MUERTOS CONCERT
November 1, 2014 @ 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Grand Park
200 North Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
Free

Music and food trucks take over the park with fifty, count them, fifty creepy altars.

Weekly What To Do: Costume Weekend

Here's a breakdown for all things Halloween, if you missed it.

Not only is it Halloween, but Little Tokyo is going to be busy and filled with young ladies for Hello Kitty Con (sold out), starting this Thursday. Japan Fair will be going on just a block or two from that Kitty Con, celebrating Japanese culture. The Day of the Dead will be celebrated at the Grand Park nearby and Olvera Street. A few miles away or a Metro ride is Comikaze Expo, that means costumes, costumes, costumes!

Convention and Fair

Comikaze Expo 2014 Oct 31-Nov 2
Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 South Figueroa Street
Starts at $30 a day, $70 for all three days.

A gaggle of celebrities from past shows and movies with vendors selling all the nerd merch you can eat up. Looking over the schedule it's more of a how-to guide on creating your own tributes to fandom from making a view worthy YouTube show to starting your own comics. Some highlights include: Mad TV Cast Reunion, The Room Screening, The Kings of Cosplay Stand-Up, Spider Man: The Animated Series 20th Anniversary,Teen Titans Go! Cast Panel on Sunday.

Hello Kitty Con Sold Out
Oct 31-Nov 2

Japan Fair 2014
Nov 1-2
10am-5pm
JACCC
244 S. San Pedro St. Los Angeles
$3 online and $5 at the door
Free 12 and under

Film

The Overnighters Special Screenings
Oct 31-Nov 2
Nuart Theatre

A town faced with a large unemployment problem and a refuge for those without a home. A church opens its doors to the "Overnighters" and the community isn't that happy about it.

Director Jesse Moss will appear in person on Friday, October 31 for a Q&A after the 7:30pm show and to introduce the 9:45pm show, Saturday, November 1 for a Q&A after the 7:30pm show and to introduce the 9:45pm show, and Sunday, November 2 for a Q&A after the 2:50pm and 5:10pm shows.

Mamiko Motto & American Friends
Wed Oct 29, 2014 11am-8pm
Ace Hotel, Upstairs
Free

Free music atop one of LA's newest trendiest spots.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Hello Kitty Con Sold Out

The fans have spoken with their wallets. Hello Kitty Con is sold out! No more tickets are available. If you were planning to make some last minute grabs with your paws, it's all gone.

Don't threat, you could just hang around Little Tokyo, there's honestly enough Hello Kitty in the adjacent shops to make you feel like your at the con.

The Boxtrolls Free Screening

Free Screening! 3-D! Directors Anthony Stacchi & Graham Annable & Animator Travis Knight In Person!This is a free event! To attend, please RSVP HERE.

Saw Q&A Thursday

Director James Wan, writer/actor Leigh Whannell, producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, actress Shawnee Smith, and actor Cary Elwes of Saw will be at the Hollywood Arclight this Thursday for a Q&a. Get tickets here.
A livestream from the Hollywood ArcLight will begin after the screening of the 1st Saw film.

Pop Culture Round-Up 001

Nekomimi Survivor, a Japanese cell phone RPG that takes a picture of you cat, transforms it into a girl and let's you play as them in a RPG.

Photos: Los Angeles' Hello Kitty Food Scavenger Hunt Is Now In Full Swing

The IT Crowd Manual-Behind-the-scenes documentary featuring interviews with the main cast of Graham Linehan's comed

Bayonetta Graphic Designer Shares Nintendo Costume Sketches

Adventure Time Time: Where Have All The Episodes Gone

"Ghost Fly", the latest episode for Adventure Time comes out today Oct 28. This has also been one of the longest dry spells of new episodes. After that, AT is off the board again with no date of new episodes.

-Ryan North is leaving the Adventure Time comic, and will bereplaced as writer by Christopher Hastings(Dr.McNinja).

He had a good run, there were some very strange issues. Can't wait to see what Hastings brings to the table, the comic book table.

-MUNCHKIN: Adventure Time has come out using the same clip art used a million times for its box art.

Ghost Fly premieres Tuesday, October 28th at 6pm
Jake and the tree house are haunted by a vengeful specter.

Reddit is filled with AT costumes

Halloween Update: Childhood Haunts

SpectreFest doesn't end in October; for Halloween they're still doing something out there. That includes an Oculus Rift Haunted House!

"Childhood Haunts" Halloween Party
Friday, October 31, 2014 08:00 PM
611 N Fairfax Avenue
$15

From the site: This signature Mondo video collision covers the hazy, freaky-deaky memories of these pivotal pieces of films and TV that pretty much screwed us up for life; this is a mix that’s been years in the making. Plus, a midnight ghost story performance by Chicago-based artist Lyra Hill (Brain Frame), previously-unseen terrifying animated shorts from Fox’s ADHD, and a return of our upstairs Oculus Rift lounge (this time, loaded up with specially commissioned “haunted house” virtual reality realms!) Did we also mention drinks, dancing and other ridiculous reverie?

Captain America: Civil War Is Happening

Marvel just announced it's schedule at the El Capitan in Hollywood and the rumors are true. The next Captain America movie is based on Civil War. Which means they'll need to put a lot more superheroes on the big screen for the fights to matter.

Alien: The Archive Review Gross Design Explained

Alien: The Archive steps out of the shadows to eat your face off in the most delightful way. This compendium of photos and interviews explains the Alien Quadrilogy. Forget AVP, forget Promethues, you can't forget the third one though, but you can see why it went so wrong. Want to know things like android's blood is condensed milk? Is it still gross on the films when it sprays everywhere, yes.

Flipping through its pages for a fan reveals the work put into the design of all four of the films from early sketches, storyboards and pre-production and production photos.

You'll learn little tidbits like James Cameron was trying for unsexy underwear when we get to Ripley meeting the Alien up close in the first film. He went as far as to find the least sexy underwear he could.

Diagrams of all the ships and bases. Looks at the insignias and costumes. Ideas that never got finished. Wonderful set and crew photos to show what was going on behind-the scenes.

Through the book you"ll learn and see the xenomorph's transformation over time to look more and more alien... more like a bug.

Alien: The Archive might not be a complete guide of the films, it is a wonderful look a hidden details about the films and the process of creating each of them, even the third one.

A perfect book to leave out at your Halloween Party.

Halloween Things To Do In LA

We have arrived at Halloween Week. Just a few days until Halloween itself. Check out everything you can do with our handy guides on all things Halloween. We have parties for mummies. Haunts for vampires. Entertainment acts for ghosts. Films to watch for skeletons. Werewolves, we have your bar crawls!

PLUG Premieres To Promote PLUG

PLUG - SHORT FILM from vyle-art on Vimeo.
"On a post-apocalyptic Earth, Leila Dawn (Natalie Floyd), is the only human survivor. Raised by Robots after humanity abandoned the planet they destroyed with nuclear warfare, Leila cannot forget her parents nor ignore her yearning to find other organic life. A hunt she sets out on with a Military Unit, Marker (Lex Cassar), leads Leila to discover the reality she’s been denied—a reality that sparks her ultimate quest."

The show started off slow Saturday night at the Gnomon School. Guests we're arriving late due to "LA traffic", the audience was filling up a hangar/studio. All for a movie about a post-apocalyptic tomorrow with robots and a beautiful leading lady, Natalie Floyd. The run time: 18 minutes. Why did this garner such a an outcry at visual effects school? Was it its long history of production or was it the man behind it David Levy, a CGI special effects whiz? It was Levy and his friends, they brought a film featured almost four years ago on this site to a premiere/panel and art show.

The night kicked off with the first two teasers being shown. They weren't cut from the film, they were made on their own to see if David would make the film. "Holy sh*tballs!, " he said, starting the premiere in the response of his audience's turn out and the years it took for the film to finally be shown on a screen. That night he would go through much of the technical side of the movie, the main reason he was there. This was a night to explain the movie, utterly, to students. Any question about making robot heads or getting a retrofitted buggy to work were not glazed over and were answered in the multiple panels held for the film. The accompanying making of film, "Personal Apocalypse", was longer than the actual film itself. It showed the stumbles and Levy's unflinching hate of the buggy featured in the film and its constant annoyance of breakdowns.

Stopping a teaser from playing David said, "Sorry, this is playing with QuickTime, which I despise..., " then switched it to VLC media player. A broken robot stumbles along a desert and you wonder what could have damaged it as does an approaching robot in the much hatted buggy. The broke robot fires, misses the robot asking the questions, and the teaser cuts off before a giant gun aimed at it possibly blows it to smithereens. It's the reason I've come out tonight, to see the finished work.

PLUG plays and it's not what I had hoped for, the mystery and the girl are too drawn from multiple sources of anime and video games, another reason I came to the premiere. Natalie Floyd plays Leila Dawn, the supposed last human on Earth surrounded by robots. She's close with a robot named Marker, voiced by Lex Cassar, and upon a visit to the local energy bar, that looks like a gray Boba Fett's Slave I, finds something she shouldn't, another human? After this unknown man shoots up the joint they track him, via a desert buggy chase, to a mysterious hiding spot that has protection in the form of a giant four-legged mech out to squish anyone causing trouble. Soon Marker and Dawn find their way into whatever secret place this man comes from with a reveal that the robots ended the world for humans.

Visually, PLUG has some amazing special effects for one man and help from his friends, friends that work on all the big budget sci-fi films as does he. The story, acting and directing show their signs of someone new to the field. Pedestrian in effort, the story has shifted too far from the teaser into much of a sci-fi mess or a Sy-Fy Channel mess. It reminded me too much of something Sy-Fy might try to put in from the straight to video market. It's no an Asylum movie, nor a perfect first attempt from a director. It lacks the pull of a indie first feature, it looks so much like everything else already out.

After the premiere and making of the panels of the film began. Filmed on commercial cameras, 5D and 7D's it took four years to make. Broken down, the special effects to the longest at six months of weekends of director David Levy, before going for more CGI scenes with help from friends. A shoot that lasted only six to seven days and editing that took mere three days as David explained it. The four years of trying to get some sort of deal for further funding, which David is still trying to get, made it last for years before showing any finished work.

The actors joined in at the various panels as pictures of souped up Nerf guns a props being made were shown in the background. The lead actress, Natalie Floyd, shared she was a huge Buffy head (fan) and getting to play the role of a girl lost in a world of robots was a dream come true. Her birthday was the night of the premiere as we were told by the moderator of the event. Lex Cazzar, voice of Marker and a production designer told of how it was being fitted with a robot helmet. There was not much space. Trying to act out of it was very tough. Though the actors all agreed Levy gave them a huge amount of freedom on how to act. David Levy, chimed in with another time saying, "If I do anything again, I'd take acting classes."

Levy would chime in with facts throughout the panels, like that the bar scenes, a staple of sci-fi films, was where the fight scene in Fight Club was shot. Britney Spears used it the week before for a music video before he filmed in it. Levy mentioned the story is like Tarzan, instead of being raised by apes, Dawn was raised by robots, a strange symmetry. David Levy told how PLUG's name came about. PLUG was to be a one minute short, a women plugs in a robot and it turns on. It came a long way from there.

One of the moderators asked if Jake Lyall, Rob, knew if he was a robot in a human body. That scene is planned for future episodes of the series. Another point in which the event became more of a inner circle, meta and for students event on the film.

Alex Cunningham, Production Designer told of how it was he's first big gig and the stumbles he had in production from a broken helmet at the get go and suit materials losing their color. "I never did a prop or helmet in my life before PLUG, he told the audience while going over the the different items he worked on. Now he's on Halo 5: Guardians.

No one entered the Post-Apocalyptic Costume Contest from my view, though some students outside were all wearing mustaches for some unknown reason. I asked, only to find out it was someones birthday and that meant birthday mustaches.

The premiere was the same night as the opening of The Art of PLUG, featuring a collection of props, design sketches and stills from the film.

David Levy added his remorse about ever using the buggy. "I hate that buggy', 'if this becomes more than one film, I want the first scene of that being blown up in the next one."