Showing posts with label things to do in Los Angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label things to do in Los Angeles. Show all posts

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Five L.A. Ways to Plant the Seeds of Inspiration

Inspiration strikes randomly. Can you plan to to be inspired? Probably not, but you can certainly plant the seeds for it by getting out and experiencing life. Going to lectures, museums, nature walks, whatever gets your mind into that state of pensive equilibrium that you can later draw on. The key is to expose yourself to new ideas, places, things, and gain new perspectives. Bring your camera and take images that you can later pull up and use as inspiration, or bring your writer's notebook (you know, one of those 20 notebooks you have lying around words, phrases, story ideas, and even to-do lists in them). Here are five ways to plant the seeds of inspiration for your future creative productivity:

1. Buy a spoken word series at UCLA Live:

Buy a spoken word series for the upcoming UCLA Live Series and see:


2. Plan to go on an art walk.


3. Sign up for a walking tour of downtown Los Angeles with the L.A. Conservancy.

The LA Conservancy conducts some really fascinating tours of the historic buildings and sites in downtown Los Angeles. You'll come away from these informative walks just a little more in love with your city and full of Los Angeles-based setting descriptions. Don't forget to bring your camera.

4. Plan to visit a neighborhood you haven't been to for a while (or ever):

  • South Redondo Beach, Riviera Village - From the moment you pass the Redondo Beach Pier, air passes through you that makes you feel like you're suddenly on vacation. By the looks of this little town, you'd never know you were still in Los Angeles. This charming little beach side community is rife with comfy-couchy coffee shops, as well as bars, restaurants, and shopping, and is an easy two-block walk from the shore.
  • Agua Dulce - Home to Vasquez Rocks, the place where The Flintstones Movies were filmed, this teeny-tiny western-themed town is one of the best kept secrets within driving distance of Los Angeles, and even has it's own winery. You'll find more nature than art here, but it's worth checking out, visiting the local parks, and dining with the local cowboys.
  • Ojai - A totally doable day trip from anywhere in Los Angeles. Cute arty little town and if you take the back roads there (via the 150) it's a gorgeous drive, too. If you're a motorcyclist, then you'll love the drive even more and there are some biker enthusiast stops along the way where you'll see 50 - 100 bikes all lined up while the weary come in for a bite to eat.

5. Sign up for some upcoming lectures:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

An Evening with Sandra Cisneros at Live Talks LA

Live Talks LA presents author Sandra Cisneros in conversation with Cheech Marin.

Sandra Cisneros is the founder of the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, the Elvira Cisneros Award and the Macondo Foundation, all of which work on behalf of creative writers. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a MacArthur.

Her writings include novels: The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; short stories: Woman Hollering Creek; and poetry collections: My Wicked Wicked Ways and Loose Woman. She is currently at work on several writing projects including Writing in My Pajamas, essays; Infinito, stories; Have You Seen Marie?, an illustrated book for adults; and a children’s book, Bravo, Bruno. She served as Grand Marshall at the 2010 Poteet, Texas Strawberry Festival. She makes her home in San Antonio, Texas, where she is writer in residence at Our Lady of the Lake University. Visit her website: www.sandracisneros.com

Net proceeds from this event will benefit the Macondo Foundation. The Macondo Foundation works with dedicated and compassionate writers who view their work and talents as part of a larger task of community-building and non-violent social change.

For tickets and more information: An Evening with Sandra Cisneros

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Author Thaisa Frank at Vromans Bookstore Tonight

The author of our current writing book club selection will be at Vromans Bookstore tonight! Go meet and support her! Thank her for providing us with our discussion points for our upcoming book club meeting.

Thaisa Frank discusses and signs Heidegger's Glasses

Location: Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd
City: Pasadena,
Province:California
Postal Code: 91101

April 12th, 2011, 7:00 pm

During the end of World War II, The Third Reich's obsession with the occult has led to an underground compound of translators responsible for answering letters written to those eventually killed in the concentration camps. Into this covert compound comes a letter written by eminent philosopher Martin Heidegger to his optometrist, a man now lost in the dying thralls of Auschwitz. How will the scribes answer this letter? Part love story, part thriller, part meditation on how the dead are remembered and history is presented, this novel evocatively illustrates the Holocaust from an entirely new vantage point. Heidegger's Glasses was sold to ten foreign countries before publication and got a starred review in Publisher's weekly.

Heidegger's Glasses is a tour de force whose imagery haunts the reader long after the final page is turned...
.Jim Moret,
-The Huffington Post

This is stunning work, full of mysetry and strange tenderness. Thaisa Frank has written one of the most compelling stories of the Nazi regime since D.M. Thomas's Pictures at an Exhibition. It is a book that will haunt you.
-Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply

Thaisa Frank works "by a tantalizing sense of indirection...."
-The New York Times

Sunday, February 20, 2011

What Makes LA Fabulous? The Library!

A friend who moved to Los Angeles from back east once told me that, "Los Angeles is a great town to be broke in." I have to agree. Yes, rents are high. Yes, owning real estate is out of practical reach for most people who live here. Yes, gas is expensive and owning a car cleans out your bank account. However, free and low-cost entertainment and fun awaits in nearly every LA neighborhood. Free movie screenings and interviews with industry folks are available on practically any day of the week. We have parks, hiking, lectures, roller blading along beaches, snow-filled mountains that a mere couple hours drive away, museums, piers, live music, movie screenings in cemeteries, all things that are absurdly cheap and/or free.

As great as these options are, none of them are as awesome as the Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL). Housing nearly 7.5 million volumes, our library system stands as the single greatest free resource in our city. As of July 2010, it became the 4th largest Public Library in the United States in terms of volumes, and the largest public library system in the Western United States. The LAPL system alone makes living in Los Angeles worth all the high rents and the time sitting in traffic. This should-be-legendary library system offers a comprehensive collection with branches in nearly every neighborhood, free internet access, free movie rentals, free book borrowing,
and free delivery of anything in their catalog for easy pick-up at to your local library.

Central Library is the LAPL headquarters stands sphinx-like on West 5th between Flower and Grand and is both is parking friendly and public-transit friendly - just two short blocks from the 7th Street Metro station. This easily-accessible library houses art exhibits, free lectures, a video-lending library, an awe-inspiring multi-storied atrium, seemingly endless rows shelves - 90 linear miles of shelves to be exact, and nearly 7.5 million volumes. It is apropos that it sits on a street between Flower and Grand, because it is just that, beautiful and grand. This enormous block-long building feels both historic and new all at the same time. Inside, murals depicting California history, mosaic wall-art, and modern art sculpture chandeliers all proudly nod to one another, artistic reminders that we can all live together in harmony. After the 1986 fire, architects Pfeiffer Partners redesigned and restored the library. They also designed the Boston Public Central Library and their website contains gorgeous photos of Los Angeles Central Library's interior and exterior. If you've never been to the downtown Central Library, take a day trip and go see it. You may never leave.

The LAPL online catalog will take your breath away, not only because of its comprehensive vastness but because it is digitally connected. The behemoth catalog integrates with social networking - you can tweet or create a Facebook post about nearly any item in their online catalog. Many items display links to amateur reviews on Goodreads.com and to professional reviews from publications like Publisher's Weekly and the Library Journal. Options to view a book's table of contents comes in handy when perusing anthologies. Many books even outline the characters in the book and have handy excerpts. The catalog lists how many available copies are available and at which branches you can find them.

Now, our fabulous library system has stepped even further into the digital age with downloadable digital content: E-books, electronically rentable movies, downloadable music, and audiobooks. With a library card number, renting online to an iPhone, iPad, Android device, Mac, or PC (just to name a few), can be a few clicks away once you've invested the inevitable learning time that necessarily accompanies new uses of new technologies. There are no late fees because when your time is up the download disappears like a self-destructing message right out of a Get Smart episode gone digital.

It takes a bit of time to master the whole digital borrrowing system, but the culprits are not the libraries - although it would be nice to be able to search by digital format - nor is it the fault of the companies that provide the digital content to the libraries, but the frustration comes from the digital e-reading devices, such as Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android devices, etc., because certain types of content isn't available on certain devices.As far as what content is available on what device, the short answer is: If you have a Kindle, you can't (yet?) borrow an e-book. If you have anything else, you probably can borrow an e-book. The long answer is that E-books (for reading, not listening as you would with audiobooks) are generally available in two formats: EPUB format or PDF format, so you need to have a device (Mac, PC, iPad, Kindle, Nook, iPhone, Android phone) that can read at least one of these two formats. Sadly, neither EPUB nor PDF is currently supported by one of the most popular e-book readers, Kindle, so you can't rent e-books from LAPL if the only device you own is a Kindle.

Whether you groove on that irreplaceable smell and feel of a book in your hands at home, prefer sitting in a gorgeous library for hours, or you geek-out on the ability carry 150 e-books at all times, the Los Angeles Public Library awaits, ready to accommodate your every bibliophilic, artistic, or researchable whim.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Come see Writer Monkeys Again this Saturday!

LAwritersgroup.com and van Straaten Entertainment, inc. present:

WRITER MONKEYS! - A literary improv show.

Time:
Saturday, October 23rd · 8:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:
bang. studio
457 N. Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA

A new theater experiment where writers create new pieces based on your suggestions, then read them -- live on stage!

This week's lineup of writers:
*J. Keith van Straaten (www.jkeith.net)
Plus two more writers TBA!

Does this mean you will be watching people write? Yes!

However, while they are doing so, you will be entertained by a different live musician each week.

This week: singer/songwriter TBA!

Come feel the literary thunder!

Ticket Price: $10

Created by J. Keith van Straaten and Nicole Criona

Friday, October 15, 2010

Come see Writer Monkeys this Saturday!

LAwritersgroup.com and van Straaten Entertainment, inc. present:

WRITER MONKEYS! - A literary improv show.

Time:
Saturday, October 16 · 8:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:
bang. studio
457 N. Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA

A new theater experiment where writers create new pieces based on your suggestions, then read them -- live on stage!

This week's lineup of writers:
*J. Keith van Straaten (www.jkeith.net)
*Nicole Criona (www.lawritersgroup.com)
*Bart Gold (www.bartgold.com)
*Christian Elder (christianelder.yolasite.com)

Does this mean you will be watching people write? Yes!

However, while they are doing so, you will be entertained by a different live musician each week.

This week: singer/songwriter Jason Luckett (http://www.jasonluckett.com/).

Come feel the literary thunder!

Ticket Price: $10

Created by J. Keith van Straaten and Nicole Criona