The first amendment is one thing, but I would not piss off an HOA.

A gentleman, who may or may not have a mental illness, posted a number of very offensive signs on his condominium balcony. His HOA asked him to remove said signage and then fined him to no effect. The City of Calabasas apparently got involved, and the hateful symbology has been removed... for now.

ABC7:

A man who is believed to be the long-time owner of the condo was seen last week yelling and cursing at people from his balcony. No threats were made, according to the sheriff's department, but some neighbors say they feel unsafe and intimidated by the messages.

"I'm horrified, and I'm sad," resident Sheri Polk said. "Sad that people feel this way about Jews, about African Americans."

The city of Calabasas said the material was taken down Friday, the morning after a deadline was issued for the signs' removal. The resident initially refused to remove the posters, according to Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub.

The disgraceful, shady plan to sell control over the .ORG domains to a private equity fund controlled by Republican billionaires is on the ropes, with tens of thousands of people and thousands of .org registrants having signed a petition calling for a halt to the deal. This Friday, we're converging on the ICANN offices in Playa Vista to deliver that petition. I'll be there. Will you? Read the rest

Late last year, the nonprofit Internet Society abruptly announced a deal to sell control over the Public Interest Registry (which manages all .ORG domain registrations) to Ethos, a newly created private equity fund capitalized by three politically connected families of Republican billionaires. Under the deal, ISOC would get $1.135B to spend on various projects, and PIR would have to return a profit to their private equity investors. Read the rest

L.A. City Fire says 2 classes were outside when liquid jet fuel rained down on them from the sky shortly before noon Pacific time. BREAKING NEWS: Delta Airlines flight 89 from Los Angeles to Shanghai was nearing LAX in an emergency landing sequence when it dumped fuel on a school playground, and the kids and teachers who were outside.

• Authorities say 17 children and 9 adults were treated for minor injuries.

• The FAA has declared an emergency.

• Delta says the jet experienced an engine issue requiring return to LAX.

• Plane landed safely after the emergency fuel release to reduce landing weight. Read the rest

A $10 million donation is allowing The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles to make art accessible to everyone. Beginning Saturday, they will offer free general admission going forward, only charging for special exhibitions. The massive financial gift is from Carolyn Clark Powers, MOCA's Board President.

Klaus Biesenbach, MOCA's director since 2018, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in May (when the program was initially announced), "We are not aiming at having more visitors or larger attendance, but we’re aiming at being more accessible, at having open doors. As a civic institution, we should be like a library, where you can just walk in."

KCRW talked to Lindsay Preston Zappas of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles magazine who says it will cost MOCA $2 million yearly to operate under the free program and that they will need to secure funding in the future to keep the program going.

MOCA has two locations in Los Angeles, the one on Grand Avenue and the Geffen Contemporary in the Little Tokyo Historic District, and both will have public celebrations this Saturday, January 11, from 12 to 4.

photo by Elon Schoenholz/The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Read the rest

BREAKING: Harvey Weinstein has been charged in Los Angeles with NEW rape and sexual assault charges.

Disgraced movie mogul and accused serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein is having an extremely bad day. Read the rest

It's not just the CBC and the Wall Street Journal -- I was delighted to see this morning that Radicalized, my 2019 book of four science fiction novellas made the LA Public Library's list of the top books of 2019! "As always his writing is sharp and clear, covering the absurdities that surround and infiltrate our lives, and predicts new ones waiting for us just around the corner. A compelling, thought provoking, macabre funny read." Read the rest

Finally, a police union has identified a form of misconduct it will not defend: necrophilia. Read the rest

Heather sends us a notice of "a screening of Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece The Gold Rush, with live musical accompaniment at Hollywood's stunning new venue: The American Legion Theater on Highland Avenue." Read the rest

Back in October, TV writer Liz Alper started posting on Twitter about her harrowing experience as a writer's assistant in LA, hoping to break into the industry. Alper had spent more than a decade being overworked and underpaid, and, well, rightly had enough. Over the course of several weeks, she got the #PayUpHollywood hashtag trending, inspiring other film and TV professionals to share the stories of the less-than-glamorous lives they led in order to maybe, finally "make it" (whatever that entails).

Since then, Alper and her friend Deirdre Mangan, another TV writer, have surveyed more than 1500 support staff members from the LA entertainment industry about their incoming and working conditions. As they explain in a press release about the data they compiled:

“Hollywood has created a paywall around the industry that keeps out anyone who doesn’t come from money or who won’t put up with absurd, unsafe and potentially illegal working conditions,” said #PayUpHollywood co-founder Liz Alper. “We need to move past the tired myth that ‘this is just how it’s always been’, because it’s not true. Hollywood did not always negligently add to the income inequality, housing and mental health crises our country is facing. We can and must do better.”

Like the recent list of journalism salaries, the survey revealed a lot of people making $50,000 a year or less while struggling to survive in an expensive city where they're expected to live in order to do their jobs. And of course, there's racial and gender inequality a-plenty, and no clear path for upwards mobility for anyone, really. Read the rest

The Tony Martini Variety Hour rings in a swinging holiday season with an incredible line-up at Hollywood's Three Clubs!

Three of my favorite comedic actors: Mark Fite, Renee Albert, and Jim Turner are back in The Tony Martini Variety Hour. Every month Mark and Renee share their hilariously broken-down lounge act and Turner tries to fire them! The fantastic performances of their variety acts save the show!

Amazing contortionist Bonnie Morgan, charming puppeteer Pam Severns, and the bat-shit crazy Michael Rayner, who plays with his food, will be amongst the many wonderful performances comprising this holiday edition of the revue. They'll be accompanied by music man Ben Jaffe.

Oh, and I've been told Fite's Tony Martini and Albert's Bananas Foster have a band new "holiday number" to share!

Come join in all the fun! Read the rest

Scot Nery's Boobietrap is made of wild energy. Halfway between the Gong Show and an alleyway dice game, Los Angeles' most eclectic and eccentric performances have always been staged for a 21+ audience... until now. On November 29th and 30th.

Many of my favorite variety acts and odd-ball performers consider Boobietrap their home away from home. I am not certain who is in the cast for these kid-friendly shows, but if I can I'll be bringing my daughter!

Scot Nery’s Boobietrap. Hollywood’s spectacle, now in its fifth year of weekly shows, opens up the fun for ALL AGES, Friday and Saturday, Nov 29 and 30, at 5PM.

For two shows ONLY, after Thanksgiving, kids are welcome. Discounted prices for children. Doors will open at 5pm with strolling magic. The stage spectacle begins at 6PM, and reinvents the wonder of vaudeville for modern short attention spans with the world’s greatest performers.

Normally a 21+ show every Wednesday, The Family Fun Weekend acts are safe, and riotous fun for kids, featuring contortionists, jugglers, magicians, songs, aerialists, comedy, characters, a live band onstage playing between acts and laughter for the whole family.

15 Acts; it’s a fast-paced, eclectic mix of circus acts, performance artists, magicians, comedians and singers, and events that can’t be easily described. Past performers include Reggie Watts, Kate Flannery, Tom Arnold, Steve-O, the world’s fastest Etch-a-Sketch artist, live house band, Cirque Du Soleil performers, and winning acts for all the top talent shows on TV.

Special Family shows: Nov 29 and 30, 6555 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028 Doors and Magic start at 5, show starts at 6.

Image: Forest Casey

If you’re hankering for an unusual outing in Los Angeles, look no further than the Velaslavasay Panorama. Home to the only panorama west of the Mississippi and the only one painted since the nineteenth century, the Velaslavasay is the art form’s newest entry in its long and illustrious history. Panorama paintings were antiquity’s preferred immersive medium, predating film, VR and a much cheaper sightseeing trip than hopping aboard a train.

From the Velaslavasay Panorama website:

The Velaslavasay Panorama panoramic exhibition encircles the spectator within a fully enveloping atmosphere; a vast painting of a continuous surrounding landscape, accompanied by sound stimulation and three-dimensional elements, affords the viewer an opportunity to experience a complete sensory phenomenon. Historically, the panorama was an immersive 360-degree painted environment, often including a three-dimensional faux terrain in the foreground of the painting to enhance the illusion of depth and simulated reality. An early ancestor of the motion picture, the captivated public would visit these paintings-in-the-round as an entertainment or novelty, much along the same lines as the cinema is seen today.

Panoramas were widely accessible, extremely popular (and were lambasted for being so by art critics) and immensely entertaining. The decline in the proliferation of panoramas came about following the spread of cinema and became largely forgotten about, at least in the United States. Enter the Velaslavasay Panorama, first founded by Sara Velas in Hollywood and now located in West Adams. The Velaslavasay has both preserved and updated the medium, incorporating light and sound for a completely immersive panoramic experience. Read the rest

On Jan 1, 2020, Californians who rent will gain new protections under the law, thanks to AB 1482, which comes on the heels of the defeat of Prop 10, which was shattered by a lavishly funded dirty tricks campaign by the state's dominant private-equity landlords, who have snapped up much of the state's rental stock, driving up rents, evicting tenants, and slashing maintenance budgets. Read the rest

LA's next source of energy: a massive solar panel and lithium battery array in the Mojave, operated by 8minute Solar Energy, and capable of supplying 6-7% of the city's energy budget, with four hours of nighttime use. It will cost an eye-poppingly low $0.03.3/kWh, cheaper than natural gas. Read the rest

Pop culture humorist Charles Phoenix (previously) has been busy this year. He's written a book:

Holiday Jubilee is loaded with original eye-popping “test kitchen” recipes and over 500 vintage images, serving up an intoxicating, action-packed extravaganza of America’s favorite seasonal traditions past, present, and future. Your imagination will be inspired and your spirit will soar!

And he's created this hilarious and kitschy "Raw" Turkey Tiki Meatloaf Mug ($80). This "meatloaf pan-shaped Moai" is inspired by his Tiki Turkey Dinner, an alt-Thanksgiving recipe found in the book.

Hey! Charles will be at Soap Plant WACKO in Los Angeles this Sunday, September 15, signing that new coffee table book of his from 2 to 4 p.m. This line alone, from the event page, makes me want to hop down to LA this weekend: "LIFE ALTERING SNACK and ARTIFICIALLY COLORED AND FLAVORED REFRESHMENTS will be served." Read the rest

Who let the dogs out... and into the swimming pool? L.A. County does, as part of their third annual "Pooches in the Pool" event.

Come Monday, September 2, 2019, doggos will get the opportunity to swim (doggy paddle?) in select Los Angeles-area public pools. Little dogs can swim from 5 to 6 p.m., and big ones from 6 to 7 p.m. at these eight participating locations:

City Terrace Park - 1126 N. Hazard Ave., City Terrace Don Knabe Park - 19700 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos El Cariso Pool - 13100 Hubbard St., Sylmar Knollwood County Club - 12040 Balboa Blvd., Granada Hills Lane Pool - 5520 W. Ave., L8, Quartz Hill Loma Alta Park - 3330 Lincoln Ave., Altadena Martin Pool - 35548 N. 92nd St. E., Littlerock Victoria Park - 419 E. M.L.K. Jr., Carson

But wait, you have to fill out a form and there are rules.

KTLA5:

Before their pooch can jump in, dog owners will have to present current licensing and vaccination documents, and fill out a form.

There are a few rules, like there must be one handler for every two dogs and they can only be off-leash on the pool deck. Click here for a full list.

This is the final event before the pools are closed and cleaned for the season. What a terrific idea!

.@lacountyparks are closing out the summer season with #PoochesInThePool! Bring your dog for a dunk on Labor Day https://t.co/FNpVRFWuOP 🐶💦 pic.twitter.com/B2SiceqoeP

— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) August 28, 2019

image via L.A. Read the rest