Things I Lurve - Cinespia

Summer in Los Angeles means watching movies in the cemetery.  No, really.

Saturday nights all summer long, Cinespia hosts classic films in the Hollywood Forever cemetery.  People bring blankets and cusions and sit on a huge grassy lawn while classic movie favorites are projected onto the side of a mausoleum.  Upcoming films include Funny Face and The Graduate.  You can bring your own picnic dinner and booze.  Admission is $10.  Come early to find decent parking.

www.cinespia.org

I'm back.

They thought they had me down.  They thought they had me beat.  They thought Los Angeles had eaten me alive and I'd never be seen again.

Well.

How wrong they were.

I've had my own private dark night of the soul, ducklings.  Oh yes.  Especially if by "dark" you mean "thorough," by "night" you mean "reappraisal" and by "soul" you mean "finances."  But I have risen resplendent like a phoenix from the ashes, like Liza Minelli from the sordid detritus of her four gruesome marriages, like Robert Downey Jr.'s career from a needle-infested rat nest in Pershing Square, like Scarlett O'Hara from the smouldering ruin of Tara, clutching a cut crystal tumbler and swearing, as god is my witness, I will never buy cheap gin again, before finally breaking into a show-stopping rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade."

Don't rain on it, motherfuckers.

There will be more fashion, more luxury bargains, more things I lurve, more joys and concerns, more bitchery than ever before.  Because if there isn't, my friends, then the communists, the terrorists, and the joyless, dour, uptight, self-righteous vegans have won.

Grilled Cheese

Los Angeles has had a long, torrid love affair with comfort foods.  Waves of comfort food trends have raged across the city for years - from mac & cheese to cupcakes to pot roast.  My theory on this is that it's such a professionally and aesthetically demanding place that people fall back on these wonderful childhood foods as a means of comfort.  We love comfort food here, we fetishize it - because we need it.

One of our best beloved comfort foods is grilled cheese, and since April is National Grilled Cheese Month, it's an especially good time to present some of the places around town where you can enjoy the fat, the carbs, and the delightful buttery crunch of a perfect grilled cheese.

Clementine's in Century City

During the month of April, Clementine's will have a special Grilled Cheese Month Menu featuring fancy schmancy items like grilled camembert with mustard greens and mushrooms.

The 7th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational

On April 25th from noon to 6 p.m., grilled cheese freaks will gather in Los Angeles State Historic Park to test their grill skills as they compete in the categories of traditional cheese only sammies, sammies with additional ingredients, and dessert sammies.  Admission is $5.

Campanile on La Brea

Every Thursday, Campanile hosts its venerable Grilled Cheese Night.  Arrive early and be prepared to wait.

Patinette at MOCA

Patinette lets you select your own bread, cheese, sauce, and extras to create your very own customized grilled cheese.

Rush Street in Culver City

This Culver City newcomer offers a $6 lunch special of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Ivan Kane's Cafe Was in Hollywood

On Mondays, Cafe Was offers brioche grilled cheese with truffle fries for $10.

Please share your own grilled cheese tips and stories in the comments!

Luxury Bargains: Tasting Menus Part I

With the economy in the crapper, Los Angeles restaurants are coming up with new, creative ways to draw customers. One of these is the value priced tasting menu. Some of the best restaurants in town are coming up with tantalizing tasting menus at very reasonable prices. First up, AMMO.

AMMO's "Simple Supper" tasting menu is $30 and includes your choice of soup or salad plus entree (pasta, salmon or chicken) and a build-your-own sundae with the very highly regarded house made ice cream.

http://www.ammocafe.com/
1155 N Highland AveLos Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 871-2666

Reserve your tickets now.

This year's Gay Day at Disneyland (Oct. 2-4) coincides with the Utah Education Association's "Escape to Anaheim" event (Oct. 1-2). Reserve your seats now for what could be an epic Prop 8 rumble in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Things I Lurve: Pink Cheeks

Today I'm introducing another semi-regular feature of The Daily Lalee: Things I Lurve. I'll be telling you about products, services, experiences and other wonderful happenings, items and places I enjoy. My first featured Thing I Lurve is:

Pink Cheeks. Pink Cheeks is a spa in Sherman Oaks that specializes in waxing. I've been going there regularly for about a year and I feel confident recommending it to anyone who wants clean, reasonable, professional "personal maintenance." Pink Cheeks originally specialized in facials - the "cheeks" were the ones on your face. But Pamela Anderson became a regular customer, developed a special waxing style with the owner, and the rest is history. Now Pink Cheeks is the preferred waxing spot for celebrities from Jessica Alba to Paula Abdul, as well as Playboy bunnies and porn stars. Despite what we might think about these ladies, I think we can agree that they are very good judges of a quality wax. And if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

When you think "spa," you may imagine a soothing minimalist waiting area with a small fountain or even a rock garden. The interior of Pink Cheeks is no such thing. Actually, it looks a little like a retro rockabilly whorehouse, and it is decorated explosively for every holiday season. During the Fourth of July, there were actual Revolutionary War cannon balls on the waiting room coffee table. They also have an amazing variety of items available for purchase in the lobby, from delightful spa goodies you'd get your mom for Mother's Day, to things you'd never, ever want your mom to know existed, like "Anal Ring Toss." I'll spare you a description of the picture on the box.

If you go to Pink Cheeks, try to go early in the morning, as wait times later in the day can run over an hour, even with an appointment. There's a reason for the wait, though, and it's the speed and quality of the results. Request the owner, Cindee. She is a delightful yet professional chatterbox who will strip ya bare in no time flat.

Pink Cheeks
14562 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-906-8225

Yeah, cheers, thanks.

From the Joys and Concerns file, here's some news that could be both. The joyful part is that AbFab is coming back. The concerning part is that it will be set in Los Angeles, and although Jennifer Saunders is co-producing, I can find no indication that either she or Joanna Lumley will be reprising their roles as the divine Patsy and Edina. I have a hard time believing that anyone other than those two fabulous dames could fill those preposterous platform boots. And as for setting the action in Los Angeles, I guess drug-addled, plastic surgery-addicted 40-something ladies just aren't as fun when you can see them any given Friday at your local Chili's.

I sincerely hope the new American incarnation of AbFab will be as marvelous as the original. But seriously, how could anything be better than this?

Drumroll, please.

It's that magical time of the year when the film industry falls in love with itself again (as if it had ever really fallen out of love with itself). Thursday morning was that magical morning when Oscar hopefuls, having spent long, wide eyed hours ping-ponging between hope and despair, pretended to have been asleep when they received the early morning calls from their agents. And this moment is that magical moment when I, a blogger with no relevant qualifications whatsoever, present you with my predictions for the winners.

Actor in a Leading Role
Who should win: Mickey Rourke. This poor man will continue to be the butt of substance abuse jokes throughout awards season, and should almost win on that basis alone.
Who will win: Mickey Rourke. This town loves a comeback.

Actor in a Supporing Role
Who should win: The divine PSH.
Who will win: Heath Ledger. I'll make the observation Ricky Gervais probably wanted to make at the Golden Globes and say that the only thing better for your career than doing a Holocaust movie is being dead.

Actress in a Leading Role
Who should win: The divine Ms. Streep. I know some scenery was mercilessly chewed in that little nun movie, but Ms. Streep was an incredible delight as the bitchy, hardcore, forthright Sister Aloysius.
Who will win: Kate Winslet. In addition to the aforementioned Holocaust/Oscar correlation, she's been nominated without a win for something like a hundred years now.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Who should win: Amy Adams. Only someone raised in the LDS Church could pull off such insane earnestness without veering into parody.
Who will win: Viola Davis. People have been raving about this performance. I was also impressed by her, but mostly just agitated at how badly she needed a Kleenex. There were tears and snot EVERYWHERE!

Animated Feature Film
Who should win: Wall-E. Who can resist that goddamn doe-eyed little robot?
Who will win: See above.

Art Design/Cinematography/Costume Design/Makeup/Visual Effects
Benjamin Button sweep.

Documentary Feature

I've seen none of them, but I've heard really good things about Man on Wire. People say that Werner Herzog might garner the sentiment vote for Encounters at the End of the World, but I think his fan base is a little too fringe to throw substantial weight at the Oscars.

Documentary Short

Strictly on the basis of subject matter, I'd like to see The Conscience of Nhem En win because I think the Khmer Rouge is a subject worthy of attention, especially in a town where trust fund hipsters traipse around in Mao and Che t-shirts.

Animated Short
I've been seriously bummed out about this category ever since a mediocre, slapstick-ridden interpretation of Peter and the Wolf beat out the sublime Madame Tutli-Putli. I abstain.

Live Action Short
Spielzugland. It's like Life is Beautiful, only backwards.

Sound Editing/Sound Mixing
Sorry, soundies. Don't care. Kindly rein in your incredibly long acceptance speeches.

Screenplay
I can't seem to work up much enthusiasm for any of the contenders this year. Readers, I toss this one to you.

Film Editing

Slumdog. Frantic, music video style editing has entered its heyday.

Foreign Language Film

This is a tough one. People are raving about The Class, but Waltz With Bashir has the subject matter edge.

Score

Slumdog.

Song
Who should win: Jai Ho. This little tune is catchy as all get-out. Plus I've loved Indian pop music ever since my grad school besty introduced it to me years ago. It's hard to listen to it and be in a bad mood at the same time.
Who will win: Down to Earth. Two of the three best song nominees are from Slumdog and they'll fatally split the vote.

Directing
Slumdog Millionaire. Isn't it weird that everyone keeps referring to this as the little movie that could, in spite of the fact that Danny Boyle has been an established director for over a decade?

Best Picture
Who should win: Meh. I've seen all the nominees except The Reader, and thought they were all excellent, but not phenomenal.
Who will win: I think Slumdog is going to sweep in on a giant, contrived, melodramatic dark horse and ride off with it. But so be it. Maybe what this country needs is a little singy-dancey star crossed romancey.

Los Angeles Will Rot Your Brain

But so will New York, Detroit, Denver, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta...

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/01/04/how_the_city_hurts_your_brain/?page=full