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The Popcorn Empress Goes to See The Avengers

Posted by lizo on May 9, 2012
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A lot of my friends are visual artists and they tend to post warm-up sketches and other exercises online. I thought I might as well do the same with my writing. I write a lot, often in  flurries, frequently on my iPhone while sitting in a Metro car. Most of what I write never gets published, it’s more for practice than anything else. These are my free writing exercises. They are based on real life, but will eventually make their way into fiction, hopefully where they will rely more on plot and character than rants. Also, since these are free writing pieces, there will likely be grammatical errors and typos. I’m keeping it real. Deal with it.

Somewhere in the depths of my long, yet unimpressive resume, there should be an entry that reads Popcorn Empress, United Artists Theaters.

Yes, I worked a movie theater concession stand. Job recruiters take note, I’m not only an experienced writer, editor and DJ, I am highly skilled at layering butter throughout the large tub of popcorn I upsold you. I can also scrape popcorn out of dried puddles of regular soda, but you can’t pay me enough to ever do that again.

It was sophomore year of college and I couldn’t get hired anywhere on campus after leaving the exciting world of soliciting donations from people who were still paying back student loans. Everyone was on my case about working, so I took the first job that came my way. Going back to my parents’ house every weekend to work at a movie theater couldn’t be that bad, right? At least I would get to see movies for free.
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‘Transmission: L.A.’ at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Posted by lizo on April 30, 2012
Posted in: Art, Gallivanting, Music. Leave a Comment

Ben Jones makes the sun shine. (Instagram: Liz O.)

There’s a Mercedes in the middle of the “Transmission: L.A.” exhibition at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. I didn’t take a photo, but it’s there, and if you have stopped by the event, then you likely saw it too.

Consider the car product placement. “Transmission: L.A.” is part of Mercedes-Benz’s Avant/Garde Diaries project, essentially, a series of cool events and artist spotlights funded by a car company.

In my younger days, I would have scoffed at this with typical indie snob superiority. It took a while for me to understand one of the greatest truths of the world.  No good idea will get off the ground without money. If corporations want to put up the money for people doing awesome, creative things, then it’s good for artists and it’s good for us.
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The Typo Terrorist Hits Melrose Avenue

Posted by lizo on April 18, 2012
Posted in: Art, Gallivanting. Leave a Comment

The Typo Terrorist hits Melrose. (Photo: Liz O.)

 

All I know about The Typo Terrorist is what’s on Tumblr and Facebook and Twitter.

Regardless, I saw this while walking down Melrose Ave. yesterday. Can’t remember the cross street, but it was right around Urban Outfitters.

As a random aside, why is there always a crowd at Urban Outfitters when there are so many cool, non-chain stores on the same street? I still don’t get that.

Set List: Los Globos with Los Angeles, 4/16/12

Posted by lizo on April 17, 2012
Posted in: Gigs, Set Lists. Leave a Comment

The Secret Society of the Sonic Six on vinyl, under club lights and with an Instagram filter. (Photo: Liz O.)

Last night, I was invited to play alongside my friend’s band, Los Angeles, and others at Los Globos. (Thanks, Michael!) It was great fun. Los Angeles is one group you really need to see live, but I’ll be telling you a lot more about them later.

The cool thing about playing in between the bands is that there’s no expectation to keep the dance floor packed. That said, it’s a chance to try out new tracks and throw in some old favorites that aren’t really dance-y. I played both last night.

Not long ago, I went to the release party for The Secret Society of the Sonic Six’s new record, Pickup. While I was there, a copy of the album came into my possession. I love this band, and used to play their music in my sets at The Parlour way back in the day, so I was really excited to play their new work. Last night, I got to drop the title track at Los Globos. I loved the way it sounded. (Really nice job on the pressing here, it’s loud and full and filled with win.) I hope to play it again soon. Check out the set list below the jump.
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BubblePunch Relaunches Super*Market at Meltdown Comics

Posted by lizo on April 16, 2012
Posted in: Art, Fashion, Gallivanting. 2 comments

Necklaces by Zambi Candy from Super*Market (Photo: Liz O.)

Last Saturday, BubblePunch relaunched the Super*Market event at Meltdown Comics, the Hollywood comic book store for whom I interview awesome writers and artists. BubblePunch is an event promotion team consisting of blogger Yume Ninja and accessories designer Michelle Nguyen, aka Chubby Bunny. (For more on Chubby Bunny, check out the studio tour Shannon and I did for L.A. Weekly last year.)

I stopped by the event for a little while after checking out a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic screening at Royal/T.

The Super*Market vendors set up shop in the store’s parking lot as well as inside Nerdist Theater/gallery, surrounded by work from the venue’s current show, “Muchos Kstew.” (More about that in “Lots of Images of Kristen Stewart”)
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Picking Your Brain

Posted by lizo on April 12, 2012
Posted in: Uncategorized. 4 comments

I’ve had this blog since January and it’s been more or less just a space for me to write whenever I’m in between deadlines. However, I’m trying to change that and, as of next week, there will be more content, more weirdness, more stuff to keep you occupied when you can’t find anything better on the web.

Some things I’m planning on adding to the site:

1) Interviews with bands I like.

2) More photo-based posts from around Los Angeles.

3) More geeking out over TV shows and movies that came out before I was born, maybe before my parents were born. Also, more British TV shows.

With this in mind, I have but one question for you. Are you interested in music, concert, TV, comic book recommendations? I’m not talking about reviews, just recommendations based on whatever is coming out during a specific week. Answer in the comment thread.

 

 

The Vintage Don Loper Suit or How I Realized My Grandmother Was Cool

Posted by lizo on April 10, 2012
Posted in: Uncategorized. 2 comments

My grandmother died last weekend. She was 87 and her health had been deteriorating for a while. Her death didn’t catch me off guard– not the way my dad’s did– but it’s still sad.

Fortunately, I had the chance to get to know my grandmother better than most kids do. We lived in the same city and my dad always remained tight with his parents, so we saw them a lot. But, I always knew my grandmother as Grammy, a name bestowed upon her by one of my cousins. I’m the fourth of her seven grandchildren, so her identity as Grammy was already established by the time I popped into this world.
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