google ad

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

A Better Look At Lightsaber Battle LA

 Damn, it looked fun. Took place Dec 18th at Pershing Square.

Weekly What To Do: Could Indiana Jones Kill A Gorilla?

First off, here's the Realistic Answers New Year's Eve List. We added a few more of the big parties to dance and get hammered at. Remember, just Uber and the Metro is free for certain hours.

"Free rides will be offered for all bus and rail service from 9pm on December 31, 2015, until 2am on the morning of January 1, 2016.
All Metro Rail Line Stations with latched gates will be unlatched during this time. Regular fares are in effect at 2am on New Year's Day.
Note: All Metro Rail lines and the Metro Orange Line will operate all night every 20 minutes on New Year's Eve. The Metro Silver Line will operate every 60 minutes during this time.

'Twas the Night Before New Years Eve w/ Joe Rogan, Pete Holmes, Erik Griffin, Tone Bell and Dan Levy
Wed, December 30, 8:00pm
$14
18 & over
Two items minimum 


Laugh off last year. 

January 1, 2016 - January 14, 2016
Mondays * Wednesdays * Fridays * Saturdays: 7:30pm
Tuesdays * Thursdays: 8:00pm
Sundays: 6:30pm
New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90036
$$
 
Tarantino could show up, he owns the joint. Be ready, this thing is three hours long, it comes with a real intermission. 


DUCK SOUP / THE COCOANUTS
Fri, Jan 1, 5:00pm
Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90403
$

Double Feature! New Year's Day with the Marx Brothers!




2016 Japanese New Year's Oshogatsu Festival in Little Tokyo
Fri, Jan 1, 10:50 am - 3:00 pm
Little Tokyo
Free

18th Annual Japanese New Year's 2016 Oshogatsu Festival held at downtown Weller Court Shopping Center and Japanese Village Plaza.  Japanese art and entertainment will be center stage. Music and festival activities throughout Little Tokyo.







Saturday, January 2, 5pm
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90028
$$ 

Yeah, they ain't showing the new one.




2016 New Year’s Race
Sat, January 2, 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm, January 2
January 3, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm – 12:00 am,
Downtown Los Angeles
$$

Different races to try at different costs, but if you complete one of them a special shiny medal is yours.




Oshogatsu Family Festival 2016
Sun, January 3, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
Free

Celebrate the Year of the Monkey with crafts, food, cultural activities, and performances! 






KOTOHAJIME Hatsu-Yama (First Mountain)
Sun, January 3, 1pm 
Aratania Theater 
$20

Every January, Little Tokyo becomes the center for celebrating the Japanese New Year in Southern California, with the JACCC heading up the festivities with programs that invigorate the spirit and imagination. Literally meaning “the beginning of things,” Kotohajime will celebrate the Year of the Monkey with the theme titled Hatsu-Yama or “First Mountain.” 

THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT 
Tue, Jan 5, 7:30pm
Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90403
$

We at TTDILA wanted to see it here once before and luckily we have a second shot to see this absurd comedy.

Writer-Director Jaco Van Dormael In Person!

According to director Jaco Van Dormael’s (MR. NOBODY, TOTO THE HERO) surreal satire, those hoping to find God should focus their search on an apartment building in Brussels, where the deity (Benoit Poelvoorde) spends his days making human life more difficult. His daughter (Pili Groyne) hopes to put a stop to this and sets off to recruit some new apostles (Catherine Deneuve among them).

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

New Year's Eve List Again

In case you somehow missed it, and we haven't been posting, dare we say enough along the holidays, here's our New Year's Eve List again.

Don't Forget, Steam Sale

It ends Jan 2, but there's so many great deals!

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Valley Performing Arts Center Continues To Suck Into 2016

Lacking any real creativity from its students and the acts booked, the center continues to suck with no Robo-Cop musical or any fun ideas. CSUN students, aren't you trying to get jobs in the industry? Could you do a play or something fun or creative at the million dollar theater you have? Instead you give us STOMP.

The calendar for Valley is a index of frowns on an Excel sheet that a sad little account opens before dreaming their sad little dreams. Be very unimpressed by a selection of plays and musicals that are bringing the next year of this underperforming playhouse into a new tier of tears.

Beverly Hills' Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is on par with another year of nothing that will be reported by this site. The site is for things to do in LA, not things to be bored at, so bored you sob into a fetal position about having wasted money on Freeze Frame, with some sort of ridiculous belief it will touch anyone on changing the idea of gun violence. At first, while reading it's synopsis, it sounded like a fun dance musical with y'know freeze frames. It waits for its last sentence to tell you that it sucks, because it knows it does.

Its calendar is like a wall in a gas station near the toilet. Flies have been smashed on the white surface of the bathroom in a random order as the buzzed around the fecal porcelain catcher. Those are the dates of new events at the Anneberg.

If any breakdown in society comes with rioting and mutant gangs I ask that these two buildings are destroyed first and used to play Looney Tunes cartoons with degenrates in the audience acutally enjoying themselves in more numbers than those palces see today.

With so many small and independent playhouses in LA being inventive and fun you have to wonder why these big playhouses stay open or are even given any money to stay open. Sure many of the plays and shows at the smaller playhouses may be ludicrous or not even that good. They're still hundreds of times more fun and engaging than what is no better than garbage bags being thrown on stage and then they rip open and the smell comes at you. 

Really think about anyone you've talked to in LA and realize no one has gone to either of these theaters since they opened.

On the other end look at Royce Hall pulling off a nice mix of artsy-hippy crap like Kid Koala’s Nufonia Must Fall

Directed by K.K. Barrett, recently Oscar-nominated for Spike Jonze’s Her, this live adaptation of the graphic novel unfolds via the real-time filming of more than a dozen intricately-crafted miniature stage settings in which a cast of puppets interact.
and Phantom Limb Company Memory Rings


Memory Rings is a spellbinding journey into the woods of a vanishing past and even more precarious future. By turns meditative and playful, this stunning theatrical collage from the inventive Phantom Limb Company combines fairy tale, fable, puppetry, choreography, original music and striking visual design to chronicle 5,000 years of human and environmental change, all under the watchful gaze of the world’s oldest living tree.
You sicken me Valley Performing Arts Center and Beverly Hills' Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. You two are the LA Live of playhouses. The same LA Live that was suppose to be the center of our New Year's celebration in LA, but now will all go to the Grand Park, because it's so much better than the worthless LA Live. LA Live, if you don't want your event to be fun you're probably already at LA Live.

LA Live we have food, it's just overpriced...for no reason. LA Llive, wait, where's the movie theater? Yeah, guys I'm sorry the events at LA Live, I know it's a hassle. Why does everything suck there? Canter's is not a part of LA Live.

In closing I also hate LA Live.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Last Minute Holiday Cheer

Check out the long list of things on fire at Yule Log 2.015 for nice backgrounds to put on your TV's and monitors while celebrating Christmas. We love the short BEST WISHES, see it below.
BEST WISHES from Jeroen Houben on Vimeo.

From All Of Us at TTDILA

Merry F*ing Christmas To You!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Pica Pic, The Retro Handheld Game Museum Online

Pica Pic, The Retro Handheld Game Museum Online

Hipopotam Studio has created a digital museum online of classic handhelds you can all try for free. The twenty-six avaible titles are all random a come from a range of older game makers. Try Bartman Avenger of Evil, Octopus from Game and Watch or The Terminator from Tiger to name a few. It's a great aesthetic that we wonder will be the future or more complex games, will they just be in the browser? The Neo Geo titles from the recent Humble Bundle were.

Amplitude Review: Back and All Shiny

An old friend and I spent all day and night unlocking all the songs the second I got a review code for the game we played out of high school, Amplitude. Amplitude is back, all shiny and new in HD. The colors popped on screen, the beats dropped faste as our ships shot up tracks. Then I lost to him, the monster, let's play it past midnight for my revenge. I need two more friends for four player, stat.

Amplitude was once a PS2 title, now and after some delay it's back again, skipping a system (for now), to come back to us on the PS4. You must blast beats or little diodes on screen in conjunction with the music on sci-fi spacecrafts. Songs are broken down to their base components from drums to vocals, synths and so on. Complete a track and you'll hear that part of the song, mess-up and the song will be lacking part of its groove. You earn more points by stringing the different parts of the song together without a break in-between. So you have to switch from track to track fairly fast, keep up.

The new Streak Seeking may help as you'll instantly be put on the next available track to continue the song. This is a major difference from the old game as you had to go through other tracks, some that may be out, to get to a track that's lit-up and ready to be played.

You have limited energy to blast beats, if you mess up too much or don't make it to a half-way point station that fills up your energy the song ends and you lose. Now skill and replay comes in as you want to get better and faster with pressing buttons in sync with the songs. Different skill levels of finger kung-fu on the controller make you want to master shooting up the tracks.

From a veteran, I have my PS2 hooked up to compare the original game, you can't deny the upgrades and overhaul of the game. What else can we say, but HD graphics, it's like spanning being at electric carnival minus all the annoying people crowding you. The colors the whiz by with the music, it all clicks together. There's new graphics that make tracks disintegrate before you and other nice polishes. It's a neon wunderland of what the!

Power-ups for combat, and yes the game is up to four-player local co-op with many way to play. Let's talk multi-player before combat real quick. You have the following options: Team Play, co-operative, so matches can be 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, and 2 vs. 2 matches. Or everyone for themselves and that's where I love amplitude, trying to beat my friends at it.


Back to the renamed power-ups, Score-Doubler is now Multiplier and sits comfy on the back of your ship until used, pressing the X button will release it's power to multiply your score. Same goes for all the other power-ups. Slow-Mo and Autoblaster are back, Slow-Mo, now goes by Sedate, it still slows down the game and Autoblaster new, known as Cleanse, takes out an opponents track taking away their chances of a high score and earning you some points. Sedate, is like having a DJ just take the song for a nice little break, helping you to hit hard button combos and getting a new way of hearing the song. The new Freestyler, Flow, is nowhere as fun as the games last two. You'll spin around freely with a rainbow rocket trail trying to cover the track so the other players can't see ahead. The visuals in the older game were just nicer. Best use Flow, when your points are multiplied to by 8, to get a huge amount of points in just a few seconds.

* Points are multiplied by twos, so it's 2,4,6, and 8 times whatever points you're earning on a track if you successfully streak song tracks together.

Bumper is now an instant transporter, use in on an enemy ship to have them instantly transported to another track. It does mess with you and your opponent to suddenly appear somewhere else on screen. The new Crippler has the track of the poor victim of it's cruelty look like it's going through a temporal, chronal electric time storm, something bad really like on Star Trek or Doctor Who. Can you see the tracks at all?

For the older player, you can now get these power-ups by completing the track in front of them, not just hitting a few buttons with their symbols to unlock them to play. They'll pop-up on screen frequently in multiplayer games and in the regular once you unlock them all.

Frequently you may switch to FreQuency mode. The predecessor to Amplitude was FreQuency and instead of the flat track we use to today the tracks were in a tunnel. Just a change up of modes in the options menu for a once and a while different style of play.

Campaign Mode's... story is silly. I played Laserlife this year, which is also a music beat game whose story has you resurrecting the memories of a dead astronaut. The story, and how you unlock more of the games songs is similar as your trying to wake up someone in a coma. I'm saying the idea of waking up a coma victim or unlocking stuff in the brain with trippy visuals is a very common idea, so common that it doesn't work here as being anything worth of an award. It does succeed in making me laugh. You hear doctors debating waking up "Sarah" and being petty before songs start in campaign mode, and it's just so laughable. I would have loved it if they made it funny on purpose and went with something like someone needed to get a big poop out or throw up some ecstasy, so they don't die at a concert. You're not Rez, Amplitude, you were never Rez.

You aren't my Amplitude either, the fifteen song in-house soundtrack is missing voice. The soundtrack suffers from a lack of vocals and record label artists. I know the game was made much cheaper than usual, but couldn't there have been some negotiation with more artists.  We have fifteen others songs to go through, but many lack any voice, literally, I'm not sure why only indie game songs were chosen with nothing to sing along with.

So few of the tracks captured me like the old game that had Garbage and Weezer and we could go back and debate, the price of the game and the team put on the this title, but still I'm not sure how much they pushed themselves at Harmonix for more music. There's such a huge stream of indie artists who would have loved to have their quirky song put in this game. At it's worst, it's not the greatest album ever.

The original game... had more. Though HD is nice, the care that each song got with it's own specialized track is not here or Avatars called Freqs which had parts to unlock through more plays. Harmonix's silence on any talk of DLC, paid or free is also concerning, they do it all the time with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Amplitude is back, it could have been better, but it's still fun. When a game between you and your friends gets going in the soundscape and bizarre power-ups push you to the limit when you're trying to string tracks together, it feels like home. It feels like it's name as you push yourself to get to the techno/cyborg sun thing at the end. Amplitude, the music game that's a blast!

*For backers who paid $100 on the Kickstarter there's a bonus song, Do Not Retreat from Komputer Kontroller and a new vehicle type, Twista in green.

Amplitude for PS4, eventually PS3 
Releases January 5, 2016,  $19.99


Reviewer was given copy by publisher for review purposes. I did support the Kickstarter too.


All songs in game


Weekly What To Do: Christmas Killed the Schedule

Christmas takes out this week, there's a few things to do, but it's time for family, friends or in my Jewish case, Amplitude with friends and Chinese food.

A friendly reminder for those sipping too much eggnog, Metro will be free for Christmas Eve at night

Specifically, no fare will be charged starting 9pm on Thursday, December 24 until 2am Friday, December 25.


Wednesday, December 23
10:30pm
UCB Sunset
5419 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027 
$5
Do you like your holidays creepy crawly? Ring in the holiday fear and watch your favorite UCB improvisers re-dub clips from your favorite spooky holiday movies and TV specials based on your suggestion! Hosted by Master of Scary Monsters with Eyeball Hands and #1 Christmas Fan, Guillermo del Toro (Justin Michael
Wednesday Dec. 23rd @ 9:00PM
Downtown Independent 251 S Main St. LA, CA 90012
Free for 8 player brawl Open play, 5$ entry for tournament

The Magical Christmas Caroling Truck
Thursday, December 24TH, 2015
4:30 PM to 11:00 PM
Route Map
Free 
Since 1984, the sixty-two foot tractor-trailer, adorned with magnificent Christmas scenes and thousands of sparkling lights, has been spreading Yuletide cheer in the neighboring communities. Over 200 singers and dancers, accompanied by a 20,000 watt sound system, serenade local residents with Christmas carols.
Thursday, December 24
3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center
135 N. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
 - FREE; no reservations or tickets to the show; first come, first seated
- Doors open at 2:30 p.m. (The line forms much earlier)
- Entertainment on The Music Center plaza begins at 12:30 p.m.
- Patrons may come and go throughout the three-hour performance PARKING:FREE in The Music Center parking garage

More than 20 music groups, choirs and dance companies from the many neighborhoods and cultures of the region, celebrate the season during this FREE, three-hour holiday show.
Dec 24, 7:30pm
Laemmle theaters

 $18 for General Admission with discounts for students and seniors ($15), and Premiere Card holders ($16 /$13)

8th Annual, anything-goes Fiddler On the Roof Sing-a-Long! Belt out your holiday spirit … or your holiday frustrations. Either way, you'll feel better as you croon along to all-time favorites like “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”, “TO LIFE”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many others.

The evening includes trivia, prizes, and by all means -- we encourage you to come in costume! Guaranteed fun for all. Children are welcome (Fiddler is rated "G") though some themes may be challenging for young children.

December 24, 2015, 9:00 pmThe Room Hollywood
1626 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
$31.74

Bigger and better than ever, MatzoBall, the nations leading Jewish single’s event, kicks off its 29th year with an unforgettable Jewcy adventure. With almost three decades of experience, nobody can do it bigger or better than Matzoball and this year will prove to be no different. Matzoball sets the stage for the ultimate party experience that you do not want to miss out on!!

Dec 24- Jan 1
The Cinefamily
611 N Fairfax Avenue 
$12 – $20/free for members

Flat-out favorite event for the holidays as you beat in the new year with ultra violence with our friends from the East.

The Original Room: A Very Merry Jewish Christmas
Friday, December 25, 9:00 PM
GA ticket + Chinese Food (While supplies last) $20
21 & over, Two drink minimum
Chinese food and comedians who care it's Christmas. 
Saturday, December 26, 10:00pm
UCB Franklin
5919 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028
$10
The finest performers from your favorite UCB teams will join forces with an unlikely Christmas antihero. It's Krampus! The Austrian legend will inspire the Allstars with an audience interview about naughty childhood stories. Then, Krampus will join the improvisors for an unforgettable mashup; highly trained UCB improvisors and a sadistic German-speaking demon.

Dec 26 & 27
Rockwell: Table & Stage
1714 N. Vermont Ave.
Starts at $20












Monday, December 28 and Tuesday, December 29
7:30 p.m. (local time)
Local theaters
$
The Doctor is back on the big screen this holiday season for a special two-night event featuring an exclusive interview with Alex Kingston and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the special featuring Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and more.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

LAist Kinda Out of the Holiday Spirit


Yesterday's Boring Drizzle May Be A Prelude To More Stupid Rain

I feel like LAist might be angry about something, or really trying to punch up a story about rain.

Monday, December 21, 2015

What Do I Do For New Year's in LA? Answers, Hard But Realistic Answers

 A new list to welcome in the New Year. We suggest the nice views of our beaches, really anywhere downtown will be concentrated with fireworks. Will add any events that pop-up and make New Years Eve worth going out for.

As per usual, here's a reminder about Metro being free, we'd rather have you not be in a car accident in the new year.

To help you ring in the New Year safely, Metro will operate 24-hour, overnight service on Metro Rail, plus Orange and Silver Lines. Free rides will be offered for all bus and rail service from 9pm on December 31, 2015, until 2am on the morning of January 1, 2016. More details


New Year's Eve LA
Grand Park
Free

The main event is the free and now annual 3-D Projection on the side of buildings in our lovely Grand Park in downtown. The West Coast flagship New Year’s Eve countdown, LA Live you've been an utter disappointment since opening, what the Hell are you doing for New Years? Nothing. The Grand Park + The Music Center’s will be having  N.Y.E.L.A. with live music, food, photo booths, and huge projections in one big, beautiful, global Angeleno celebration to remember! #NYELA

If you wanna keep it close, you could try renting a room adjacent to the view for friends 

Clifton's at Night, NYE Extravaganza
8pm
Clifton's - 648 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90014
Starts at $100

Taking place over three stories of the magnificent Clifton’s, the weekend will be filled with entertainment and surprises set to enrapture, enthrall and amaze. With live music, deejays, magic and tantalizing tease. Just the atmosphere of the location is top notch.






Prohibition NYE Presented by KCRW
9pm
Union Station
800 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles 90012
$150
21+


Arguably downtown Los Angeles’ most recognizable landmark, Union Station will once again come to life with the excitement and glamour of the Roaring Twenties.  After a third consecutive sell out, Prohibition NYE has expanded into the majestic Ticket Concourse at this classic venue.

Be prepared for a memorable evening of DJs, live jazz music, burlesque dancers, tray passed oysters, and a premium open bar to satisfy all of the senses.



New Year's at Knotts Berry Farm
10am-1am
regular admission

Knott’s Sky Cabin, towering over 200 ft. in the air, will dramatically rise to the top of the “K” tower as special lighting effects help countdown the final moments of 2015. When the cabin reaches the top at the stroke of midnight both the “K” tower, rigged with special pyrotechnics, and skies above Knott’s will be ablaze with colorful fireworks! A New Year’s Eve celebration is not complete without a delicious meal. TheNew Year’s Eve buffet in Spurs Restaurant will be served from 4pm-9pm; prices are $34.99+tax for adults and $18.99+ tax for kids (3-11). Other special events included.

New Year’s Eve Aboard the Queen Mary
8pm
The Queen Mary
Starts at $99
21+

Celebrate the launch of 2016 under a fireworks-filled sky on the legendary decks of the Queen Mary. Toast the New Year in style and enjoy an unforgettable evening of great food, drinks and live entertainment. New Year’s Eve aboard the Queen Mary is a sell-out party every year.



Wokcano's Black & White NYE
8:00 PM
Wokcano Santa Monica

1413 5th St.

Santa Monica, CA 90401
General admission tickets are $40.00 in advance, $50.00 day of. VIP Tickets are $60 adv /$70 day of.

Cocktail Attire Required









8:00 PM

41 Ocean

1541 Ocean Ave. Ste 150

Santa Monica, CA 90401
General admission tickets are $50 in advance & $75 Regular Price for Members, and $75 in advance & 120 Regular Price for Non-Members, and includes Open Premium Bar, party favors, champagne toast.
Cocktail Attire Required


Bring out your inner Frank, Dean, and Sammy and Celebrate at Santa Monica's most exclusive club.

Party all night with sounds by DJ Myster-E plus Live Entertainement, Party Favors, Countdown with Champagne Toast, Photo Booth & More...




Downtown Long Beach New Year’s Eve
8:00 PM PST (8:00 PM Doors)
200 Pine Avenue, Long Beach, CA
$30, Price will go up


Headlining this year will be Saint Motel, ZZ Ward, Houndmouth, and Vintage Trouble, each bringing guests to perform throughout the evening. Those guests include a special DJ set from OK Go’s Dan Konopka and Tim Nordwind’s project Xia Xia TechniqueFMLYBND, Miles Tackett & The 3 Times, and DJ Sovern-T.







Pluto's First Party
8PM
Ace Hotel
Free
21+

Sounds weird, but filled with music to groove to.

"So here we are. The Moon Wrestling Matrons of Mars. Pluto’s Lone Pioneers. In this new land. Everything beyond the realm of our imagination."








New Years Eve Bobby Lee, Iliza Shlesinger, Ian Edwards, Brody Stevens
9:00 PM
$50 
21 & over Two drink minimum
Our biggest show of the year! Come bring in the new year in our biggest and best show room with 14 national headliners doing short sets (about 15min) back to back all night from 9-2am! No better way to start the new year than by laughing with 300 of your closest new friends, including a midnight countdown and champagne toast!

7:30pm & 10:30pm
Rockwell Table and Stage
1714 N. Vermont Los Angeles 
$80.00 - $175.00

Join stars from Broadway, Film & Television as they rock out your favorite Rocky Horror Parody and your favorite tunes to ring the New Year with a VIP party! Champagne toast at midnight. Dessert Buffet. DJ. Photo Booth.







4pm
Game Haus
1800 S Brand Blvd, # 107
$15.00 and that includes admission, one drink (coffee, tea or soda - no substitutions), a special dessert from Tasteful Cakes and gaming into the New Year! 
Drop by the cafe for tickets or call us at 818.937.9061 during business hours.
Game in the New Year!

Console Wars and Monsters Hunters at UNIQLO

We checked out Gallery 1988's latest art show, Console Wars and the Monster Hunter themed shirts from UNIQLO at the Beverly Center.



Console Wars
Opening Friday, December 11th, 7pm-9pm
G1988 (West)

7021 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Free

This group show, entitled "Console Wars," features artwork inspired by Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, the two yesteryear giants of 16-bit gaming. With a large roster of impressive names participating, these paintings, prints and sculptures will be the perfect way to end a great year of G1988 exhibits.











Monster Hunter



 Ooops, we added a nice Star Wars tee, too.