Barbie Dolls

Jewish L.A.: 5 People Who Helped Shape the City's History, From the Autry's New Exhibit

Jewish history in turn-of-the-century America usually conjures up images of deeply religious East Coast garment district workers or greased-back, penny-pinching Old Hollywood studio moguls. The Autry National Center attempts to break down this second stereotype with its latest exhibit, "Jews in the ... More >>

Kong: A Goddamn Thirty-Foot Gorilla

INSTALL: WeHo, an Interactive Queer Art Festival, Took Place on U-Hauls in a Parking Lot

As quickly as it appeared, it was gone again. On Sunday, the El Tovar parking lot in West Hollywood was transformed for twenty four hours into INSTALL: WeHo, a pop-up, interactive art festival highlighting emerging LGBTQ artists in Los Angeles. Conceived by openly gay performance artist Mark Cramer, ... More >>

Crafted, the $8 Million Crafts Market That Will Be the Biggest in the U.S., Opens in San Pedro

Collapsible Christmas trees, Barbie dolls and iPads -- a tidal wave of goods mass-produced overseas hits the Port of Los Angeles every day. Moving this bounty from ship to shore is the lifeblood of San Pedro. It may seem odd then, that the latest attraction at the port is a humungous marketplace of ... More >>

Lil' Kim - Key Club - 6/13/12

Sean Healy Presents Lil' Kim Key Club 6/13/12 We have all been unfair to Lil' Kim. Try to imagine how scary it must have been to be the first female rapper to lay bare her sexual proclivities for the entire world to examine. Even if Notorious B.I.G. ghostwrote her words (as has been alleged) it' ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain: 5 Unexpected Lessons He Taught Us Last Night

College of the Canyons/Jesse MuñozAnthony Bourdain, giving a rapt audience a window into making No Reservations.​We don't think any stone was left unturned by the end of Anthony Bourdain's speaking engagement last night at Santa Clarita's College of the Canyons. We know his new "death row" m ... More >>

Battle of the Barbies: Who's Better, Lil' Kim or Nicki Minaj?

See also: The Boss Vs. The Bawse: Who's Better, Bruce Springsteen or Rick Ross? [Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two artists who have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!] Lil' Kim ... More >>

Iran Bans Barbies; Disgruntled Little Girl Calls Replacement Dolls 'Ugly and Fat'

L.A.-based toy company Mattell is facing some pushback from the Iranian government, re: the "destructive cultural and social consequences" that its freakishly perfect Barbie dolls have on the little girls of Iran. Reuters reports that the ban was unofficially passed in 1996, but that the "morality ... More >>

A Tubular Christmas Story

Club Runway - Circus Disco - 11/19/11

Club Runway Circus Disco 11/19/11 Call it '90s club kid redux, compare it to the wacky, avant-garde fashion popularized by Lady Gaga, or simply marvel at the strange beauty of it all. But there's no denying that over-the-top, other-worldly self-expression in nightlife is back in Los Angeles. L.A. ... More >>

Punk Rock Dads: Fuck The World? Nah, "For The Wee-ones"

​Forget about the brutality of slam pits, the relentless touring, and the struggle to maintain a viable career in a collapsing music industry. The scariest, most challenging endeavor many punk musicians have is raising a family. In the new documentary The Other F Word -- premiering tomorrow n ... More >>

Alice Bag Reading And Performance - La Luz De Jesus Gallery - October 15, 2011

Lina Lecaro Alice in Wacko land​Most punk fans know Alicia Armendariz as Alice Bag, the lead singer of The Bags, the group featured copiously in 1981 doc The Decline of the Western Civilization, the one about punk. But Armendariz has another story to tell, and her no book Violence Girl- East ... More >>

Teen Party Expo: The Multi-Billion-Dollar Coming-of-Age Industry, From Bat Mitzvahs to Quinceañeras

Star ForemanQueens of the quinceañera​ The Teen Party Expo came to town recently, and the L.A. Convention Center morphed into what the inside of a young girl's brain must look like: Hot. Bright. Crowded. Confusing. Loud. Sort of like hell, only fluorescent pink. Picture it, the giddy schizop ... More >>

Helter Skelter's Gothic Prom, plus Six Reasons Why Goth Clubs Are the Happiest Places on Earth

Lina Lecaro Helter Skelter Prom King and Queen From Hell 2011​Helter Skelter (born of out the legendary live glam-meets-death-rock destination The Scream) was L.A.'s premiere goth haunt from the evening it opened in '89 and throughout the '90s. So it is no surprise that its dark denizens just ... More >>

Keeping Bookstores Alive with Ken and Barbie Mummies

Music to Pick Up/Download

Barbie Doll Electric Chair Science Project: Let Her Fry!

via Jessyratfink via Instructables​ This is pretty close to being the best science fair project ever. Most kids make exploding volcanoes. Jessyratfink make a fully functional electric chair for her Barbie doll to demonstrate how currents and conductivity work. Her project "completely disgusted ... More >>

Nick Cave's Grinderman at the Music Box

Timothy NorrisNo, YOU da man!: Nick Cave and his grindermen​ [For more photos, see Timothy Norris' slideshow "Grinderman @ Music Box"] Nick Cave's merry band of wizard dervishes Grinderman came to a packed-to-the-gills Music Box last night. The crowd was oh-so-Hollywood: like-minded celebs a ... More >>

Nightranger: Stars, Cars & Guitars

Stage Raw: Summer Festivities

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on [title of show] and Dani GirlSUMMER FESTIVITIES Open Fist Theater Company launches its annual Fist Look Festival this weekend, with The Existents, a rock musical by Douglas Crawford and Jason Wooten, music and lyrics by Ty Taylor. T ... More >>

Stage Raw: Bedroom Farce

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON LINDA PURL'S FESTIVALNEW REVIEW GO  BEDROOM FARCE ​Photo by Ron Sossi The title is apt, since the action occurs in three radically different bedrooms in a 1975 English suburb. Kate (blond and taffy-voiced Kate Hollinshead) an ... More >>

ODE TO JUMBO

SXSW: Gone to the Masses

Yet fest still has fresh, experimental edge

Steven Severin Scores Silent Films at Cinefamily

For two nights in a row, I headed down Fairfax to Cinefamily to sit cramped inside a sold-out movie theater of the pre-stadium seating variety and watch a small handful of silent films scored by former Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist/co-songwriter Steven Severin. Though Severin's reputation certai ... More >>

Illegal Barbies Stopped In San Diego

MattelTeresa, the Latina Barbie.​U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced on Thursday they seized 600 illegal Barbie dolls worth nearly $24,000 dollars. It wasn't clear if the undocumented Barbies were from Mexico, so hold off on the illegal bashing. (Besides, Mexican Barbies a ... More >>

Z-Trip Demos DJ Hero in Las Vegas, Honors DJ AM at Friday Night Residency Debut

Thursday, October 15, 6:50 p.m. Landed in Vegas, am on way to Palms Hotel from airport. In a half hour, the DJ Hero battle will begin: West Coast Sound vs. Z-Trip. Focus. I've had ten years to learn Technics technique. Countless hours in front of the decks, matching beats, absorbing breaks, tweakin ... More >>

Mattel Uses Own 'Barbie Labs' to Test for Lead

The Associated Press reports that El Segundo-headquartered Mattel Inc. has been granted an exemption from a federal law requiring that toy makers have their products tested for lead ​content at third-party laboratories. Instead, the makers of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels will be allowed to test its ... More >>

Barbie Doll Body Parts as Jewelry: Margaux Lange's Ear Earrings and Hand Necklaces--Like Dahmer's Refrigerator, Only Pretty

Would you wear these bizarre jewelry items made by Brooklyn artist Margaux Lange? They are made of chopped up pieces of Barbie dolls. They are plasticky, strange, cheerful, and just a bit creepy in a budding serial killer kind of way. I particularly enjoy the earrings made of ears. And the little da ... More >>

LA People 2009: Art-Tart Barbie — Kari French

Wading in the Waste Stream With the Center for Land Use Interpretation

On the bus to the dump

10 Musicians Definitely Not on Steroids

From the New York Times: "When news surfaced over the weekend that 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Timbaland and other rap stars had been implicated in a steroids investigation, some hip-hop fans were shocked, but to many in the industry the accusations seemed inevitable." Oh, how our collective pride in t ... More >>

Waisted

The corset and the art of Exquisite Restraint

The L.A. Word

A.M. Homes away from home

Nightranger

Semi-Naked Defiance

Wrap Star

Laugh Factory

Edited by Kateri Butler

How to Survive a Depression Without Really Crying

Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth

Object Lessons

Angie Schworer’s smart take on a dumb blond

Total War

Replace the DMZ with the DFZ (Duty-Free Zone)

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Todd Haynes' postmodern tearjerker

Tee Time

Who Wants To Be a Popsicle?

Tilt, Roll Over, Play Dead

Barbie's Revenge

Radio, Radio

But the ''Y'' Looked Cool

Heavy Bad Mojo

Cowboys, Indians and plastic women

All the President's Flings

Let's separate the women from the girls

Confessions of a Tender Pervert

Momus' doppelganger loves you