Jennifer Swann

Credit: Photo: Umami Burger

Is Umami's Pumpkin Spice Latte Burger the Most Basic Burger Ever?

Jennifer Swann
The pumpkin spice latte, long the punch line of every insult about the so-called "basic bitch," has reached a new level of mockery: its own seasonal Umami burger, which is even more ridiculous and calorie-laden than any basic beverage you might find at Starbucks. Umami, which issued a press release......
"Gone Wild" S'more with a Steampunk Coffeebar buttermilk waffle

This Halloween, Beverly Hills Mom Rainbeau Mars Is Giving Out … Live Worms

Jennifer Swann
Horror stories about apples with razor blades and anthrax-laced candy terrified trick-or-treaters in the 1980s and '90s. But this year, one Beverly Hills mom is purposely resurrecting the fear and paranoia surrounding trick-or-treating, with a modern spin. Rainbeau Mars (and yes, that's her real name, according to her publicist, who says......
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HallowMEME

Jennifer Swann
Back when a group of Internet-savvy bloggers created the first HallowMEME party in New York in 2009, it was mostly an excuse to throw a costume party where fellow attendees would actually appreciate their clever get-ups based on obscure memes, GIFs and YouTube videos. “Back in the days of Three......
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Victory Lap

Jennifer Swann
Victory Lap is a variety show, emphasis on the variety: There’s a traditional house band and stand-up comedians (Megan Koester, Brendon Small, Dan St. Germain) between sets, but then there are the weirder things: puppet surgery, tap dancing, busking. Even stranger is what takes place offstage: slow dancing, usually. That’s......
UCB's new Sunset Theater; Credit: Photo: Liezl Estipona

Matt Besser Wants L.A.'s New UCB Theater to Be Like Your College Dorm

Jennifer Swann
"Whatever kind of college has their classes all over town?" That's the question Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Besser had been asking for years while scouting the perfect location for UCB's West Coast training center. Unlike UCB comedy shows, which are all held at the oft-sold-out blackbox theater on Franklin Avenue......
Bogart

How a Tiny Hamster Became a YouTube Celebrity

Jennifer Swann
On a Friday afternoon in late August, Joel Jensen and Joe Matsushima are setting up a hot dog–eating competition in a soundstage on the 41,000-square-foot campus of YouTube Space L.A. The massive Playa Vista compound (seven stages, 10 editing suites, a 47-seat screening room) is offered at no cost to......
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Chill Out

Jennifer Swann
Oliver Payne wants you to chill out. At least that's the goal of the London-born, L.A.-based artist's outdoor performance Chill Out, in which participants are invited to listen to the namesake ambient record released in 1990 by British acid house band The KLF. But there's a catch: Attendees must show......