Liz Ohanesian

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Missing in the Rainbow

Liz Ohanesian
While representation of LGBTQIA characters is growing in the pop culture world, there is still a lot of work to be done. Other than a few standouts — Golden Globe winner Transparent, Orange Is the New Black and MTV’s Faking It among them — media is centered around the L,......
Courtney Cruz on stage for Devil's Playground's first Star Wars parody show.; Credit: Shannon Cottrell

How L.A.'s Star Wars Burlesque Parody Show Became a Viral Hit

Liz Ohanesian
Five years ago, when Devil's Playground founder Courtney Cruz staged her burlesque troupe's first Star Wars parody at Bordello, she wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary. They had done nerdy burlesque nights before, like a send-up of Batman and a night inspired by video games. "We just did the......
Datsik (in Famous shirt) checks out the Vortex.; Credit: Liz Ohanesian

Datsik Prepares "The Vortex" for What Might Be Its Final Tour

Liz Ohanesian
Early Tuesday evening, inside a nondescript North Hollywood studio, Troy Beetles, known to EDM fanatics as Datsik, is checking out the flood of images projecting against a structure that resembles the cone-shaped diaphragm of a speaker. He's especially taken by a Tron-like grid that moves through the 3D structure like......
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Miranda July book-signing

Liz Ohanesian
Two days after her novel The First Bad Man hits bookstore shelves, Miranda July will turn up at a former silent-movie studio for a fan-centric night. Presented by Skylight Books, the evening at Mack Sennett Studios is a ticketed event and standing room only. July will read from The First......
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Focus on Female Directors

Liz Ohanesian
From a documentary about a pharmacy in a southwest U.S. mining town to a short drama about a young, female military academy cadet, the eight selections at the American Cinematheque’s 10th annual Focus on Female Directors are a diverse lot. Following the screening will be a talk with several of......
Colette; Credit: Candy Talk Records (via Wikimedia Commons

10 Female DJs Who Ruled Before the EDM Brofest

Liz Ohanesian
We can't fault the person who thinks there are no female DJs playing this year's Coachella. After all, Annie Mac — whose affiliation with BBC Radio 1 makes her pretty high-profile — is buried one row from the bottom of the third-day line-up. (One other lady DJ, Alison Wonderland, is......
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Cur-Ate: Mexican Art and Gastronomy

Liz Ohanesian
LACMA's series of themed art and food events continues Tuesday night with Cur-Ate: Mexican Art and Gastronomy, offering a menu inspired by the museum's collection of Mexican artwork. Maite Gomez-Rejón, who fuses cooking and art on her blog ArtBites, leads the night's tour of works ranging from pre-Columbian to the......
Art from Amy Lee Ketchum's segment of Dreaming Los Angeles. The short will be screened at the 10th annual Focus on Female Directors at the Egyptian Theatre on Jan. 14.; Credit: Amy Lee Ketchum

A Chain of Animators Created an Exquisite Corpse Movie About L.A.

Liz Ohanesian
"I kind of found animation by accident," says Amy Lee Ketchum. The South Pasadena native had studied fine art and architecture at UC Berkeley. When it came time to apply for graduate school, she was looking for an MFA in painting or sculpture. Then she applied to USC's animation department......
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Under the Skin With Live Score

Liz Ohanesian
Under the Skin, director Jonathan Glazer’s sci-fi movie starring Scarlett Johansson, has earned plenty of accolades since it first hit the festival circuit in 2013. While you can watch the movie on Amazon Prime now, instant gratification doesn’t beat the experience of this event. This Tuesday-night screening at downtown venue......