Paul T. Bradley

Jessica Hanna's Moment of Triumph

"Everybody threw-fucking-down tonight," says an exhausted Jessica Hanna to her entourage.

Hanna ought to be exhausted -- she is, after all a champion. Just minutes before, she had bested a handful of other ladies in an over-the-top spectacle feat of strength -- and ok, some finesse -- in what was billed as L.A.'s first ever competitive ladies arm wrestling championship.

In the final, Hanna crushed Ladystache, who wore the shame of defeat on her fake facial hair while her conqueror raised an arm with Rosie the Riveter-level pride.

More >>

Courtesy of Tom Daniels/Black Army 1850

Black Army 1850 members raise their mega trapo.

There are two groups of soccer "types" everyone is familiar with. There's the "soccer mom," scooting across town in her minivan with her 2.5 children, and the "hooligan," a soccer fan whose sole purpose in life is to beat the living shit out of anyone who doesn't support his favorite team. There is also a third type, the "ultra," and Los Angeles now has its fair share of them.

Ultras, also known as supporter groups, are bands of diehard soccer fans who root for a particular team. They've existed in the U.S. since Major League Soccer had its first kickoff in 1996, taking inspiration from their European counterparts. They're the fans you'll find in the same section in every game chanting, singing, cheering and jeering along to the action on the field while drumming, tossing streamers and, on occasion, setting off a flare or two. A growing number of them in Europe have deep political affiliations, but so far that hasn't been the case in the U.S.

L.A. is currently the only city in the country hosting two MLS teams -- the L.A. Galaxy and Chivas USA, who share the Home Depot Center stadium in Carson and play each other this Saturday. The former was established in 1995 and is one of the league's first teams, while the latter was founded in 2004 and is the sister team to Mexico's Club Deportivo Guadalajara, aka Chivas de Guadalajara.

Each team recognizes three groups per team as official supporters: the Galaxians, Angel City Brigade and the L.A. Riot Squad on the Galaxy side; and Legion 1908, Union Ultras and Black Army 1850 for Chivas USA.

More >>

Photo by Michael Parker

The "steam egg"

Ever been inside a disco ball-esque "steam egg" with a bunch of sweaty, half-naked strangers? Talked to Filipino inmates who wrote, directed and starred in their own musical, filmed within prison walls (and that went viral with more 50 million YouTube views)?

Writers for KCET's new arts journalism initiative Artbound have. This project, still in its nascent stages, aims to bring attention to Southern California's cultural and artistic scene across 11 counties, providing in-depth criticism and analysis and by taking a "transmedia" approach, incorporating multiple platforms like video and photography in the telling of a single story.

More >>

Courtesy Francisco Castro/HOY Newspaper

Dr. Hayes-Bautista in the new exhibition for his book on Cinco de Mayo's origins

When Dr. David E. Hayes-Bautista says the phrase "Drinko de Mayo," he is far from bitter. He doesn't rant about how Cinco de Mayo has been subjected to brutal commercialization and stripped of its authenticity. It is, after all, difficult to really critique the Mexican beer companies for divesting the holiday of its "true meaning" when most Chicanos themselves, let alone Californians (or the rest of the U.S.), aren't sure why they celebrate it in the first place.

Before he wrote his new book El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition to, in his words, "straighten out the history," Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine at UCLA and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, went most of his life not fully understanding the holiday.

More >>

Dictionary of American Regional English, Volume 5

The Southern California vocabulary, as endearing or maddening as it can be, doesn't exactly have a reputation for erudition. And we're totally chill about that.

The Dictionary of American Regional English, which you may have heard of recently, is an ambitious lexicographical project that recently reached the end of the alphabet and released its fifth and final volume: a diligently researched, 1,200-page compendium of American words -- from slab to zydeco -- traced through history and from region to region.

As I navigated the book's heft, I noticed that most of the words with California origins referred to either flora (like "tule," or a kind of cattail plant) or fauna (like "splatter-ass," a kind of duck). After much thumbing I managed to find six (legit) phrases that Californians can call their own.

Who knows? Maybe we can get them circulating again.

More >>

Photo by Rick Escueta

Fire Walk With Me title wall, featuring An Old Woman and Her Grandson by Josh Agle (aka Shag)

Twenty years ago auteur filmmaker David Lynch elicited delight and (mostly) rancor from fans by making a film based on his critically successful TV series Twin Peaks called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Only the staunchest of Twin Peaks fans seemed to appreciate the way the film amplified the TV series' elements of surrealism and supernatural horror while painting it a darker shade and removing much of the show's humor.

That said, there was nothing about the Saturday opening of the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 20th anniversary art show at pop surrealist hub Copro Gallery to suggest that only hard-core FWWM fans were in attendance. It seems that a Lynch-head is a Lynch-head, whether your preference lies only with Blue Velvet and Eraserhead or whether it spans Lynch's entire body of artistic work to include Crazy Clown Time, Dune and his early AFI short films.

More >>

Joe Termini

Mike D

Mike D, Beastie Boy, recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, mad collector of modern furniture and, in general, the man with all the fly juice, has now found the time to curate his own museum show.

"Transmission L.A.: AV Club" is a free, 17-day festival of art, music and food, opening to the public Friday, April 20, at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. In keeping with the museum's recent pattern of splashy, nontraditional events, Mike and Mercedes Benz's avantgardediaries.com bring together a heavy-hitting roster of L.A. and New York artists, including painters Sage Vaughn and Will Fowler, sculptor/installation builder Tom Sachs and designer/director Mike Mills, as well as DJs (Peanut Butter Wolf, Z-Trip) and musicians (Santigold plays the VIP party Thursday night). Throw in superstar Kogi and A-Frame chef Roy Choi, who does a pop-up restaurant on-site every Thursday, and you've got a party worth fighting for.

L.A. Weekly got the opportunity to do an interview with Mike D, aka Michael Diamond, over email on the new show, the hall of fame and what exactly is the proper way to do the Jerry Lewis (a dance move not to be confused with the Brass Monkey).

Mr. Diamond's concept for "Transmission LA: AV Club" doesn't take an all-out academic approach, but encompasses everything that inspires him -- good music, design, food and even coffee. Going to MOCA will be like visiting him at home -- whether that's in Brooklyn or L.A.

More >>

LARB's new look

Tom Lutz is one happy man. He has every reason to be.

This morning, Lutz watched as the online literary behemoth that he founded, the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), finally launched its new website. With more than 250 contributors, including Jonathan Lethem, T.C. Boyle, Jane Smiley, Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Pollan, LARB is the West Coast's answer to the New York-dominated literary review scene, to the folding of print book reviews across the country over the last several years and to the charge that Angelenos don't read.

Compared to its preview-mode Tumblr site, the new site is classic, clean and easy on the eyes. And it's getting a lot of attention.

"The Twitter's been blowing up," Lutz says, sounding both dazed and relieved. "I just took a look at my Google numbers for the first time and our page numbers are through the roof. By noon we had almost a [previous] month's worth of page views." Though he's quick to demur: "It's partly that we've been kind of like the town crier running through the streets, so it shouldn't be a surprise."

More >>

James Flames

Artist James Flames designed Brouwerij West's first label for the Tripel brew.

Beer talk runs the gamut from the frat-boy refrain "Beer is beer" to craft beer enthusiasts sparring in fermentation terminology. If there is any "art" to the drink, it lies within the bottle, and rarely will the conversation veer to what's outside it: the label.

"It's not like you can open up the beer and try it in the store. So what is that other thing that's going to make them buy it? It's the visual aspect," says James Flames, the artist who designed the label above for L.A.-based microbrewery Brouwerij (a Dutch word pronounced like "brewery") West. "I look at rows and rows of labels, and it's a real feast for the eyes. Like being in the world's smallest gallery where all the artwork is squished together."

Flames' design for the Tripel brew -- as with all of Brouwerij West's upcoming labels -- is more artfully conceived than many of the other hops-and-grains, typography-heavy, St. Pauli girl-style or simply bizarre labels that tend to dominate the beer shelves. To avoid this worn-out iconography, Brouwerij owner Brian Mercer has given all the artists on his roster almost total creative freedom.

More >>

Alissa Walker

When someone asks me if they have to rent a car when visiting L.A., I really, really, really, really want to say no. Of course you can experience L.A. without a car. I do it every day. But for me to explain all the quirks of navigating our transit-nascent city to a wide-eyed visitor, I'd pretty much have to strap them onto my back as I boarded the nearest rapid bus. Now, thankfully, I can simply hand them Nathan Landau's new book.

Where most travel books add a conciliatory line about taking transit in L.A., Landau's Car-Free Los Angeles and Southern California is a door-to-door guidebook to seeing L.A. without getting behind the wheel. From how to get from the airport (FlyAway!) to planning your route (Metro Trip Planner!) to riding the bus to the Getty (without parking, admission is free!) to getting to Disneyland by transit (it's possible!), the detailed transit directions for hundreds of Southern California destinations makes a car-less visit feel possible. And, dare I say, enjoyable.

But a revealing thing about Landau's book is that his tips and advice are almost more resonant for an L.A. resident who wants to give car-free living a shot. Landau actually proposes completely unique itineraries for experiencing Los Angeles, including a few that my transit-savvy self had not even considered. It makes the guide less like a travel book, and more like a handbook for local culture-seekers who'd like to climb out of their cars for a different kind of urban adventure. Here are some of the more compelling ideas I found in Landau's book that will work for anyone -- native or newbie -- who wants to immerse themselves in the other side of L.A.: The one without valet parking.

More >>