photo by Jacy Wojcik

Photo booth art by Jef Aerosol

The 2012 International Photobooth Convention was held this past weekend at the Electric Lodge in Venice. Yes, a gathering for hard-core enthusiasts of booths where you sit and get your photo taken.

But let's clear things up. These are not the digital photo booths of today. They are not the kind your cousin Denise had at her wedding, which seemed like a good idea until everyone was taking hilarious photos of themselves instead of paying attention to the cake-cutting ceremony and she cried.

These are the photochemical booths of yesteryear. The kind that haven't been made since the '70s/early '80s, can be expensive to maintain, require chemicals, and are a pretty rare commodity. Rare in the sense that, as convention co-founder Brian Meacham explained, these photo booths may have gotten new shells in the '90s but the moving parts are hodge-podged around from different machines. Even rarer in the sense that, we learned, all the old photochemical photo booths in Europe have been trashed, save a few Swiss booths now in Berlin; all the rest are digital. There is a growing community for photochemical booth fanatics and artists and this was their Comic-Con.

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Diego, 10, plays the piano near LACMA

On a sunny but breezy Saturday, 10-year-old Diego Grijalva of Gabriella Charter School in Echo Park found himself at 5900 Wilshire Blvd., seated at a piano designed by local artist Evan Skrederstu. Diego, who has played on his school's piano, was intrigued by the street piano and was playing a simple tune.

The piano, strategically placed adjacent to a line of food trucks across from LACMA is one of about 30 currently ensconced all over Los Angeles as part of the international public art installation "Play Me, I'm Yours."

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Nerdist

Nerd Emperor Hardwick announces the lineup

Nerd.

What was once a word used to assert adolescent alpha male dominance over the guy who would eventually become your boss is now a nearly complete empire run by the once-oppressed. Unlike the Habsburg, Incan or Qing, this one has its own channel on YouTube, complete with Weird Al, Neil Patrick Harris and, well, cute shit exploding, among other nerdly things. Oh, and there...will...be...puppets. Henson puppets.

We caught up with Chris Hardwick, high emperor of the multifaceted project Nerdist, and his business consigliere Peter Levin to talk about the channel, plus bowling, nerd-cred, and why getting whacked in the face with a toy lightsaber can ultimately be a good thing for a lot of people.

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From Ze Frank's Kickstarter page, in which he wants to revive The Show -- "Same same, but different"

Ze Frank sometimes makes you feel a little stupid. But it's not on purpose -- he's pretty brilliant. In case you've forgotten, Frank was the occasionally singing, speed-talking, non-blinking (he edited out his blinks) online genius from The Show, an early exercise in interactive Internet video intellect, creativity and pop culture. When The Show's one-year run ended in 2007, it had a legion of fans called "Sportsracers" and its own universe of in jokes (i.e., the running fool, duckies and an "earth sandwich," where two people on opposite sides of the earth put bread on the ground).

Setting up on Kickstarter a few weeks ago, Frank began to create what he hopes will evolve into an alternate reality game/show/experience of sorts. We say "of sorts" because Frank's not entirely sure what will happen. We'll get to that in a minute.

Ending Friday, Frank's wildly successful Kickstarter campaign lasted 10 days and included his signature absurd whimsy. (Don't you dare call it "twee" -- the man has an Ivy League degree in neuroscience, after all.) He promised his backers all sorts of Ze Frank-style oddities in return for their contributions, including but not limited to: jars into which Frank himself will whisper words of encouragement, plastic babies that might not "grow up into a Ken doll" without your support, signed signatures, potato stamp art, black-on-black ducky T-shirts, and tons of The Show swag. If you're confused, don't worry, he's more than adept at explaining it -- cool college professor adept.

Basically, Frank's got some new shit up his sleeve and it will blow your mind -- and he told us all about it.

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Courtesy of Angel City Press

Author and film critic Steven Rea is hip. Well he's not trying to be hip, which makes him even hipper, but we'll get to that in a second. He's got two obsessions -- bikes and Hollywood history -- that he's managed to turn into a pretty hip book.

At first glance, it might look like that kind of loud tourist-appealing kitsch -- Ta-da! Tinseltown on two wheels! -- but it's better than that. Much much better. Beautifully wrought by local publisher Angel City Press with designs from L.A.-based artist Amy Inouye, Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling With the Stars is exactly the type of book you need to have in print...and one you need for prominent display on your coffee table...you do have a coffee table, right?

The book is the type of conversation piece that eschews digitization -- classic photos of Hollywood stars, has-beens and almost-weres, all on their two- and three-wheeled modes of self-propulsion. Well, OK, it would be nice if it was digitized, for sales' sake, but it's one of those books that holds up better as a book. We interrupted Rea (not to be confused with the actor Stephen Rea) in the middle of his West Coast tour to talk about just that, and a lot of other things, over a coffee table.

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Armisen and Brownstein on Portlandia on IFC

The top groupies in the audience for Portlandia the Tour have been a gay couple from Napa that attended the Los Angeles show last night dressed in matching "Put a Bird on It" t-shirts. They've been to every show on the tour so far. Portlandia actors/creators Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are apparently so chummy with their fans that Brownstein proudly announced that the Napa couple has been together for a whole 14 years.

Portlandia, a sketch comedy on IFC that skewers the various liberal social groups known for populating Portland, Ore., has attracted a loyal cult following of comedy nerds since it first aired last year. Even people from Portland reportedly like watching their town be mocked.

But how does a television show go on tour? The show at the Echoplex in Echo Park had new live sketches, live performances of songs made famous from the episodes, video clips from upcoming episodes, a question-and-answer period, and then a short concert with The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs at the end, all totaling in at about 90 minutes. Armisen said it was the first show they had ever done at a venue that doesn't have seats. Concerned, he asked the crowd if they felt comfortable. Most people said no.

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Paul T. Bradley

Jenn and Ti and the delicious Occupy Karaoke calendar.

Karaoke maxim: There's more to life than karaoke, you know, but not much more. --Occupy Karaoke participant Ti, with help from Morrissey

"So, have you heard of these kids who are doing karaoke for 25 days in a row? Occupy Karaoke?" we ask a fellow bar patron.

We're in the Atwater Village watering hole Bigfoot Lodge last month, on the hunt for a cabal of karaoke partisans.

"No. That sounds lame," replies the beefy patron.

"You think so? I'm kind of hoping they've got some singing chops," we rebut, taking exception with his negativity.

"If there's karaoke here tonight, my wife and I are leaving -- I can't stand that shit." He retorts, after ordering two double whiskeys on the rocks. Oof. We hope they're not driving.

Karaoke is a polarizing enterprise, apparently, and we still have yet to find the crew responsible for taking that polarity to the next level -- they haven't responded to our emails, phone calls or smoke signals and we're scanning the crowded digs looking at faces and checking them against O.K.'s tumblr photos. No luck.

They tweeted they'd be here, and so far no one knows what the heck we're talking about -- we're even scanning for their signature advent calendar. Have we been duped?

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A fully functioning hoverboard...y'know...for the kids

Local memorabilia-selling powerhouse, Profiles in History did another one of their epic auctions this weekend at the Paley Media Center in Beverly Hills -- and the nerds cleaned house. Again.

Compared to Debbie Reynolds' series of show-stopping auctions this year, this one was a quiet affair...there was a maximum of thirty people (including Profiles' staff) in the room at any one time...at least on Friday...and we're not sure of the internet numbers. All we know is that we wanted to be there to get our hands on something cool and maybe snag a pair of Vincent Price's shoes as an X-Mas present for the classic movie lover in their lives.

While the auction, true to its "Icons of Hollywood" name, included a wide variety of items from all ages, genres, and importance of cinema history -- including some head-scratchers (Gidget Goes to Rome title art? WTF?). There were photos, storyboards, swords, costumes, cars, a few actual space suits, two hoverboards, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Sure, there were some ruby slippers that were in that one movie...and the dress to match...but the most interesting section of the auction auction block, and the most bizarrely completist, was the Back to the Future item block.

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Describing Pete and Pete to non-fans and newcomers is like describing an acid trip in Pleasantville to your grandma without making drug reference, "It's like, y'know...surreal but nostalgic...but like still kinda wholesome...but warped...only tastefully so." Ok fine, Pete and Pete is The Wonder Years on mescaline...or 11 days of voluntary sleeplessness. There there grandma, you know what mescaline is, don't act so coy.

The cast and creators of the venerable kids cult classic The Adventures of Pete and Pete joined an instant-sell-out crowd Saturday night at Cinefamily for their first reunion since the show's run ended in 1996. Both Petes, Mike Maronna and Danny Tamberelli, were joined by show creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, as well as writer Joe Stillman, director Katherine Dieckmann and, of course, Toby Huss as Artie...the strongest man...in the world.

The evening chronicled more of a "Wow, how did that even happen?" vibe than "We made the best thing ever, and it's a crime we're not amazingly popular." Turns out, making Pete and Pete was an amazing time, and given the particulars, a labor of love that may never ever happen again.

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Ever had questions about Hell, Satan or various and sundry demons? Then TV writer Martin Olson's Encyclopaedia of Hell: An Invasion Manual for Demons Concerning the Planet Earth and the Human Race Which Infests It will prove most edifying, as it sheds some much-needed comedic light on the dark side.

Purporting to be a detailed manual for demons who are invading the Earth, with a truly encyclopedic glossary of terms featuring often hilarious definitions, fastidious, Sears catalog-Gothic artwork by Tony Millionaire and Mahendra Singh and interesting cosmological stories and sidebars, the comedy is close-to-the-vest and sophisticated enough that the exceedingly pious and godly may still take offense at its flirtation with the Satanic and demonic.

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