Courtesy of Stephen O'Gara and Geocaching.com

Stephen O'Gara of Team Ventura Kids geocaching in South Hills Park, in Glendora

In La La Land, the home of movie magic, we're used to our surroundings being not quite what they seem. But did you know, at this very moment, you are surrounded by thousands of tiny containers of various shapes and sizes, camouflaged in bushes, hidden in fake electrical boxes, attached by magnet to the bottoms of bar stools and perched atop stop-signs? You might need an ultra-violet light to discover the final clue to find them or wait for low tide to wade out to a cave at the beach, but they're there. That creepy guy at the bus stop who keeps looking around suspiciously might be totally nuts...or he might be a geocacher.

Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt that began in May 2000 when the U.S. government gave up "selective availability" and allowed civilians to use GPS devices with almost perfect accuracy for the first time. Computer consultant David Ulmer was one of many GPS enthusiasts brainstorming how this newly available technology could be used. The day after "selective availability" was lifted, Ulmer decided to hide a bucket in the woods near his home in Beavercreek, Oregon filled with prizes and post the coordinates online for anyone to find. He called it "The Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and its one rule was, "Take some stuff; leave some stuff."

Within three days, two readers had found Ulmer's bucket using personal GPS devices, and more readers had begun to hide boxes and post coordinates online. By September 2000, there were 75 caches across the country. Now there are 2 million around the world. One hundred seventeen thousand of those are in California and over 300 are within a 5 mile radius of our own 90012.

Today, Geocaching.com is the hub of all things geocache and the place to find the coordinates of caches around the world. Geocachers can use the gps on their smart phones and download an app that identifies the caches closest to them at any given time. The app provides maps, comments from fellow finders and clues. Even though the coordinates lead you to the cache's location, the real trick is is finding the camoed pillbox hanging in a nearby tree or knowing which sprinkler head is actually a hidden geocache filled with booty.

Los Angeles has become a world hotspot for geocaching, partly because of our year-round mild climate, partially because of our tech savvy population and partially because of our varied and intriguing terrain. "Whatever geocaching experience you're looking for, you can find it in L.A.," claimed real estate broker and geocacher Andy Perkins in a phone interview. "On the same day, you can be digging for boxes at the beach, grab easy urban caches through the city, then head up to the mountains or out to the desert."

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Valley Girl is screening...at LACMA?

This week L.A. hosts a BDSM convention, zombie fashion show and a queer sock-hop.

5. 50 Shades of Convention
Ten years might seem like a lifetime for anyone to be involved in any lifestyle, much less one involving whips, chains and the occasional golden shower, but the 10th annual DomCon L.A. proves that BDSM is still as much fun as ever. Mistress Cyan, a Pro Domme since 1996, has lent her considerable acumen to producing the convention all this time, in the process crafting an exhaustive event that unveils the leather, fetish and D/s subcultures to a larger audience, including both seasoned professionals and those just starting out. Expect Latex and Pro Domme Socials, 10,000 square feet of exhibitor space, a fetish ball, the International Mr. & Ms. Olympus Leather Contest, the DomCon Pet Awards and more -- all happening over three sprawling days of adventure, surprise and a ghastly welt or two. Los Angeles Hilton Hotel LAX, 5711 W. Century Blvd., Westchester; Fri., May 10 -Sun., May 12, 11 a.m., $25 & $115. (310) 410-4000, domconla.com. --David Cotner

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Creative Age Communications/Armando Sanchez

Controversial winner Amy Becker

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Top 10 Weirdest Stores in L.A.
*10 Best Vintage and Second-Hand Boutiques in L.A.

At the competition to determine the World's Fastest Set of Acrylic Sculptured Nails, the air is thick with the smell of acetone and ambition. Eight contestants sit at long folding tables, heads bowed as if in prayer. Hosted by the Nailpro Trade Show, the contest is being held at the Pasadena Convention Center on a spring day so lovely and carefree it gives little indication of the tension inside.

Preparation has been intense. Contestant No. 112, Shannon McCown, for instance, sat in front of the TV all night every night for a month doing her 19-year-old daughter's nails, driving her family crazy with nail talk. She now fiddles anxiously with bottles of sanitizing solution and Tammy Taylor conditioning cuticle oil.

Two tables over, as if the pressure weren't bad enough, sits contestant No. 113: Tammy Taylor herself, holder of the unofficial record for fastest set of acrylic nails, author of the beauty school standard The Complete Guide to Manicuring and Advanced Nail Technology, inventor of the flattened brush ferrule and Dazzle Rocks White Twinkling Stars nail powder, and president of Tammy Taylor Nails Inc., "where nails are always fun, and never feel like work." Word is that Taylor has this thing in the bag.

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Liana Bandziulis

Doug Cambell, with tutu on his head, surrounded by his Mindshare team and guest speakers

Anarchist writer Hakim Bey once wrote, "The universe wants to play," arguing that one must briefly escape complacency and embrace the unpredictable.

This theory was exemplified on Friday when the creative event planning organization Mindshare hosted the 2nd Annual Rubiks Human Play! Spectacular at V Lounge in Santa Monica. The evening revolved around the importance of play, featuring speakers, demonstrations, interactive exhibits, and, of course, Human Rubiks.

Although named for the Rubik's Cube, the human version is exponentially simpler. Participants don various colored clothing, such as a red top, green shorts, an orange hat, etc. Over the course of the night, players swap articles of clothing with each other. The first person to wear just a single color wins. Mindshare first incorporated the game into last year's April 1 event, but attendees were wary that the activity was a cover for an April Fool's prank and were hesitant to participate.

"Now that the more suspicious attendees know that we're not pranking them, they're more likely to join in," said Mindshare founder Doug Campbell during a pre-party interview. Campbell was proven correct several hours later. While 2012's Human Rubiks stretched on for hours, this year, two highly motivated participants won within minutes of the game commencing. Apparently the only prize was their new mono-hued outfits.

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YouTube/HarajukuMonae

A performance at Burn Club

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*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying

The L.A. fire artist known as Tedward saw police lights flashing out of the corner of his eye just before filling his mouth with fuel. Police cruise Culver City Park after dark sometimes and flash their lights to make their presence known, so he didn't think much of it. But then he heard voices warning him not to move. He turned to see two cops with guns drawn — rookies whose superiors had neglected to tell them to expect fire on the park's basketball courts.

Tedward had a full mouth, fuel in one hand and a torch in the other. He couldn't speak, so he stood staring for a drawn-out moment. Bystanders tried to explain, but the cops didn't understand. So Tedward made an executive decision: He turned around and breathed out a rush of flames.

"Do it again!" one rookie exclaimed.

When Tedward tells this story, he's quick to point out it happened a long time ago and that it's not indicative of a strained relationship between Burn Club, the group he started in 2004 for fire practice, and Culver City law enforcement. They're on good terms, actually, and Tedward meets with L.A. fire marshals routinely.

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Got Your Eyes

TigerLilly chokes out "pipsqueak" Sam.

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*Competitive Ladies Arm Wrestling? Yes, Indeed
*Top 10 Bars With the Hottest Women in L.A.

On Saturday night, in the protected brick-and-mortar bosom of Lacy Street Studios in Downtown L.A., a MMA training enterprise called Ultimate Female Fitness launched Beat Down Girls, a "female supremacist" wrestling studio and collective, with a four-match, mixed wrestling tournament. Cassandra Lee, the company's founder and madame of fetish clubs past, describes the Beat Down Girls as an athletic "girl gang" that champions the physical, mental and sexual superiority of women over their estrogen-challenged cohorts -- and aren't afraid to get in the ring to prove it.

Several of the fit and fiercest from various corners of the women's fighting world, including pro boxer/Penthouse centerfold Hollie "Hotstuff" Dunaway; darling of online BDSM porn emporium Kink.com, Rain DeGrey; former competitive body builder Jennifer Thomas; and buxom-legged newcomer TigerLilly were there on Saturday to spar with more-than-willing male victims.

For those out of the professional fighting loop, this event involved "mixed fighting," meaning men and lady folk in the ring, together, mixing sweat and guff and grunts. One catch is, the ladies always come out on top -- each fight is thrown to the fairer sex to propagate an illusion of impervious female strength. Literally, the champion would, in the immortal words of Mortal Kombat, "finish him" by digging a dainty foot into a helpless lad's ribs and flash her biceps for the crowd. This is prime wank material for a large subculture of fetishists who prefer women of the Amazonian variety, and the fetish hinges on a flawless victory for the ladies.

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Carol Cheh

Just a few of the assholes of Los Angeles

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*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying

Forget the Fuck Yeah Fest -- on Sunday Los Angeles had its own Assholes Festival, courtesy of the artist collective Llano del Rio.

Held on the street corner outside of the Chinatown nonprofit art space Human Resources, the event was a celebratory launch for their new zine publication, An Antagonist's Guide to the Assholes of Los Angeles. The guide provides a crowd-sourced listing of numerous targets of anger and/or protest in the city, such as the 10 freeway, the weapons manufacturer Raytheon Company, ARCO gasoline, Eli Broad, LAX, the Venice Whole Foods and "that fucking whore who cut me off at the Robertson exit," among many others.

A funny and provocative pamphlet that acts as a sort of tool for creative social agitation, Assholes also features substantive essays, ranging from Lisa Anne Auerbach's humorous account of her day-to-day encounters with assholes around the city to Jennifer Flores Sternad's consideration of historic works of street-oriented performance art by artists of color and Marisa Jahn's dialogue on the meaning of the term "agonism" (defined by theorist Michel Foucault as "a relationship built on mutual incitement and struggle").

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Douglas Campbell

Rick Santati vs Jason "Mayhem" Miller

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*Chessboxing Comes To Downtown Los Angeles
*50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best City in America
*Top 10 Weirdest Stores in L.A.

Last night, in a downtown warehouse, pugilists and pawns united to raise money for a worthy cause. The unorthodox fundraising organization Tuxedo Tyrants teamed up with the LA Chessboxing Club to present Brain Meets Brawn, a charity event showcasing the nascent sport of chessboxing. All proceeds contribute to The Tiziano Project, which teaches citizen journalism in war-torn regions of the world.

The concept is simple: Two combatants play a 3-minute round of chess, immediately followed by a 3-minute round of boxing. This pattern is repeated until one of the competitors either checkmates or defeats his opponent in the ring.

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Photo: Jennifer Swann

Eunice Luk at L.A. Art Book Fair

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*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*Best L.A. Novel Ever: The Tournament
*10 Places in L.A. to Draw Nude Models
*10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying

Last weekend's first annual L.A. Art Book Fair brought more than 200 independent publishers, galleries and booksellers from more than 20 countries to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA to talk art, hock prints and sell books. When we visited on Saturday, the massive Little Tokyo space was bustling with food trucks, author and artist talks and book signings from Ben Jones, Steve Roden, Dan Colen, Harmony Korine and others.

Amidst the noisy chaos of a couple thousand artists and zine zealots from L.A. and around the world, we rounded up the best things we heard all weekend, including quotes from panelists and fair-goers alike.

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Gendy Alimurung

The many faces of Steve Zissou at Bill Murray Appreciation Day

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*Slideshow -- Bill Murray Appreciation Day

The first Los Angeles Bill Murray Appreciation Day, or BMAD, happened this past weekend on a cold, drizzly Saturday evening. (Saturday was also Groundhog Day, of course.) How exactly did Bill Murray get his own day of appreciation, you ask? Credit goes to 27-year old USC graduate film student Christopher Guerrero and his producers Will Goldstein and Colin Reeves-Fortney. Guerrero really wants Murray to star in his thesis film.

Unfortunately, Bill Murray is just about the most difficult actor to track down. He has no publicists. He has no agents. For a while, the only way to contact him was via a 1-800 number connected to an answering machine. Guerrero hoped to catch the actor's attention by giving him his own holiday.

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