Fans of Ghost in the Shell, of which we assume there are many, might want to check out this mash-up featuring audio from Sealab 2021. To echo the comments on YouTube, I'm surprised that more people haven't viewed "Ghost in the Sealab." It's just over seven minutes long, but worth the time.

The Microman

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See how they run. One of these mice gives me nightmares. (I'll let you guess which one.) That aside, they are quite clever. A good way to get started in that whole Steampunk aesthetic.

1. The Skull Mouse

This one comes from Ivan Mavrick. The goggles are a nice touch. So are the little earphones.

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This week's THEATER FEATURE on Pasadena Playhouse's demise, and what it means for the arts community. 

THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEES

NEW REVIEW GO WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM
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Photo by Rick Baumgarten

Christopher Durang's Loony Tunes aesthetic - with the help of Daniel Henning's perfectly modulated direction - gets swashed onto our so-called war on terror. Thank goodness Durang has moved beyond family dysfunction. Still, you'd think our recent history, propelled by some deranged Might Makes Right cabal from a powerful coven of loons, has been exhausted by American playwrights by now. Durang's outrage and piety, however, get channeled into breaths of comedic napalm, something like a cross between The Marriage of Bette and Boo and Dr. Strangelove. Durang has now joined ranks with Dario Fo. Sweet Felicity (stylish Rhea Seehorn, trying to be sensible in a world with no sense) wakes up in bed with a stranger, Zamir (Sunil Malhotra), after a night out at a bar. Turns out, Zamir slipped her a drug, raped and married her -- none of which she remembers. The "priest" was Zamir's friend, porno film maker Reverend Mike (Nicholas Brendon, sort of like Owen Wilson with a slow-mo brain). Zamir has anger management issues and feels badly that most of the women in his family are dead. This is cold comfort for Felicity. Yet she finds herself compelled to defend her "husband" when her Dick Cheney-emulating father, Leonard (Mike Genovese) - a volunteer in the "shadow government" -- drags Zamir into the torture chamber that he's been claiming is a private closet for his butterfly collection. Narrator and power-drill wielding torture-room assistant Loony Tunes (Alec Mapa) encourages Leonard to "bweak a finger, bweak a finger" -- all of which is based on a misunderstanding by Leonard's spy, Hildegard (Catherine Hicks, spending a good portion of the play with underwear swishing around her ankles), that Zamir's overheard conversation about a porno movie was actually a terrorist plot. Durang re-runs the ending a couple of times, trying to capture the moment where it all -- "it" being the sad plight of our country - went so wrong. I particularly enjoyed Christine Estabrook as Leonard's blissed-out seething wife, Luella, who can't stop talking about the theater, even while torture is being committed upstairs, because theater is what's "real." And what has she seen lately? "250 plays by Martin McDonagh and David Hare." Britain of course dominates our theater's new plays, obviously because "Americans are stupid." Durang is getting a lot off his chest, and off ours. The laughter he generates is from nonsense about nonsense, unnervingly true and cathartic, and beautifully performed. Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd. (2nd floor), Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through March 14. (323) 661-9827 http://theblank.com A Blank Theatre Company production. (Steven Leigh Morris)

For the latest NEW REVIEWS reviewed over the weekend, press the More tab directly below

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Mandy Ma is the creative, party-throwing, costume-wearing, cat-in-cage-putting cutie behind the blog Zippercut. By day she is a biochemist chemical engineer. By night she hosts tea parties at Culver City's Royal/T cafe. This is what her home looks like.

​This is Mandy's cat Kiko. Kiko crawls into that vintage rat cage (bought at Rose Bowl flea market) voluntarily. Cat in a rat cage. Irony.

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​Mandy's friend, graphic designer Rion Suarez, made this lamp out of labware.

​This is Mandy.

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This week's THEATER FEATURE on Pasadena Playhouse's demise, and what it means for the arts community.

THEATER AWARDS NOMINEES
​Hosts Life Could Be a Dream. Photo by Michael Lamont

The best of our theater in 99-seats (or less) in the calendar year of 2009 gets recognized for the 31st year at the L.A. Weekly Theater Awards, March 29, 2010 at the El Rey, 5515 Wilshire Boulevard. This year's party (with open-bar and post-show reception) features the doo-wop stylings of Life Could Be A Dream heartthrobs, The Crooning Crabcakes. Tickets are $20 with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the spcaLA.  Dress for 1960 (that would be, like, Jackie Kennedy or The Mad Men), or you'll feel like a dork. But in heels, blue velvet and thin tie, you'll be like a "Teenager in Love" all over again, no matter when you were born.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m. 

Tickets to the public go on sale February 25. Check here from mid-February for the link to the box office.

Each nominee gets one complimentary ticket. Nominees may RSVP to (310) 574-7208.

You're a nominee if 1) if your name appears below; 2) if, in any of the "production"categories (including "Musical of the Year"), your name appeared in the program as a writer, director, producer, actor, stage manager or designer; 3) if, in any of the "ensemble" categories, your name appeared in the program as an actor; 4) if, in the "Production Design" category, your name appeared in the program as a director or designer.

For a list of nominees, press the More tab directly below.
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There's a bit of a warrior princess in all of us, but, sometimes, wearing tight, thigh-high black leather isn't practical. So, what's a girl to do on those days when she really wants to channel Xena or Gabrielle? We headed to the vendor hall at the fifteenth annual Xena Convention to find out.

Shannon Cottrell

Xena T-shirts and scripts

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On January 26, at the start of a counterfeit trial in Los Angeles federal court, trading card company Upper Deck agreed to an undisclosed settlement with former business partner Konami Digital Entertainment in a suit involving counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards. What piqued our interest about this case was not just that Upper Deck, who had been accused of producing the fakes, was formerly the U.S. distributor for the popular game, but that the counterfeits were sold at Toys R Us.

Shannon Cottrell

Yu-Gi-Oh! cosplay at Anime L.A.

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This week's THEATER FEATURE on Pasadena Playhouse's demise, and what it means for the arts community. 

THIS JUST IN At 9:20 p.m. on Sunday, February 7, after the final performance of Camelot at the Pasadena Playhouse, Artistic Director Sheldon Epps and Executive Director Stephen Eich will take the stage to say a final farewell, together with the staff, the Board and the friends of the Pasadena Playhouse.

PREDICTIONS ON A RAINY FRIDAY: Almost nothing can be known for certain, but with some hubris, barring a natural disaster, and with the help of http://weather.com, I predict that by Monday afternoon 1) the sun will be shining across Southern California, 2) the nominees for the 31st annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards will appear at this URL, and 3) Ed Harris will have opened to the press in Neil LaBute's Wrecks at the Geffen Playhouse. (Ed is pictured below in a photo taken by Andrew Southam.) I also predict that if you click the Continue Reading tab at the bottom of this section, you'll be cyber-lifted to a complete list of local theater productions being reviewed this weekend by the largely esteemed and sometimes disdained theater critics of the L.A. Weekly.

​A reminder (in case I haven't plugged this enough), Theatre of NOTE is hosting a Town Hall meeting for the Hollywood Fringe fest, Monday eve Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. The theater's press rep Ezra Buzzington warns that it's going be packed. (That's another prediction, by the way)

TEN TOPS! Ten performers get seven minutes apiece to do anything they want at Sacred Fools Theatre Company, Monday, 8 p.m. (signups at 7:30 p.m.)

LOVE, SEX, BEER AND ROCK 'N' ROLL: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CUPID One day before the performance (which would be today), writers are given a topic and gallons of caffeine. Their plays, written over 24 hours, are being presented at The Sherry Theatre, 11052 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, Saturday, Feb. 6, 9 p.m. Info here

RANT & RAVE Rogue Machine presents local, vocal writers spouting off about this and that. Monday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m. Featuring: Ralph Brunea, Katherine Cortez, Douglas Kearney, Julio Martinez, Michael O'Keefe, Debora Puette, Michael Redfield and Betsy Zajko. 5041 Pico Blvd. (near La Brea)

ON EXISTENCE: A VISUAL POEM, A STUDY IN BEING Dawn Kasper's performance "that combines slapstick and monologue to ask questions about life and death." Saturday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m. at Sea and Space Explorations, 4755 York Blvd., Los Angeles (323) 982-0854.

For a list of plays being reviewed this weekend, press the Continue Reading tab directly below.
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With Tim Burton's rendition of the Lewis Carroll classic on the horizon, there is no doubt that L.A. party people will spend many a night this year hitting up Wonderland-themed events. But, what do you wear when the invitation calls for attire fitting for Alice and friends? Since Culver City maid cafe/art gallery Royal/T turned Wonderland into a gothic extravaganza Thursday night for the opening of its latest fairytale-themed show "Never Ending Story," we took a few notes to help you prepare for the inevitable.

1. Paint the roses red

Shannon Cottrell

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Good news for fans of Fullmetal Alchemist. The second series of the popular anime/manga franchise, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is set to premiere on Adult Swim on February 13 at 12 a.m. (ET, PT) and will continue its 26-episode run in the midnight spot on the cable channel's Saturday night anime line-up. This announcement confirms the buzz that has been traveling through the anime fan community since Adult Swim announcement several weeks ago that it would be airing three new anime series.
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