Arts | Culture, Culture, ENTERTAINMENT, Los Angeles

Aladdin and His Winter Wish

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Enter into a second year of the beautiful world of pantomime theatre created by Lythgoe Family Productions at the Pasadena Playhouse and what you’ll find is a happiness you need to warm you this time of year. The experience begins with an interactive Wonderland in the courtyard, a game of “knock down a lantern”, a trip to see Santa, and a room filled with activities from making your own crown to fighting with magical swords. It is a fun escape from the every day and with two kiddos with me for tonight’s performance, I was able to experience it their way.

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Arts | Culture, Culture, Interviews, Photography

Photographer Tim Brown

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We are not alone. Nor are we absent of space and time, emotion or truth.

We are infinitely surrounded by beauty and warmth in spite of shadows cast or the thick fog of doubt creeping into wrangle us down to the ground. We are on an adventure. The kind where our inner fearless child shakes off worry and places our feet on the bottom of a cart, seemingly idle and we see the greatest ride of our lives. Our feet rest on the bar underneath, our hands grip the cold bar above, one leg pushes off and without hesitaiton, we feel the air brushing past our cheeks, the brisk whisper of freedom liberating our very soul, and we feel, as if a magical pull has grasped into our cheeks, we feel each corner of our mouth curling upward until, without pause, our entire being is smiling.

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Eat | Drink, Recipes

Holiday Recipe No. 2 Alice d’Antoni Phillips

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I have watched as Chef Alice d’Antoni Phillips (aka Ally) takes readers and fans through the grocery store, her culinary explorations around the world, and the many beautiful recipes she shares through her Facebook Page and Website. Her charisma and genuine enthusiasm for cooking and sharing color and life of food is contagious.

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A Drink?, Cocktails, Eat | Drink, Los Angeles

Fig & Olive The Music Collection Release Event

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nvited to attend the Fig & Olive Music Collection Release Event on Wednesday, December 4th I was beyond elated to be heading to the pristine Melrose Place restaurant where Chef Pascal Lorange creates truly delightful Mediterranean inspired cuisine. The space has been home to Grammy Events, Oscar Events, celebrity parties and the like but it’s not because it is pretentious. In fact it boasts a truly wonderful airy feel, spacious rooms, earthy envelopment’s, crisp clean dècor with rich hues of color to warm you.

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Culture, Events, Los Angeles, Monthly Events

Eat Your Words Part 4

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This month’s series delves into the often uncomfortable moments where food begins an unraveling conversation about life, introspection, fear, complacency, adventure, and truth. Each performer offers insight into a world even they are unprepared to share and it is raw and wonderful and, well, full of human moments.

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Art, Culture, Los Angeles

What Do You Worship

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Last night I attended an Art Exhibition unlike any other. Fashion, sculptures, photography, painting, music, soul, an infinite realm of art that extended its reach into me. The crowd peppered with familiar faces, gorgeous unknowns, smiling creatives, lustful glances, stolen touch – all swimming in a sea of inspiration that opened us up and invited us in.

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Arts | Culture, Interviews, Music

Andy Comeau and Dawn Lewis

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Andy Comeau is one of my favorite actors. If you don’t know his name, you are missing out. If you’ve ever watched Showtime, you may be familiar with the infinitely well-written, astoundingly performed, screwed up family drama, Award Winning HUFF starring Hank Azaria, Paget Brewster, Andy Comeau, Anton Yelchin, Blythe Danner, and Oliver Platt. Andy played the most endearing, mentally disturbed, heart-wrenching, heart warming brother, Teddy. HUFF is based on Dr. Craig “Huff” Huffstodt played by Azaria who has a teenage patient kill himself in his office. It causes an onslaught of story that unravels through 25 episodes. Teddy, played by Andy Comeau, is a character that to this day is one that deeply impacted me. He was so easy to love and empathize with in spite of the transparent imbalance of his psyche

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Culture, Exclusive, Featured, From the Editor

Time to Live

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We cannot predict or possibly fathom what may or may not happen but we can pause long enough not to miss the things happening right now. We can be grateful for a laugh, a smile, a hug, a kiss, an opportunity, an accomplishment, a breath, the birds in the trees, the sound of the ocean frolicking on the shore, the moment your kid says “I love you” and means it. We have for sure only THIS moment and regardless of how hard times may be or the challenges life continues to present, you are strong and you can survive – and you will. Today, think of all of the things happening in this world and I beg you to be in the present moment and find the wonder in that.

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Culture, GIVEAWAY

November GIVEAWAY No.1

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Want to win a copy of The New Food Lover’s Companion?

Thanks to Barron’s Educational Series, ATOD Magazine has been given 3 copies to giveaway to our readers. This week, send me a photo of your favorite homemade recipe and a list of ingredients. The most tasty, innovative and fun will win the 1st copy!

As a food lover, chef supporter, and believer in fresh quality ingredients, there is what I lovingly refer to as the FOOD BIBLE that is one of the greatest culinary references to any food meaning seeker.

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Eat | Drink, Interviews, Wine & Beer, Wine Country

David Arthur + Laura Long of David Arthur Vineyards

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Soon after that event, I ran into David at the Pacific Wine Food & Wine Festival. The one thing you should know about David is he is one of the nicest men you’ll meet and he is a sheer pleasure to talk to. He has this uncanny magnetic draw that makes you want to stay and talk about wine, life, and really, anything as long as possible! He invited me to join him and his group of travelers and friends at Newport Beach’s 3Thirty3 and I happily did. I arrived and was sat inside with David and Antonello’s Sommelier Steve Ebol, a familiar face, Thaddeus Forret, and a group of David’s friends and colleagues. We all enjoyed wines that David graciously brought and poured because to him, what is the point of being around friends if you don’t enjoy wine, share stories and just live in the moment?!

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Culture, Writing, Writing Tips

Writing Tip No.3

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Put your pens down. Back those eager fingers away from the keyboard. VISUALIZE. Sure, visualizing seems more of a modality than an actual writing tip but let’s think about that for a moment. A writer (not researcher) works solely using memory and imagination, the ability to take words and string them together like a symphony. Imagine a musician. A musician must see the music … not literally on the page but as if the notes are dancing through the air.

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California, Eat | Drink, Special Event, Wine & Beer, Wine Country

Chronic Cellars Masquerade Ball

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The room is dimly lit with hues of reds and blacks, tables adorned with black linens, subtle lighting, stacks and stacks of barrels aged with time and fastened with story, a couple of couches strategically placed on the cold concrete floor, a photo booth for secrets and fun, and a V-shaped bar. Bottles of Chronic’s Bubbles – Spritz & Giggles, Reds – 2011 Ricardo Grande, late harvest Tranquilo, 2011 The Unteachables, and what I think is their bottle of 2012 Stone Fox line the bar top. At the pivoted corner? A neon lit Sangria fountain. Behind that, the man in the green mask (and bartenders) but him – well, HE is JOSEPH! I am elated!

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Art, Arts | Culture, Culture, Interviews

Stacey Wells – An Artist with Abandon

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Stacey’s art is unapologetic, which is why she has been commissioned by so many and continues to be a name no one can forget: both in and out of the art world. In every stroke of color and every intended line, the complexity of story is ever present. Whether she is painting a bottle, canvas, immortalizing a rock star or Hollywood icon, there is a caveat of feeling: sexuality, strength, vulnerability, and exhilaration.

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California, Culture, From the Editor, Writing, Writing Tips

Writing Tip: JUST WRITE

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Writing is a craft much like it is a necessity. The art of story telling, of clarifying your ideas, releasing trapped emotion, healing heartfelt wounds, everything left unsaid – somehow the power of being able to sit down with pen in hand, no boundaries, no limitations, no concern for who may or may not read it – it’s liberating. It’s like a secret club. This wonderful place you can run to when talking seems inadequate. The escape for everything we contain inside comes out in words placed onto a vacant screen or an empty notebook or napkin or back of a receipt. Whatever means necessary to harness the release we so crave.

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California, Comedy, Culture, Interviews

Comic Rajiv Satyal

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The first time I met Rajiv Satyal was at the Eat Your Words Event at the Standard Hotel Downtown. When Greg Walloch introduced Rajiv, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Up until this point, I hadn’t had the wonderful fortune of seeing him on stage. But when I did, it was clear I had to interview him. He stood up in that Cactus Lounge and didn’t give some overly comedic performance. Instead he actually gave us a look into a part of his life that was honest, relatable, and oh so real: Dating, falling in love, and things not working out. It begins with a candid and endearing tale of him being interviewed by a journalist in India. She is beautiful and intelligent and, as luck would have it, agrees to go out with him after his friend oversleeps for their dual interview. They hit it off and their relationship begins.

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Art, California, Culture, From the Editor, Los Angeles

A Woman Stripped.

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I am a woman stripped. Stripped of everything that tries to rest on my flesh and make me cringe within the skin that is holding my organs together. I am broken. Broken into a million sharp and jagged little pieces of transparent glass reflecting every experience I have ever had. I am afraid. Afraid to let go and let the world see all of the cracks and faults and frightening truths I am shoving back inside. I am naked. Bare. Exposed. Flawed. I am human. I am – BEAUTIFUL.

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California, Interviews, Los Angeles, TV | FILM

Garrett Backstrom and Collin Ford

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I had the pleasure of sitting down with two of what I believe will be the actors to keep your eye on in the coming years: Garrett Backstrom and Collin Ford. Invited to attend the Red Carpet DVD Release Event of Michelle Danner’s “Hello Herman”, I was asked if there was anyone attending I’d want to interview. While the list is always interesting, I wanted to interview someone I felt hadn’t really had an opportunity to be seen outside of their realm. For the first time ever, I interviewed two, under 18, rising stars in Hollywood. Both 17 years-old, both with a rather successful career already under their belt, and the endless potential that will no doubt make them household names very soon.

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California, Culture, Los Angeles, TV | FILM

Hello Herman the Movie

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In a world where bullying is more prevalent than ever, violence seems to be the first resort rather than the last, our youth is more isolated and apathetic than times passed, and well, the accessibility of “reaction” is catastrophically daunting. Hello Herman is a film starring Garrett Backstrom who gives the performance of his young career pushing the boundaries of his psyche, exposing the faulty backfire of repercussion, and the prevalent truth that something is genuinely faulty with the way the world is raising our future generations.

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