Culture

Culture

Celebrating Independence

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While the Fourth of July is America’s official day of independence, it signifies the freedom of many. While we light fireworks, BBQ up the tastiest of treats, and enjoy a day off, let’s take a look at some Independence Days from around the world.

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Culture, Theatre

French Stewart as BUSTER KEATON!

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“I mean, I never thought I’d have all of this. Look at me! I’m 50, married to this incredible woman [pointing to Vanessa], have a beautiful little girl, work for Chuck Lorre during the day [MOM on CBS], and at night, I get to do this with all of my friends playing a character of a man I’ve admired all of my life. I’m living the dream!”

– French Stewart

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Culture, Dawn Garcia, From the Editor, Issue No. 7

Maya Angelou

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Letter From The Editor: You see, we live in a world that is chaotic and full of hate but then we are given a beacon of light. A human being who does not accept our willful attempts at hate. A human being who looks deeper into humanity and simply watches it behave in order to understand who it truly has become. Mind you, not who it is but rather who it has allowed itself to become. She epitomized the idea that conditioning ones soul to respond in anger or hate is mere choice by which we can make a change. She believed inexhaustibly that life was hope. That dreaming was essential. That caging a free bird was the detriment of ones soul. This woman declared that regardless of what change happens “to her”, it would never reduce her worth, her value, diminish the core of who she was. That woman – that human being – is Maya Angelou.

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Culture, ENTERTAINMENT, Film, Issue No. 6, TV | FILM

‘THE CONGRESS’ Film Review

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If given the choice to be young forever, would you jump at the opportunity? Actress Robin Wright (Princess Bride, House of Cards) is given that choice, albeit through contractual agreements, by the fictional Miramount Studios in Ari Folman’s (Waltz with Bashir) The Congress. Studio executives propose her body and facial expressions should be scanned by advanced computers with motion capture technology so they can puppeteer her image into c-grade films and, as the greedy studio head Jeff (Danny Huston) would argue, “keep her young forever.”

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Culture, Dawn Garcia, Issue No. 5

An Unconventional Letter From Mom

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The story goes that once upon a time, I swallowed a bean. It was a magical bean and it was a bean only your daddy and I would know about. It was made especially for us. We had searched high and low for the bean we “thought” was ours but turns out the seedling was with us all along. (Seems grown-ups are a little “slow on the draw” sometimes.

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Culture, Humanitarian, Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

‘Welcome Nowhere’ Film Review

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It always blows my mind that in a day and age where we can communicate and socialize with anybody, anywhere in the world, at any given moment, our biggest problem remains to be that of racial prejudice, especially against minorities. In some ways we’re doing better than our grandparents, and even our parents, but we all know we have a long way to go before we can even begin to mumble of having rubbed out perhaps one of the most embarrassing aspects of U.S., indeed World, history.

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Culture, Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

“Who Took Johnny” Film Review

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“Who Took Johnny”: What sounds like the beginning of a nail-biting Hollywood thriller is a sad and disturbing reality—one that American parents face each and every day and is the main focus of documentary Who Took Johnny, a dissection of the stranger-than-fiction disappearance of Iowa paperboy, Johnny Gosch, a boy who seemingly “vanished into thin air” and a case that still remains unsolved.

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Art, Cocktails, Culture, Events, Issue No. 4, Los Angeles, Music, Music | Theatre, Southern CA, Southern CA, Special Event

Feeling Ravenous

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In the heart of Downtown, an evening of live music, art, cocktails, food, and a crowd abundant in sophistication gathered. Celebrating the 1st official party of the year for the Magazine, I had the pleasure of curating my first official space. Working with brothers, Drew and Cory Jacobsen of Ebanos Crossing in the heart of DTLA, we began to plan an event that would allow me to feature art, bring in a phenomenal band, work with the best tequila brand around, offer tasty bites, and encourage every guests to tap into all of their senses.

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Art, Culture, Film, Issue No. 3

ART in the Folds of the Subconscious

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The Orange County Museum of Art opened its doors this past weekend in Newport Beach to the aptly titled, yet deceptively simplistic, Sarkisian & Sarkisian: a father and son co-exhibition of works spanning a combined fifty years, from as early as the 1960s to today. Originally thought up as a survey of one Peter Sarkisian’s video installation work over the last twenty years, it was decided by OCMA Interim Director and Chief Curator Dan Cameron that parallels seen between Sarkisian’s work and that of his father, Paul, warranted a side-by-side unveiling of the two masters’ crafts, in a collective of astonishing pieces that perform double helixes around one another without ever really colliding or crossing paths.

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Art, Culture, Eat | Drink, Issue No. 2

Los Angeles – the Cultural Playground

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Have you ever really dove head first into the City of Angels? I don’t mean the cool obscure clubs or the sophisticated plethora of gatherings. I mean just gone off, explored, walked into a gallery, Museum, restaurant, wine bar, clothing store, oddity find, or simply plodded along, pulled up a chair in the middle of a crowded spot and just people watched? Well then, then this is your invitation to do precisely that.

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Culture, Issue No. 1, Los Angeles

New Hope for Cambodian Children

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In the heart of Beverly Hills just a stone throw away from Rodeo Drive, an event is happening that is changing the lives of children in Cambodia living with HIV/AIDS. A couple, John and Kathy Tucker have sold every piece of property they own, decided to live their lives simply in order to build a 20-acre orphanage – New Hope – offering solace, medical care, education, and most importantly, love to the children living with HIV/AIDS.

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Culture, Film, OCMA Film, TV | FILM

TINY: A Story About Living Small hits the nail on the head

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TINY: A Story About Living Small hits the nail on the head. TINY, which premiered at the SXSW festival in early March of 2013, follows the filmmakers’ journey toward self-discovery when Smith decides one day that he’s going to build a tiny home on a trailer that he can then haul out into the middle of a plains-area (of which he owns some property) and live “the simple life.” Although the internet and research tell him otherwise, Smith optimistically predicts that construction will be completed by the end of the summer.

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Culture, Music | Theatre, Theatre

TOTEM Cirque du Soleil

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Somewhere between science and legend TOTEM explores the ties that bind Man to other species, his dreams and his infinite potential. Uniquely beautiful costuming, golds, eccentric, feathers, bowls, juggled balanced passed from performer to performer with a skill absolutely bewildering.

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Culture, TV | FILM

2014 Oscars Documentary Films

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LOS ANGELES, CA – Last night I had the honor of attending the Annual Oscars Academy Award Nominee Symposium for the 5 Nominated Documentary Shorts and Documentary Features. The films each possessed qualities of sheer humanity in every form and while yes, that is the nature of documentaries on the whole, it doesn’t always happen with such candor.

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