Culture

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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Culture, Fashion, Fashion | Health

Fashion Report: It’s All About the Kicks

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Running shoes with everyday wear no longer have to be on your fashion don’t list. These comfy shoes popped up everywhere on the streets of this years NYFW and their popularity is still growing momentum. Seen everywhere from urban outfitters to Instagram to the streets, this trend and the outfits we’ve prepared below will have your running to the store to purchase your very own pair.

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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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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, Film, Limited Edition, OCMA Film, TV | FILM

Hankin, ’16 Acres’ appeals to the human side of politics

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When it comes to politics there are generally two sides of the fence: you’re either interested, or you aren’t. Then there are the rare moments when an event is so catastrophic, a policy so egregious, that everyone, young and old, find themselves getting involved whether they like it or not, out of moral obligation or personal vendetta. The devastating tragedy of September 11, 2001 is one of these. However, busy as we are supporting our troops, admonishing our government, or going about our lives with an air of indifference, it is perhaps the revelatory spotlight on the question of what to do with the 16 acres of land where the twin towers once stood that has plagued the nation—especially New Yorkers; a question whose answer lies in the celluloid folds of Richard Hankin’s aptly-named biographical documentary, 16 Acres.

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Culture, Music | Theatre

Pacific Symphony’s “Rodrigo’s Concierto”

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In the center of the lobby, classical guitarist Joseph Yashar crawls his fingers across guitar strings in a masterful rendition of Romance Anonimo, one of the most gorgeous and recognizable Spanish guitar pieces of all time, yet sadly attributed to an unknown composer. Others in the lobby are creating their own poetry with large magnetic tiles boasting phrases from Federico García Lorca’s poetry. The activities are an enticing precursor to the night’s main event and a burst of applause and the raising of wine glasses begin to emerge as the guitarist concludes, echoing the last note with precise fingertips.

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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, 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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California, Culture, From the Editor

The Next Four-Letter Word (+3) – EMPATHY.

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I believe we are all busy. Too busy. I also believe we have lost the art of thinking and genuinely caring about one another. Empathy seems to be a lost art and what’s sad about that statement is that it shouldn’t be an artful idea at all but rather a natural characteristic of who we are. We are no longer careful with one another. Everyone so self consumed and distracted that all they care about is what’s happening to them. The dialogue of two people talking, discussing, learning, thinking about someone outside of themselves is rare. We are all too accepting of selfishness and less willing to let go and think of someone else. It’s the most disheartening side of what humanity has become. I don’t believe we are this careless by nature. I think we are training ourselves to be more careless, less careful.

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A Drink?, Cocktails, Culture, Events, Lifestyle, Los Angeles, Music, Music | Theatre, Special Event

Fancy A Drink? Get Your DIRTY LAUNDRY!

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With an entrance that begs a sense of nostalgia with a simple black gate, stairs leading underground, a large iron-cast door with a rectangular peep hole, call box, and the word “SEX” cut out of old copper metal with marquee bulbs screwed into its shape (some lit, some not … its all in the details) upon entry, you know this is not like any place you’ve ever been. You can feel this flood of heat rush over you as if your body understands that tonight, you get to revel in some much needed anonymity.

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Culture, TV | FILM

‘GMO OMG’ PLANTS SEEDS OF KNOWLEDGE

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The crusade for answers involves a series of interviews with politicians, seed salesman and trips across America and the world—some leading as far as an international seed vault concealed within a Norwegian mountain. But the film, at its core, mainly serves as a journey of Seifert’s to educate his children, who have a love of collecting seeds, why they should be concerned about new genetically modified seeds on the market.

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Culture, Featured PHOTO

Bill Phelps – NY Photographer

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Through his lens, there is a trust that occurs between him and his subjects that allows him access to their innermost self. Carefully and thoughtfully, Bill is able to capture that through his lens in a way that lends to a profoundly real understanding of human nature. He finds the beauty, the fear, the solitude, the playfulness, the fierceness, the joy, the passion, the spirit, and the honesty of every subject. Below is a look at the truly remarkable work Bill Phelps has produced.

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Cinematography, Culture, Film, Limited Edition, OCMA Film, TV | FILM

Coast Modern, Architecture For The Soul

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Is life composed of hard edges, or soft curves? In this elliptical documentary on the architectural wonderment of modernism and its steadfast metamorphosis over the last eighty-plus years, filmmakers Mike Bernard and Gavin Froome travel the Pacific Northwest in an effort to capture the essence of a spirituality we won’t find at the local synagogue or mosque, but in the very bones of our own homes. Coast Modern tries to establish not so much a style of living, but a way of life in its up-close-and-personal investigation of a series of homes and establishments belonging to the few who’ve decided to forgo the privacy and security of the enclosed enclaves most of us probably find ourselves in.

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Culture, From the Editor, Videos, Writing Tips

Writing Tips with Editor – Dawn Garcia

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I am a firm believer that everyone needs to be reminded to get out of their comfort zones – immediately – when it comes to creating. We get stuck in the mundane, the everyday routines, we commit to a single genre or – we simply procrastinate SO I created quick, very casual writing tip videos for you on our YouTube Channel to keep your mind fresh and encourage you to do weekly assignments. While I get to attend a lot of fun and glamorous events and outings and I’m usually dolled up, when it comes to writing – I’m not fancy. I’m real and just like you, I’m sitting in front of the computer or out for a walk and ideas come.

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California, Culture, Los Angeles

La Descarga

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As the night continues, another dance, a crowd of thirsty dwellers, a trip to the cigar room, a plentiful amount of beautiful people, dance floor flow, and a lot of thoughtful character. La Descarga is a place that reminds me of the “joints” once permitted in old time Cuba. The kind that Reinaldo Arenas dared to write about:

I pull off the cover, and stare at her dusty, cold shape I clean of fthe dust and caress her. With my hand, delicately, I wipe clean her back, her base and her sides. In front of her, I feel desperate and happy.

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Culture, Los Angeles

Hollywood Cemetary The 9th Annual Johnny Ramone Tribute

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If ever there was a glamorous graveyard, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is it. It is the final resting place for legends like Cecil B. DeMille, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), and the man we were there to celebrate: Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone. Don’t let the cemetery aspect spook you—with lush magenta bougainvillea, pristine stone statues and soothing water features, Hollywood Forever is simply beautiful.

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California, Culture, TV | FILM

‘Cow Power’ turns the lights on

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Global warming is an issue that has garnered bursts of widespread attention in both mainstream media and flyers on the walls of local colleges, with an impact as concerted as it is aloof. Films about the “inevitability” of our ill-fated demise (2012, An Inconvenient Truth) stand toe-to-toe with those rallying against the supposed absurdity of such a notion (The Great Global Warming Swindle). In a sort hilarious twist of irony, there may be a bigger issue at hand here, one that connotes the idea of a hell-on-earth as defunct.

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