Joseph Teixeira doesn't like Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, so he makes Youtube videos featuring City Council meeting footage.

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A beautifully shot photo-essay in today's New York Times chronicles the careers of six Los Angeles artists whose livings would not exist, save for the Internet.

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The military surveillance devices known as "Dirtboxes" have been in secret operation for more than a decade, tracking citizens' locations and intercepting their calls, breaking the encryption on hundreds of calls at once.

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Angelenos! On Tuesday, July 28th at 8pm 2 Headed Dog takes the stage! Their surreal, irreverent sketch and improvised comedy are a Boing Boing favorite!

Jim Turner, Mark Fite, Dave "Gruber" Allen, and Craig Anton are offensive, hilarious, and more than often brilliant! Their musical guest this month will be the fantastically talented Renee Albert, and I see that one of my favorite all-time improvisational actors Ken Campbell will also be joining them!

Mark and Jim will be joining us at Boing Boing's Weekend of Wonder in September.

Join me at the Steve Allen Theater, next week. You'll laugh your ass off.

2 Headed Dog

4773 Hollywood Blvd

LA CA 90027

(plenty of free parking in back)

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

8:00pm

$12

Los Angeles police are searching for the identity of this burglar, who accidentally shot and published a selfie with his victim's iPhone.

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1" x 1", $6 at LA's Secret Headquarters, who note, "Anyone who gets it really gets it, ya know?"

Elana Pritchard (see her kickstarter), an animator who is a protege of Ralph Bakshi, was thrown in the scandal haunted LA County Jail for three months for violating a court order; on Bakshi's advice, she kept herself sane by illustrating her experiences using a golf pencil and scrap paper.

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It's not clear what they're investigating, but the DoJ subpoenaed everything related to the $70M program to give Ipads to all 650K kids in the district.

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Johannes from Monochrom writes, "Award-winning post-apocalyptic hackploitation comedy 'Die Gstettensaga' is coming to a couple North American hacker conventions, film festivals and other cool locations."

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An LA driver caught video of a California Highway Patrolman tackling a homeless black woman walking by the side of the road and then repeatedly punching her in the face.

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A number of friendly, charity-minded social clubs have sprung up in Disney fandom. They dress in disnefied versions of biker wear, gather together in Disneyland, help people out, and keep each other company. I encountered the Neverlanders several times last year when I had a residency at Disney Imagineering, and I loved the way they blended counterculture and fandom. A long, smart piece about the clubs in OC Weekly traces their history and growth -- fuelled by Instagram -- and the way they encountered mainstream Disney fandom through message-boards and in the parks.

As the article notes, there's a long history of counterculture at Disney parks, from the Yippie invasion to the goth takeover of Tomorrowland prior to the New Tomorrowland renovation. This sort of thing was my direct inspiration for proposing a fan takeover of Disney in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and the goth redesign of Fantasyland in Makers.

The presence of counterculture/bohemians in Disneyland shows how appropriation runs in two directions, and also points to a new direction in fraternal organizations. The activities of Disneyland's social clubs -- Neverlanders, Pix Pak, Black Death Crew, Main Street Elite -- would be recognizable to my grandparents, who were active in groups like Kiwanis and B'nai Brith, and who unwound with their friends through bowling and card-games and multi-family picnics.

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Aled Lewis's "The Coruscant Tapestry" is a 30 foot long, 13" high tapestry depicting the tale of Star Wars in cross-stitch. In the manner of the Bayeux Tapestry, its borders are embellished with writing -- quotes in Aurebesh from the films. It's for sale for $20,000 at Los Angeles's Gallery 1988.

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Vivs Ngo snapped this wonderful shot of Los Angeles's Last Bookstore, an exuberant temple of the bookseller's faith.

Secret Headquarters, LA's finest comic store, is hosting a booth at the LA Book Fair this weekend, with a dynamite roster of previously unannounced comics creators for your meeting and squeeing pleasure. The full roster includes Jordan Crane, Jaime Hernandez, Paul Hornschemeier, Lisa Hanawalt and many more.

They're also debuting two new original publications at the fair, and will be displaying some of their ultra-rare stuff from the stores, including an original complete run of RAW.

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Downtown Los Angeles's renaissance has led to a surge in pedestrian traffic, to the enormous benefit of local businesses and the neighborhood itself. The LAPD is having none of it, and have declared war on jaywalking, handing out $200 fines for infractions as minor as walking into the crosswalk after the pedestrian signal starts to blink red.

Deborah Netburn, at the L.A. Times, reports on the "complete" takeover of one part of town by a reptilian newcomer, the Italian wall lizard.

The wall lizards arrived in San Pedro in 1994, when a homeowner brought a few of them back from a trip to Sicily. He released four males and three females into his backyard, and they thrived and multiplied. Nearly 20 years later, the Italian wall lizards have almost entirely replaced native lizards in a five-block radius from where they were introduced. "Since I started studying this population, I've seen literally a thousand wall lizards in this area and just two native lizards," says Pauly, 36, who's decked out in a pair of Tevas and a pale blue T-shirt that says, "Newt and Improved." "The takeover feels pretty complete."

Al writes, "KKrampusfest LA is a series of of Krampus events produced throughout December 2013 by the remnants (or 'sleeper cell') of LA Cacophony Society. We have been working on hand-crafted scratch-made Krampus costumes & masks for about a year, and we are the first Krampus run in the Western US. These events were contrived, in part as a response and alternative to the Santacon mess we Cacophonists set loose oh, so many years ago. The first official event is 12/7, the costumed 'Krampus Ball' with traditional Bavarian folk dancing, alpenhorn, as well as costumed bands like 'The Kramps' and 'Krampwerk.'

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