RESTAURANT REVIEW: Bourgeois Pig

So I'm a writer, clearly...well, hopefully that's clear by now, and I am often looking for quaint cafes with interesting characters and surroundings to entice my imagination. Having a proper work space can completely change one's ability to create.

Coffee Bean, Starbucks, and other franchises are fine...but I think those places lend themselves to a studying environment, not a prosperous, artistic one. Being in an individualistic cafe with its own style and taste tends to conjure up a different palette from which to paint.

As part of my exploration of places to work and write and people watch and sit and pretend to be productive, I stumbled across the Bourgeois Pig, located on Franklin in Franklin Village (situated between Hollywood and Los Feliz). This quirky place is quite dark inside and is very much its own little world.

There are chairs and couches and tables of different variety, evoking an eclectic, odd, yet cozy environment. It has free internet, a small bar where you can purchase drinks or a snack (I got a really tasty iced chai latte - very large and very caffeinated!)

Within the dark living room-esque space is a pool table, conducive to small talk and quiet games. What makes this place different, and exceptional, in my opinion, is an even darker room with fake trees (one has indentations in the trunk like a doll house), a large fake moon, and even a fake owl. I believe it is supposed to resemble Where the Wild Things Are, but I could be mistaken. The room contains nooks and crannies, large comfortable couches, and smaller stools, for people to sit, sip, converse, or work. I'd never seen anything like it, which is precisely why I have such an affinity for it.

I found parking a few blocks away for the day, but it's a safe enough neighborhood that I felt fine making the minor trek. Parking is harder to find at night since the cafe is located on the same street as UCB, Birds, and other popular spots.

I highly recommend Bourgeois Pig for a nightcap with a friend or date, or a day-time rendez-vous with a study buddy or writing partner. It draws an interesting crowd, as well. I wouldn't be surprised if many romances started here. Now I'll just wait for mine...

See for yourself here: https://plus.google.com/117673859809324640837/about?gl=us&hl=en

33. The Spectacular Classics Showcase

From the writers of 500 Days of Summer (one of my favorites) comes The Spectacular Now. In order to gear up for the release of this new film, the writers have helped coordinate a screening series in certain theaters across America. This screening shows some of the films of the 80's and 90's that inspired Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter in the writing of The Spectacular Now.

This past Tuesday, I went to the screening of Dazed and Confused at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre. The theatre is small, but despite not having stadium seating and the multitude of snacks we are used to at places like the Grove, the Arclight, and the Landmark - the Los Feliz 3 has a certain charm, and the screen was high, so being height-challenged, wasn't a problem.

To begin the screening, they play the trailer of The Spectacular Now, which looks charming and sweet despite my distaste for romantic comedies, along with a short video (very poorly shot) of the writer's discussing this series and from where they draw their inspiration.

This was my first time seeing Dazed and Confused, and while I find the acting very naturalistic, and the characters fun to watch and easy to relate to, overall these 90's movies tend to be fairly un-cinematic and have too many main characters. I wasn't sure who to follow, who to empathize with, etc. Also, after learning much about structure, I found that this film was very much a slice of life. The characters didn't really change all too much, despite minor arcs, and I'm so used to stories that have concrete beginning, middle, and ends that watching something that seemed fairly slow paced was hard for me to get into. Probably doesn't help that my high school experience was much different than the one portrayed in this film (small private school in brentwood, CA in the 00's versus a lax public school in anywhere, usa in the 70's).

However, despite my ambivalence for the film, it was fun and I am happy that small theaters like this one still exist and participate in programs where you can watch classics on the big screen. Some of the other films in this particular series include Say Anything (which I managed to see half of), Almost Famous, and The Breakfast Club. Tickets are $9.50.

Learn more here: http://www.slashfilm.com/say-anything-dazed-and-confused-almost-famous-and-the-breakfast-club-screen-to-promote-the-spectacular-now/#more-183461

MOVIE REVIEW: Monster's University

You can always count on Pixar for an emotional, humorous, charming animated feature that brings personality and life to mere objects or fantastical figments of one's imagination. Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite pixar movies as it shows a different side to nightmarish creatures, giving them heart and human goals that everyone can understand. It also cleverly turns the scaring of children into a business, and the life purpose of monsters, who really aren't that bad. My favorite element of Monsters Inc. was the relationship formed between Sully (one of the best scarers played by the voice of John Goodman) and a brave little girl he attempts to frighten but ends up loving instead.

I was excited for Monsters University which is a flashback to the "glory" or not-so-glory days of Sully and Mike Wazowski (Sully's neurotic Jewish monster friend - genius - voiced by none other than Billy Crystal) in college.

While the movie was certainly entertaining, and displayed loveable characters and clever comparisons between our cherished college days to those of monsters (showing the cliques, sorority and fraternity life, various kinds of teachers, etc.), it lacked real heart. I loved the beginning which showed a dimunitive, young, retainer-wearing Mike Wazowski as a teacher's pet (pictured below - so adorable!) (sidenote: why did he wear a retainer - wouldn't gnarled teeth be a good thing as a monster? PLOT HOLE). I could have watched him and the other endearing characters for the entirety of the movie. But once we got to the University section and the bulk of the movie, I wasn't that impressed. I thought the creativity of showing the similarities and differences between Monsters University and a human university was not delved into quite enough, and thus, the story wasn't as funny as it could have been and missed a lot of opportunities. I also felt the true "heart" story which was the budding friendship between two enemies and monsters of a different sort was not pushed enough to evoke the classic Pixar tears.

I guess, my problem was, the stakes weren't high enough. The main low point for the characters occurred when they were kicked out of the scaring program at the university. I can understand that being devastating -  professional life-long goals being thrown out the window - but us avid Pixar watchers know that both Mike and Scully do "make it" in the end, so maybe knowing that, made their low point sort of fall flat. Also - the main "bad guy" was a dragon-like stern and brittle professor, who wasn't all that menacing to me and didn't pose such a great threat.

All in all - the movie was fairly entertaining, easy to watch, and inviting (didn't bore me), but I think Pixar missed out on a lot of creative moments that is such a large part of the company's reputation. Here's to hoping the next film is akin to some of the greats, such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E.

Learn more about Monsters University here: http://disney.go.com/monsters-university/