Darth Vader and salsa in the City of Angels

Hi from LA!

We got in late last night but that didn't stop us from staying up even later. Our hotel is right beside a neat open-air bar that had live independent bands playing well into the early morning.

So, needless to say, I'm glad we had a free day today. We slept in and then wandered outside. We found that we're close to a downtown market so we had a late breakfast of tacos... yeah, the Mexican food is a theme today.

Then we hopped a bus to Melrose Avenue and Orange Street half an hour away to go see an art exhibition called The Vader Project (explained in more detail below). After that, it was a great day of shopping, walking and people watching. We purchased some fresh fruit (garnished with chili spice and lime) and our first kimchi tacos. At the end of the afternoon, we snagged a patio table at a Mexican restaurant and ate fresh salsa and quacamole. Yes, it's been good.

So, while Natalie naps, I've decided to update the blog(s). Below is what I've just posted on The Review Crew, but I figured it was so awesome I should post it here too.

Dark Art: A Trip To The Vader Project

There are a few things you could do in LA during your free day before E3. But in between theme parks and celeb-seeking, might I suggest a trip to The Vader Project to see 100 artist interpretations of the classic black dome of the Sith?

Running now until June 20, this exhibition is the public's free glimpse at all the works of art before they are sold by Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia on July 10.

We spent over half an hour touring the Darth busts in the one-room makeshift gallery at 6812 Melrose Avenue. It was fascinating to see each artist express their different takes on the well-known helmet. Some went for decorative high art while others opted to explore the humour of having the chosen one's head to do what they will. Helmets ranged from beautiful to frightening to ridiculous.

Currently, each helmet is priced at $3,000 - $5,000 in advance of the auction next month. Whether they'll go for that much is yet to be seen.

Freeman's is also selling a catalog of all the helmets for $4o. From a quick flip through, it's a high quality book that would make a good addition to your coffee table (if your coffee table is the kind that has a Salacious Crumb action figure within a 2 meter radius). It had great pull-page photos of each helmet with a series of detail shots and alternate angles so you can really get the full view of each artifact. You can purchase it on their website (link below), at the exhibition or at many of the nerdier shops along Melrose.

















[The Vader Project]

Where I won't make an obvious horrible pun

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is an Internet-only musical created by Joss Whedon during the writers' strike. Here's a link to the first part. Altogether it's about 40 minutes and great for lunch hour entertainment.

We went to the world-premier of the first professional mounting of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I guess there's been a smattering of high school productions but this was the first one that was properly licensed. The creator had to phone Joss Whedon to get the deal going and in fact they didn't have anything set up for stage licensing so they had to whip something up.

Was it good?

There were very good things. They did a great job casting the singing part of the roles. Even the background singers like Hammer's fanboys were solid.

The actor who plays Dr. Horrible has a great voice, easily the best in the cast. My favourite songs, Everything You Ever and Brand New Day, from the musical are Dr. Horrible songs and he did them justice. In fact the last scene of Dr. Horrible sitting in front of his webcam was executed very well and was a good piece of stagecraft.

But there were a few questionable things.

The set is simple and I think there wasn't enough money because there was a huge cast to pay. There were even choreographers, two of them! And this is a minor complaint but the set could have used another coat of paint. I know we saw the play at the end of its run but there chips on a lot of the painted props. Also, the lighting was strange especially on the Bad Horse chorus. The actors would peek around the walls of the set but weren't lit at all so it was difficult to see.

My one major beef was with the actor who plays Captain Hammer. He is just too unlikeable. He comes off creepy when the character is meant to be just this endearing side of smarmy. You should be able to see why Penny would like him. In fact, he ruined "the hammer is my..." by pitching it to the audience and not Dr. Horrible.

I'm not complaining about the $44 ticket. It was enjoyable and Whedon gets a cut. Hopefully he'll realize that people still love this musical and that he should start on a sequel soon.