rward2008

Los Angeles seems to just now be getting around to getting serious about earthquake prep, 20 years after Northridge and more than 40 years after Sylmar (both earthquakes collapsed a lot of buildings and killed a lot of people, revealing a lot of vulnerabilities in our built environment). The state has finally released a preliminary map of the Hollywood Fault, the city is teaming up with a seismologist, and now researchers at UC Berkeley have handed off their list of Los Angeles buildings most likely to collapse in a big earthquake.

The list includes 1,451 concrete buildings built before 1976 (compiled from public records, maps, and street surveys); those buildings "are vulnerable to the sideways movement of a major earthquake because they don't have enough steel reinforcing bars to hold columns in place," according to the LA Times, which has now mapped every single last item. The researchers estimate that only about 75 of these would actually collapse in a major earthquake, but that's still 75 buildings. The list is just the first step in assessing which buildings are dangerous; engineers will still have to do on-site investigations.

Meanwhile, Councilmember Tom LaBonge has been leading an effort to inventory another at-risk building type: dingbats (aka soft-story buildings).
· Older concrete buildings in Los Angeles [LAT]
· LA Teaming Up With US Seismologist To Prep For The Big One [Curbed LA]

[Santa Monica Place by Elizabeth Daniels; Arclight via Scene Unseen]

Poor bougie Santa Monica, lagging in fancy movie theaters all these years behind El Segundo and Hollywood, how awful. NO MORE, they've said. The new theater going into the Santa Monica Place mall—the first theater built in the city in more than 20 years and its first modern multiplex—will be an ArcLight Cinemas. They plan to open 14 screens, plus a cafe and lounge with a full bar, on the third floor of the mall, above Bloomingdale's, in spring 2015. According to a press release, Santa Monica will be getting all the good ArcLight stuff, "including all reserved seating, a commercial-free environment, unique programming and black box auditoriums with extra-wide stadium seats and state-of-the-art sight and sound." The multiplex will replace the little-used L3 event space, and will require a 29-foot-tall addition, none of which has been approved yet. Movie theaters are only allowed in downtown in Santa Monica, and there's an overall seat cap; officials have been looking for a new theater for about a decade.
· Santa Monica Place Could Get SaMo's First Modern Multiplex [Curbed LA]

SEATTLE—Jan. 9, 2014—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that Prime Instant Video will be the exclusive online-only subscription home for streaming the TV series Veronica Mars in a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. Beginning today, Prime customers can enjoy all three seasons of the popular Warner Bros. Television series starring Kristen Bell, and get caught up just in time for the March 14 debut of the Veronica Mars movie.

“The Veronica Mars series has been popular on DVD and Amazon Instant Video for years, so we know how much Amazon customers love this iconic television show,” said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition. “We are excited to become the exclusive subscription streaming home for Veronica Mars and to be able to offer the entire TV series to Prime members to enjoy at no additional charge. With the movie coming on March 14, both die-hard fans and new viewers can easily catch-up on this great show.”

“We are thrilled to have Prime Instant Video as a digital distribution outlet for the Veronica Mars TV series,” said Ken Werner, President, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. “Digital distribution platforms such as Amazon’s and licensing deals such as this allow the consumer great opportunities whether they’re die-hard fans who just can’t get enough or a new consumer turned fan who has discovered a fabulous show with dozens of new episodes.”
The Veronica Mars movie is coming to select theaters nationwide on March 14th and was made possible by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign driven by fans of the television show. Launched by Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell, the Kickstarter campaign unleashed an unprecedented level of fan enthusiasm and support, reaching the project goal of $2 million in just 10 hours. At the end of the 31-day campaign, fans contributed $5.7 million, making Veronica Mars the number one funded project in the film category and the third-highest funded project in Kickstarter history. It is the most widely supported Kickstarter campaign ever with more than 91,000 backers, who have remained engaged throughout production with frequent behind-the-scenes updates from Thomas and the film’s cast and crew. Amazon Payments handles all the payment processing for funds raised on all Kickstarter projects in the United States.
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas, which first premiered in 2004. The series is set in the fictional town of Neptune, California, and follows a high school student (Kristen Bell) who moonlights as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective father.

In mid-December, Vice Magazine’s West Coast Editor and constant hater of LA, Jamie Lee Curtis Taete, was pissed off again by another human being. This time it was Gwyneth Paltrow’s Mom, Blythe Danner, on a quote she gave about how people criticize her daughter because their jealous of her and lazy. Not the nicest thing to say, but it’s a Mom defending her kid. On his Twitter Taete said “Because I’m not afraid to go after the difficult targets, I wrote a thing making fun of Gwyneth Paltrow.” Here it is.

My gut feeling was that Taete’s words would lead to another article about him hating LA, a constant of the universe. I already had a growing animosity towards him for the constant bashing of LA. I could think of many reasons I disliked him.

As he wrote in his own article, “don’t judge a man until you’ve walk a mile in his shoes.” So, in order to better understand Taete, wait… Jamie Lee Curtis is the first part of his name? Why didn’t he change it to Jamie Curtis Taete, something easy, that no one would make fun of? Now, I’m thinking of Jamie Lee Curtis and the movies she’s been in.

Sadly, Jamie Lee Curtis decided to spend a day following Gwyn’s life based on her app, Goop City Guides. Goop is Gwyn’s lifestyle brand and the app is a new connection with places Gwyn likes to visit and Jamie Lee Curtis, a non-gay man, decided to follow it out of spite.

Many of the places that he visited I had already been to countless times. He cut into them one by one with snarky attitude and the best jokes he could muster, not talking to anyone at the stores, not another shopper, owner or employee. He acted like a loner completely withdrawn in his own world. Here in LA you can talk to people, ask questions and be a real g-d damn reporter.

So, I decided to retrace his steps and spend Sunday revisiting the shops and businesses he so easily passed judgment on.

First stop on the Jamie Lee Curtis hate train was Yolk.

I hadn’t been in a while.  On that Sunday morning it was alive with customers in its corner of Silverlake. The bright happy-go-lucky store had plenty of treasure to discover inside. I could just talk about the Lamy pen section, and the wonders of well-made writing instruments for this part. However, I chatted with manager Tori Senatore about the neighborhood gift store. That’s what she called it when I asked her to describe it. “It’s for the Mom and family in the area with a nice home feeling,” said Senatore.

Senatore after joking with a customer about the meaning of the store after my questioning showed me around. First was the kid’s section towards the back where I was shown the French line of Djeco arts and craft kits, puzzles and games, their top sellers for kids. You won’t find a PS4 here, the toys are for a much younger set.

There are adult toys, get your mind out of the gutter. I mean desk toys, home decor, those shiny Lamy pens that fit oh so nicely away in your pocket that can be taken out and awed out by other writers.

When you enter, your greeted with a huge selection of gifts to get from home decor to office, some local, some imported, but a vast collection. Senatore took me over to a felt trivet, a rainbow of colors to pick up the hot things in your home, the best seller so far the season for adults.

Some giant felt trivets in the shape of autumn leaves caught my eye as well, before glancing over at the Sisters of Los Angeles section, from three local female artists. A line featuring many fine products that remind me of LA. Drink out of a glass with your favorite freeway or beloved part of the city on it.

Senatore told how Yolk got painted for an opening launch of the Sisters of Los Angeles. A nice bright look for a bright store on Sunset.

Soon I was off, pen addiction abided for now.

Not that far a drive away was Intelligentsia coffee house, not in the theme of any rebel movement where only the intelligent rule.

I arrived to a young girl being dropped off for a study session at Intelligentsia. She happily ran off with books in tow. Many folks were outside having conversations while drinking, so many different faces and strange hair styles. The line was out the door, but moving fast. Staff dressed like it was the 1920′s, dress shirts, suspenders ready to take the incoming orders.

In line for a cup, I asked Michael and Robyn Schanzlin what they would be having and why they liked the place. “Angleno,” they said, “So foamy and frothy, an ice coffee.” They came because, “We live nearby and it’s really good when you want to spend for a cup, ” added Michael.

The rich smells of coffee stayed with me as I entered the nearby Cheese Store with much different scents,  not affiliated with the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, that’s a longer story, but let’s say the two don’t get along.

The Cheese Store wasn’t on Jamie Lee Curtis’s list, maybe he’s one of those suffering from lactose intolerance.  Gwyn might have not had it on her app. In either case, he missed out on sampling cheese and oils to dip bread into. The store has rare cheeses and imported food luxuries.  I once got honey with honeycomb still in it for my Father’s birthday there once.

If you ever needed something to stand out at a party for the foodies of your friends you couldn’t go wrong with this cheese Store.

Next, we have Forage.

Sadly, Forage was closed on Sunday. I would have liked to sampled what Jamie Lee Curtis detailed, but he himself didn’t try and instead merely bought a cookie and a coffee. Forage allows customers to bring in their own vegetables to be used for the restaurant dishes. A second of research online told me it’s a family-owned and locally run.

Next was Secret Headquarters, not on the list, but it’s hard to pass up one of the best looking comic stores in LA. With both all the big name books, but indie titles and art shows every so often as well. The stores welcomes those who are long time fans and anyone starting out with the decor of Gentleman’s club found in England.

Next door was its sister store Vacation.

Here I headed to the back to see an employee who happened to be the owner/ manager Mark Thompson. He jokingly told me I could interview him if I helped sort the vinyl LP’s he was going through. Hunched over he chatted with me about running the store and the neighborhood. Mark stops first and jokes about an Evangelist album he picks up of a family that looks so fake and proper it’s scary.

“It’s a neighborhood vinyl shop, new and used, heavier into rock” Mark tells me. I point to a title of Sex Machine and some of the other crazy titles, but he has to stop sorting  LP’s and help a customer out as he has no other employees that day.

He’s the only other person on my list I tell about my article being based on Jamie Lee Curtis’ unhappy mess. He gets a little emotional, even though retracing the earlier article nothing negative is said about his store, just that it only sells vinyl, which technically isn’t true, I saw some tapes.

Mark remembers Jamie Lee Curtis coming in for the “article”. “He came in, took a picture, then left.”

He asked to be quoted, “If you don’t like it, don’t come here, don’t be a brat.”

Mark seemed more angry that his fellow neighborhood stores were snarky attacked, not that his place was even mentioned and tells me it’s just Vice’s style to act that way to get attention. He recommended I stop by the local The Black Cat, now missing its Space Invader art, for a bite to eat.

I couldn’t stop just yet and headed to the Mohawk General Store.

A hug and good-bye greet me as the employees are helping customers. I’m informed that this a women’s store for vintage items and gifts by the employees. The owners wanted it to feel like an extension of someone’s living room and it does feel that comfy. The style inside is almost to relaxing, the music in the background, the smell of scented candles.

Why a grown man would go in other than getting a gift for a girl puzzles me? Jamie Lee Curtis is obviously is not loved by any women or would pay for something so nice for a lady of the night he might visit regularly to be in the store.

If he talked to someone he might have been led down to Mohawk Man two doors down.

Chasen Laidler, a good looking male employee, was telling me about his French imported crème blue and white striped shirt. I was soon over my head in the world of this high-end men’s fashion store.  Chasen went over how the place sells luxury items, gets imports and clientele of many traveling business men who want products from abroad.

Chasen expanded that the store was only open for 6 months and a Pasadena store just opened.

What grabbed me with a sense of humor were the big portraits of Jockeys on the walls. Taken by a local artist, the collection is a reminder of wealth with sports. To me it was tiny men in brightly colored uniforms, but to each their own.

Next would be the most magical of the stores, it had a unicorn: Tweak.

Tweak was busy with shoppers. I passed by a gift wrapping center on the way in and thought it was something like Spencer’s Gifts. I was wrong when I saw the Star Wars cookbook with ice sabers, pieces to have frozen popsicles look like light sabers. Then a notebook with nun-chucks embossed on the cover.

Soon enough, I was talking to the owner, Tara Riceberg. Tara was kind enough to show me her unicorn. Upfront in the store window this season you’ll see an Astro-Unicorn with Astro-gnomes. I might be wrong and it could be a space unicorn.

Tara is all over the place when I’m talking to her. She’s truly in love with her business. She made the Unicorn that’s in front of us as she goes over all the info she can with way more enthusiasm than anyone I’ve talked too so far.

The business started in 2011 and was showing no signs of stopping with how busy it was on a Sunday in December with Christmas coming. Tara spouts, “…connecting, clever and purposeful design, ” as she hits her palm to her head like a V8 commercial about finding the right gifts for everyone.

Tara says she only buys from small companies and if from the bigger ones she has to meet a representative to see if they’re own the level. She shares she’s also fond of museum gift shops.

We then go back inside where she shows me some of her favorite products, which none have a price on. If you want to know the price you have to talk to somebody at the store and interact with them.

I show Tara the devilishly funny Devil Match Striker by Jonathan Adler that caught my gaze when I first entered. She’s distracted by another customer before she can stop another customer from testing it out. She asks, with an altered tone to the man who just tried to set a small fire, “Did you just try and set a match a burn down my store?” He replied,  ”Yes” and was quickly made fun of as the matches in the Devil’s head weren’t real, but store props, only there to look nice. He was also about to buy it anyway and it happened to be the last one.

James W., the man who almost set Tweak ablaze was well acquainted with Tara as was his wife. “It has cool funky gifts,”  he told me shortly after also implicating his wife for trying to use the Devil striker in the store.

Tara was happy they tried it, “The store is meant for people to touch and try things, ” she told me as she played with Kinetic Sand. A kind of cleaner sand you can put on your desk at work and play with when you stressed out. Then she shot a marshmallow across the store with the Hanz Marshmallow Catapult, assembly required.

She mentioned having golden tickets, gift certificates for $25, like Willy Wonka inside certain game items in the store for the holidays season while showing me even more things I might enjoy.

“I have a kidult store,” she said. A store for kids and for adults who want to act like kids.

Feal Mor was next on the list. Sadly, it’s shut down and a new store is set to open in Claremont, CA this Fall.

Off to a well known high-end American Rage Cie.

American Rag Cie has been visited by me before.  It’s high end fashion, you might find your favorite pair of anything inside. Jeans paradise might be a better name, but that’s only one section of this huge clothing store. Andrew L. one of the managers was easy enough to talk to about the place. Comprised of three sections: new merch, vintage and the world denim bar.

I stopped him and told him to go over the world denim bar. It’s 81 brands from around the world of jeans. Take your time to find the most perfect pair from across the world. If not into jeans there’s still the other sections of all different kinds of clothing from hats and shoes to jackets.  You even have a CD’s, books and a diner nearby to eat something after you’ve been clothes shopping.

This place has special brands only it can receive or only a few shops in LA will carry.

Andrew went into the process of how hard it is for any of the vintage gear getting to the place and how certain people have the job to find it. He added, American Rag had been around for twenty years with the denim bar coming in for only twelve of them.

Inside the store is not a cheery Target, but a more laid back place you wish meetings were held. Meetings to go on safaris or battle a bond villain.

Sadly, next on the list Jonathan Wright & Company are closed on Sundays.

I did call earlier in the week and discover Jonathan Wright is a real person and not just a made up name. He just stepped out. It’s a card shop and stationery store, so if you need invitations you might to drop by.

Far out from Sunset and West Hollywood was Gjelina Take Away in Venice.

Gjelina Take Away is connected to Gjelina another omission from Jamie Lee Curtis.

Gjelina is supposedly a celebrity spot said a random passerby when I came by it that night. As I was taking pictures of the place Daniel Beadman was giving me tips on how to shoot it. A local photographer and patron he was holding on to two tiny dogs. Soon Daniel was trying to remember every detail about the place. Thinking hard he was telling me about its three owners how it’s named after one of their mothers. That it has Chef Travis Lett and fresh ingredients.

Beadman could not be stopped. “Just get a piece,”  he was telling me to grab a slice instead of a whole pizza if I was hungry from the take- away section.

If you want to spend more and dine in you go to Gjelina, if you want to grab and go you go for the Take Away, both were busy on Sunday night.

Andaz was open, however they have a stance on talking without PR present so there wouldn’t be any reason to visit without an PR escort who sadly was already busy and out Sunday.

As Jamie Lee Curtis already lives in LA it’s a bit odd why he even bothered spending a night in a hotel then writing a measly three short paragraphs about it.

From a few reviews I’ve read online the main reason to go is the view of Sunset and the city. Unless your cheating on your significant other there’s not much reason to visit for a local.

That day I also saw the local Venice Canals Christmas Parade thanks to where GTA was on the map. Tiny boats with Christmas decorations passed by me and it was kind of magical seeing their Christmas light reflect in the war.

When walking back to my car I saw a sealed plastic bag of deli meat that had been rotting out in the sun during the day. It was a disgusting bag of meat that was no longer edible and was close to putrefying. Which, if you think about it, is kind of the perfect metaphor for Jamie Lee Curtis and everything he stands for.

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Jonathan Bilski has been writing TTDILA since 2009 as Editor-in-chief. Being a resident of LA since birth he has grown up loving the city. When finding no site helpful enough online for things to do in his city, he decided to create his own. Things To Do In LA was created out of a selfish need to find things to do, go new places and meet new people.

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Federico Babina is an architect and illustrator combining both loves into a series of illustrations called ARCHICINE. The series takes a look at iconic pieces of architecture in film and turns them into vintage-looking posters.

The architecture chosen from the films are not just background fodder, they’re vital parts of cinema taking on a character of their own. The series pays homage to the best, most unforgettable architectural structures forever a part of cinematic history.

This is the Reading Net designed by Spanish creative studio Playoffice. Of course I'm not sure how much credit Playoffice actually deserves. It's not like they invented nets, they just came up with the idea of hanging them in home libraries to give your kids a place to hang out and read the herpes-free books you've collected over the years.

[The Reading Net is] a meshed fabric suspended from the architecture of a family library, that acts as a second-level reading range. the hanging web is tautly attached to the railings of a lofted path, and -- as both children and adults climb onto the woven expanse -- they can both lounge and learn on the buoyant surface.

First of all, that home library in the pictures is ridiculous. Somebody is rich as shit. Secondly, forget about JUST the library -- I want nets in every room of the house. I want to be able to go for days or weeks without ever touching the ground. "What about when you need to go to the bathroom?" I'll do it like a little kid. "Which is?" In the bathtub. Keep going for a bunch more shots in case you like getting angry at rich kids for having way cooler stuff than you did growing up.

These vintage photos, courtesy of the L.A. Public Library, offer a glimpse of how early Angelenos reacted to two snowfalls, one in January of 1932 and another in January of 1949. [ more › ]

Astronaut Karen Nyberg just tweeted this breathtaking photo of a sunrise, taken from humanity's most awesome scenic overlook — the International Space Station.

Read more...

For the past few millennia, the dewy rainforests of Australia's Cape Melville have remained totally isolated from human interference. That is, until a team of scientists from James Cook University took humanity's first steps into a land untouched by time. What they found there was almost beyond belief.

Read more...

Los Angeles is the constant focus of torture and drama and meltdowns on film. It has gotten whomped on by countless alien races and multiple bizarre natural disasters and still is being beat-up, regardless of how much we try to save her. The latest offender is B-list “classic” Sharknado, which is the falls into a long line of ways to destroy Los Angeles. This isn’t entirely new territory to cover but we wanted to share our top twelve favorite Los Angeles destructions on film. If you’ve had a frustrating day or just want to see LA meltdown in myriad ways, this is a post for you.

Film: Skyline
Destruction: An attack from blue aliens all across the city…and Eric Balfour and Donald Faison have to save us!
The Los Angeles: This is mostly LA from the Westside POV of Marina Del Rey watched from atop a crappy apartment building (WHICH REALLY EXISTS!!!!), hence the name of the film.
Rating: Meh since you don’t get that much destruction. This movie also sucks. Do not attempt to watch the whole thing. It is fucking terrible (but gives a good LA beating).

Film: Resident Evil: Afterlife
Destruction: In post-apocalyptic Earth, the globe is ravaged by zombies. And, since Las Vegas was murdered in the film before, it was LA’s turn. The city isn’t destroyed in this film, per se, but it is shown as a skeletal, flaming version of itself.
The Los Angeles: The Los Angeles in this film is mostly Downtown and practically non-existent since it’s mostly in rubble.
Rating: This is a silly, silly, silly popcorn movie that only gives LA a brief cameo. Watch this and play a drinking game.

Film: Independence Day
Destruction: Aliens. The US Bank Building. A giant laser. The end.
The Los Angeles: Downtown is the main focus of the carnage here but, really, the entire city is given quite a beating. Thankfully, Vivica A. Fox ain’t got time for aliens.
Rating: This is a classic and the LA destruction is very well done.

Film: This Is The End
Destruction: Hell hits Earth, specifically LA, and sees many celebrities dying and going crazy and going to heaven…or not. What happens when the end of times come? Hollywood goes down in flames. Like, a lot of flames.
The Los Angeles: Since this movie is about rich and famous people, the Los Angeles here is mostly the Lake Hollywood area where “James Franco’s house is.” There are some scenes early in the film that looks like the Valley getting beat-up but it’s intended to be “ambiguous LA.”
Rating: The effects of killing LA are quite good in this film but the film itself is nothing more than bro-club humor. Rihanna has a spectacular death in it, though. As does Michael Cera (see above).

Film: War Of The Worlds from 1953
Destruction: Because aliens hate government and because they specifically hate our local government, they take to destroying a few iconic buildings of ours. Bastards!!!
The Los Angeles: Downtown is the main focus of this, specifically City Hall. What a shame! It’s such a pretty building.
Rating: This is a classic film and likely one of the *first* LA destruction images. This set the standard for lots of ridiculous LA bashings on film.

Film: Escape From L.A.
Destruction: In a great/laughable scenario, LA goes down in a bizarre earthquake that happens “in the future.”
The Los Angeles: Mostly Downtown and mostly cars are the butt of this joke—and you will totally laugh at how it plays out.
Rating: This film is ridiculous and was mainly done so that Carpenter could play out various topical trends of the decade like surfing, basketball, and earthquakes.

Film: Battle Los Angeles
Destruction: Aliens attack all of Los Angeles, most gloriously the Westside though. Burn, Santa Monica Pier, burn!!
The Los Angeles: The film attempts to cover much of the city—and does an excellent job of showing it very beat-up—but excels most in showing off the Westside as an alien punching bag.
Rating: While the film looks great, it sucks. The destruction is the only reason to watch the film. It’s boring and unnecessarily dramatic. This should have been the seminal piece of film in the Destroy LA canon but it is not.

Film: The Core
Destruction: The space shuttle Endeavor is ripped out of the sky and must crash land into the Earth! But…it’s headed to LA! AHHHHHH!!!!!
The Los Angeles: Downtown and the LA River get most of the drama here, which—ironically—is at the hands of now local space shuttle Endeavor. If you also saw the shuttle fly over the city last year, you will laugh at how off the proportions of this shuttle are.
Rating: This movie is a giant flaming center-of-the-earth turd. This scene is the only LA moment and, because it’s so ridiculous, that earns it a very high ranking.

Film: Volcano
Destruction: A volcano erupts from the Tar Pits and Macarthur Park and all of Los Angeles goes up in flames and Tommy Lee Jones and Anne “Lesbian At The Time” Heche must save all of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles: The movie does a good job of covering all of the city and comically uses the LA River as a savior but Wilshire and the Beverly Center get the best beating. The final scene takes place around La Cienega and Beverly and is quite funny.
Rating: If you want to get a group of friends together to laugh at a hysterically bad Destroy LA piece of cinema, this is for you. It is so bad it is brilliant. The whole concept is preposterous.

Film: The Day After Tomorrow
Destruction: Because global warming has fucked the planet, a new Ice Age is upon us…but not without hitting Los Angeles with bizarro tornados first!
The Los Angeles: This is mostly a sweep of the city and its icons—Downtown, Capitol Records, Hollywood Sign—all being twisted apart by tornados. If you’ve had a Destroy LA Twister fantasy, this scene is for you.
Rating: The majority of this film plays with New Yorkers fighting to survive but there is this one moment where LA has to get pissed on.

Film: 2012
Destruction: When the earth comes to an end at the hands of global catastrophe, Los Angeles gloriously plummets into the earth as a result of being on devastating fault lines.
The Los Angeles: This is all of the city but mostly the Valley into the Westside. There are many comedic gags at the expense of LA landmarks and this destruction is a laugh-until-you-cry beating of LA. It’s brilliant.
Rating: This movie is a destruction classic and, out of all the films on this list, indulges the concept of Destroying Los Angeles most. Note that director Roland Emmerich has three movies on this list: the local director is the best in the Destroy LA genre.

Film: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Destruction: Although a dream, Sarah Connor envisions a Los Angeles that falls victim to devastating nuclear attacks, one that sees the city and its inhabitants get their skin ripped off.
The Los Angeles: This is mostly Downtown and Elysian Park but, really, is everywhere. This is the most effective and horrifying entry into the canon and will certainly spook you if you have nuclear holocaust fears.
Rating: This movie is a classic cat-and-mouse chase through LA and—although the destruction is a very contained scene—you’ll have fun trying to point out local sites.

~*~*~*~*~BoNuS~*~*~*~*~ compilation of more bests in the Destroy LA canon. Enjoy! Any favorites of yours that didn’t make the list? Share in the comments!

Photo via.

EXCLUSIVE: Napoleon Dynamite producer Jeremy Coon has optioned Raiders!, the Alan Eisenstock book that tells how two Mississippi kids set out to remake Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The pals started at 11 and finished when they turned 18, and in that time managed to re-stage every scene, shot and stunt in their backyards and basements. They first shot on Betamax and then on VHS when the former became obsolete. The kid filmmakers, Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, met in elementary school and are now in their early 40s. They will produce with Coon two projects and their life rights are part of the package. First, Coon intends to direct a documentary as he works to set up a narrative feature, which is essentially a movie about the making of a movie that is a remake of another movie.

When Coon first saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark: The Adaptation at a film festival, it was during a period when all of the optimism and wide-eyed wonder that went into making the gem Napoleon Dynamite had been replaced by depression and cynicism. Coon and his cohorts were forced to sue Fox after feeling shortchanged by the proceeds of their $400,000 budget film that grossed nearly $50 million worldwide and made a lot more than that on video and ancillaries. The suit is still going on.

“I thought the movie was an urban myth but when I saw it, from a filmmaker perspective it was more inspiring than any movie I’d ever seen,” Coon told me. “These kids had done something ridiculous and impossible and the last time I had the experience of a movie being made because it was sheer fun was when I’d seen Kill Bill. I went in feeling cynical but there was no cynicism in these kids. They did the movie because they loved it. It had its premiere and then sat on a shelf.”

That is because you can’t make a shot-by-shot remake of a seminal blockbuster film without permission and rights. Coon admits it is very possible that he will need the cooperation of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas in order to be able to do his movies. Spielberg told the youngsters he’d seen and loved what they did; they haven’t gotten any feedback from Lucas. Their ordeal spanned from 1981-89, when they’d film each summer and try their best not to get killed.

“They shot the Nepal bar scene in Eric’s basement and lit the whole thing on fire,” Coon said. “His mom saw what they’d done and she was not having any more of that. They had to get an adult, an extra in the original George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead who was less responsible than they were. The scene that got me most was this; one of the kids learned everything about special effects and did a mold face on Eric so they could recreate Bellog’s face as it melts after he opens the Ark. They did it with plaster, they put the ball in Eric’s mouth so he would appear to be screaming. Five minutes in, Eric starts sweating, and he can’t hear or speak. They used construction plaster, which gets hot when it hardens. And they couldn’t break the mold. His mother comes down to see them trying to cut through it with a hacksaw. The hospital finally got it off with a cast saw, carefully working around his head with this little circular saw to free him. The plaster ripped out the eyebrows and every eyelash on this poor kid. He had to pencil on some eyebrows to go back to school. Some of it is just charming. Their first Marion, a blonde, moved to Alaska and all her scenes had to be reshot; they had no monkey to replace the one that gave the Nazi salute and ate the bad date, so they used Chris’s dog. They tied a spring to his paw so he would salute. If you took the first 20 minutes of the movie Super 8, and played it as comedy, that’s how I see this,” Coon said.

The book was published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. The whole package was repped by Wendy Sherman Associates.

Here’s a trailer that gives a better idea of the possibilities here:

Kolache, small Czech cakes, are apparently a thing, and now SoCal has a dedicated Czech bakery in Tustin. Texas-based chain Kolache Factory introduced its sweet and savory baked goods to OC last Tuesday, and aside from kolache one will also find strudel and savory stuffed rolls (buchty in Czech). Those less apt to drive to Tustin can also place a delivery order online. [OCW]

Back in 2010 we heard about a neighbor-on-neighbor lawsuit on Laurel Way in Beverly Hills--developer Papcap Laurel Way LLC (aka businessman Richard Papalian) got permission from the city to demolish 50 percent of the house he was renovating, but he rounded that up to 90 percent instead, and he started building to 23 feet high when the limit was 14 feet. Papalian claimed he had verbal permission from the city for both changes, which the city disputed. Bygones, we guess! The (enormous) house is done now, and listed on The Agency's website (but not in the MLS). From the Wall Street Journal we learn that the 11,000-square-foot house has six bedrooms; 10 bathrooms; master suite with bar, a deck, and six-person jacuzzi with fire feature; screening room; 1,000-bottle wine cellar; and glass-walled, six-car garage (One spot for each jacuzzi occupant? Thoughtful.). The outdoor space has an infinity pool, firepit, a water feature that looks like a lap pool, a tiny-looking little putting green, and serious views "that inspired a team to build a home like no other with the utmost integrity," according to the listing. It's huge, glassy, insane, comes fully furnished, and is asking $36 million.

· Nine West Co-Founder Asks $49.5 Million for Hamptons Home [WSJ]
· 1201 Laurel Way [The Agency]

Now that USC Coach Lane Kiffin has been shown the door, the personal home loan provided by USC may finally come due. As reported back in December '12, the ex-USC coach received a $500k loan for the Manhattan Beach Craftsman-style home he purchased for $5.5 million. Life was so much simpler back then. Per the loan details: "if he quits or is fired, USC can demand their money back, with interest." [Curbed, previously]

This week the Santa Monica City Council voted to go ahead with plans for a bike share program in the city with roughly 375 bikes, and it could end up being the first in the county (LA has plans for a big program, but they've been held up). One issue will be creating a system that can work throughout the region, so that SaMo riders can drop their bikes in Culver City or Downtown or wherever. "We need to get out in front and we can drag [other cities] along behind us," says one councilmember. [Lookout News]

In the mid-1980s, Cathy Tauber and Patty Polinger, two LA-born childhood friends, decided to ditch their day jobs and start a video rental store. Their day jobs weren’t run of the mill pen pushing gigs either: Cathy was doing office/business management for Frank Zappa and Patty worked at MGM in International Theatrical Distribution.

But a dream is a dream and theirs became the ultimate video rental store called Vidiots, which opened in 1985 with an initial stock of just 800 very carefully selected VHS tapes. Nearly 28 years later (with a stock of over 40,000 titles), despite the threat from new fangled worlds of downloads/streaming and the Netflix queue, it’s still in business.

That’s because if you love movies, you’re definitely a card-carrying member of Vidiots. From cult to vintage, foreign films, silents, TV binge-watching box sets and those mainstream romantic comedies that gave the rest of the world an idealized view of Meg Ryan, it’s all on Vidiots’ shelves. In fact, because they’ve outlasted the competition, and have deeply cool and vastly knowledgeable staff (many of whom are film-makers themselves), Vidiots is almost becoming (whisper it) Mainstream.

But this is a Company Town so the word mainstream is rather relative (the most requested/rented movie is still “Y Tu Mama Tambien” – with good reason). Hollywood production companies often send assistants to Vidiots to do research on a director’s back catalogue at short notice. Many celebrities have membership cards but this is a low-key place (in fact Keanu Reeves came in, removed his motorcycle helmet and no one recognized him at first so he had to show his drivers license like everyone else. But Keanu probably got a kick out of that.) And once Marlon Brando called to place an order. Yes, Vidiots is one groovy place to hang out.

There are also wonderful cineaste events: Callie Khouri did a talk after a screening of Thelma and Louise. Kenneth Anger and Alan Rudolph both did in-store appearances. (Just checking – you have seen Rudolph’s The Moderns – the sensual languid take on 1920s Americans in Paris, right? Rent it – Vidiots has copies.)

The next event at Vidiots is September 12th at 7:30pm for The Source Family, the counter-culture documentary about the experimental lifestyle choice group that ran the utopian 1970s Source Restaurant on Sunset Strip. After the screening there’s a Q&A with the director (and former “family” member) Jodi Wille.

If you need a cinematic reference (and you probably do if you have a Vidiots membership card), The Source Restaurant is the place where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton attempt to communicate over mashed yeast in Annie Hall.

You never know whom you’ll bump into at Vidiots. Many a lifelong friendship/romance/Hollywood producing partnership has started right about the place where Claire Denis’ films are shelved. Just saying.

Vidots is located at 302 Pico Blvd in Santa Monica. Get more on them here.

Photos by Team Gloria Pictures.

[All photos via the amazing LA Public Library photo collection]

This is the year and especially the summer of the Los Angeles River--on January 1, it officially became a river again (not just a flood control channel); this May it opened for recreation for the first time in 75 years; at the end of this month the Army Corps of Engineers is planning some kind of enormous makeover that could involve unpaving large sections; and it finally just feels like there's a critical mass of politicians, planners, architects, and plain old Angelenos who are working to make the river great. (Also it caught fire at one point.) The river hasn't been great in a long time--since before it was ever encased in concrete; for Los Angeles's first several decades, it was mostly either a parched little trickle or a terrifyingly swollen menace.

Then, after an especially destructive flood in March 1938, officials took action, as described in The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth:

The first Los Angeles River projects paid for by the federal government and built under the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were completed a few months after the flood. Work was finished in October 1938 on three projects to lower the river's bed twenty feet, widen its channel and pave its banks for a little over four miles upstream from Elysian Park. Three months later, construction was completed on the first segment of what would eventually be a continuous trapezoidal concrete channel to carry the river from Elysian Park to Long Beach.

We know what that concrete channel looks like, now let's take a look back at a more natural river in a very young LA (and then, after that, forward to a river we can hang by without worrying about our houses falling in). Here's our slideshow soundtrack recommendation.

· LA River Rising [Curbed LA]

Just what we need on a Monday morning in deep summer. From the Vimeo page of James Munn comes this montage of clips of modern houses (some real, and some built or animated just for the movie) featured on film. Among the many buildings featured from LA are of course Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House (from Female, 1933), Pierre Koenig's Stahl House (from Galaxy Quest, 1999), and John Lautner's Shaffer House (from A Single Man, 2009). [h/t midcenturymodernfreak]

MID-CENTURY MODERN HOUSES from James Munn on Vimeo.

After six months of drought, Los Angeles has now set a record for having the wettest July in 95 years, the National Weather Service announced today. [ more › ]

Most of Ed Ruscha’s photographic studies can be seen in his many books. Many of these books are studies of Los Angeles and its crazy architecture and oddity, which is a subject that he’s always been interested in. Some notable books are his popular Some Los Angeles Apartments and the more coveted (and rare) Every Building On The Sunset Strip, both of which sought out to do exactly what their titles suggest. The latter of the books, the Sunset gazing one, is particularly interesting because it obviously caught the city in a very special time and functioned as a photographic time capsule. He actually did the same thing on Hollywood Blvd too, which is now making its way online thanks to Getty Research: they’ve taken photos Ruscha took in 1973 and 2002 of Hollywood Blvd and placed it in video form for everyone to see it. Because LA folk love seeing how LA once looked, you will want to see this. It’s pretty crazy.

The video simply and silently scrolls through the popular street, comparing the buildings then and now. Many have the same form and are with minor changes while some have gotten wild makeovers you’ll kick the wall over. There are some mysterious things (Why was the Egyptian Theatre hidden in the seventies?) and some obvious things (The space by LACE has always been artsy.) and some wild things (That sexy lady clothes shop at Wilcox used to be…a See’s Candies!!) but they both showcase an area that is constantly changing. While the 1970s photographs may be what you think will be the most interesting, the 2002 photos are actually more grabbing because the strip has changed so much in a short eleven years. It doesn’t seem as shitty or gross and, really, could be the start of the current state Hollywood Blvd is attempting an exit from. Who knows: this is all based on watching the video.

The video was made as a part of Pacific Standard Time’s Overdrive exhibit and has been placed in the Streets of Los Angeles Archive at The Getty. Who knew that was a thing?! That’s great. Ruscha needs to revisit this project in another twenty years to attempt a triple reflection of the area that spans over sixty years. That’d be wild. You can catch the video below and you can see Overdrive at The Getty through July 21.

The famous seagull villa “Residencia Rockstar” by Alberto Rubio is set on a spacious plot on a quiet and rocky hill-top in Puerto Andratx, Mallorca, Spain. From its elevated position, it enjoys a fantastic panoramic out to the sea and towards the Island of Ibiza. The Villa is quietly located in a dead-end street with a roundabout. To the right and above, the estate is a protected green-zone and nature. The “Residencia RockStar” is a property like a master piece of art, a sculpture for “living the life of tomorrow, today!”

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SELLER: Megan Ellison
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $15,500,000
SIZE: 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A week or so before Your Mama left for a wee summer vacay in a semi-remote region of the Forty-Ninth State, we (dissed) and discussed the quirky New York City pied-a-terre recently picked up for $2.8 million by 27-year old high-tech heiress turned increasingly powerful indie film producer Megan Ellison. She, in case you somehow didn't know, would be trophy property collecting gazillionaire Larry Ellison's daughter. That explains, of course, how it is the ever-so-young but already Oscar-nominated young lady can maintain a residential real estate portfolio worth well in excess of $35 million.

Her purchase of a $2.8 million one bedroom bedsit in downtown Manhattan's perennially chic Police Building is hardly, however, Miss Ellison's only recent spin on the fast-paced upper end real estate merry-go-round. Like her father, Miss Ellison nurses a well-exercised penchant for the procurement of prodigiously pricey properties in desirable locales. In addition to her new digs in The Big Apple Miss Ellison owns three contiguous and uniformly contemporary residences perched near the edge of a vertiginous bluff high above the Sunset Strip in an area known by L.A. savvy real estate-o-philes as The Birds.*

The first Bird Street nest Miss Ellison bought and feathered, a sensationally sleek Steve Hermann-designed domicile, was acquired in February 2008 for $12.6 million and she unexpectedly picked up the glassy, also-Steve Hermann-designed abode next door in April 2009 for $6.25 million from media mogul Byron Allen. Even more surprisingly, in early 2011, the neophyte compound creator coughed up a back stiffening $13.8 million for the newly constructed mini-compound next door to the second one—the one she bought from Byron Allen—for $13.8 million. Her total outlay for the three contiguous cribs in The Birds? Nearly $33 million dollars, according to Your Mama's bejeweled abacus.

It seems, however, that three is more than enough for Miss Ellison who last April (2012) briefly made her first Bird Street acquisition available on the open market for an unknown price. The boxy but sexy residence was on the open market a scant four weeks but, as was pointed out to Your Mama by tipster Paulina Pointsitout, still appears on the listing agent's internet portal. The property does not, however and as far as we can tell, show up as an active listing on the Multiple Listing Service or any of the other two listing aggregators Your Mama briefly consulted.

Whatever the case, current digital listing details show the three bedroom and four bathroom residence carries a hefty asking price of $15,500,000. Listing details do not state the square footage but the L.A. County Tax Man puts it at 3,065 square feet. That seems to Your Mama a little small given the scale of the house as seen in listing photographs but, of course, what do we know? Nuthin', that's what. Listing details go on to explain that there are soaring 13-foot ceilings, custom Poliform kitchen and closets, whole house audio and security systems, and "outrageous views" through vast expanses of floor to ceiling windows, some of which telescope and disappear into the walls.

Other notable creature comforts and luxury amenities called out in listing details include an eight-foot wide gallery hallway, a warehouse-sized open-concept main living area with knee buckling city views, a state-of-the-art 20 seat home theater, and an interior courtyard with swimming pool and spa.

What's interesting, at least to a snarky property gossip like Your Mama, is that the publicly online marketing materials seem to make use of the exact same listing images as when Miss Ellison acquired the property residence back in 2008. Funny that, no?

Anyhoodles, poodles, as it turns out, this isn't the only multi-million dollar Sunset Strip house Miss Ellison has up for sale. A bit higher up in The Birds, at the tail end of an L-shaped cul-de-sac, Miss Ellison owns a low-profile ranch-style residence she quietly acquired in December for $1,800,000. This was, it would seem to the innocent bystander like Your Mama, a short term investment that Miss Ellison subjected to a contemporarizing gut renovation and flipped back on the market in November 2012 for $3,750,000. The price was later reduced—twice, actually—down to its current $2,990,000 price tag. The property, as per public listings, is currently in escrow—and has been since early April 2013—for an unknown price with an unknown buyer.

Listing details show the gated 2,404 square foot single story residence (above) has four bedrooms and four bathrooms plus additional flexi-use space atop the detached two car garage. Sliding glass doors slide open to connect the open plan living spaces (living, dining, kitchen) with the backyard entertainment area that includes a built-in barbecue station, a plunge-size swimming pool and a slightly elevated, party-sized spa in to which several ribbons of water cascade from a stacked stone retaining wall.

*All the streets in The Birds are named after birds. Get it? Robin, Thrasher, Warbler, and so on and so forth.

listing photos (Nightingale): Westside Estate Agency
listing photos (Swallow): Keller Williams Beverly Hills

Amazon is often our go-to place for buying things online, but the best deals aren't always obvious. There are several ways you can save quite a bit of money when shopping on Amazon, but only if you utilize the right programs and strategies. Here's how.

Use Amazon's Outlet Store

Amazon doesn't conceal their outlet store outright, but most people don't know it exists. Buried within their other shopping categories, their virtual outlet shows you products discounted anywhere from 30-60% off their MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price). If you don't want a specific item, but rather a good yet cheap TV, blender, SD card, or whatever, the outlet store will show you the biggest markdowns in pretty much any shopping category on the site.

Buy from Amazon Warehouse Deals

Somewhat in conjunction with the outlet store, Amazon Warehouse Deals offers significant discounts on open box and refurbished items. All products get tested at Amazon to ensure they function. Once posted, the online retailer cautiously described the condition of the item. I've ordered quite a few items through Warehouse Deals that claimed to have cosmetic damage and found myself hard-pressed to find a single scratch. While no company dodges errors, Amazon Warehouse Deals boasts a great track record with almost two million reviews. You get to take advantage of Amazon's standard return policy, too, so if you run into a problem you can just send it back. Overall, it's a great way to save a lot of money—especially on rarely-discounted products—without the risk usually associated (or imagined) with used or refurbished gear.

Set Up Price Alerts

You may not always find the price you want when shopping on Amazon, but with prices fluctuating daily you may get it at some point down the line. It's annoying to have to check the site for a better deal on a daily basis, so avoid all that hassle by setting up price alerts with OnlinePriceAlert. All you do is enter the URL of an Amazon item, your email address, and the target price. (You can do this through their bookmarklet, too, to avoid going directly to the site.) When the price drops to your target, you'll get an email. It's as simple as that.

Get an Affiliate Buddy

Amazon has an affiliates program called Amazon Associates that gives you up to a 15% referral fee on any purchases people make with your affiliate links. While you can try purchasing from yourself to get an extra 15% off, Amazon tends to notice and remove your commission when they do. A better idea is to get an affiliate buddy. Basically, find another friend who shops on Amazon frequently and give them your affiliate code. Whenever they buy something, they use your code. In return, you do the same for them. This way you each get 15% back on whatever the other buys. It may not always be perfectly even, but it's a good way to generate some extra savings without cheating the system.

By the way, the easiest way to add your affiliate code is to append this to an Amazon URL: &tag=YOUR_AFFILIATE_CODE (e.g &tag=gizmodo-20)

Subscribe & Save (or Just Save)

Amazon has a program called Subscribe & Save that allows you to commit to purchasing an item on a regular basis and receive a discount for doing so. The discount is generally between 10% and 15%, saving you quite a bit over the course of a year. You can choose to subscribe to a product every months, every six months, or several options in between. This works for many products on the site such as batteries, shampoo, cleaners, toilet paper, and other stuff you'll need on a regular basis. You can even use it to automate your office lunches. It's delivered to your home when you need it and you don't pay for shipping. You save money and it's really, really convenient.

But what if you don't want to actually subscribe to a product? It doesn't really matter. If you buy something via Subscribe & Save and you don't want to continue your subscription, you can just cancel it. Amazon will even remind you a new shipment is coming so you cancel it before they bill you. You make absolutely no commitment to the program by choosing a product, and you can skip any shipments if you don't need it. Amazon just gives you the discount on any Subscribe & Save shipment, whether or not you actually use that subscription. So if you want 10-15% off, just buy the first subscription. You can just cancel it afterwards if you don't want more.

Use the Amazon Prime Free Trial Strategically

Amazon offers a one month free trial of their Prime service, which includes free two-day shipping, discounted overnight and Saturday, and a bunch of other benefits. If you don't want to actually pay for the service, you can get a month for free. Just pick that month strategically. For example, pick December or November for fast, free holiday shipping. One important thing to remember is that you can get another free Amazon Prime trial every 13 months. If you always want to get free shipping during the holiday season, just stagger your free trials around that time period so you can utilize the free shipping. Personally, I think Amazon Prime is a service worth paying for, but if you don't shop a lot on Amazon it might not be as worthwhile to you. If that's the case, just use the Prime trial to your advantage and reap its benefits for free when you need them most.

Sign Up for Student Discounts

We love student discounts—forever. Amazon decided to join in on the fun with a program called Amazon Student. Not only can you can get free Amazon Prime for six months as part of the program, but exclusive deals and promotions. Definitely sign up for the program when you're headed off to college. It's a good way to save money when stocking up on dorm supplies.

Although not as much, moms get discounts too. If you need some diapers at 20% off, sign up for the program.

Get a Free Android App and Heavily Discounted Kindle Book Every Day

Amazon has two particularly useful daily deals: the Free App of the Day (Android) and the Kindle Daily Deal. To promote their app store, Amazon chooses one premium app to offer for free every day. The Kindle Daily Deal is similar, providing one heavily discounted book on a daily basis. If you have an Android device, the free app space is definitely worth watching. If you enjoy reading on an electronic device of some kind (as Kindle apps are available for practically everything), you'll also want to check the Kindle deals as well.

Photo by Vakhrushev Pavel (Shutterstock).

This is a small series of Game of Thrones LEGO minifigs for sale by Etsy seller miniBIGS. Apparently this is just the first set, and miniBIGS plans on rolling out others afterward. You can score all the figures seen here for $70, or individually for $15. I like how the Tyrion is so small his legs don't even bend. Sometimes if I sit in the same position for too long my legs won't bend, then when I try to get up I end up falling over and pissing myself. That's why it's important to never wait till the last minute to go to the bathroom. You know how many times in the last week I've needed to go and wound up sprinting to the shitter holding the back of my pants and praying for a Christmas miracle? Every single one. Hit the jump for closeups of each character.

Teehan+Lax Labs developed Hyperlapse, a free tool you can use to make videos out of the pictures from Google Maps. You just enter a route, adjust the viewing angles along the way, and TA-DA, a hyperlapse video of the walk from my apartment to the liquor store. Will there be bums?! SPOILER: there are always bums. Hit the jump for a video demo of the possibilities, then piss away a half hour at work on a Friday making your own (you deserve it).

This is a series of Disney movie covers reimagined by the folks at TheFW with more accurate titles. They're pretty decent, but feel free to make up different ones or titles for cartoons they didn't include. Stuff like, 'Bambi: Thanks, Now I'm an Orphan' and 'Alice Takes Two Of Everything In The Medicine Cabinet'. Then we'll all meet up at the bar for happy hour and discuss our favorites. Jk jk, but we will get drunk and throw darts at each other's feet. "Aaaah, toe darts." So fun, right? Hit the jump for eight more.

Scrooge McDuck isn't like other plutocrats—instead of storing his cash at a Swiss bank or in a Cayman Islands offshore account, Scrooge kept his gold coins, precious gems, and other plunders in a giant piles that he would frequently dive into and swim in. Now, thanks to Hollywood’s iam8bit art gallery, DuckTales fans can recreate their own swan dives into his famed fortune with a life-sized exhibit of the Scrooge McDuck vault. [ more › ]

The new Lego Sydney Opera House is a mahoossive 2,989-brick set that measures 11-inch high, 25-inch wide and 15-inch deep. Comparing it to its Lego Architecture counterpart is like comparing Jupiter to Earth. Naturally, the price is of Jovian proportions too: $320.

It's an truly amazing model, with lots of complex shapes and details, that captures the essence of the iconic 1973 Australian building, designed and built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.

For fans of architectural Lego models, however, I'm sure it will be irresistible. And for general Lego nutters too: it contains very prized and rare dark tan bricks, some awesome white 1x1x2/3 stud and 1x2x2/3 stud slopes (perfect for spaceships!) plus the unique 48x48 stud blue baseplate, the first of its kind.

Of all the Lego Creator Expert models—the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower and London's Tower Bridge—it's my second favorite (the first one being the Tower Bridge). The 10234 Sydney Opera House will be available this September at the Lego Shop and other Lego stores.

One of the rare slopes.

This home in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia was under construction when the homeowners decided that the interior spaces would need to be redesigned to fit the architecture of the house. They brought in the design team at Minosa Design to create a series of interior spaces that would work well for the dramatic, oversized architectural style of the home.

The interior spaces remain fairly neutral but with orange and green repeated throughout to create a colorful, continuous color scheme.

The high ceilings required a plan to address lighting through the living and kitchen spaces. Luckily the massive skylights and strategically placed windows flood the house with plenty of natural light.

In the kitchen, they incorporated a seamless Corian island and a customized hood above the range.

The powder room gets a little extra love by way of a Bisazza Endimione mosaic feature wall that’s paired with a Minosa Puddle basin that looks almost flat.

Green continues into the other bathrooms with drawer units installed for storage. The floors are covered in a Liberian limestone that is full of chocolate tones that really warm the space up.

I love the floating sinks they used.

Bathtub storage that’s a dream come true.

A home theater room was given a darker color scheme to create a retreat-like environment for movie watching. Pops of orange are scattered throughout the space.

It even has a bar and a 1000-bottle wine cellar.

…and a nice rooftop view!

The home was designed by architect Andre Baroukh.