Events on Thursday, June 7, 2012

Belly Room

In her fiction debut, screenwriter and NBC Universal Creative Director Ebel returns to the early '90s to tell the story of 24-year-old Claudia Silver, who is trying valiantly to learn how to live after growing up in a dysfunctional family from which she is now estranged. Claudia is fired from her production assistant job and then her 16-year-old sister Phoebe, last seen two years ago, appears on Claudia's Brooklyn doorstep, desperate to escape their crazy mother and her abusive deadbeat boyfriend. How can Claudia refuse? But as well-meaning as she is, Claudia's hunger for love and lack of a normal vantage point for healthy relationships vastly complicate matters, and she winds up in an ill-advised affair, which ends a longtime friendship and breaks up several households. So who, in the final analysis, will rescue whom? The author delivers a satisfying and unexpected answer to that question. Readers will root for this deeply flawed but ultimately appealing heroine. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

$10 adv, $12 dos

Original Room

$15.  $10 with flyer

Original Room

$40 adv, $60 reserved seat, $250 reserved seat in the pit, $350 VIP seats & table near stage, $500 downstairs seating & VIP table

Original Room

$40 adv, $60 reserved seat, $250 reserved seat in the pit, $350 VIP seats & table near stage, $500 downstairs seating & VIP table

Belly Room

Main Room

$21 child, $34.50 senior, $42.50 adult

$21 child, $34.50 senior, $42.50 adult

Original Room

Original Room

"There, I came across a cluster of NYU graduates standing in cap and gown. They were laughing and posing for photos. Was it June again already? Their voices echoed through the subway tunnel. "Congratulations!" "Congratulations!" their parents said. And I wanted to yell, "Don't do it! Go back! You don't know what it's like!""
Whether passed out drunk at The New Yorker where she's interning; assigning Cliffs Notes when hired to teach humanities at a local college; getting banned from a fleet of Greek Island ferries while on vacation, or trying to piece together the events of yet another puzzling blackout--"I prefer to call them pink-outs, because I'm a girl"--Iris is never short on misadventures. From quarter-life crisis to the shock of turning thirty, Iris Has Free Timecharts a madcap, melancholic course through that curious age--one's twenties--when childhood is over, supposedly. (Soft Skull Press)

Belly Room

Belly Room

"Ed Hardy" is emblazoned on everything from t-shirts and hats to perfumes and energy drinks. From LA to Japan, his colorful cross-and-bones designs and ribbon-banners have become internationally ubiquitous. But long before the fashion world discovered his iconic designs, the man behind the eponymous brand spearheaded nothing less than a cultural revolution.  InWear Your Dreams, Ed Hardy recounts his genesis as a tattoo artist and leader in the movement to recognize tattooing as a valid and rich art form, through to the ultimate transformation of his career into a multi-billion dollar branding empire. From giving colored pencil tattoos to neighborhood kids at age ten to working with legendary artists like Sailor Jerry to learning at the feet of the masters in Japan, the book explains how this Godfather of Tattoos fomented the explosion of tattoo art and how his influence can be witnessed on everyone, from countless celebs to ink-adorned rockers to butterfly-branded, stroller-pushing moms. With over fifty different product categories, the Ed Hardy brand generates over $700 million in retail sales annually. Vividly packaged with original Ed Hardy artwork and ideal for ink devotees and Ed Hardy aficionados alike, Wear Your Dreams is a never-before-seen look at the tattoo artist who rocked the art world and has left a permanent mark on fashion history. (Thomas Dunne Books)

Original Room

In this book, 35 directors champion their favorite overlooked or critically savaged gems. Among these guilty pleasures, almost-masterpieces, and undeniable classics in need of revival are unsung noirs ("Murder by Contract"), famous flops ("Can't Stop the Music," " Joe Versus the Volcano"), art films ("L'ange"), theatrical adaptations ("The Iceman Cometh"), B-movies ("Killer Klowns from Outer Space"), and even a few Oscar-winners ("Some Came Running"). In these conversations, the filmmakers defend their choices. These films, they argue, deserve a larger audience and for their place in movie history to be reconsidered. But the conversations' tangents, diversions, and side trips provide as much insight into the directors' own approach to moviemaking as into the film they're discussing. The filmmakers are the perfect hosts, often setting the tone, managing expectations, and giving advice about how you should watch each movie. They're often brutally honest about a film's shortcomings or the reasons why it was lost in the first place. The Best Film You've Never Seen is not only a guide to some badly overlooked movies but a bold attempt to rewrite film history. (Chicago Review Press)

Original Room

$10 adv, $12 dos

Belly Room

Original Room

$29.50 adv, $35 dos

Original Room

Original Room

$5

Belly Room

Belly Room

Original Room

Original Room

$15

Belly Room

Original Room

$21 child, $34.50 senior, $42.50 adult

$10/$8 for Apple Employees

Original Room

$10

$15

 
When writer-producers James L. Brooks and Allan Burns dreamed up an edgy show about a divorced woman with a career, the CBS executives they pitched replied: "American audiences won't tolerate divorce in a series' lead any more than they will tolerate Jews, people with mustaches, and people who live in New York."

Forty years later, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show "is one of the most beloved and recognizable television shows of all time. It was an inspiration to a generation of women who wanted to have it all in an era when everything seemed possible.  Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted tells the stories behind the making of this popular classic, introducing the groundbreaking female writers who lent real-life stories to their TV scripts; the men who created the indelible characters; the lone woman network executive who cast the legendary ensemble--and advocated for this provocative show--and the colorful cast of actors who made it all work.  (Simon & Schuster)

The story of two talent agents and their three troubled boys, heirs to Hollywood royalty. It's a sweeping narrative about fathers and sons, the movie business, and the sundry sea changes that have shaped Hollywood and, by extension, American life. (Tin House Books)

"Specktor's book deserves a special space in the L.A. canon, somewhere looking up at Pynchon and Chandler. Even as the narrator searches through his past to uncover the truth about his family, the author is searching, too." --"LA Weekly"

$10

Original Room

Original Room

Just because Anny Applebaum qualifies for a senior discount doesn't mean she's ready for retirement. But if she wants to keep her job at the "San Francisco Times, "she'll have to find a way to spice up her lifestyle column. Even if it means posting her profile as an eligible single on JDate .com. Sure, Anny's a little out of practice. She hasn't been with a man since she found Viagra in her ex-husband's suit pocket, and he wasn't taking it for her. But she's got her friends to help her fumble her way through the strange and intriguing world of online dating. After hearing cautionary tales from the trenches--about "boomer oldies" who drag around pictures of their dead wives and fixed-income misers who wine and dine their dates at chain restaurants--Anny is relieved to meet Marv Rothstein, a charming . . . 75-year-old diamond dealer. Unfortunately, he's also a Digital Age Don Juan who prowls singles sites for younger women. Not be outdated by this "Serial JDater," Anny realizes Marv is the perfect subject for her flagging column and chronicles his sexcapades for the reading public. But when the new column becomes an overnight hit, Anny can't help but feel conflicted--because now she's having sex with Mr. X . . . and it's nothing less than extraordinary.

$10 adv, $12 dos

$19.99 adv, $23 dos

Main Room

Main Room