louise on the left (coast)

I was just invited to a very cool master class " Deconstructing The EXORCIST " at the Egyptian Theater in LA  led by the VERY talented  Visual Consultant Thomas Ethan Harris .   Now when I hear about Harris's master class film events, I usually I try to make it up there as they're absolutely wonderful, but this film?  Really?  REALLY?   OMG. This film STILL scares the living shit out of me STILL.   It still scares the living fuck out of me.   Like nothing else. I found out last year my older daughter watched it on YouTube (against my better judgement) and now just laughs at me about this (and everything else) and thinks it's a dopey crap film.  But me?   No way.  Still the scariest thing on film ever made. If I even watch the shortest clip of it I seriously can't function alone at night.  I'm like LIGHTS ON.  DO NOT THINK ABOUT EVEN ONE SCENE FROM THAT THING.  If I'm out walk...

OC's newest, biggest event fashion and beauty expo is about to hit the runway! This time? ~ Costa Mesa, OC!  v STYLE CON OC FASHION EVENT - Saturday, Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  I can get you a $10 discount for this amazing deal if you go to purchase your tix at stylecon   for $19 by using my promo code: LOUISE.   (You're welcome!) I just spoke with Robyn Grant, one of the brains behind the beauty of this new concept in fashion who describes the event as a bit less of a shopping event  than a huge exploration, fashion-forward happening, or a "platform for all things style." ---- Love it! What STYLECON.COM  promises is a super fun, generous celebration of trends, culture, beauty, fashion and fitness, food, selfies, famous bloggers, free stuff by the bagful and more. Basically, if you are a women age 16 to 30+  with a heartbeat, you are gonna LOVE this event.    One $29 ticket buys you all this and a massive swa...

Or Otherwise Entitled: "Be Comfortable In Your Own Shoes Because You're Going To Be In Them A Long Time."      23-year-old supermodel-turned-actress Cara Delevingne has never shied away from telling the public how she really feels — especially when it comes to the modeling industry. However, here her astonishingly frank, brave interview with the wonderful Rupert Everette, contains insights which I hope all women, especially young women, do take the time to watch from start to finish. Hats off to Delevingne for her inner strength and courage not to give up on herself. That took the most courage of all.

Still speechless at how perfect she was. And so filled with grace to keep sharing her profound talent with the world while facing her own crushing, lethal imperfections. Heartbreaking.

OCTOBER 11, 2015 Sacred Carnality BY MARY KARR This essay is drawn from “The Art of Memoir,” by Mary Karr, published byHarperCollins. My holy of holies is the human body —Anton Chekhov, May, 1888 Carnality sits at the root of the show-don’t-tell edict that every writing teacher harps on all the time, because it works. By carnal, I mean, Can you apprehend it through the five senses? In writing a scene, you must help the reader employ smell and taste and touch as well as image and noise. The more carnal a writer’s nature, the better she’ll be at this, and there are subcategories according to the senses. A great glutton can evoke the salty bite of pastrami on black rye; the sex addict will excel at smooth flesh; the one with a painterly eye visual beauty, etc. Every memoir should brim over with the physical experiences that once streamed in—the smell of garlicky gumbo, your hand in an animal’s fur, the ocean’s phosphor lighting up bodies underwater all acid green. O...

Brattleboro, Vermont. A town where the word freak no longer exists.  Not much here ever seems odd.  Somehow things seem acceptable here.  No matter what. (Cue music:   Radiohead.  Weird Fishes .) A truly Neptunian depot. There is a central parking lot, named Harmony Lot, where everything, since I first saw it back in 1968, has actually in been in harmony with zen-like acceptance to what chooses to roll through this particular crossroad. I get out of my Boston car rental and hear random notes of music floating around me. I am jet lagged.  As far as I can see from this block-sized parking lot, there are only coffee shops and art galleries. And suggestions of music. And I say to my kid Why do I keep hearing odd music? She says because, there's wind chimes.  Wind chimes in a parking lot? I look up. Indeed, there are wind chimes. Huge ones.  Duct taped way up in a tree in the middle of the parking lot someone has duct-taped a set o...

Just saw a screening of The End Of The Tour , a bio pic about writer, author/journalist David Lipsky, interviewing uber literary star, David Foster Wallace, during his 5 day book tour.   The film stars Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg and is superbly written by playwright, Donald Margulies.  Not to mention it's also expertly directed by James Ponsoldt, who gets out of the way to allow the story to unfold as it does. This is the kind of film that transcends all the trappings of similar bio pics, or road-trip movies, to be come something seamlessly much larger one ever suspects it will be. I'm pretty sure Jason Segal will earn an Oscar nomination, even possibly one for both leading men. Not to mention one for best screenplay. End Of The Tour, is at it's heart, a gift to watch. It will stay with you, hopefully for a long, long time. You don't need to be a well-read pop-culture freak or literary aficionado to be touched by this film. You just need to care ...

Gary Baseman and Holly Andres collaborated on a shoot in his parents, tomb-like, apartment off La Brea and 6th street on what was, no doubt, the hottest day of the summer. The vines are so bizarre to look at today, first of all they're only a few years old but my girls have changed so much since then.  I love Andres's work so very much.   Honor the girls worked with her. Here's some of Gary's (a self-described "Pervasive artist.) vines from his feed:  He wrote, "WildGirls is going to be a dark yet beautiful journey. I am collaborating with Holly Anders in my parents home." Kuddos to Los Angeles Photographer Carolyn Hampton for calling us in as a stand in for her own "Red Head"away at camp during this particular shoot.

I know this kid. @juliet_larsen

The year, 1998.    My daughter is one year's old.    I'm a first time mom of 37 with a bad case of laryngitis on the day of this segment. I was still reeling from having nearly lost my child to a danger I never realized existed until my child walked into the kitchen, pointed to her mouth, her eyes rolled back in her head, she fell to the floor and stopped breathing. This video is about the day (one of them) everything changed.

Great article by Christine Peddle in Allergic Living Magazine  which is always full of amazing information and entirely up-to-date info regarding auto-immune issues and allergies. And this edition has an article featuring someone very dear to my heart:  My eldest daughter, Juliet Larsen, who, in spite of life-threatening food allergies has found the courage to pursue a professional modeling career since the age of 14. NOTE: Juliet Larsen to address Teens at FARE Conference this Sunday, Long Beach, CA.  She will discuss how she felt growing up with this particular food allergy and how she did not let her fears of anaphylaxis stand in the way of following her dreams regarding participating in sports, theater events or even a professional modeling career.   **This Sunday, Long Beach, California at the 2015 annual  F.AR.E. Conference.

So many great lessons in this video.

GET YER TICKETS HERE    https://www.theatreasylum-la.com/projects/2317 Calling all fans of great acting, astonishing character work, great improvisation, wonderful writing, and what a really good "one-man show" should look like: You simply MUST buy a ticket to see WORKING FOR THE MOUSE which is in the last weekend of  its run in LA. IF YOU HAVE A THEATER-LOVING KID -- THIS SHOW IS A MUST SEE. YOUR CHILD WILL ADORE THIS INSIDE LOOK AT WORKING AT DISNEYLAND AND WILL LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT QUALITY ACTING IN THIS MASTERCLASS OF THEATER WORK. Moving, insightful, hilarious and heartbreaking -- You will never see one person play as many characters as you will see in this show. DO take the kids. Do not miss this. Do support this artist's work!!! BOOK THE LAST FEW TICKETS NOW!!! His show originated in San Francisco, where the below YouTube interview with Trevor Allen was created. Here he shares with the viewer a background on how his life was changed by his work...