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The ubiquitous Uglydolls and their creators, husband and wife team of David Horvath and Sun-min Kim, stop by Giant Robot’s GR2 on Sawtelle to sign limited edition brand new “2002 Giant Robot Ice-Bats”.

From the Giant Robots:

“The plush will come in an edition of 300 and will also be distributed to our San Francisco and New York locations. It will be available at 3:00 pm at our Los Angeles location and at noon for our San Francisco and New York locations.”

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Tosa Novmichi, one of the inventors of Maywa Denki’s cute little musical wind up Knockman toys, will be on hand to sign and demonstrate his latest creation the Otomatone at the Giant Robot’s GR2 on Sawtelle.

From the Giant Robots:

“Giant Robot is pleased to host a rare U.S. appearance by Tosa Novmichi at GR2. Tosa is half of the legendary Japan-based Maywa Denki music and art duo that creates its own ingenious and otherworldly instruments. In addition to touring and playing sold-out rock concerts around the world with their pneumatic, electronic, automated, and conceptual music devices, they create some of the world’s most interesting and interactive toys.”

Check out this demo video of the brilliant little Otomatone in action (it get’s really interesting around 1:15 and then Jimi Hendrix Woodstock interesting at 3:57!).

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Another weekend, another great art show at Giant Robot as they roll out the group show Year of the Tiger at GR2 on Sawtelle. Click here for a tiger style preview of the pieces!

More from the Robots:

“Giant Robot is proud to host Year of the Tiger, a group art show celebrating year 4708 on the lunar calendar. Pieces will include illustration, oils, pencils, prints, watercolor, sculpture, and other media–all dedicated one of the most powerful but also most sensitive animal in the Chinese zodiac.”

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Giant Robot brings you some talented girl on girl art action as they proudly present Diplopia, a joint art show featuring long time friends Eleanor Davis and Katherine Guillen at GR2 on Sawtelle.

Check previews of Eleanor’s work here and Katherine’s work here.

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The day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday, is upon us which of course means the holiday shopping season has officially begun (in the United States). Let the commerce commence!

• In a novel approach to bring the art to the people, artist/designer Parra drives around LA with his mobile pop-up truck where he’ll be peddling both his art and clothing from his Rockwell Clothing line including various Stones Throw collabos. Truck stops at UNDFTD in Silver Lake from 12-2pm, HVW8 Gallery on Melrose from 3-5pm, and Archrival in Little Tokyo from 6-8pm. Take a peak at what items you may find via Freshnessmag.com.

• Giant Robot stores in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and on the interwebs go the more traditional route as they conduct their salesmanship in-store.

• Possibly the best place to do your gift shopping on the east side of LA is at the uniquely school themed boutique, Reform School. They may not have the crazy sales that many other chain stores are having today but they certainly have an abundance of those not-so-common gifts that are the hardest to find.

• And last but certainly not least is this little show I failed to mention last week and I can’t forgive myself for missing this one. Barry McGee (TWIST) and Phil Frost, two masters of graffiti-to-gallery art opened their group show Mind the Gap at the Prism gallery in West Hollywood last Friday. Curated by RVCA founder and fight aficionado PM Tenore.

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Dancing, fighting, opening, auctioning, speaking, signing, arting. Many a great things happening this weekend, but for me and my Friday the 13th birthday weekend, the best present I can receive would be an exciting Manny Pacquiao victory. Hope you have a fun filled Filipino weekend!

• The weekend begins with a Friday the 13th full of Wonder as New York’s DJ Spinna and Bobbito bring their traveling Stevie Wonder tribute to Hollywood with Wonder-Full LA4 at The Vanguard.

• Giant Robot boldly follows Deth P. Sun’s lead as his melancholy cat-like characters come to LA in his new solo show Please Be Brave at GR2 on Sawtelle.

• Juxtapoz celebrates their 15th year of existence by throwing The Big Payback, a group art show and charity auction held in conjunction with Upper Playground and Power House Project of Detroit at the Factory Place Arts Complex in downtown LA. Proceeds from the auction will support the goal of purchasing five homes and employing local Detroit contractors, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters to perform the renovations. See the pieces by some of the urban art world’s best being auctioned off on Juxtapoz.com and bid on them at Charitybuzz.com.

• The main event of the weekend for fight fans and Filipinos everywhere: Manny Pacquiao fights Miguel Cotto for the Welterweight championship and a record setting seventh title. Nike Sportswear graciously hosts the fight at the Montalbán Theater in Hollywood. RSVP required.

• Spend Sunday with Family, the extraordinarily eclectic bookstore on Fairfax that is, as they host a very special speaking and signing engagement with Spike Jonze to celebrate the release of Heads On & We Shoot a “unique collaboration behind Where the Wild Things Are-the combined work of Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers, and all the cast and crew.”

• And finally a weeks worth of free admission to the MOCA and the Geffen Contemporary as they both open their doors to bring their acclaimed collection of postwar art to the community with complimentary admission during the opening week of Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years.

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A wild weekend awaits with James Jean, Michael vs. Prince, Wild Things x 2, the antichrist in a cemetery, and Barry McGee somewhere in Pasadena.

• The super talented James Jean signs various items at Giant Robot’s GR2 on Sawtelle.

• Michael Jackson. Prince. DJ Spinna makes you dance your ass off time to their music at Soul Slam LA V at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

• Where the Wild Things Are monster suits created by Christian Joy and sold for charity at Space 15 Twenty along with an exclusive pop-up shop in Hollywood. The always rock ready Squeak E. Clean will be providing the music. Click here or below for more information and to see each unique monster suit.

• Where the Wild Things Are will also be in Alhambra for the Terrible Yellow Eyes group show at Gallery Nucleus.

• Cinespia’s last screening of the season is Roman Polanski’s classic 1968 horror film Rosemary’s Baby at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Needless to say, creepiness ensues.

• Barry Mcgee, Ed Ruscha and many more install installations outdoors and indoors for Installations Inside/Out: Armory 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts as well as various outdoor locations around Pasadena.

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Looks like Saturday is the big winner with many a good thing in this weekend’s stacked schedule of events for your cultural and social pleasures.

• The super producing couple of Meg and Jonathan Wells continue to pump out the goods as one of their most ambitious projects to date opens the Scion installation space in Culver City with the Flux Super 8. Featuring filmmakers, designers and video artists from all over the world including our ultra talented Portland pal Max Erdenberger, as well as The Blackheart Gang (Cape Town, South Africa), Saam Farahmand (London, UK); Sophie Gateau (Paris, France), Miwa Matreyek (Los Angeles, USA), Terri Timely (San Francisco, USA), United Visual Artists (UVA) (London, UK), and YesYesNo (Amsterdam, NL + New York, NY + London, UK), the promising Flux Super 8 show is sure to be the first of many more to come.

• And while you’re in Culver City hop on over to the Corey Helford Gallery and take a trip to India with the moustachioed madman Carlos Ramos as he once again dazzles with his trademark contrasty colors and sublimely shaped stable of animals. (Moustache subject to availability.)

• Giant Robot cleans out their closet with the group show Junk in the Trunk in which over 30 artists including Apak!, David Horvath and Albert Reyes among others, bust out new, old, and random pieces of art that need new homes at GR2 on Sawtelle. Bonus yard sale on Sunday too!

• The second shift Saturday night continues (or starts) in Chinatown at the Sabina Lee Gallery on Chung King Road with the group show Second Shift.

• Reform School, Home Ec, and the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax join hands to bring you the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary on D.I.Y. culture, Handmade Nation. *Saturday’s 12pm premiere screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, and ticket holders for this show will receive specialized gift bags and surprise giveaways! In-between the two Saturday screenings, during 2-6pm, there will be a mini-craft fair eaturing some of LA’s most talented makers, a “Handmade Nation” book signing with Faythe Levine, and hands-on make-and-takes (craft demos). Admission to the craft fair is free, and open to the general public.

• For my Bay Area brethren, Grind for the Green presents the second annual Battle for the Bang as bay area environmentally conscious youth battle with beats for cash and prizes at the Zeum in San Francisco.

• And finally end your weekend on a high musical note as Stones Throw’s finest continue to rock Amoeba Music on Sunset every Sunday in August. This weekend’s set features one of the Beat Junkies’ founding fathers, J-Rocc.

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Films about an inspirational pop art nun (including ours), a Karaoke dance party, Muppets and more Muppets, and of course art openings highlight this weekends highlights.

• Pocket wallet pioneers Poketo take over Royal/T’s this summer with their storefront pop-up shop. Tonight they transform the joint into a Karaoke Dance Party with our fun Fluxer friends Jonathan and Meg Wells on an esteemed panel of judges.

• The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax has Muppets on the mind once again as they bring back last year’s sold out showings of Jim Henson’s mind-blowing collection of shorts, crazy commercials, and other rarities including the not-be-to-be-missed Oscar winning Time Piece. Bonus: midnight screening of Henson’s feature film The Dark Crystal!

• With the Lotus Festival on hiatus this year the Echo Park Community Fest has come in to save the day, or weekend rather. Fun for all with carnival attractions, International foods, and the music of the lovely LA Ladies Choir with the Chili Pepper’s Flea (responsible for some songs from our Sister Corita film-more on that below)

• Giant Robot offers up prints to take home when the group show of 50 plus artists titled Printed Matter opens at GR2 on Sawtelle Saturday night. Featuring Bigfoot, Buff Monster, La Merde, Saelee Oh, Deth P. Sun, Albert Reyes, Andrew Jeffrey Wright and many more. Preview here.

• Constantly bringing the goods with their carefully curated shows, the Constant Gallery opens Desert Sexy “a survey of artists originating from and inspired by California’s low desert scene. Along with work by Logan/The Date Farmers, Anthony Lepore, and Peter Sutherland, we’ll be having an opening night musical performance by stoner rock progenitors Yawning Man (pre-Kyuss).” Check the preview here.

• Girls go wild as the Honor Fraser Gallery opens Bitch is the New Black, an all women art show featuring “fourteen Los Angeles-based women who are all emerging or established artists from roughly the same generation and are bright lights on the local scene.”

• Another Muppety evet at the Silent Movie Theater Saturday this time screening a matinee of Muppet Music Moments which, as you may have guessed, is a collection of musical performances from The Muppet Show.

• And finally end your weekend inspired as our short film (Become a Microscope: 90 Statements on Sister Corita) about the life and art of Sister Corita Kent will be screening at the Silent Movie Theater Sunday night alongside two other films by Corita’s friends, Mary’s Day (1964) by Baylis Glascock, and Survival With Style (1966) by Cal Bernstein, Alex Singer and Haskell Wexler. Both of these rare films will be screened from their original 16mm prints, and Mary’s Day will feature a live score by special musical guests!

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One of the funnest parts about putting together these weekend event lists is coming up with an appropriate title using the words from said events. As seen above, this weekend’s happenings has churned out the perfect storm of words. From partying with porn stars to making art with nuns, Los Angeles has a lot going for it under our overcast skies, including our beloved Lakers winning it all in Orlando this Sunday!

• Get your porn on all weekend long as Erotica LA 2009 sexys up the LA Convention Center with pornstars galore and the 40,000 estimated attendees who masturbate to them.

• Be both Cute & Dangerous at the group show of the same name at the seven-degrees gallery down in Laguna Beach.

• The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax continues June’s Comedy Death Ray (Upright Citizens Brigade) series with Bob Odenkirk (half of Mr. Show) presenting Albert Brooks’ 1979 directorial debut Real Life.

• The celebration of Sister Corita’s art and inspiring spirit just keeps on going as a modern day happening happens at the Corita Art Center in Hollywood. Complete with silk-screening, banner and flag making, music, food, a procession with pipes, the day’s festivities also include the release of the 2nd edition of Jan Steward’s Learning By Heart. Corita is definitely alive and well.

• Skaters (Tony Alva), artists (Shepard Fairey), and skateboarder artists (Mark Gonzalez) pay tribute to one of Dogtown’s legendary photographers, Wynn Miller, with the group show The Detournements of Wynn Miller at the Exhibit A Gallery on Fairfax.

• Attaboy presents A Touch of Evil with his latest drawings, paintings, sculptures, and Gooberries at the POVevolving Gallery in Chinatown.

• Childlike pop-art illustrations meet vector based computer art when J. Otto Seibold comes to Giant Robot’s GR2 on Sawtelle with his Jottobots.

• And finally, end the weekend laughing with a tribute to unorthodox cult comedian Mitch Hedberg at The Silent Movie Theater as the Cinefamily “commemorates the comic’s legacy with a screening of his TV appearances, live performances, and the pilot to his unreleased MTV reality show, The Mitch Hedberg Project. Also showing is his autobiographical 1999 feature, Los Enchiladas; directed by Hedberg, the film focuses on the humorist’s early days as a Mexican restaurant employee in the suburbs of St. Paul.”

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