Saturday starts this week with a big event designed to get K-12 students excited about topics in science, technology, engineering and math (a.k.a. STEM). It’s the first L.A. Clippers-sponsored SciFest SoCal, at the LA Convention Center. “What is life like on Mars? How can coding teach me about communication? What endangered species live in California? How does plastic end up in our ocean and what can I do about it? What does physics have to do with basketball? How are we connected to cold-blooded creatures? What is inside of a black hole? Find out the answers to these questions and more about the exciting fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics…” The goal is to inspire a new generation of STEM professionals in the SoCal area. Please note that registration is required at the link above. For more information, see https://usasciencefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-Clippers-SciFest-SoCal-FAQs.pdf
On Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. Memorial Branch Library, 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., will also be getting its STEM on, with “Oceans in Space,” with Gene Perry and Dennis Schnell, Application Engineers with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The speakers will talk about how water makes life possible here on Earth and how JPL intends to follow the water to new destinations in search of living things. For example, Earth isn’t the only ocean world in our solar system. Oceans could exist in diverse forms on moons and dwarf planets, offering clues in the quest to discover life beyond our home planet. What is so special about h2o anyway? What makes this “molecule of life” so special and where does it come from? Come to the library and find out!
If culinary science is more your thing, you could head over to Surfas Culinary District, 3225 W. Washington Blvd., for a workshop called “The Perfect Spring Roll for Spring!,” starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Celebrate the new season with Chef Nicole Fani from The Avantgartist blog, and learn how to create rainbow salmon spring rolls, and tofu root vegetables spring rolls with a cashew cardamom almond butter dipping sauce. They’re both healthy, light and delicious.
For your weekend art enjoyment, the LaunchLA gallery, 170 S. La Brea, will be hosting a closing reception and artist talk, starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, for its current exhibit, Paradox California, featuring the work of Chelsea Dean and Osceola Refetoff. According to the gallery, “If California is in many ways a state of mind, as well as a state in the western continental U.S., Paradox California exemplifies its mystique. The California dream depicted in this lush and burnished exhibition from photographic artist Osceola Refetoff and mixed-media artist Chelsea Dean is desiccated by desert heat, burnished gold and amber and brown by desert sun, and crested by dry blue skies as vivid as a Mojave wildflower.”
Just an hour later, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, politics takes center state at LACMA’s Dorothy Collins Brown Ampitheater, where Loraine Lundquist, a candidate for City Council District 12 who’s also a physicist, environmentalist, parent and social justice activist, will hold a meet and greet to talk about her vision for a green LA. Food will be served, and attendees are welcome to bring friends, kids and pets.
On Saturday evening, starting at 7:30 p.m., the American Cinematheque will host two separate screenings at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. First, in the Spielberg Theatre, go way, way back with “”The Musketeers of Pig Alley” and More Films of 1912.” It’s the latest show in the Cinematheque’s series of landmark one-reel shorts by pioneer director D.W. Griffith, with Lillian Gish in “An Unseen Enemy” and the classic forerunner of the gangster film, “The Musketeers of Pig Alley.” You’ll also see Mary Pickford in “Iola’s Promise,” “So Near Yet So Far” and “The New York Hat”; and Blanche Sweet in “Blind Love” and the unforgettable “Oil and Water.” Shown in glorious 8mm, hosted by Tom Barnes, and with live musical accompaniment by Cliff Retallick.
And also starting at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, in the Egyptian Theater’s main auditorium, the Cinematheque will be hosting a “Bruno Ganz Remembered” program, featuring a double feature of “Nosferatu, The Vampyre” and “The American Friend.” The first is director Werner Herzog’s 1979 homage to Murnau’s 1922 classic horror film, and the second is Wim Wenders’ 1977 noir gangster film, based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, “Ripley’s Game.” In German with English subtitles.
On Sunday, the event schedule is a bit light this week, probably because of the LA Marthon juggernaut, which will run from downtown LA to Santa Monica, along a route mostly east, north and south of us, but which is still worth being aware of because of large crowds and significant street closures. For the full details, see https://www.lamarathon.com/race-weekend/street-closures
If you do want to brave the traffic snarls, however, the Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 N. Highland Ave., will present, as part of its Afternoon@the Barn series, on Sunday at 2 p.m., “Adrian, American Designer.” HH’s own Richard Adkins will present the program on the life and career of Gilbert Adrian, the famed theatrical, film, and couturier designer, widely known as Adrian, whose most famous costumes were for “The Wizard of Oz” (including the famed ruby slippers) and hundreds of other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films between 1928 and 1941. (He was usually credited onscreen with the phrase “Gowns by Adrian.”) The program will feature memorabilia from Adrian’s career, including childhood sketches, perfume, menswear and couturier fashions.
And finally, after the Hollywood Heritage program, you could just go back to the Egyptian Theatre on Sunday evening, where the Cinematheque will present the next film in its Bruno Ganz series, “Wings of Desire” at 7:30 p.m. This 1987 Wim Wenders film stars Gans as “an angel having pangs of longing as he observes the lives of mortals in Berlin, specifically the beautiful, ethereal trapeze artist Marion (Solveig Dommartin). Peter Falk essentially plays himself, a philosophical film and TV star (often addressed as “Columbo” by other characters!), who is making a movie in Germany and is one of the few people who can sense the presence of the invisible celestial spirits.” Shown in German with English subtitles.
Have a great weekend!
