Event Cockblocked from Coachella

May 7, 2010 - 9:37 am

Gala Darling

So I don’t mean to get all hocus pocus on your ass, but bad things happen when you travel during Mercury retrograde.  Life just goes awry.  In a big way.  From misscommunications to missed flights, it is a time when ideally you should lay low, revise or edit old projects, & generally not be too ambitious.  But hey!  We’re brave!  We care not for astrology!  WE ARE CHINASHOP!  We’ll give anything a try!  & so, on Saturday morning, Barbie (our editor & multi-tasking prodigy), Seth (taciturn & phenomenally gifted videographer & photographer) & I (insert your own adjectives & nouns here) set off towards the desert in a blue Nissan Altima hybrid.

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Event Gamer’s Delight: UGTL Hosts Echo Park Street Fighter Competition

May 6, 2010 - 10:37 am

Fast Fingers

If you were born in the 80’s or anytime after, there is an outstanding chance that you owned video games.  If you happen to be a part of the male species, chances are a large portion of your social festivities revolved around video games.  Remember all those nights of staying up late trying to beat that level of Tetris, or cheating by putting the gun all the way to the screen to better your shot accuracy in Duck Hunt?  Video games go hand in hand with childhood memories for a lot of us.  I know I personally owned a Nintendo, SEGA, and Nintendo Game Cube.  I played Sonic the Hedgehog for hours, secretly thought Luigi was cooler than Mario, and did my share of bragging when I beat my very first game, The Little Mermaid.

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Event Gallery Oddity The World Series of Beer Pong

April 23, 2010 - 10:55 am

I remember playing Beer Pong back in college as a recreational way to get my buzz on, but it has since taken on a life of it’s own.  It seems to have gone from simply throwing a ping-pong ball into a cup, to a sophisticated matrix involving rules, regulations, and professional tournaments.  Thanks to the help of organizations like BPONG.com, which caters to the needs of the beer pong community by offering amenities such as tournament information, an official beer pong store, and a beer pong players forum, this “drinking game” has turned into one serious sport.  All across the United States, Canada, and even further overseas, beer pong leagues are popping up and everyone wants to make it to one place: The World Series of Beer Pong.

The World Series of Beer Pong, known to the beer pong community as WSOBP, is the largest and longest running organized beer pong tournament in the world.  It was created “by beer pong players, for beer pong players,” according to the official WSOBP website.  All games are played on official BPONG 8-foot tables and are regulated by official WSOPB rules.  Last year’s WSOBP was the largest yet, with over 800 participants, representing 45 states, as well as Canada, all competing for the championship title but also, the whopping $50,000 pot.  This year’s event is expected to have an even higher turnout and will occur on January 1-5, 2011 on the Las Vegas strip at The Flamingo Hotel and Casino. In order to participate, players have to buy into the event by December 10, 2010, or can win their way in at one of the official satellite tournaments.

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Event Coachella 2010: PHOENIX Resurrects an Exhausted Festival Crowd…

April 21, 2010 - 5:53 am

Thomas Mars eggs you on

It’s Sunday, the closing day of the festival. People stagger through the Coachella grounds with forced bravado and as much cheerfulness as they can muster, but stop anywhere and you’ll hear one of any of the following: “I’m tired,’ “I’m so exhausted,” “I just want to go home,” “You okay dude? Get up, this isn’t funny,” etc. They’re trying to stay conscious for what will later prove to be one of the biggest shows of the entire 3-day package — an hour long performance by France’s Phoenix. I thought the crowd at MGMT’s show was huge; truth be told, they had nothing on these guys. Nobody did.

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Event Coachella 2010: Explosions, Suspicious Substances, and Festival Hijinks

April 21, 2010 - 5:44 am

AUTO EN FUEGO, Coachella

I think if I could describe my festival personality in two words, it would be “Masochist-Aspergers.” I can attribute this feeling of estrangement to a particular OzzFest in my youth, when a gentleman of questionable genetic inheritance staggered over to me in the blistering heat, wife/girlfriend/sister in tow, and grabbed me by the head. He slobbered something like “GREAT CONTHERT JHESHKEBBOBTPPPTH”, and planted a big wet kiss on my goddamn cheek. Had we not been in an open amphitheater, I have no doubt he’d have made me his cell-mate.

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Event Featured Gallery The Second Annual Streamy Awards: What a Fine Mess

April 14, 2010 - 10:28 am

I usually do everything in my power to avoid Hollywood, so when I learned I’d have to cover a red carpet event there (webisode/internet celebrities, collagen, and buttloads of perfume and fashion stuff…gee, I was a bit aprehensive), it’s accurate to say there was a bit of apprehension on my part. Nonetheless, I don’t think there could have been a better event for me than The Second Annual Streamy Awards at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theater– which sort of summed up how I’d always thought of glitzy and glammy galas when there’s not a Pat O’Brien or Sugar Ray to polish any of the turds.

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Event Red Bull Panamerika Stage at Fiesta Broadway

April 13, 2010 - 11:59 am

More @ Fiesta Broadway

For those of you who’ve developed somewhat of an addictive habit from listening to the Red Bull Music Academy — but despite the plethora of talented bands, Djs and experimental artists, perhaps have you longing for the music flavors on a much more global capacity, especially South America — well, you’ve got something new to jones for: PanameriKa, Red Bull Music Academy’s Latin American musical force. In less than two weeks, on April 25, downtown Los Angeles will set aside 22 square blocks for Fiesta Broadway, the biggest Hispanic Music Festival in the nation.

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Event On The Floor hits the Midwest

April 8, 2010 - 10:52 am

Flying Lotus has assume control

The concept behind Red Bull Music Academy’s On The Floor event is simple—bring a few notable participants from the academy together and let them each mix/perform whatever they chose for ninety minutes straight. Depending on the combination of talent, the formula could amount to a straight up stellar show. And this was the case overall last Friday at Chicago’s Double Door as influential L.A. producer Flying Lotus was joined by Londoner Kode 9, and Toronto’s Mymanhenri for a night of mad, mind-bending beats.

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Event A Battle Off and On the Road

March 31, 2010 - 4:10 pm

GO GO GO

When seven of the world’s finest holed up in a cargo van to participate in the Red Bull BC One–  a no holds barred, 3-minute b-boy competition to decide who’d get the throne and bring all other dancers to their knees –  it was a chance bond with fellow b-boyers to develop friendships and even participate in a little friendly competition. But what began as an amicable journey ended up getting a little dysfunctional, as tempers flared and one of the boys decided to go Greyhound.

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Event Sweet 16 : Ugly Betty Edition

March 19, 2010 - 3:17 pm

Sweet 16 with Mark Indelicato of Ugly Betty

This past weekend, while the monsoon Nor’easter was wreaking havoc, flooding basements, whipping up 40mph gusts and uprooting century-old trees all through NYC’s five boroughs, the scene at Soho’s Red Bull Space was quite different. It was the Sweet 16 Birthday event for actor Mark Indelicato, the sweet-faced kid who plays Ugly Betty’s nephew on the popular ABC Primetime show, and there were several cool elements at play.

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