The holiday season is finally here, and with it comes the quest for the perfect Chanukah gifts. Whether your loved one prefers the classic comfort of a cozy throw or something with a little more sparkle, here is a great selection of Chanukah gifts for everyone in your family. So spin the dreidel, eat some latkes, and prepare to tear into these fun presents — one for each night!
Part of “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,” this exhibition at The Getty explores how a community of Southern California artists, including Wallace Berman, George Herms, Judy Chicago and John Baldessari, developed innovative strategies to disseminate their work.
In “Next to Normal,” the bipolar Diana Goodman (Alice Ripley) sings about the litany of side effects caused by her medications: vomiting, anxiety, sexual dysfunction and, finally, “I don’t feel like myself. I mean, I don’t feel anything.”
Mon. Nov. 29. \”PATCHWORK OF CULTURES.” In “Patchwork of Cultures: The Sephardic-Latino Connection,” Valley Beth Shalom music director Noreen Green leads the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in a performance that highlights the music of Hispanic and Sephardic communities, including Spain, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Israel, Yemen and Latin America. Public school and Jewish day school students display their work during an art show that precedes the concert. Mon. 11 a.m. Free. Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 436-5260. lajewishsymphony.com ROGER WATERS: THE WALL LIVE. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of “The Wall,” the Pink Floyd co-founder performs the entire album live. Mon. 8 p.m. $55-$250. Also Nov. 30 and Dec. 5. Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown. ticketmaster.com.
Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey lifts his fork from his plate of lox and eggs and jabs it in the air. He’s tucked away in a back booth at Art’s Deli in Studio City, recounting his monologue from the opening scene of the black comedy “Casino Jack,” which opens Dec. 17. The film is inspired by the true story of the disgraced right-wing former super-lobbyist and Orthodox Jew Jack Abramoff, whom Spacey portrays. In that scene, Abramoff wields not a fork, but a toothbrush, as he informs a bathroom mirror that, as a result of “a s—load of reading and studying and praying,” he’s come to some conclusions he’d like to share — ostensibly with the reporters and FBI agents circling him: “You’re either a big leaguer or you’re a slave clawing your way onto the C-train,” is one of them. “You say I’m selfish — f— you,” is another. “I give back, plenty. … I’m humbly grateful for the wonderful gifts that I’ve received here in America, the greatest country on the planet! I’m Jack Abramoff, and, oh yeah, I work out every day.”
The development of manuscript illumination is perhaps one of the lesser-known chapters in the history of French art, largely overshadowed by the popularity of later — especially Impressionist — painting in France. But, as a new exhibition at the Getty Center shows, artistic invention was alive and well in medieval France — within the pages of books. “Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500,” on view through Feb. 6, explores the theme of history in manuscripts, focusing on how images were used both to enhance and influence audiences’ experience of the text. The works here have been culled by co-curators Elizabeth Morrison of the Getty and Anne D. Hedeman, a University of Illinois professor, from collections throughout Europe and the United States and contain lavish illustrations of epic adventures and heroism. These range from biblical stories of Creation, King David and Jesus, to histories of Caesar, Alexander the Great and Louis XII, all of which served not only to entertain France’s emerging bourgeoisie, but also to further an evolving national identity. In addition, the exhibition showcases more than 200 years of artistic innovation, some of which laid the groundwork for developments in French and European painting for decades to come.
The holiday season is prime movie-going time, with many new films slated to open. Outstanding performances by stellar actors abound, and some hold the promise of Oscar worthiness. Among the notable productions are two films based on real-life events full of excitement and intrigue. We offer a look at a handful of new releases coming soon to a theater near you. “Casino Jack,” which will be in theaters Dec. 17, chronicles the exploits of notorious Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff (starring Kevin Spacey — see interview with Spacey on Page 6), who was sentenced to federal prison on charges including fraud, the corrupting of public officeholders and conspiracy. Earlier this year, he was transferred from federal prison in western Maryland to a halfway house somewhere in the mid-Atlantic area and is scheduled for release Dec. 4.
Like ads for the December holiday shopping season, which now start around the Fourth of July, the drumbeats for the Oscar and Golden Globe awards seem to resound earlier each year.
As Alicia Silverstone stands at the counter of the vegan Cafe Flourish in Los Angeles, she’s not immediately recognizable as the vixen in Aerosmith music videos or the girl who played the iconic Beverly Hills princess, Cher, in the movie “Clueless” (1995). On this day, her blonde hair is in a makeshift bun; her scruffy black jacket and pants hiding her lean frame in a manner her “Clueless” character might have dubbed “ensemble-y challenged.”
The coming winter season offers some small gems, many of which may remain under the radar, so to speak. Most, in their individual ways, tell stories that have some relationship to the Nazi era, and each is singularly individual in its perspective. Two films, “Four Seasons Lodge” and “Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis,” tell very diverse stories about Holocaust survivors.
