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Her nomadic Milwaukee Theatre organization's playful acronym

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Her nomadic exhibits milwaukee theatres organization's playful milwaukee rep indicates acronym, LATDA (la-tee-da) sums up its spirit. Kwong, who works at the Japanese American National Museum, and her cohorts began showing toy-related works -- old and new -- at art institutions in Los Angeles in 2004. And though there is no permanent LATDA collection per se, she does house an assortment of largely midcentury toys in a storage space. Kwong, who grew up between South L. A. and Silver Lake, became serious about toys at age 13, when she had a small business selling her doll creations with the assistance of her mother, an artists' representative. Toys hold important personal memories for her, but she also believes, "Whenever you have a discussion about toys, it unlocks so much It's very emotional connecting to things. There's universality. "Yet, it is this city's diversity, she says, that has enabled toys, such as those in the current show, to infiltrate the local scene and be reevaluated as artwork in recent years. "It has a lot to do with California being multicultural and having a lot of ties with Asia," she says, adding that Asian toy figures such as the superheroic Ultraman and robots started popping up in primarily Japanese areas of California, ultimately influencing a new generation of toy designers.

Today, retailers such as West L. A. 's Giant Robot, West Hollywood's Kidrobot and Chinatown's Munky King have taken the concomitant creations, sometimes called "art toys," to new heights. Kwong dubs the period in the late '60s when the toys were first coming into prominence "the Ultraman era," adding that it was "an age of empowerment where the Japanese were heroes" and "historically significant to Japanese Americans in the same way Bruce Lee is to Chinese Americans. "Ultraman may be no Superman when it comes to mainstream recognition, but according to Kwong, U. S Milwaukee Theatre . syndication of the Japanese superhero's cartoon series during the late '70s and early '80s spread his influence to the West. The Ultraman era was one of the things that bonded toy designer David Horvath and his wife, Sun-Min Kim, whose Uglydolls are included in the show rep theatre . Horvath, who worked for Mattel, says that many of his and Kim's kaiju ("monster") dolls were fabricated by the original Japanese craftsmen from the early Ultraman days repertory theatre . "The monsters were supposed to be green, but these would come out sort of yellow, totally wrong," he says christmas carol milwaukee . "But that's the beauty of it. " This "ugly is beautiful" theme permeates their Uglydoll collection. A similarly irreverent spirit packed with a pop cultural punch is prevalent in Gonzalez's "Homies" figure collection, which celebrates the barrio characters the artist made accessible and famous in his comic strip for Low Rider magazine. As always, Kwong says, toys also encompass "a larger historical context. and love. "--weekend--'Beyond Ultraman''Seven Artists Explore the Vinyl Frontier'Where: Pasadena Museum of California Art, 490 E Union St. , PasadenaWhen: Noon to 5 p. m Wednesdays through Sundays Opening reception, 7 tonight. Ends: Jan. 6Price: $5Info: (626) 568-3665, latdamuseum. org, pmcaonline. org.

EVA MENDES has quite the introduction in the kinetic action-thriller "We Own the Night" as party girl Amada Juarez milwaukee theatre auditions . Dressed in provocative lingerie, Amada and boyfriend Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) get hot and heavy to the pulsating beat of Blondie's "Heart of Glass. "Though not in the "Lust, Caution" category, the erotic sequence in the film, which opens Friday, does involve some nudity on the 33-year-old actress' part and some very R-rated heavy petting. "I was really nervous about starting with a strong sex scene," says Mendes, who was born in Miami of Cuban parents and raised in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles performing arts center milwaukee . "But she's a lot more than that, and people will see that. "Written and directed by James Gray ("The Yards"), "We Own the Night," set in New York in the late 1980s, revolves around Bobby, the black sheep of his family pabst theater milwaukee . Instead of becoming a decorated cop like his brother Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and father, Burt (Robert Duvall), Bobby is the manager of a successful disco milwaukee cinema . He and Amada are the darlings of the scene -- they drink, smoke marijuana and snort cocaine with abandon. But when Joseph and his crime unit take on the Russian drug dealer working out of the club, Bobby and Amada are caught in the middle. Mendes, who has appeared in such films as "Hitch" opposite Will Smith, "Training Day" and "Out of Time" with Denzel Washington, and "Ghost Rider" with Nicolas Cage, admits she doesn't shy away from nudity in movies. "I think I have a much more European approach to nudity," says the actress, who admires such European directors as Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini. "If it's relevant and not exploiting me, I'm OK with it," she says over the phone from her car "You know, I sometimes prefer to be nude It makes more sense than having racy lingerie.

I found it more beautiful to be nude and natural and less cheesy and less vulgar, actually. "But doing an explicit love scene was nerve-racking for the leggy actress "This was actually my first love scene," she says "I've avoided it quite nicely You do the best you can do milwaukee theatre seating chart . James Gray made me feel really protected, so it was me, Joaquin, the director and the cameraman and the director of photography. "She found doing an explosive fight sequence with Phoenix much more emotionally and physically racking times theater milwaukee . "I almost prefer doing a love scene, as long as it's coming from love, than doing a scene where we are hitting each other and screaming obscenities at each other and really going to that place," says Mendes. "We rehearsed and talked about the fight, but what we didn't do is really block the scene once we started fighting, because we wanted it to go where it naturally went We ended up falling behind a lamp and you can't even see me It was so real. "And depressing "I went home and I couldn't shake that off the milwaukee theater . It was really an ugly place you don't want to go to; it's like having the worst fight with a loved one. "Gray admits he wasn't familiar with Mendes' work before approaching her for the project "Sometimes you take risks with actors," he says milwaukee repertory theater . "But I really feel with her I lucked out in a really good way. She has wonderful emotional intelligence. "What piqued his interest in Mendes was seeing her on a talk show "She was really smart," Gray recalls "She was smarter than the interviewer My wife was like, 'You should meet her. She seems interesting. ' So I met with her and I liked her immediately Milwaukee Theatre - milwaukeerep . "Mendes reminded him of the woman he based the part on, someone he knew when he was younger.

"She is more movie-star beautiful than the girl I knew, but she felt right for the part milwaukee theatre wi . She has a lot of craft too Milwaukee Theatre - milwaukeetheatre . "But Mendes did not initially accept Gray's offer milwaukee performing arts Milwaukee Theatre . Most of her roles have been the "girlfriend" part, and while Mendes has brought an intelligence, spirit and independence to the characters, she wasn't looking to play another one milwaukee dinner theater . She turned down "We Own the Night" for a year. "Then James made three different passes at the script and gave me the last pass," she recalls milwaukee skylight . "My character was a lot better, and by then Joaquin was attached. I ended up saying yes almost reluctantly, but it has been the most amazing experience of my life. "Mendes says she always trusts her "no" reflex "I drive my agents crazy," she says "I say no to a lot of things. I could certainly be out there a lot more, but I feel if I am not out there the way I want to be out there, what's the use in working?"The word "no" wasn't in her vocabulary when it came to working on the comedy she just wrapped: writer-director Diane English's updated version of Clare Boothe Luce's classic comedy "The Women. "Mendes plays the conniving Crystal, the role Joan Crawford portrayed in the 1939 movie -- a brazen beauty who steals the husband of Meg Ryan's character.

Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing also star. "I've got to tell you, I came from working on 'We Own the Night,' which was an all-male cast, into working on 'The Women,' " Mendes says, laughing . "You would think I would be wanting to look good at rehearsals for the boys, but I never cared more about how I looked than with the girls milwaukee repetory . We would all come in our cutest casual outfits at rehearsal, and we would spend the first 15 minutes complimenting each other. "Not that Mendes is into male-bashing in any way, "because I love men," but the actress says she and her costars on "The Women" didn't miss the opposite sex "It was total camaraderie We were so there for each other. "--susan. king milwaukee reperatory . President Bush said he had gained 4 pounds because of "too many birthday cakes," but said he was feeling fine after his annual physical. Bush, who turned 60 on July 6, was told that he was in the superior category of fitness for his age by doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. He weighed 196 pounds. . Milwaukee Theatre tickets Undercover investigators repeatedly entered the United States using fake documents this year at nine crossings at the Mexico and Canadian borders without challenge. Border agents "never questioned the authenticity of the counterfeit documents," the Government Accountability Office said. "This vulnerability potentially allows terrorists or others involved in criminal activity to pass freely into the United States from Canada or Mexico with little or no chance of being detected," the GAO concluded. . You don't have to guzzle White Russians, bowl like a pro or own a pet marmot to appreciate Lebowski Fest, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. Though "The Big Lebowski" died a painful box-office death in 1998, the intervening decade has spawned a legion of cultish fans drawn to this oddball comedy of kidnapping and mistaken identity. Fittingly for the city that spawned the film, this year's Lebowski Fest LA will serve as an overdue launch party for "I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski," a fan's Lebowski-pedia. Developed over three years by Lebowski Fest Founding Dudes (yes, those are official titles) Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, as well as co-authors Bill Green and Ben Peskoe, the book contains interviews with nearly every major and minor actor in the film, interviews with the real people who inspired their characters, a minute-by-minute recap of the film's minutiae and behind-the-scenes pictures.