Venice Sign Gets Holiday Makeover!

Venice Sign Gets Holiday Makeover!

Miss the block party on Windward for the Venice Sign "holiday lighting" this evening? Check the video!

More video of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, LAPD officer Theresa Skinner and Greaser's Palace actor Robert Downey Jr. tomorrow!

Big thanks to Daniel Samakow and everyone else that made this neighborhood event happen!

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Internet Explorer: The Browser You Still Love to Hate

Internet Explorer: The Browser You Still Love to Hate

Microsoft's latest promotional effort for its Internet Explorer web browser takes a humorous look at the nerd fury behind the "IE troll." The latest version of Microsoft's much-maligned web browser is actually quite good, but, you know, IE sux 4ever!!

A New Vendor Features Organic Micro-Greens for Mar Vistans.

A New Vendor Features Organic Micro-Greens for Mar Vistans.



Silver Lake Farms, famous for its urban-farmed flower operation, is venturing into micro-greens to the delight of Sunday Mar Vista Farmers’ Market shoppers. As an off-shoot of the flower business (pun intended) Silver Lake Farms is now providing exotic and nutritious micro-greens to customers during times when flowers are less abundant.
Adam Rusk, who staffs the new booth, gave a tour of the different greens on sale. First up, China Rose and All-purple radishes. Both offer a colorful flavor punch when sprinkled on top of salads and side dishes. The arugula micro-greens are packed with flavor in small bites. Next up, yellow pac choy, with its wasabi flavor finish; throw that on Asian dishes or wrap a handful into nori rolls.
Red Sreaks mizuna is an unusual mustard green that adds color and buttery, mild mustard flavor to any dish. For something more traditional, try Red Giant micro-greens. Silver Lake Farms also offers micro versions of basil and cilantro for your Italian and south of the border dishes.
Micro-greens are sold in a growing medium of worm castings and coconut coir, so you can harvest the greens as needed. Bring back the container to recycle, or plant it with your own greens afterward. Grab a basket for $5 each.
Tara Kolla, Silver Lake Farms' founder, plans to offer mushrooms and edible flowers in addition to micro-greens to sustain business through the fall and winter seasons. The farm is doing trials with oyster and king stropharia mushrooms so far, and the results are “exciting,” Rusk hints with a smile.
In addition to flowers, micro-greens and mushroom, Silver Lake Farms sells home-grown loofah sponges. Use them in the kitchen or the shower. Rusk says they last for several months and “they keep getting softer and softer. And once you’re finished with them, you can just toss them in the compost bin.” Pick up a small loofah for $5 or a large for $10.
For a stylish addition to any holiday hostess gift, show up at the door with one of Silver Lake Farms’ custom made milk-jug holders. They were originally designed to transport flowers, but they happen to be just the right size to hold several bottles of wine.  Add a bouquet of organically grown chrysanthemums for $10 and you’re good to go.
Visit SilverLakeFarms.com or follow Tara and company on Facebook and Twitter.

How To Hate On Los Angeles In 5 Easy Steps

How To Hate On Los Angeles In 5 Easy Steps



Feel like penning a screed against Los Angeles? You're in luck! There's no need to reinvent the wheel. We found a handy guide put together by Leighton Woodhouse over at Huffington Post that boils down the tried-and-true cliches about Los Angeles into five easy categories.

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L.A. Named One of Nation's Most Gay-Friendly Cities

L.A. Named One of Nation's Most Gay-Friendly Cities



Los Angeles, Long Beach and West Hollywood: please pat yourselves on the back. The Human Rights Campaign has released the Municipal Equality Index (MEI), the first rating system of its kind measuring LGBT inclusion in municipal laws. And all three of you received gold stars.

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Guy Reproduces People's Profile Pictures Before Friending Them on Facebook

Guy Reproduces People's Profile Pictures Before Friending Them on Facebook

CasinoRoy thought he would have a little fun with people on Facebook, so he looked up people with the same name as him, subsequently reproduced their profile pictures, then sent them all friend requests. Being a Facebook creeper was never this fun!

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Unknown (via Reddit)

Japanese Comedy: So Funny, It Hurts

Japanese Comedy: So Funny, It Hurts

Much has been written about Japan?s gross national cool?the worldwide demand for the country?s fashion, cuisine, anime, manga, videogames, and consumer electronics. But less attention has been paid to the country?s gross national gross?unscripted TV shows focused on imaginatively disgusting and cruel physical challenges?even though they?re just as popular and influential.

Holiday TV specials: What's on when

Holiday TV specials: What's on when

Wondering when to catch ''A Christmas Story,'' ''It's a Wonderful Life,'' Charlie Brown, and more? See our list!

Culver City’s Sony Pictures Studios Launches Clean Truck Fleet

Culver City's Sony Pictures Studios Launches Clean Truck Fleet

Thinking clean and green, Culver City's Sony Pictures Studios has upgraded its fleet of diesel, generator and camera trucks to achieve compliance with California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations.

According to an official Sony release, the company's move is "years ahead of schedule, offering its customers in the entertainment industry cleaner and more efficient transportation." CARB doesn't require compliance until 2023.

The studio has invested in new clean diesel and gasoline trucks – replacing over one-third of its fleet – to reduce exhaust emissions and improve fuel economy.  It has also installed clean diesel filters on its fleet of generator and camera trucks that reduce local air pollutant emissions by more than 85 percent.

 Paul Casella, vice president, logistics at Sony Pictures stated in an official release, "The studio is always looking at ways to offer cleaner, greener and more cost-effective production options to our clients in the industry. These upgrades to our transportation fleet will help us continue to reduce exhaust emissions in everyday operations, which makes a significant difference to air quality in the region."

In order to meet federally imposed clean air standards and to reduce the adverse health effects from truck pollution, CARB approved Truck and Bus regulations to significantly reduce particulate matter and emissions from existing diesel vehicles operating in California.  The regulation has a final deadline of 2023. 

Sony Pictures Studios also replaced its passenger vans as part of this upgrade, and now uses hybrid vehicles in its courier fleet, both of which will help to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from the studios transportation fleet.  

Be sure to like Culver City Patch on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our free daily newsletter for email updates.

 

Historical figures and the cars they inspired

Arts & Culture: Great Job, Internet!: Here are some photos of historical figures and the cars they inspired



God knows what goes on in the heads of the marketing wizards responsible for naming our automobiles. Impreza? Cruze? Elantra? But where others see gibberish words and vague allusions, art director Jimm Lasser and photographer Ray Gordon saw a situation ripe for parody! Their Tumblr project, Namesake Motors, produces photos in which the team matches up more decipherable car names with the figures that inspired them. There's Abraham Lincoln posing awkwardly adjacent to his Lincoln and Homer looking as mighty as Zeus with his Honda minivan. Heck, there's even Adam Carolla being a flippant asshole in front of a dilapidated Toyota Corolla. Lasser and Gordon uploaded their first batch on Oct. 28, but here's to hoping their gravely important mission continues until they capture Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley and a Continental GT— or at least Mr. T flexing on top of an antique Ford. [via Fast ...

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Colin Trevorrow is working on a Flight Of The Navigator remake, not Star Wars

Colin Trevorrow is working on a Flight Of The Navigator remake, not Star Wars



Variety has confirmed that the Safety Not Guaranteed team of Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly has been hired to rewrite Disney's long-developing remake of Flight Of The Navigator, the 1986 sci-fi film that argues that child abduction can be fun for everyone, so long as it's committed by a Beach Boys-loving robot alien who sort of sounds like Pee-wee Herman. Disney has been working out how to sell that premise to a more modern, touchier audience since 2009, and now it's up to Trevorrow and Connolly—whose Sundance favorite also dealt with a time-travel-based premise, albeit not one that involved a 12-year-old boy disappearing for eight years, but it's okay because this funny robot sounds like Pee-wee Herman and likes the Beach Boys.

Anyway, this clears up those recent remarks made by Trevorrow (who counts Navigator as a childhood favorite), wherein he denied working on the ...

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Google Pairs Gmail, Drive for an Easy Way to E-Mail Huge Files

Google Pairs Gmail, Drive for an Easy Way to E-Mail Huge Files

If you've ever had trouble sending large files over e-mail, Google has a new solution for you: Google Drive is coming to Gmail. Now Gmail can send files up to 10GB, provided they're already stored in Google's cloud storage service.

Voice actor Rob Paulsen on playing Pinky, Yakko Warner, and two mutant ninja turtles

Voice actor Rob Paulsen on playing Pinky, Yakko Warner, and two mutant ninja turtles



Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what roles we’ll ask them to talk about.

The actor: Rob Paulsen began his acting career in front of the camera, yet in spite of (or perhaps because of) featured roles in Body Double and Stewardess School, he took advantage of the opportunity to shift gears and pursued a career in voice acting instead. This decision was fortuitous: Paulsen has become one of the most recognizable and popular figures in his field, voicing characters in some of the most famous cartoons of the past few decades, including Animaniacs, Pinky And The Brain, The Tick, and, perhaps most impressively, two different heroes on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: first Raphael, and now, in Nickelodeon’s new incarnation of the series, Donatello. He also frequently discusses voicework with other ...

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Ira Glass on 'This American Life,' Killing Big Bird and the Rules of Storytelling

Ira Glass on 'This American Life,' Killing Big Bird and the Rules of Storytelling



The radio host talks to THR about the special live version of his show, Mitt Romney's famed threat to public broadcasting and working with Joss Whedon and Mike Birbiglia.

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Beards of Silicon Valley: A Field Guide to Tech Facial Hair

Beards of Silicon Valley: A Field Guide to Tech Facial Hair

There's no underestimating the importance of facial hair in the world of technology. Look no further than the research of a man named Tamir Kahson, who in 2004 discovered the inseparable link between beards and programming languages. As Kahson so artfully demonstrated, a programming language is only as successful as the beard on the face of the man who designed it -- or something like that.