The backstory to THE sign spinning company, in NoHo ... Easter Eggs in animated films ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids, and what the brain sounds like ... the Griffith of Griffith Park was a very nasty man ... Alex Israel and Brett Easton Ellis collaborate, and our critic hates it

Mel Haber tells us about starting Melvyn's, his landmark Palm Springs eatery ... we prep you for WonderCon, coming to LA for the first time ... Marc Haefele makes us wistful for Black Mountain College ... whither Mariachi Plaza?

Peter Mac's Judy Garland tribute show ... Lisa See's "Shanghair Girls" and "Dreams of Joy" ... Acting v Bullying ... Good Magazine ... Forget Carmen San Diego; who the hell is Moomat Ahiko? ...

Off-Ramp welcomes Lunar New Year in Chinatown ... 3 Places with Linda Vallejo, PST artist ... Spirited Away with My Neighbor Totoro - a Ghibli celebration ... Bradley Whitford on "Art" and that show he did ... have your New Year's resolutions gone out the window?

Clayton and Ellen Kershaw, the real (nice) deal ... Korean American filmmaker Andrew Ahn uses Sundance film to come out to folks ... Ted Soqui's Occupy LA photos ... Downey woman tells harrowing Costa Concordia story ...

Troy Isaac, homeless advocate ... OCMA's PST entry: SoCal's conceptual art hotbed ... EatLA and the death of restaurants ... Coachella expands to two weekends ...

Largest Vivian Maier photography show in LA ... Chris Butler uses film ... speech analysis computer can (usually) tell if you're drunk ...

Walking Out of History, John Rabe's NPR documentary about Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition

New and old takes on Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol"

Judge James Reese fights for literacy ... all-star Night Before Christmas, an Off-Ramp holiday tradition ... A Christmas Story: Dylan Brody and Dylan Thomas ... EatLA eats a lot of sandwiches ...