Eyestrology: Happy Birthday Cancer!

For the month of 6/22/15-7/22/15

Happy birthday to these celebrity June Cancers: Prince William (6/21), Meryl Streep (6/22), Randy Jackson (6/23), Lionel Messi (6/24), George Michael (6/25), Chris O'Donnell (6/26), Khloe Kardashian (6/27), Kellie Pickler (6/28), Gary Busey (6/29), Mike Tyson (6/30)

Celebrity July Cancers: Missy Elliott (7/1), Ashley Tisdale (7/2), Tom Cruise (7/3), Malia Obama (7/4), Edie Falco (7/5), Kevin Hart (7/6), Ringo Starr (7/7), Jaden Smith (7/8), Tom Hanks (7/9), Jessica Simpson (7/10), Lil Kim (7/11), Michelle Rodriguez (7/12), Harrison Ford (7/13), Jane Lynch (7/14), Arianna Huffington (7/15), Will Ferrell (7/16), David Hasselhoff (7/17), Vin Diesel (7/18), Benedict Cumberbatch (7/19), Gisele Bundchen (7/20), Josh Hartnett (7/21), Selkena Gomez (7/22)

This is an excellent time for expressing our feelings to those closest to us. Most signs will need social outlets and connections with others. This can be excellent timing for those who are faced with a major decision. Asking for advice or simply talking a situation out with a confidante could be just the support needed in order to move forward. The next few weeks provide a welcome opportunity for initiating new projects or any startup. We should only explore this period if we have finished everything else. Short of diving in, we can use this social period to brainstorm.

You'd Like It Better If They Tried Harder - review by Mark Share

Shakespeare's As You Like It is one of the five plays in summer rotation at Topanga Canyon's Theatricum Botanicum, and the best thing about the experience is the outdoor theater as the setting for the young lovers to run around the forest with the massive oak tree on which Orlando pins his love notes.  The production is a revival of a forgettable one this troupe did years ago, which muddles everything by putting a post-Civil War façade on this Elizabethan romance.  How about setting Breakfast at Tiffany's in immediate post-WWII Germany; that would increase the comedy and romance, right?  Instead of what could be a fast-paced romp without an intermission, the production is dragged out, actually just stops dead, to present performances of "authentic" nineteenth century songs.  It's as excruciating as it sounds.

The other big problem is nepotism and the aging of the company.  It was once considered revolutionary to have a woman in her 30's play Rosalind, who is a beautiful teen (cross-dressing as Ganymede) and witty, eventual match for Orlando.  This production stars the founders' mid-30's daughter Willow Geer (who also starred years ago in this group's prior production), but pretending as a teen rather than making a point of her age, all dotingly directed by her mother Ellen Geer, who laughed throughout the performance when no one else did.  Willow Geer was not even born during the lifetime of the theater's namesake, Will Geer; why in this city of performers is Willow Geer starring again as Rosalind?  It's time for this "non-profit" to turn itself over to new performers and directors outside the hereditary descendants of the founders (it's depressingly rear-guard considering the communist leanings of the founders), and to try a little harder, no matter how forgiving the lovely setting.

The official photo pretty much says it all.

As You Like It at the Theatricum Botanicum through September 26, 2015..  www.theatricum.com  (310) 455-2322

Tail O’ The Pup Lost And Found, Los Angeles, CA, 1962 by Charles Phoenix

Strung pennants blowing in the breeze, an Arden Ice Cream truck passing by and a Ford convertible parked at the curb provide a perfect backdrop for Los Angeles' most playful architectural icon. The famous fast food stand is world class. There is no better place in the known universe to enjoy a hot dog...

Summer Outdoor Entertainment 2015

Summer in L.A. is all about the experience and not so much about the money. Grab your friends and a cooler, a blanket, and a picnic. You'll find plenty of summer events and low cost al fresco entertainment all over town. Levitt Pavilions - free concerts during the summer in Pasadena and Los Angeles  FREE CONCERTS: Some of the best things in summer are free. Look around you're own neighborhood. You'll find free concerts, film screenings and theatre in parks, shopping centers, museums, and other nooks and crannies that have a patch of grass or some asphalt to setup a stage and some seating in...

Pretty In Titty Pink, Modernica Factory, Vernon, CA by Charles Phoenix

In the world of mid-century mod home décor, Modernica is a pillar of civilization. For the last 25-ish years, they have been manufacturing and handcrafting a wildly wide variety of no nonsense fabulous furnitureness. Most of it in SoCal, at their over the top facility in Vernon. And what a thrill it was to get a private tour of it...