Author Archives: John Guigayoma

The UCLA Hammer Museum’s newest exhibit, “Eden’s Edge: Fifteen L.A. Artists,” is a heady traipse through crashing dream worlds ““ a chance to navigate cartoony book covers, drugged-up sex coves, and fungus so pervasive it eats through the walls.

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from basketball, he had three NCAA titles, six NBA titles and Most Valuable Player honors, as well as 38,387 points ““ still the NBA’s career record ““ under his belt.

Every year as a child in Northern Thailand, Waewdao Sirisook and other children would take the jasmine-scented water from the bowl her family prepared, kneel on the floor, and sprinkle it onto the hands of her elders as a sign of respect. Then her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles would touch her forehead with […]

If you are looking for a nice Brazilian restaurant with enough flavor to fly you off in a fat private jet to some crazy Mardi Gras street party in Rio, Bossa Nova on Sunset won’t quite get you there. But the layover can be impressive enough. As my friends and I drove along Sunset Boulevard, […]

“Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective” Hammer Museum Jan. 28-April 22 Nicholas Copernicus’ worst enemy might be Vija Celmins. If in trying to fathom the world, Copernicus revealed it was actually round, Celmins tells us the universe is flat. In “Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective,” a traveling exhibit running at the UCLA Hammer Museum until April […]

“Jesus Camp” Director Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Magnolia Pictures For today’s documentaries, two characteristics just keep popping up: cuteness and catastrophe. In “March of the Penguins,” huggable birds speed-waddle from ravenous seals. “Born Into Brothels” featured bright-eyed kids with prostitute moms. And even “Grizzly Man” took the typically cuddly bedtime friend and warped it […]