ETA VTA Suggests: Weekend Edition

Architexture Salon's Fashion Show - Sunday @ 6:oo PM - Paddy's: Apparently it's fashion week in Ventura. I'll be celebrating by wearing t-shirts and jeans! I'm so fashionable. For the rest of you hipsters, head on down to Paddy's to see this show featuring Ventura stores and designers like Wild Planet, Sassy Sally, Ciao Bella, Camouflage, Soul Tonic and Diva. They are going to have belly dancers and burlesque dancers and door prizes, pretty sweet! Tickets are $10 and proceeds go to AIDS Project Ventura.

College Basketball - Saturday - Everywhere: There are so many games being played in the greater Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles area, it's ridiculous. Too bad all of them are basically at the same time. The in county highlight is Ventura College against arch-rival Moorpark, which should be a knockdown, drag out fight. Here is but a partial list of the games being played sorted by distance from Ventura...

Moorpark College @ Ventura College - men at 5:30, women follow - One heck of a rivalry. Go Pirates!
Cuesta College @ Oxnard College - men at 5:30, women follow - Oxnard just won it's first game of the season, thanks to a forfeit.
Occidental College @ California Lutheran - women at 5:00, men follow - the CLU men scored an amazing 129 points last Saturday.
South Dakota State @ Cal State Northridge - men at 2:00 on Sunday - CSUN is frustrating. Good sometimes, terrible others. Which team will show up against the 4-13 South Dakota State team.
Hope International University @ Westmont College - women at 5:30, men follow
Cal Poly @ UCSB - men at 7:00 - UCSB is tied for second in the Big West.
Arizona @ UCLA - men at 1:00 - Watch it at Rookees because the game is sold out and tickets are going for ungodly prices.
Arizona State @ USC - men at 5:00 - USC is red hot right now and ASU stinks. Should be a gloatable game for all of you USC homers.
Pepperdine @ Loyola Marymount - women at 4:30, men at 7:30 - Neither men's teams are very good especially with LMU's Brandon Worthy out for the season and Pepperdine's best player Michael Gerrity transferring to Charlotte. But it's a rivalry game that I attended last year and it was a blast.

Winterfest All-Breed Dog Show - Sat. and Sun. - 7:00 Am to 7:00 PM - VC Fairgrounds: Dog shows are so hot right now! Come for the poodles, stay for the Bernese Mountain Dogs. Admission is free, parking at the fairgrounds costs $5.

Sexual Jedi @ Billy O's and Gypsy @ Wine Lovers - Saturday Night: I know nothing about either of these bands other than Sexual Jedi is a great name for a band and that Gypsy is described as "hot female pop rock", which sounds good to me if it indeed is true.

ETA VTA Suggests: Film Edition

Caddyshack - Thursday @ 7:30 PM - Regency Buenaventura: I'm not sure what I need to say about Caddyshack. It's only the funniest sports movie...ever. Slap Shot comes close but even the Hanson Brothers can't compare to Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield.

Army of Darkness - Saturday @ 11:59 PM - Westlake Village Twin: I haven't been to a midnight show in Westlake yet, but I'm sure that it is an interesting crowd. I might have to check it out for Insomniac Cinema's showing of Army of Darkness. It's like a trifecta of Bruce Campbell around my house lately: I'm in the middle of reading his autobiography If Chins Could Kill, he is staring in the best commercials currently airing, and now Army of Darkness is showing at midnight. If you can stand driving to Westlake and lounging around with rich nerds, you are in for a treat.

Pan's Labyrinth - click here for showtimes - Century Downtown: Admittedly, A little more highbrow than Caddyshack or Army of Darkness. Pan's Labyrinth is everything that critics have been saying about it and more. This movie has been in my thoughts ever since we drove to Westlake a couple weeks ago to see it and now that it has finally come to Ventura (it started last Friday) you too can get blown away by this film without venturing up the grade. I'll openly admit that I'm awful at describing why I liked a film other than "it's funny", so I won't even try, but I can tell you that everyday a new thought about this movie jumps into my head and makes me feel even stronger about how incredible a film it is.

ETA VTA Suggests

JUDY'S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS - Tonight @ 8:00 - 451 Media: The final performance in one of the most fun Christmas pageants ever to grace a Ventura stage. I hope it becomes a Transport Theater holiday tradition. Click here to read my review.

BORAT - Showtimes - Buenaventura 6: My personal pick for funniest movie of the year (barely beating out Jackass 2, it was a weak year for normal comedies) finally comes to the cheap theater. Take in a $2 matinee and laugh yourself silly not only at Borat and his journeys through America, but also at the sheltered teenagers who started freaking out in the first five minutes when they saw him in his underpants. I've never heard so many "Oh. My. Gawd."s before.

VENTURA AREA THEATRESPORTS - Tonight @ 8:00 - Livery Theater: Our pick for the evening since we've done the other two options and we've never been to the Livery for Theatersports. Tonight is a Team Match featuring the locals and members of the Los Angeles chapter.

Attention All Ventura County Achievers

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - Tonight at 7:30 PM - Buenaventura 6!!! Insomniac Cinema brings the goods tonight with ETA VTA's all-time favorite movie, the Coen Brothers classic The Big Lebowski. If you ever see a Volkswagen Jetta rolling around with a sticker that reads "Careful, man there's a beverage here...", honk and wave and I'll probably give you a funny look until I remember this post. Seriously though, if you have never seen The Big Lebowski, where have you been? Get your butt down to the Buenaventura 6 and see the movie that has spawned Star Trek like conventions and as much audience participation as Rocky Horror.