The Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival kicks off at the Japanese American National Museum tonight. / Photo by puck90 from LAist's flickr pool. PUPPETS* There's more to puppetry than Muppetry. Dr. John Bell, puppeteer, teacher and director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut, leads an exhibition talk at the Santa Monica Museum's "The Puppet Show" on the history of puppetry. The exhibit explores the work of......

See this primordial ooze, the rest of the Tar Pits and the Page Museum for free today. / Photo by Gamma Infinity via LAist's flickr pool. TALK* McSweeney’s has published the debut novel Bowl of Cherries by Millard Kaufman. What’s different here is that Mr. Kaufman is a 90-year-old ex-Marine who created Mr. Magoo way back when. It’s described as “A bizarre and funny pseudo-take on Great Expectations, Kaufman's book has enough twists and......