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Pencil This In: Pecha Kucha + Ping Pong, 'Goonies' At TOMS & A Literary Death Match
By Mariela Patron
Today's events include literary showdowns, book signings, ping pong and a Goonies adventure in Venice. Feeling a bit more fancy? Join The London West Hollywood in its Wednesdays at Sunset with fine cuisine and music. Today is also the last opportunity to catch "The Great Debate: Girls vs. Golden Girls." Who empowers women more, Lena Dunham or Betty White? Read on for the details.
DESIGN + PING PONG*
From 8-11 p.m., the Standard Downtown's new ping pong club SPiN is host to Pecha Kucha x Ping Pong Night as part of the third annual Los Angeles Design Festival. Design East of La Brea (de LaB) is co-presenting the night with Santino Medina of Gehry Technologies. Over two dozen carefully curated speakers will deliver fast-paced presentations on design before picking up their own paddles and getting down to some serious pong action with attendees. Full lineup and more information on the Pecha Kucha format available on de LaB's site. Tickets are $10 advance, $15 at the door.
BOOK SIGNING
Foreign correspondent Jonathan M. Katz discusses and signs The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster at Vroman's tonight. Katz was the only full-time foreign correspondent in Haiti when the 2010 earthquake hit. In the book he discusses his first-person experience, as well as the decrease of donations and unfulfilled pledges three years later. 7 p.m. A copy of the book costs $26.
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FILM
The TOMS flagship store in Venice presents the cult classic The Goonies (1985) tonight, featuring Josh Brolin and Martha Plimpton. 7-8:30 p.m. Email AKEevents@TOMS.com to make reservations. Free.
COMEDY
Catch the controversial comedy show "The Great Debate: Girls vs. Golden Girls - Who Empower Us and Who are a Bunch of Stunted Oppressed Degenerates?" for the last time, with debaters Matt Price (Men of a Certain Age and Emmy Award-winning writer for Cartoon Network's Regular Show) and Ilyse Mimoun (Hart of Dixie and 90210), at the Zephyr Theatre tonight. Price and Mimoun will debate topics like, "Is Hannah Horvath really the voice of her generation?" and "Are Rose's St. Olaf stories twisted and selfish?" Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 online and $10 at the door.
WEDNESDAYS AT SUNSET
The London West Hollywood's Wednesdays at Sunset presents visitors with the opportunity to spend their summer nights on its rooftop with cuisine prepared by Gordon Ramsay's culinary team and music from L.A.'s hottest DJ's, including DJ Alex Trumbo, Almost Famous and Chris Carter. For June, the menu theme is London Style Clambake Featuring Strongbow Cider, which includes lobster rolls, steamed mussels and mimosas. Wednesdays at Sunset run from 6:30-10:30 p.m. weekly until Labor Day. For reservations, email WAS@TheLondon.com.
MORE COMEDY
Listen to hilarious commentary about literature in Literary Death Match hosted by writer Adrian Todd Zuniga at the Hammer Museum tonight. Four writers read some of their best work for six minutes and are witness to comedic commentary from all-star judges. The readers tonight are Andres du Bouchet, Iris Smyles, Douglas Kearney and Anna David. They will be judged by Maribeth Monroe (Workaholics) and award-winning writer Ron Carlson (Ron Carlson Writes a Short Story). The match begins at 7:30. Parking is $3 after 6 p.m., but admission is free.
*Pencil pick of the day
Want more events? Follow Lauren Lloyd (@LadyyyLloyd) and Christine Ziemba (@christineziemba) on Twitter.
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Have an event you'd like us to include in the future? Email us.
LAist's Anam Syed contributed to this post.
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