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Pencil this In: Thursday

A puppet show without Kermit: Concrete Folk Variations at The Manual Archives / Photo by Susan Simpson
MEET THE PO-PO
The public’s invited to meet the police and talk about safety issues at a neighborhood meeting between the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council, the Glassell Park Safety Committee and LAPD. Senior Lead Officer for Atwater Village Gina Chovan, gang detectives and City Attorney Donna Wong will be in attendance.
4 pm // Glassell Park Community Center // 3750 Verdugo Road., Los Angeles // Free.
TALK
Glendale! Is the subject of the lecture by local authors Juliet Arroyo and Katherine Yamada. They’ll discuss their new book, written with George Ellison, which features vintage postcards of Glendale. (See how the town looked with streetcars and nary a Starbucks in sight.)
7 pm // Glendale Public Library Auditorium // 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale // Free.
PUPPET THEATRE*
Definitely not the Muppets: Susan Simpson wrote, directed and designed the serial puppet play Concrete Folk Variations. It’s a noir-ish piece set in McCarthy-era LA and the first part -- Chapter One: Death of a Sugar Daddy – introduces audiences to LAPD cop Loretta Salt. She’s investigating the murder of a socialite/philanthropist with a penchant for frequenting lesbian dive bars.
8 pm // The Manual Archives // 3320 West Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles // $12-$15.
FILM
All the 2007 Oscar-nominated (and winning) live action and animated shorts in two separate programs, beginning tonight. The live action shorts will screen at 7:30 pm and the animated shorts screen at 10.
7:30 pm and 10 pm (animated shorts) // Egyptian Theatre // 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood // $15 for combo ticket.
MORE TALK
Douglas Crimp, renowned art historian, critic and AIDS activist, discusses “‘pre-AIDS’ New York in a chapter of his memoir about the proximity and simultaneity of artistic and sexual experimentation in the declining industrial spaces of 1970s Manhattan. Crimp rejects claims that the experimentation of the period led to the AIDS epidemic.” He’ll also participate in a moderated discussion afterwards exploring the current state of art and AIDS activism
7 pm // Fowler Museum @ UCLA // 308 Charles E. Young Drive North , Los Angeles // Free.
*Pencil pick of the day
The listed events were chosen by the editors of LAist and brought to you by the
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Donald Trump was a fading TV presence when the WGA strike put a dent in network schedules.
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Pickets are being held outside at movie and TV studios across the city
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For some critics, this feels less like a momentous departure and more like a footnote.
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Disneyland's famous "Fantasmic!" show came to a sudden end when its 45-foot animatronic dragon — Maleficent — burst into flames.
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Leads Ali Wong and Steven Yeun issue a joint statement along with show creator Lee Sung Jin.
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Every two years, Desert X presents site-specific outdoor installations throughout the Coachella Valley. Two Los Angeles artists have new work on display.