Virtual Tour of China: Chinese Artists look Outside; Dinner Party Download; Putting the Brakes on Fast Food; E is for Idiot; Virtual Tour of China: Shaved Ice in the SGV and beyond; L.A.'s Own Water Polo Olympian; Lawn Bowling: Beijing or Bust?; Tower of Terror; Going for Gold in the Smog; The Mayor of Gladys Park; Virtual Tour of China: Absurd Recreation; Handy Man
This week on Off-Ramp, we see how close we can get to China and never leave Southern California. First stop, the Sweeney Art Gallery in Riverside, which is showing Contemporary Chinese Art in an exhibit called "Absurd Recreation"...or is it "Re-Creation"?
Join hosts Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam for a fast and funny 12-minute "cheat sheet" of news and culture... designed to give you enough conversational firepower to dazzle friends and family at this weekend's dinner party. This time around: The artist known as Girl Talk tells us about his pop-music mash-ups (and his explosive high school band)... A short history of Jesse Owens... how to mix a "Berliner Olympic" cocktail... Unconventional wisdom about Anthrax and Airlines... and an introduction to an All-American fruit most Americans have never tasted.
Off-Ramp correspondent Jackson Musker heads down to South LA to figure out what the folks there think of the moratorium against new fast food restaurants.
The comedic duo Frangela explains the school of "Idiocy" and tell us a few stories about its unsung heroes.
Lia Dun, a Marshall high student who works for the teen newspaper LA Youth, shares the scoop on shaved ice.
For eight years, Brenda Villa has splashed and scored for the U.S. Women's Water Polo team. She led the squad to a silver medal in Sydney, and a bronze in Athens. In Beijing, Villa now the team captain, is looking for the missing medal. KPCC's Brian Watt chats with the water polo powerhouse.
Off-Ramp Correspondent Jackson Musker asks some regulars at the Santa Monica Lawn Bowling Club about their Olympic hopes.
John Rabe breaks a few rules and braves his fear of heights to climb the city's forbidden tower. John's guide, city hall's very own "Deep Throat."
We've been hearing a lot about the differences between Chinese and American Culture but Off-Ramp contributor Kate Sullivan says we have one similarity: Smog. Ours is better.
Meet the man who looks after a little park in L.A.'s Skid Row. He says it's an oasis of sanity.
Karen Morono Kiang tells Queena Kim about a traditional water color painter in China who's breaking all the rules.
Dinner Party Download co-host Rico Gagliano tells John Rabe about a homeless man who draws superpowers from the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.