Outdoor Movies: Enjoying "Bill & Ted Face the Music" in a New COVID-Era Theater World

Our friends the Goldsmiths invited us over to their backyard last weekend for a movie premiere we've been excitedly waiting for "Bill & Ted Face the Music." The two families split the $20 VOD fee, making it quite an economical night out at the movies. We brought chairs, they had the ice cream sandwiches... and of course, the projector and inflatable screen.

The movie itself? To quote Ted "Theodore" Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq.: "Excellent!" After a bit of a miss with the 1991 sequel, and then a 29-year wait for the third installment, the team behind "Bill & Ted" have taken the best parts of what worked from both films, and added even more story and heart to the third edition. And in the end, they actually figure out a story that is weirdly plausible in how Wyld Stallyns music truly united the world.

Great L.A. Family Hikes: The Eaton Canyon Waterfall (One in a series)

Eaton Canyon is a wildly popular location for a hike, located just north of Pasadena in Altadena. But it's also a big draw because of the year-round waterfall (amazingly, still active even in this drought) and the relative ease for family members of all ages. It's about a 2-hour round trip, but the reward (the 44-foot waterfall and wading pool) is worth it. There's also plenty of parking and a Nature Center at the base. We took the Blogger Kids on a Sunday hike last month, and it was perfect for both the 10- and 5-year-old. Some pics:































Eaton Canyon Hike 1750 N Altadena Dr, Altadena, CA 91001

More Outdoor Movies, This Time in Pasadena

If it feels like we've been writing non-stop about outdoor movie events this summer, it's because we have. They've popped up everywhere -- perhaps inspired by the success years ago of Cinespia, the weekly screening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

If you're looking to see an outdoor screening surrounded by fewer gravestones, the "Old Pasadena Film Festival" takes place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, July 8 through 31.

Here's what's still coming up:

THURSDAY, JULY 15th
Harold and Maude (1971): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm

FRIDAY, JULY 16th
Seven Years in Tibet (1997): Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave. 7:30pm
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm

SATURDAY, JULY 17th
The Way We Were (1973): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm
Jurassic Park (1993): Mills Alley, 22 Mills Place. 8:30pm

THURSDAY, JULY 22nd
Sorry Wrong Number (1948): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm

FRIDAY, JULY 23rd
Before Sunrise (1995): Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave. 7:30pm
Death Becomes Her (1992): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley 8:30pm

SATURDAY, JULY 24th
Bringing up Baby (1938): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm
Troop Beverly Hills (1989): Central Park, 260 S. Raymond Ave. 8:30pm

THURSDAY, JULY 29th
Labyrinth (1986): One Colorado, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm

FRIDAY, JULY 30th
Before Sunset (2004): Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave. 7:30pm
She Done Him Wrong (1933): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm

SATURDAY, JULY 31st
All About Eve (1950): One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley. 8:30pm
Night of the Living Dead (1968): location TBD. 8:30pm

There are more outdoor screenings we have yet to write about, so stay tuned for more!

Outdoor Movies Return to South Pasadena

(Flickr pic via Jill Doughtie.)

It's not hard to find outdoor movie screenings in Los Angeles -- these days it seems they're everywhere. (I just wrote "B-Movies and Bad Movies" at the La Brea Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum.)

But South Pasadena boasts one of the most family-friendly -- a good choice for those of us with young ones.

Run by the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation, the town's "Outdoor Movie Nights" takes place Saturdays on the lawn at the South Pasadena Museum -- where the popular (and Franklin Avenue's fave) Farmers' Market runs every Thursday.

Movies begin at 8 p.m. This Saturday, the "Outdoor Movie Nights" screen "Up." Here are the future screenings:

July 17 - "Night at The Museum"
July 24 - "Enchanted"
July 31 - "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Aug. 7 - "Back to the Future"

The best part: It's free. Bring a blanket and some popcorn.

Art Over Pasadena

Did any of you catch this on Saturday? We happened to be driving east on the 134 when we noticed the skywriting above. "LEAVE THE LAND ALONE."

Turns out it was an art piece designed by Bruce Nauman, who first came up with the idea in 1969 -- and finally pulled it off in 2009. The L.A. Times' Christopher Knight writes:

A small airplane buzzed into view around 11:37 a.m., and soon it began to emit puffs of white smoke. A never-before produced sculpture by Bruce Nauman – a little-known but emerging artist when he conceived the sky-writing piece in his Raymond Avenue studio in 1969, but now one of art's premier international figures – was finally coming to fruition.

Soon the words took shape in a gentle arc overhead: LEAVE THE LAND ALONE.

The fluffy words hung in the idle air, then slowly dissipated, leaving barely a smudge. The plane circled around and rewrote the brief sentence several times. (I counted four in the first 20 minutes.) A few groundlings took pictures, having been prepared for the event: It kicks off “Installations Inside/Out,” a 20th anniversary exhibition of installation art at Pasadena's Armory Center for the Arts. But mostly it went unnoticed or else puzzled recreationers in the park.

We're so ingrained to assume that these kind of messages are marketing tools that I spent some time wondering what product they were selling.