fun

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo copyright 2017 Laguna Beach, California, resembles the Italian Amalfi Coast - at least to we Italian Americans. So naturally, we wanted to enjoy it with our four DeCarlo grandchildren, aged 12 to 19. Getting them together was a feat we relished. However, we had to be sure there was something for everyone to enjoy. So we concocted an afternoon itinerary which included diving into the frothy surf,  lunch as Las Brisas, with a quick detour next door to the Laguna Art Museum. Actually, I had read a review of the "Ben Messick: Memories of Los Angeles" exhibit and thought it would be wonderful to see and perfect for our little artist, Serritella. But how to entice the baseball and hockey players, Sam and Andrew,  as well as college girl, Michelle? The genius of our plan included the "Holy Grail" of any Laguna Beach visit - a parking space - with apologies to the illustrious legend. While Laguna is gorgeous, traffic and parking are ugly. So we zeroed in on lunch at an old favorite, Las Brisas restaurant, with its valet parking lot and were perfectly located to do everything easily without lost time or much walking. I really appreciated the front desk ...

by Greg Morabito  A lot of New York restaurants are hard to get into, but only a handful of places in the city require background checks, referrals, or special membership cards to enter. Here's a guide to 10 private New York bars and restaurants, with information about where to go and who to talk to if you want a table. 10) Tiro a Segno: This private Italian-American social club, which occupies three brownstones on MacDougal Street, has something you won't find at any other restaurant in New York City: an active, wood-paneled shooting range in the basement. Upstairs, there's a bar and several dining rooms serving a wide array of traditional Italian American food. Tiro A Segno (which means "shoot the target") is strictly members-only, although they sometimes bend the rules if you want to buy-out one of the banquet rooms for a large event. But if you want to become a member for life, you must be nominated by a current member, and it certainly helps if someone in your family is Italian. For more on the club's 124 year legacy, check out their official site. (Photo) 9) Brooklyn Edible Social Club: About twice a month, this culinary collectiveholds small dinner parties ...

About the only thing missing from Odysseo, the mesmerizing equine show from Cavalia, the Cirque du Soleil-style horse show, is Pegasus, the winged horse. Stabled in the huge white tent - looks like a marvel of engineering, at the 405 and 133 in Irvine, CA, we, together with our younger grandchildren were entranced by the grace and charm of humans and their mighty steeds in this exciting show. We had seen Cavalia when it was in the same location in 2007  with our older grandchildren. I wanted to see it again and it was well worth a second look. There is a certain magic in watching a 2,000 pound animal dance gracefully. The brilliance of Odysseo's designers in having a beautifully formed horse shown on a hill in the distance, illuminated in black silhouette, was stunning. Everyone has seen horses execute nimble movements, but this depiction of control, training and charm was unique due to the staging. The audience was so enchanted it's doubtful few noticed stage front becoming a shallow pond. A wonderful effect as riders then took their mounts to gently splash in the little stream. The show begins slowly enough, to give the audience a chance to review the numerous animals in a pastoral scene, before set exercises begin. I found the white horse close drill fascinating as they ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo The Costa Mesa opera house audience in Orange County, California, went wild. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts’  performance, October 2,  featuring the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece film,"The Godfather" with a full symphonic orchestra onstage providing the beautiful music of Nino Rota's Academy Award winning score, conducted by UCLA alum, Justin Freer, was sensational. The word was the symphony's trumpet player, Robert Frear, of Long Beach State music department, was the original musician from the film. His featured solo, The Godfather Waltz,  in that haunting opening scene in Don Corleone's office, as Bonasera is asking for a favor to avenge his daughter, primes the audience for what is to come. As an Opera Pacific docent I've enjoyed many operas in that theater, but I can not recall such a vocally appreciative audience. Of course, The Godfather, is, in a certain sense, an opera. It is something Puccini or Verdi might have fashioned. It has all the elements of a great opera - love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Especially loyalty and revenge. And there are certainly enough deaths to satisfy that element of operatic trauma. Poor Michael Corleone is the perfect Aristotelian tragic hero. His flaw of family love and devotion to his father causes him to lose his soul. He abandons his planned life to avenge his father. So sad. In ...

Never before in recorded history has there been a visionary as gifted... or hilarious, as Dr. Lars Dingman, the iTunes Psychic. Award-winning radio personality Dr. Lars Dingman, will offer every audience member the opportunity to come on stage for a free psychic peek at their future during his live broadcast. Using only the last 3 songs, randomly picked by the subject's digital music player, Earth's first Digital Age Psychic will predict the future and reveal past lives. FREE VACATION: Someone in the audience will win a FREE CANCUN VACATION Lars already knows who's going to win, but you have to show up to find out. Don't miss the oracle the HuffingtonPost calls "Earth's funniest psychic... Dingman's uncanny accuracy - and lunatic hilarity - deftly merge comedy and Psychic phenomena. A MUST SEE!" See and Hear his amazing predictions at www.itunespychic.com and follow him on Twitter @itunespsychic. Video: https://youtu.be/t8Ge-JdLEoc WATCH LIVE THIS MONDAY! Dr. Lars Dingman, iTunes Psychic Monday, May 23 2016 7:00pm   $5 UCB Sunset 5419 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Ground Breaks for New York City’s Virgin Hotel VOA begins construction on the 412,000-square-foot Virgin Hotel in NoMad The VOA-designed Virgin Hotel will be located on Broadway between 30th and 29th Streets. Last Friday, ground broke in Manhattan for the world’s second Virgin Hotel. Designed by the New York–based architecture firm VOA, in collaboration with developer the Lam Group, the 412,000-square-foot tower will contain 465 guest rooms and offer roughly 70,000 square feet of retail space at its base. With a slim façade that grows larger through sections that jut out from its sides, the 39-story building will bring a flash of modernity to the historic NoMad neighborhood. “Where the building appears to be shifting to the sides, we deducted some bulk out of the corners of the structure so we could reuse the floor area higher up,” says Brian McFarland, VOA’s lead architect on the project. “This allowed us the opportunity to create more corner windows at a higher elevation so those rooms could enjoy views the lower rooms wouldn’t allow.” Virgin Hotel in NoMad Virgin Hotels, a division of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to roll out hotels of distinct designs in various cities around the world, and as such, “the Virgin Hotel ...

https://youtu.be/Y7AxRA8kCX8 The Travel Adventure Show 2016 will be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center all weekend long – from March 19 to March 20. Make sure you get your tickets now, because you won’t want to miss this exciting event. Click Here to get those tickets now: http://travelshows.com/philadelphia/. Our team is so pumped they’ve even come up with a list for visitors of the top three (3) things to do at the #PhillyTravelShow. As you walk around the exhibition floor, we hope this list helps direct you on exactly how to find the best ways to plan your ultimate dream vacation. Talk to the Experts At America’s Favorite Travel Show, you’ll be able to speak directly with the travel experts that represent hundreds of the top destinations from around the world. You can plan your next escape with renowned travel agents, customize your trip preferences and learn about the different experiences and excursions at each location, and collect the “inside knowledge” so you can travel like a “local” when you get to your destination. You’ll receive local knowledge and travel advice on where to go, what to do, where to stay and how to ensure that you have a personalized travel experience. At http://travelshows.com/shows/philadelphia/plan-your-experience/, you can ...

  Nearly everyone enjoys magic. When done well. As a journalist I’ve covered many such shows, for decades, including those at Los Angeles’ Magic Castle and the late, great, Harry Blackstone, Jr.’s stage shows, to name a few. The best word to encapsulate those experiences is: delightful. Magic shows have the power to lift one’s spirits in powerful ways to relax and allow the wonder of the unknown to transport the audience to another realm. Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California, is featuring a magic show, The Illusionists –Live From Broadway. I couldn’t wait to see it. It spotlights seven key performers and a bevy of female and male attendants. There are plenty of stunning effects, but some of the performers reek of the dark side, which is apparently their schtick, but is a long way from tuxedo-clad practitioners of yore. From the onset there seemed to be a current that was uncomfortable to me. Too much grittiness, hint of violence and some things downright creepy. The show runs from Feb. 3, to 7th. Then moves on to the Pantages Theater, Los Angeles. In case anyone wonders – what is the difference between an illusion and a trick I’ll offer this: usually an illusion conjures a back-story, is complicated, with some surprise woven into it…Such as Andrew ...

ENTER TO WIN A TRIP!  An all-expense paid trip to the Fabulous Food show in Cleveland, OH! Got a funny travel video or photo on hand?  Submit it and you could win a trip to the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland, Ohio, courtesy of Orbitz, A Fork On The Road and the Fabulous Food Show. Here’s how to enter: 1. Follow @MarkDeCarlo on Twitter and @MarkDeCarloTV on Instagram. 2. Tweet @MarkDeCarlo on Twitter and @MarkDeCarloTV on Instagram your funny travel photo or video (max 30 seconds in length)  both with #AFOTR to qualify to win. Photo or video with the most likes and retweets will win the trip! 3. Enter as many photos and videos as you like with #AFOTR.  All contest entries are due by 11:59pm on Friday, November 6, 2015. Winner will be notified on November 7, 2015, for travel to Cleveland the following weekend. Must be eighteen (18) or older to win. Restrictions apply. SHARE with THIS LINK! [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/users/41358123" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /] OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OPEN TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES (EXCLUDING PUERTO RICO THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, AND OTHER COMMONWEALTHS, TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS), 13 YEARS OR OLDER. 1. By entering this CONTEST (the "Contest") and accepting the terms herein, ...

We have an exciting event coming up. A small group of Tesla car owners is organizing a road trip for 30 members to drive their Tesla Roadsters and Model S’s to Wardenclyffe, on Saturday, October 25, 2014. In the morning, they will join other volunteers in this second cleanup season. In the afternoon, we will open the grounds around Nikola Tesla’s former Wardenclyffe lab for the public. Our guests, the owners and enthusiasts of Tesla cars, will join TSC to raise awareness of Nikola Tesla the scientist, and to share their enthusiasm for and knowledge of the technology behind the all-electric Tesla car. For more information please read the announcement at the Tesla Motors Club website. We will share more details as our plans develop. Date: Saturday, October 25, 2014 Rain date: Sunday, October 26, 2014 Cleanup work: 9 AM to 12 noon (not open to the public, see below) Public access: 1 to 4 PM Location: 1–5 Randall Road, Shoreham, NY; north of NY Rt. 25A (GPS: 40.948358,-72.901001) The morning work session is limited to our guest cleanup volunteers (30 Tesla owners) and a small group of experienced local volunteers. We welcome all other volunteers to join us as visitors in the afternoon (1 to 4 PM). Thank you all volunteers! Your hard work, dedication, ...