L.A. Stories
Mousecapades
Hollywood artist Erin Lareau was looking to do something nice for the man who designed her Web site when she came up with the concept for Iced Mice.
So she decided for him and created Iced Mice, a line of computer mice decked out in 12,000 gem-cut crystals. Iced Mice retail for $175 to $229 depending on the design and are available at Lareau’s Web site (www.erinlareau.com) and at high-end shops like Gearys of Beverly Hills.
Lareau said she’s already unloaded 300 of them to folks like Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Tori Spelling.
This mice work, too, Lareau said. “I like the idea of functional art,” she said. “It makes it more justifiable in my book.”
Final Act
Developer Mark Siffin’s decision to scrap the hotel component of his $300 million-plus Sunset Millennium project in favor of rental units is likely to spell doom for the Strip’s Tiffany Theaters.
Opened in 1985, the two, 100-seat theaters will shut their doors March 31. Under an agreement with the developer, the theaters were originally scheduled to reopen inside a 370-room hotel. But financial considerations spurred Siffin to remove the hotel from plans for the three-block project.
Still, Tiffany founder and president Paula Holt is not giving up hope.
“The best-case scenario is a two-year scenario,” said Holt. “But I don’t think it will be two years. In this post 9-11 economy, it’s likely the block will set empty for years.”
Holiday Hangover
It was beginning to sound a lot like Christmas on KLOS-FM (95.5) last week.
During the “Mark & Brian Show” on Tuesday, the station ran a holiday advertisement for O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer referring to a contest with a Dec. 31 deadline. As in Dec. 31, 2001.
Station President and General Manager John Davison said he listened “in horror” as he drove into work. “I thought I was in a time warp and I hadn’t done my holiday shopping yet,” he joked.
Weighty Matters
L.A. may not have a professional football team, but civic boosters can take heart literally in the contest being waged before millions of viewers by its amateur weight-loss team.
A group of employees from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is squaring off each Wednesday on the “Today” Show against groups from New York, Chicago and Richmond, Va.
The idea is to see how many pounds and inches the groups can shed. So far Team L.A. has lost a total of 50 pounds while trimming 28 inches, placing it in third place.
“If we eat in the cafeteria all eyes are on you,” said Cedars-Sinai team leader Johnny Hagerman, a communications specialist who has lost 14 pounds. “You don’t take that extra piece of bread.”
Skeleton Crew
The athletes at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City aren’t the only ones in the final throws of all that hard work.
Two L.A. attorneys responsible for the legal work behind the live entertainment at the Olympics are in Utah busy drafting the last-minute details for the artists of the closing ceremonies and evening concerts.
Jason Karlov and James Thoma of Akin Gump Hauer Strauss & Feld are working from a production tent and a trailer.
Karlov didn’t have time to see any events the first week in Salt Lake, but he hopes to catch skeleton slider Jim Shea in action this week. Shea taught a skeleton class sponsored by Akin Gump last year and Karlov took part.
“The first time it’s terrifying, the second time it’s interesting, and the third time you’re trying to figure out how to go faster,” Karlov said.
The Roving Eye
Powder Puffs
Dusting powder, one of grandma’s old favorites for adding a rosy glow, has become a trendy beauty item.
Several cosmetics companies have added the stuff to their lines as women discover new uses for an old product. They come in retro-looking tins with big powder puffs, or in simple bottles, to be shaken onto brushes.
And in a new wave twist, dusting powder is no longer confined to softening or scenting the skin. It’s now being used to create whole looks, from glittery shimmer to healthy glow. It can be used on the body or on bed sheets and comes in different grains, with or without color and in scents ranging from gardenia to soy.
“Dusting powder is very big right now,” said Rebecca Clark, owner of an eponymous bath and beauty products store in L.A. The appeal of this “girly girl” item is its retro appeal, according to Clark, who has doubled the stock of dusting powder at her shop.
“The powder puff is going back to a more innocent age a Donna Reed kind of thing,” she said. “My mom and my grandmother used powder for years, but the phenomenon that’s happening now is young, hip women buying it.”
Make-up artist Joanna Schlip, of the Cloutier Agency in Santa Monica, said she has for years been mixing dusting powder with oils or lotions to create a dewy or glowing look. Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz and other actresses have helped popularize the look, she said.
Schlip uses dusting powder on a regular basis for both faces and bodies. Among the performers she has dusted: Lara Flynn Boyle of “The Practice” and Kim Cattrall of “Sex and the City” fame.
“The bottom line is people want their skin to look healthy,” Schlip said.
Claudia Peschiutta
