Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale and others were on hand at the Museum of Contemporary Art here in LA last night to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the museum. The famous folk showed up to see a new exhibit honoring the MOCA’s 30 year existence and were seen meandering around the premises … behold:

L.A.’s art world was rocked less than a year ago when the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) was on the brink of financial ruin, facing the sale of some its masterpieces. It is a completely different picture today. The Museum of Contemporary Art previewed its new exhibit, “Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years.” A big exhibit celebrating big news: MOCA is out of the red. And on Sunday it will open a major exhibition of its collection, more than 500 pieces of art by 200 artists. Philanthropist and arts patron Eli Broad kicked in $30 million. The museum raised another $30 million to get out of the red. They brought in former UCLA chancellor Charles Young to run things. “No 30-year journey is without bumps,” said Broad. “Many of you, I’m sure, recall a year ago, MOCA had a financial crisis.” MOCA began in 1979 by acquiring one major collection, then adding to it. “This is a world-class institution, among the best anywhere in the world,” said L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. As big as this exhibit is, this is just a tenth of MOCA’s collection, which is showing its earlier pieces on South Grand Avenue, and work from 1980 to the present at its Geffen Contemporary space nearby. A shuttle takes visitors between the two. Even with two spaces, how did MOCA’s chief curator choose what to exhibit to celebrate its 30 years? “Quality; the unique vision of the institution; and to tell the history of post-war art from the standpoint of Los Angeles today,” said MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel. The celebration continues with a gala Saturday night. A thousand arts patrons from around the world will be entertained by headliner Lady Gaga, backed by the Bolshoi Ballet. MOCA is not the only L.A. museum displaying contemporary art. Broad has his name on one at the L.A. County Museum. So where does his heart lie now? “It lies in Los Angeles; to make Los Angeles the contemporary art capital of the world,” said Broad. The exhibit will be on display through May.

Celebs aren’t the only ones able to celebrate MOCA’s 30th anniversary, LAist reports that admission to the museum will be FREE to the public all week long:

MOCA–the Museum of Contemporary Art–opened 30 years ago in Los Angeles. To celebrate the anniversary, the museum opens its largest installation tomorrow, featuring more than 500 works from more than 200 artists from its own permanent collection … The new exhibition features a comprehensive look at contemporary art history from the past 70 years, including pop art, abstract expressionism and photography. Highlighted artists and works include: Jackson Pollock’s Number 1, 1949 (1949); Willem de Kooning’s Two Women with Still Life (1952); Alberto Giacometti’s Tall Figure II and Tall Figure III (1960); Roy Lichtenstein’s Man with Folded Arms (1962); Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Six Crimee (1982) and Edward Ruscha’s Chocolate Room (1970-2004).

Amazing!! If you have not been to the MOCA and you live in the area, you must check out this exhibit. I’m hoping David and I can take advantage of this FREE offer sometime this week … the MOCA is a great museum. Congratulations on 30 years!!

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source, Source]

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the beloved children’s TV series Sesame Street and I have one more bit of anniversary fun to share with all y’all … residents of Sesame Street (and the humans who provide their voices) were on hand at a special street renaming ceremony in Dante Park in NYC, NY this week to honor the beloved series. 123 Sesame Street will temporarily be a real live street in New York City:

Now when someone asks you, Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? you can tell them to head down to Dante Park. It’s funny, when I was a kid I never really thought of Sesame Street being in NYC, I figured it was a place in my hometown. It never occurred to me to go find it in person, I just knew it was “there” and I could see what was going on thru my TV set. While I think it’s a great honor to have a real street renamed for Sesame Street (even if only temporarily), I don’t know that it really matters to kids if the street really exists or not. It’s a neat idea for adults, tho. I hope the real life Sesame Street sign is still there the next time I visit NYC … I think that is something I’d like to see in person now that I’m all grown up.

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Last week we learned that the beloved children’s television series Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month and yesterday we learned that First Lady Michelle Obama would be paying a visit to Sesame Street to help the gang celebrate. Well, today is the day … let’s all send out all our Birthday Lurve to the folks at Sesame Street for giving us 40 years of amazing children’s television programming:

Sesame Street was always considered an experiment. When the very first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, the show seemed to pose one big unanswered question: Could children learn from television? Forty years later, that question has been answered. Millions of kids can thank the program for the 1-2-3s and A-B-Cs, but what have the show’s actors and producers learned from their grand experiment? Let’s count eight lessons of Sesame Street.

Sesame Street’s producers have come a long way from worrying about whether their Muppets should talk with their human characters. Now, Ernie and Bert are clay-mation and the fairy Abby Cadabby is computer generated. Executive producer Parente calls the new developments “content as assets.” In other words, it’s easier to move a computer generated figure into video games and cell-phone video. The expansion into merchandising might make purists squirm, but those lovable furry puppets aren’t going anywhere. And research says that for kids who watch, the characters are so real that they don’t care if Elmo is clay or fur, as long as the story is good.

I’ve been saying it all week long, it’s pretty incredible to think that Sesame Street is 40 years old! When you look at the picture above of the original 1969 cast of Sesame Street, you really get a better sense of how much time has passed … but the love and the learning has always been there … been here, for us. After the jump, check out a cute birthday video featuring Bert & Ernie — I think it’s a vid you might remember seeing on the show and is deffo one you need to see today …

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Last week we learned that Sesame Street, the educational children’s program that has been broadcast on PBS for the last few decades, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and today we learn that First Lady Michelle Obama will be included in the celebration. Sesame Street officially turns 40 years old tomorrow and will feature a slew of celeb guests on this year’s anniversary show, including our First Lady:

Oscar the Grouch had better behave – and keep his political opinions to himself. On Tuesday, to mark the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking children’s program Sesame Street, some very special guests pay a visit, including First Lady Michelle Obama. According to previews circulating the Net, she meets Big Bird – who observes that the two of them are tall. Mrs. Obama also delivers a message that may not entirely sit well with Cookie Monster. Appearing with three kids and the show’s fuzzy, red resident Elmo, she encourages them to plant seeds in the ground, water them and then expect them to sprout tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and carrots. Also dropping by the ‘hood on Tuesday’s anniversary episode: Cameron Diaz, who introduces the word of the day, “habitat.” Elmo helps the actress with the term – and visits a frog habitat – abetted by his goldfish, Daisy. Now if only the first lady and Diaz could give Gonzo advice on his love life …

Some of you may recall that I mentioned that First Lady Obama paid a visit to Sesame Street to film a little PSA with the Sesame gang to teach kids the importance of good eating habits … this time, she will appear on an actual episode. I know many of y’all mentioned how watching clips of old Sesame Street vignettes brought back a bunch of memories when I posted them last week … I think it might be worth DVRing tomorrow’s 40th anniversary ep. It’s carzy to think that the show is turning 40 years old … and is still as young as ever.

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How’s this for a trip down memory lane … or, actually, Sesame Street … the beloved children’s TV series, which has taught countless kids around the world how to count, read and speak different languages, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month! In celebration, Google will be featuring a different Sesame Street themed logo on its homepage for the next 10 days … the first Sesame logo went online today and features Big Bird:

Well … part of Big Bird, at least. CNN published a really fantastic piece on Sesame Street’s 40th reminding some of us who remember and informing others of us who never knew how the whole thing got started back in 1969:

In the early days of “Sesame Street” — that is, B.E. (Before Elmo) — Sesame Street was a pretty grimy place. The brownstone at 123 Sesame Street looked like it needed a serious power washing, the storefront of Mr. Hooper’s shop was intentionally dingy and the Fix-It Shop’s window was cluttered with toasters. It was gritty, but gritty in a magical way. When the show started in 1969 (”Sesame Street” will celebrate its 40th anniversary on November 10), the concept of educational television programming was nothing short of revolutionary. “Sesame Street” was originally intended as a learning tool for inner-city children — not only as a supplement to their lessons in math and the ABCs but to teach them to be good people and show them that learning can be fun. Those early years are now available on DVD; and the discs contain a disclaimer that essentially states that they are intended for nostalgia purposes only. The warning reads as follows: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” Say what!? Never did I ever think I’d see “Sesame Street” and “intended for grown-ups” in the same sentence. On the DVDs, Cookie Monster can be seen as his character of Alistair Cookie in his “Monsterpiece Theatre” segment (a spoof of Alistair Cooke’s “Masterpiece Theatre”) smoking a pipe. Yep, Cookie Monster smoked. He later eats the pipe because, as he was often prone to doing, he thinks the pipe is a cookie. Cookie Monster used to become so overwhelmed by his desire for cookies that he’d start seeing (hallucinating about?) cookies that weren’t actually there. He’d eat (rotary) telephones, typewriters (what are those?), pencils, almost anything. It was funny. Today, Cookie Monster’s diet is much more balanced, as he has adopted the philosophy that cookies are a “sometimes food.” Cookie coincidentally changed his tune in 2006 amidst reports that childhood obesity had reached epidemic proportions. Early “Sesame Street” had some other elements that would not pass muster today. Oscar the Grouch is just plain nasty, children are seen riding their bikes without helmets, and there’s even a sketch where the human character of Gordon can be seen approaching a little girl on the street. He takes her by the hand and brings her into his house for milk and cookies (again with the cookies!). Clearly, that could be misinterpreted by today’s standards. Now, some 4,000 episodes later, 123 Sesame Street has gotten that power washing. Peeling paint is nowhere to be found, and the only visible garbage can has a tenant. It’s much more sanitized. I’m tempted to make fun of this, but then I notice the bottle of anti-bacterial hand gel on my desk and bite my proverbial tongue. For better or worse, today’s preschooler is very different from the 1969 version. And children’s television programming simply has to reflect that. But one thing hasn’t changed on “Sesame Street”: the unflinchingly genuine attitudes of its residents. For 40 years, they have taught us that sometimes we are going to get hurt, cry and be lonely. They’ve taught us that there’ll also be times when we’re downright jovial. All the while, those characters have remained sincere. We may never see Cookie Monster eat a pipe again, but luckily the memories are preserved on DVD, and in our hearts.

It’s pretty wonderful for those of us born after 1969 that we’ve never known a world without Sesame Street. I used to love watching that show. Living in Detroit, Sesame Street used to teach viewers how to speak Spanish as a second language … while my parents were fluent in Spanish, I didn’t want to learn the language from them. I learned how to count and say basic words from the gang on Sesame Street. Detroit’s very close proximity to Canada meant that we also got to watch Canadian Sesame Street on very fuzzy channels (in the days before cable TV) and I also got to learn basic French. There are so many little vinettes that I remember fondly from watching Sesame Street, like the pinball machine animation that teaches you how to count to 12. After the jump, check out that fun video and remember with me how cool Sesame was and still is …

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Hello Kitty, the cute little animated white cat who stands three apples tall and wears a big red bow, is celebrating her 35th anniversary this year and is being honored here in SoCal with an art exhibit titled Three Apples which features artwork and special edition products emblazoned with Hello Kitty’s likeness on them. The exhibit hosted a red carpet event on Thursday night and here are a few photos of some of the celebs who came out to celebrate Hello Kitty along with the press release announcement for the event:

It’s Hello Kitty’s 35th Anniversary and SANRIO is celebrating in a big way. In addition to launching a variety of special, limited edition products, SANRIO will introduce Three Apples, a multi-dimensional exhibition and celebration of all things Hello Kitty running from October 23 to November 15 at Royal/T in Culver City, CA. Royal/T is the visually stunning and playful, 10,000 square foot Japanese-inspired art exhibition space, retail store and “cosplay” maid cafe, located within the city’s vibrant arts community. This is the first time that SANRIO has produced an event for the Hello Kitty fans in North America. The exhibition as well as all events will be open to the public free of charge and will offer something for all Hello Kitty fans, no matter their age. Three Apples — so named as a nod to Hello Kitty’s weight as listed in her official bio – features an unprecedented lineup of over 80 celebrated artists, who’ve been invited to interpret their creative vision of Hello Kitty in unique, original works that will be on display and for sale. The art exhibition at Three Apples will be curated by Jamie Rivadeneira, owner of JapanLA, a Los Angeles boutique that specializes in “cute” Japanese and American products. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the artwork will benefit L.A. Works, a volunteer action center that creates and implements hands-on community service projects throughout the greater Los Angeles area … Limited edition prints of selected artwork will be released at special events during Three Apples. For continually updated information regarding Three Apples exhibit and the events, please visit www.sanrio.com/threeapples.

It’s clear that Hello Kitty appeals, on some level, to a lot of different people … including rockers like Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. I gotta admit, even I have a soft spot in my heart for the cute little kitty. It’s crazy to think that Hello Kitty is 35 years old … cuz she still looks as young as ever. It’s gotta be botox. In any event, I hope y’all will join me in wishing Hello Kitty a happy 35th and if you’re in the neighborhood, make sure you check out this Three Apples exhibit … it looks like the perfect place to get your cute overload fix.

[Photo credit: Wireimage]

So I managed to get home to LA from NY last night in record time. My Virgin America flight got in an hour early, without a single delay at all. It was the quickest trip from NY to LA I’ve ever had the pleasure to fly. As much as I’m gonna miss David, who decided to stay in NYC for another week to enjoy the city, I am really happy to be home.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of the Nine Inch Nails album The Fragile and fans have taken to Twitter to get #thefragile into the trending topics in celebration:

It’s really insane to realize that such an epic album is already 10 years old … and that Nine Inch Nails has come to an end. As should be clearly evident by now, I’ve been a huge NIN fan for years … The Fragile was such a landmark album in the band’s history … listening to it today is just as powerful as listening to it for the first time back in 1999. If you have never listened to The Fragile or just want to hear it again, you can do so online HERE. It’s a stunning album … one that will live much longer than it’s first 10 years of existence.

UPDATE: Trent Reznor posted a couple of tweets on the official Nine Inch Nails Twitter profile about the 10th anniversary of The Fragile … he even confirmed that a reissue of the album will be coming our way in 2010:

10 years ago for #thefragile – wow. Thinking a lot about that time today. (TR) And… we’ve begun work on the ULTIMATE reissue coming 2010. #thefragile

Woot!! Very exciting news! Can’t wait to see what that release will be like. I’ve heard some ideas for the deluxe packaging … we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

I have no plans for the coming week … I’m gonna just try and veg out as much as I can. It’s gonna be hot here in SoCal this week … just the way I like it :)