Advance Notice. Up! in the park.

In the perfect season to have outdoors nighttime picnics, Long Beach is having a series of movies in various parks around Long Beach. Among the highlights on the docket, are Up! and Toy Story (the first one) -- two excellent Pixar movies.

Up! will be shown on Monday Aug. 23 in Signal Hill Park, which is on a hilltop in Signal Hill and has an amazing view of Long Beach including the Queen Mary, Spruce Goose, and the port -- kind of an eyesore during the day, but at night it's pretty impressive.

Toy Story will be at El Dorado (also an amazing park) Sept. 1.

-- Lauren Williams