Eat Out. Barcade [Thirsty Thursdays].

I love bars that offer me more than a drink and a DJ. I get bored and then my grandma instincts kick-in and I'm out the door. I shudder thinking about the lines outside of all those Hollywood establishments that offer nothing but standing-room only on a Saturday night. And all that time spent dressing up. For that! I prefer leggings, Netflix, and a pizza. I'm just that kind of girl.

This is why I like places like Miss T's Barcade. No hard liquor, dingy dive bar vibe, and genuine 80s arcade games. The nerd in me appreciates the lax atmosphere, sipping a red bull at a table that houses a Ms. Pacman game. And the hipster in me likes that it’s just a teeny bit exclusive. There isn’t a sign out front announcing Barcade to the world. The K-town establishment is only identifiable by the neon Pacman ghost glowing faintly in the window. I guess it’s not really that much of a secret, there is a thing called Yelp, but it still impresses out-of-towners.

So forget your laundry and save all those quarters for DK at Miss T's Barcade this Thursday night.

Miss T's Barcade is located at 371 N. Western Ave.

-- Heather Robertson

Photo Credit: pacman-plus.com

Check It. PostSecret [Gift Guide].

There's probably no greater feeling in the world than the relief after revealing a secret you've been holding on to. Somehow, a man living in Maryland named Frank Warren figured this out and made an incredibly successful empire out of it.

But that sounds shallow. The PostSecret world is actually quite the opposite; as Warren tours the nation, lugging along his PostSecret postcards, he also brings along opportunities for enlightenment, allowing people to let out their deepest, darkest secrets anonymously, just to get that great feeling of relief. For some, it can be life-saving; for most others, it's just simply comforting.

And all it takes is a blank postcard. Warren receives hundreds of them everyday in his mailbox, all revealing someone's anonymous deep, dark, haunting, embarrassing or even funny secrets.

A lot of them have been compiled in the books Warren has published in the last couple of years, the fourth of which, entitled PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God, came out this fall. The books feature the secrets in all this postcard glory, and range from being written out in simple handwriting to being a part of some intense, beautiful work of art. You can't help but be enthralled when picking up a PostSecret book; somehow they make you feel so much closer to the world, like you too can breathe that sigh of relief.

**And if the moments between the two people in this video at 3:36-4:13 don't make you feel something, you're dead inside. Watch the whole video to get the right feel, and don't miss that part.


-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: PostSecret Archive; video credit: PostSecret

Do It. Werner Herzog, L.A. Record's Xmas Party.

Meet a crazy man: Werner Herzog @ Downtown Independent, Fri. at 7pm (9pm showing will have Herzog introduce), $12
Werner "It's not a signficant bullet" Herzog is crazy. The auteur behind amazingly wondrous documentaries like "Grizzly Man" and "Encounters at the End of the World" is set to release a new feature film, named "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?" and lucky for you, he's coming out to promote it at this Q&A. What could you ask such a man? Here's your chance; it's bound to be entertaining.

Meet a crazy band: L.A. Record's Xmas Party @ Bedrock Rehearsal in Echo Park, Sat. at 8pm, FREE with RSVP and donation of child's toy
Okay, maybe none of the bands playing this holiday gig are as crazy as Werner Herzog (that would be quite ambitious), but they'll give you a good show nonetheless. I've seen fave Smell players Abe Vigoda a few times and they just keep getting better, and I can't imagine The Soft Pack not bringing some great energy to their poptastic beats. Oh, but that dude Daedelus does have crazy sideburns, and add in that free tequila (if you're 21+, of course)...maybe you will be in for a crazy night.

-- Chau Tu

Eat Out. Joan's on Third.

Joan's on Third is a great lunch spot on West Third Street between the Beverly Center and The Grove. It's casual with a gourmet flair. After a recent remodel, they've widened their space to include a cheese section, a dessert section (cupcakes galore!), a separate area for ordering out, and a large communal table indoors. Speaking of a table ... the one downside to Joan's on Third is the potential problem of not being able to find a table when your food is ready. Even with a substantial outdoor seating area, and tables up the left side of the inside space, there always seems to be a shortage of eating space. I have had to change my order from "for here" to "to go" on a busy weekend afternoon because of this.

The food is spot-on. They have a deli case full of treasures for a foodie, including the salads which made up my salad trio (above). Beets with goat cheese, pasta with pine nuts, you name it, they've got it. The curried chickpeas are a favorite. They also make a mean grilled cheese (large slices of white bread, and the option to add tomato slices or bacon), tuna melts, turkey breast sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese ... the list goes on. Grab an Izze sparking juice drink and enjoy.

A note for the out-of-towners: Joan's prime celebrity-spotting territory. Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes and Kirsten Dunst are all fans. I've seen the Million Dollar Baby there myself.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: the BEAT

Eat In. The perfect cup of coffee.

A cup of coffee can mean the difference between a warm morning and a dreary one for many people. There are so many different styles of coffee and ways to make a good cup, but what I've noticed works best for me is to heat the milk first in a sauce pan, then add it to your cup before adding the coffee. Not only does the coffee stay warm longer, but I feel like you can control the color of the coffee better, the cream to coffee ratio, but maybe that's just me.

On a recent trip to Florida, I discovered an excellent expresso-style Cuban coffee called Cafe Bustelo, which is quite tasty and amazingly inexpensive. A six-ounce brick costs just under $3 and not much is needed for a good, strong cup.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Picture courtesy of ehow.com.

Make It. Cork trivet [Gift Guide].

Looking for something for a friend who loves to cook? This project is one that has been in the making for quite a while. At first, I was trying to save up corks from bottles that I've drank, but I can't go through them quite as fast as I wanted to make the trivet, so I dropped in to the local wine bar and asked if they had any extra corks there.

What you'll need for this project is a power drill, a coil of small-gauge wire, wire cutter, and about 24 wine corks. I also used beer and champagne corks and the mushroom-shaped lip at the top actually made kind of nice feet at the ends of the trivet. Make sure not to use plastic corks, as they might melt when in contact with a hot surface.

I also used a portable vice to hold the corks steady when I drilled through them (I definitely wouldn't recommend using your hands to hold the corks while you're drilling). Although you may not own a portable vice or power drill there are a few sites where you can borrow them from neighbors for free and there are a few rental sites out there, where you can rent power tools easily enough.

One of the problems with using cork is that it flakes and is unbelievably messy. Also, drilling a perfect hole that is straight is going to be tough because of how cork is. You'll want to have the vice positioned low so that you can get a good handle on it; it just makes drilling a bit easier.

Drill a hole through the corks the long way (come to think of it, I guess you could drill them through the short way and string them together sideways). For those who haven't used a power drill before, never stop drilling half way through. Continue drilling even while pulling the drill out. Otherwise, you will go through a few drill bits. I found this out the hard way when making a clothespin doormat.

When all the corks are drilled, string them together on a thin or medium-gauge wire. You will have to twist the wire to get through the cork because the stoppers flake when the drill goes through them and obscures the hole.

I strung four corks together and made six rows. I used three beer stoppers and one champagne plug at the ends to make feet; it actually came out pretty nice.

Connect the different lines of cork together with more wire, wrapping the wire around the middle parts. This is where the thin gauge wire comes in. It's a bit less conspicuous.

It is a little time consuming, and certainly messy, but you have a nice trivet in the end.

-- Lauren Williams

Check It. Two DVDs and a book.

The day we've all been waiting for is here, The Hangover is now out on DVD. Relive the crazy desert journey again and again this holiday season with Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug. Get your wolf pack together for some laughs. Jagermeister, anyone? I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord ...

Also out on DVD today, Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino and Pitt, need I say more? It made news Monday morning with ten nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. Although--scalping, killing, Nazis ... may not exactly sound like what you want to watch with the whole family on Christmas Eve. I say save it for 2010.

Vanity Fair special correspondent and best-selling author Dominick Dunne's last novel, Too Much Money (which USA Today calls "transparently autobiographical") is available today. Dunne died in August at 83, but left us one last great piece of work, and just in time for Christmas (it's on my list).

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: filmschoolrejects.com

Make It. Gingerbread tips.

I originally set-out to write a post that would demonstrate how simple it is to make delicious and beautiful gingerbread cookies. Unfortunately, I have no business pretending I'm Martha Stewart. I ruined my first three batches. But! That 4th batch came out pretty sweet. So, let my mistakes save you from your own cookie trial and error. Use these tips to get it right... the first time.

• DO use Trader Joe's Deep, Dark Gingerbread mix. The flavor is rich and spicy (and it's pretty much foolproof).
• DON'T coat your baking sheet with cooking spray. When the timer for batch #2 went off, my cookies were floating in a puddle of fake buttery goop.
• DO use parchment paper.
• DON'T wing it. Baking 5-7 minutes at 375 does not equal 10 minutes at 320*.
• DO chill your dough between batches. If the dough gets too warm, your cut-out will not retain its shape.
• DON'T buy the Betty Crocker cookie icing for decorating. Just trust me on this one.
• DO incorporate chocolate. Adding nonpareils to decorate and cover the sloppy icing on my snowflakes proved to be both tasty and pretty.
• DON'T eat them all at work the next day because you forgot your lunch at home. Or do. I don't really have any regrets about that, actually.

*And just what was in the oven that made me think I could bend the rigid rules of baking? Magic Cookie Bars--a specialty of my boyfriend, Adam. They came out perfect, of course. Find the recipe here.

-- Heather Robertson

Etc. Banshee Beat video.

As a now-regular commuter to the heart of Los Angeles, braving those packed freeways for a simple paycheck, I admit I have become immune to all the wonders this city's roadways hold. I am a born-and-bred Angeleno; these freeways have always been part of my blood and I appreciated them to a certain extent--the memories of trips to Orange County for delicious Asian food, the drives to college seeing downtown L.A.'s skyrises on the horizon. But commuting has ruined it all.

I discovered this video after my friend Greg posted it on his facebook, and let's just say that I've become nostalgic again. Eugene Cheung, the filmmaker (whom I know nothing about, sorry), writes in his description of the film that this traces his own commute to a job in L.A., and with Animal Collective as the soundtrack, this video just can't get more fitting. There is beauty in simpicity, my friends, and thankfully Cheung's video reminds us all of that. (And with the genius of using Google street view, ah!)

-- Chau Tu

Make It. Getting ink out of clothes [A clean house on the cheap.]

In one of my past lives, I worked at a dry cleaners. I remember the awful smell of chemicals being used to rid clothes of their stains, but there are plenty of easy do-it-yourself tricks to get stains out of clothes without having to add another item to your dry cleaning bill.

One trick for getting ink out of clothes is to spray hairspray on a stained garment. Spray a bit of any kind of hairspray (aerosol or regular spray), and blot with a clean, white cloth (the cloth needs to be white or the dye from the rag may soak into the sprayed area). Then, after it looks like most of the ink has been absorbed wash and the stain should all but disappear.

Also, never soak a blood-stained garment in hot water. Hot water just "sets" the stain, making it more permanent. Always rinse these clothes with cold water and rub with a little bit of powdered detergent.

Another tip for saving your clothes: Use clear nail polish on stockings that have a run in them. The nail polish will slow the tearing of the cloth and hopefully save you from another trip to Target.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Courtesy of eHow.