Ticket Giveaway: Friday, June 17th - Family 4 Pack for Les Miserables at the Ahmanson!

When the kids were young, we had a beloved babysitter who sang "Castle on a Cloud" as a lullaby and the lilting melody is part of our family lore. Naturally, we took the kids to Les Misérables when it last came to town but they were probably too young to truly appreciate its historical sweep and romantic power. We're headed to France for a celebratory family trip this summer, and are excited to see Boublil & Schönberg's legendary musical before we depart. What better way to get in a Parisian mood?

The original Les Misérables, based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, is one of the most successful musicals of all time. Cameron Mackintosh has re-conceived the show for the 25th anniversary with glorious new staging and dazzlingly re-imagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo.

What: Les Misérables at the Ahmanson Theatre from June 14 - July 31. For tickets call 213.972.4400 or click here. Shows run Tuesday - Friday at 8:00 PM, Saturday at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM, Sunday at 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM, and include Thursday matinees on June 23, 30 and July 28 at 2:00 PM.

Enter to Win: Kids Off the Couch has a Family Four-Pack to give away to the Friday, June 17 show at 8:00 PM. Click here to be in the drawing - and please include your telephone number. Winner will be chosen on Tuesday, June 14.

Les Misérables: Les Misérables is set in 19th century France, and tells a classic story of revolution and redemption. The magnificent score includes the classic songs "I Dreamed a Dream", "On My Own", "Stars", "Bring Him Home", "Do You Hear the People Sing?", "One Day More", "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", "Master Of The House" and many more.

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Kids Off The Couch Ticket Giveaway: LA Phil at Hollywood Bowl Fourth Of July Fireworks Spectacular!

The Fourth of July means fireworks, plain and simple. When we were little, we danced the hokey pokey at a bandstand on Cape Cod and then stretched out with our siblings on blankets in the middle of a football field to watch thefireworks. The memory is plenty potent and we've been challenged, as parents, to create the same type of memories here in Southern California. We have watched from thebeach (fun but oh-so-crowded), stayed home to watch fireworks in TV after a backyard party (big mistake, they're best observed in person) and once spent an evening on the101, kids asleep in their car seats after an all-day beach party, watching high-school fireworks celebrations going offin succession across the valley.

One of the most relaxing ways to spend the Fourth in LA is to cap off a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with their spectacular fireworks. The explosions are timed to the 1812 Overture, and the kids can simply gaze upwards and watch a terrific display. This year, the LA Phil has invited Darryl Hall and John Oates to headline three shows with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The pop-duo, who are members of members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, will play their own hits as well as plenty of good-old fashioned American music.

What: LA Phil Presents July 4th Fireworks Spectacular (Saturday, Sunday & Monday, July 2-4, 7:30 PM) with special guests Daryl Hall & John Oates. Plenty of seats are still available. Click here for tickets and more information about the show.

Enter to Win: Kids Off the Couch has a Family Four-Pack to give away. Click here to be in the drawing - and please include your telephone number.

Hits from Hall and Oates Remember these classics: "Sara Smile", "Rich Girl", "Kiss on My List", "Private Eyes", "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", "Maneater", and "Out of Touch".The duo had 34 singles chart hits make the Billboard Top 100.

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Kids Off The Couch: What's On Our June Radar Screen!

Welcome, Summer!

Ballet Nacional De Cuba Ticket Giveaway

If school isn't out yet for your kids, at least the end is in sight. Get ready to celebrate the End of Homework by enjoying some of the many family festivals and art events around town this month. We've unearthed so many neat film festivals that we are secretly hoping for some June Gloom so we won't feel too bad ducking inside!

Ballet Nacional de Cuba Giveaway: Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center is bringing the wonderful Ballet Nacional De Cuba to town for five shows of Don Quixote from June 23-26 (including two matinees). First formed in 1948 by Alicia Alonso, Ballet Nacional de Cuba has created more than 600 works and performed in more than 60 countries. Kids Off the Couch subscribers are eligible to win a Family Four-Pack of tickets to the 2:00 PM performance on Saturday, June 25 at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Click here to enter your name to win - please include a phone number!

Movies Galore this Month: Besides the many summer films already in theaters (we love Kung Fu Panda 2), there is a plethora of film festivals for lucky Angelenos this month. From the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival at the Chinese 6 Theaters (June 6-9), that includes a free matinee of The Incredibles, to the Los Angeles Film Festival(June 16-26), that takes place downtown again this year, to a fabulous line-up of Tim Burton films at LACMA. Your family's film savvy quotient is about to go way way up!

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Tree People is holding it's annual Green City Fair this weekend (June 4) in Coldwater Canyon, with live music, face painting and plenty of environmental workshops and hikes. You can also enjoy the outdoors the following weekend (June 11) at the Children's Nature Institute's Kids Rock Concert and Festival in Hancock Park. If you have grandparents in town, there's nothing more relaxing than an afternoon spent at the Getty -- either the Villa or the Getty Center -- following some of their creative art programming for kids. And, consider paintapic, a cool at-home art project, which turns a photo into a paint-by-numbers project.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: MOCA is holding a Big Family Day celebration (June 5), downtown. The Hammer continues its Family Flicks programming with a free screening of Hyper Sapien (June 12). The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has two Shakespeare plays in its summer line-up, The Merry Lives of Windsor and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Plan ahead for this treat, because seeing a play in Topanga Canyon is a must-have LA experience. Click here to read a Popcorn Adventure about this fabled outdoor theater.

TEENS: Consider letting your art-loving teens wander around the Culver City Artwalk this Saturday (June 4). Or if they're into dance, check out the Dance Camera West Dance Media Film Festival (June 16) at The Getty Center. We're always fretting over our kids' obsession with their cellphones, so take a quick listen to Warren Olney's radio show from yesterday; it's the start of what is sure to be a lengthy national conversation about cell phones as potential carcinogens.

PARENTS: Satisfy your travel itch at the Getty by checking out a new photo show, A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans until Now, that explores the Cuban cultural and political landscape during three distinct historical periods - before, during, and after the 1959 revolution.

Too Good to Be True: Two cool new food ideas emerged this month -- check outWaffle Chix, serving fried chicken and waffles in Westwood, and a souffle bar at Rockenwagner's at the Market at Santa Monica Place. As for eating at home, check out the USDA's brand new food plate, released this morning that replaces the 19 year-old food pyramid, and aims to be easier for families to use in planning healthy meals.

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Kids Off The Couch: Memorial Day Weekend 2011!

Summer is Upon Us

Good news: it's going to be sunny by Monday, so get your BBQ prep done early (while the kids are studying for exams or finishing up their spring sports). We've had a chance to look at most of the new art shows around town, so you can have the summer's cultural outings planned before June even begins.

MOVIES in THEATERS: There's plenty of raunch in the theaters for adults, from Bridesmaids to Hangover Part II so if that's not your thing, drop in on a worthy kid option (Kung Fu Panda 2) or check out the films that were well received in Cannes last week: Midnight in Paris from Woody Allen (starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) or Terrance Malick's much awaited The Tree of Life.

ART AROUND TOWN: We got a sneak peek at what will surely be this summer's must-see show, LACMA's Tim Burton, which is lots of fun. We will write up a comprehensive report next week, but mark your calendar to take advantage of a fabulous line-up of Burton films, screening at the museum throughout June. Show is expected to be a blockbuster, so get your advance entry tickets now. The Getty Center's Paris: Life and Luxury employs an engaging organizing theory, with objects from a Parisian household presented by the "Four Times of Day." We were particularly impressed with a spectacular golden bed where the women of the household performed their "toilette" while receiving (what a concept!). The Skirball Cultural Center's Houdini: Art and Magic is great for magic-loving tweens, and we also loved The Annenberg Space for Photography's Beauty Culture. Be sure to head downtown for MOCA's Art in the Streets, showcasing large-scale, colorful graffiti art that is a hit with everyone from 8-80. If your kids are into street culture, check out a related show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art featuring the work of the Clayton Brothers. And, while you're sipping lemonade by the pool, don't forget to peruse this season's Hollywood Bowl schedule which includes a Grease Sing-A-Long, Hall and Oats for the July 4th Fireworks Spectacular and Hairspray with the original Broadway cast of Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur.

Subscriber Tip: A loyal KOTC-er gave us the heads up about a new show at the Santa Monica Museum of Art -- a video installation by filmmaker Marco Brambilla, called The Dark Lining, that uses film clips in pastiche to create a new narrative. Our subscriber's kids, who are 11 and 13, thought it was the "coolest art show ever".

MEMORIAL DAY ACTIVITIES: In lieu of parades, LA has wonderful regional celebrations starting today, such as Topanga Days, the Valley Greek Festival and a Jazz Reggae Festival at UCLA.

Ideas: Stumped by what to get a graduate in your life? Check out Flavorpill's grad gift guide. While you're thinking about college and careers, consider that PayPal's Peter Thiel is plucking kids out of college and supporting their entrepreneurial ideas with $100,000. Not a bad idea considering this sobering report on the highest (and lowest) paying careers.

And, Finally: We were moved by this YouTube video about the dangers of melanoma. Titled "Dear 16 year-old Me," it's a powerful reminder to young people that their "skin never forgets". Good-bye tanning beds, hello sunscreen.

We'll be back next week with the June Radar Screen.

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Kids (Teens) Off The Couch: Beauty Culture at The Annenberg Space for Photography

Thinking About our Beauty Obsession

For Parents and Teens

At a certain point, young girls pick up fashion magazines and the longing begins. By the time they get to their Senior Prom, they are capable of turning themselves out as the epitome of youth and beauty. High-school girls can flaunt their Facebook status this month, but they know just how many hours of work (dress and shoe shopping, hair and nail appointments) went into presenting their pretty faces.

A new show at The Annenberg Space for Photography,Beauty Culture, reminds us that we have always had a cult of beauty, from Marilyn Monroe to Elizabeth Taylor to Gisele Bundchen. As a parent, it's easy to blame the media stranglehold that inundates our children at an early age, and perhaps we react strongly because images of perfect models are so prevalent in our kids' lives. The proliferation of plastic surgery and the advanced technology that allows a photograph to be altered create a juggernaut of perfection that squeezes us all, no matter how old we are. As our children grow up, and as parents deal with their own aging parents (and as we ourselves get older!), it's especially important to retain power over our own sense of self.

Beauty Culture happens to open during a week of stunning news about image and sexuality, starting with the startling news that a mother had given her nine year-old Botox before competition in a beauty pageant, Arnold Schwarzenegger's infidelity and the arrest of the head of the IMF for sexually assaulting a maid in his NYC hotel. More than ever, it's tricky to talk with kids about these topics. The Annenberg's new show, which will be on display through Thanksgiving, aims to create a discussion about just these problems. The images, from over 170 photographers, are organized around questions such as: "What Size is Beauty?" and "What Color is Beauty?" In the gallery's inner sanctum visitors may watch a half-hour film by Lauren Greenfield that goes behind the glossy magazine images to deconstruct the messages that are delivered nonstop by the advertising and cosmetic industries; Greenfield interviews models who are struggling with weight and age issues, older models and photographers who spend their lives making the images that create such a culture of beauty. The Annenberg is a cozy space, so we like to drop in and look at the images before heading off to lunch at one of the restaurants that are nestled into the park between the office towers.

Red Flag: Because these topics are intense, it's not a show for kids under fourteen. Recommended for teenagers and their parents, and parents on a date night.

What: Beauty Culture opens this weekend and runs through November 27. Don't miss the Microsoft Surface Tables, where visitors can interact with additional images. Also, a workshop in the back room of the gallery allows guests to alter their own image digitally. The Annenberg Space for Photography, 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City (LA 90069). Open from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM; closed Monday and Tuesday. Parking is EASY, under the building. Admission is FREE.

Lauren Greenfield: We're big fans of Lauren Greenfield's work in documentary photography and film making, where she has tackled contemporary issues, such as kids and money and our obsession with being thin. Click here to visit her website and view more images from her previous books, Girl Culture and Fast Forward: Growing up in the Shadow of Hollywood.

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