I’m pedaling down Yucca, a street I chose specifically because it’s so wide I practically have a lane to myself. Just past the Capitol Records building I roll by a black Ford Explorer with a THRASHER sticker over 30% of the rear windshield. The passenger side window squeaks down.

“Get out of the way!”

I look quickly right to make sure I’m not about to be taken out by a loose Dumpster rolling out of the 7-Eleven parking lot. Surely they can’t be talking to me as I’m a good half-lane away from—

“Get the fuck out of the road!”

I know this is directed at me because at this point I’m exactly even with the Explorer. Three guys. And what is that they’re listening to…311?

“You know that’s a bike, right?”

I did indeed.

I thought hard about what to say back to them. I really did. I even did a quick mental inventory of my backpack to see what I might be able to lob at their car. But by the time I decided it would be relatively easy to pop the lid off my ceramic water bottle and douse them (or toss the whole thing and try to crack their windshield), it didn’t really matter.

You see, they were stuck in traffic, and I had already made the next light.

Auteur. A word I’ve used hundreds of times but just now had to look up, to see what it actually meant. But now that I know, I think it’s the perfect word to describe what’s happening in graphic design in LA, according to this piece “REDCAT reveals a shift in graphic design.” Written by Hugh Hart—the smart local freelancer who is the only writer I know who manages to get graphic design stories into the LAT—the piece begins with the Geoff McFetridge/Ed Fella show at REDCAT, and manages to name drop a bunch of other auteur-worthy designers like Monster-man Stefan Bucher, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, National Forest and Shep Fairey (I’m calling him Shep from now on; does that change your perception of him?).

So there’s this whole debate about what these kinds of creatives should call themselves—artists, illustrators, graphic artists, graphic designers—why not go all the way and call them graphic auteurs? An article by Michael Rock published more than a decade ago agrees.

When Johnny Grant died in January he left behind more than an empty penthouse in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. For 30+ years, Grant was the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, and now we need someone else to say a few words on Hollywood’s behalf during star-dedicating ceremonies on the Walk of Fame. According to the LAT and All Things Considered, the front runners are Angelyne, who’s best known for her skin-tastic self-promotional billboards and driving a hot pink Corvette, and Gary Owens, who’s best known as the announcer on Laugh-In.

As a Hollywood citizen, I’m pulling for Angelyne, and not just because she’s running on a hot pink platform. I truly believe that Angelyne is devoted to Hollywood because I see her doing regular-person stuff in the neighborhood all the time. I’ve even seen her shopping at the Rite Aid in Gower Gulch—something most locals aren’t brave enough to do—and I’ve seen her there twice. Gary Owens? Never.

Just as I was dipping my toes into a brief career in the music video industry, Jonathan Wells began organizing these awesome screenings of videos and shorts at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. This was, of course, in addition to his global screening series RESFest that was busy circling the planet. But the LA screenings were a really nice nod to this small corner of the production community who I never thought got enough respect.

We slaved away for the worst kind of clients—vain artists, their assistants who gave an unhealthy amount of creative input, and music labels with no money—but every now and then, visions aligned and we’d come up with a pure creative gem. Which, in a pre-YouTube era, you’d be lucky to catch once during the one hour that MTV actually played videos. There was something pretty powerful about seeing a really good music video with an entire theater of people, and it almost never happened unless Jonathan had something to do with it.

So last night I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I arrived at Flux, the new screening series and global creative community that’s Jonathan’s new endeavor with his wife, partner and collaborator Meg Wells. It seemed like just about everyone had been missing their little gatherings because the place was simply slammed. Literally hundreds and hundreds of people were packed in the courtyard of the Hammer Museum, all spiraling out in concentric rings of lines, trying to get into the hot pink Billy Wilder Theater. Even with an overflow room, not everyone got to see the program, but it didn’t matter. People were content to park themselves in this bamboo grove, waving friends over, wine in hand, at this big family reunion. The next event is May 13 at 7pm, so if you want to see that one I’d say you should start lining up, oh, May 1.

Besides the Eran Creevy-directed video above for Utah Saints that’s impossible not to giggle at, the Gnarls Barkley video for “Run” (I posted it a few weeks ago) was a real crowdpleaser, as was the typically-insane Björk video “Wanderlust,” which was also shown in 3D (shots from the NY premiere show some of the crazy giant latex buffaloes that took up to four people to wrangle). Cat Solen (who’s repped by Partizan for videos) and Larry Friedman’s short “Parental Advisory” about obsolete technology was smart and funny, and they led the crowd in a sing-along of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” instead of doing a Q&A. Luis Cook’s remarkable animated piece “The Pearce Sisters” should be in a museum, and speaking of, we also got a sneak peek at what Geoff McFetridge has planned for the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, opening Saturday.

By far the evening’s stars were the adorable boys from Amautalab who were looking to bring together the divergent worlds of cute and porn with their short “The Blindness of the Woods.” Without giving too much away, let’s just say it climaxes with an oh-no-they-didn’t yarn-on-yarn sex scene that puts Team America to shame. I highly recommend that you visit their LA studio this Friday for a Cute Party, where they’ll screen the film again. Just remember to get there early.

Like any good internet meme, rickrolling has gone mainstream. In fact, the international Scientology protest group Anonymous has been using rickrolling tactics for months, giving a creepy anti-Scientology spin to: You know the rules and so do I.

But after a basketball game at Eastern Washington University was interrupted by a live rickrolling, the LA Times’ Web Scout scored an interview with Rick Astley to see if he himself had ever been rickrolled. Now fans are calling for a large-scale rickroll at the Super Bowl. What??? You don’t know what rickrolling is? CLICK HERE!!!

Update: Okay, I know, that was mean. CLICK HERE instead. Promise, you’ll like it.

Thanks to Rick Astley’s #1 fan, Nathan.