Extravaganza

EVENTS Connoisseurs of Scotland's most revered export are invited to an evening featuring more than 100 rare whiskeys at the Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza. The event includes a dinner buffet and a selection of premium imported cigars. Knowledgeable representatives from each participating distillery will be on hand to answer questions. Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, 1700 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica. 7-9:30 p.m. Thursday. $135. (800) 990-1991. http://www.singlemaltextravaganza.

When there's a fan in the first row behind the backstop wearing a No. 59 Esteban Yan jersey, a salute to the obscure and often ineffective middle reliever who played for the Angels in 2005 and 2006, you get the feeling anything is possible. What transpired on a steamy, 91-degree afternoon in Angel Stadium was nothing short of extraordinary, a team whose bats were so cold they were practically cryogenic catching fire for a day. Mike Napoli drove in a career-high six runs, four on a third-inning grand slam, Howie Kendrick had a career-high five hits, and Hideki Matsui had a big three-run double in the first to lead the Angels to a 12-3 victory Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Rays.

When it comes to classic cars and the people who love them, the annual Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach draws la crème de la crème. Twenty miles inland, the Concours d'LeMons draws la crème de la non dairy creamer. At Pebble Beach, ladies in floppy hats and gents in blue blazers glide along in gleaming Duesenbergs. At the Concours d'LeMons, women in baseball caps and guys in T-shirts squeeze yet another mile or two out of their battered Dusters.

For their first-ever fundraiser, organizers of the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) doubled up for success by staging back-to-back shindigs, raising an estimated $250,000 toward their mission of bringing contemporary art to public places. Eugenio Lopez started the festivities by hosting a July 14 dinner at his art-filled Beverly Hills home, where nearly 200 guests partied beside contemporary treasures by such artists as Maurizio Cattelan, Tracey Emin, Richard Prince and more, before settling down to dinner beside a candlelit swimming pool and yellow "Elephant" by Jeff Koons.

EVENTS Rat Fink Party Celebrate the life and high-octane inspiration of artist and custom-car builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth at Moldy Marvin's 10th Annual Rat Fink Party & Kustom Kulture Extravaganza. Festivities include souped-up vehicles on display, live music from Cattie Ness, Danny Dean and Cash Prophets, games, camping, a pool party, contests and more. Acton KOA Campground, 7601 Soledad Canyon Road, Acton. 10 a.m. to sundown. $10; 12 and younger free. http://www.ratfinkparty.

Dreaming is life's great solitary adventure. Whatever pleasures or terrors the dream state provides, we experience them alone or not at all. But what if other people could literally invade our dreams, what if a technology existed that enabled interlopers to create and manipulate sleeping life with the goal of stealing our secret thoughts, or more unsettling still, implanting ideas in the deepest of subconscious states and making us believe they're...

In this era of award show proliferation, it's hard not to smirk at the "once-in-a-lifetime" advertising campaigns for shows such as the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on CBS Sunday night. Beyoncé is up for 10 Grammys this year and you have to suspect that back at the home, the trophy room is the most cluttered corner -- well, except for the walk-in shoe closet. Still, there is something about the scale, history and reach of the Grammys stage that stirs undeniable emotion in the artists who step on it for the first time.

Massive crowds -- young rowdy revelers, families, older couples -- flocked to the annual West Hollywood Halloween Costume Carnaval on Saturday night. More than 400,000 people were expected at the event, which featured live entertainment and an official (and unofficial) parade of crazy costumes. Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds danced around a raised stage featuring two DJs. People gathered around an artist chalking a massive face on the asphalt. Bars on and off the celebration's main path along Santa Monica Boulevard brimmed with patrons.

You've probably seen cork flooring, perhaps cork tabletops too. But cork blinds? At 100% Design London, the annual contemporary architecture and interiors extravaganza held two weeks ago, the material turned up in the booth of the textile collective Puff & Flock. Designer Jo Angell had created the laser-cut Alight cork blinds decorated with the shapes of birds, leaves, acorns -- the elements of a cork forest. It's a design that "aims to raise the profile of cork with an elegant and tactile product," Angell said.