Past Events
Russell Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, activist, and author of several bestselling books, including the New York Times bestsellers My Booky Wook and Revolution. He has had a number of major film roles including parts in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. In his new book, he shares with a powerful mix of honesty, humor, and compassion his intimate yet universal story and shares the practical advice and wisdom he has been taught through his fourteen and a half years of recovery. He speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction – from serious, life-threatening misuse of substances, to the subtler habits we use to hold our lives together, like food, technology, or unhealthy relationships. Alice Waters comes to Live Talks Los Angeles to share her long awaited memoir. She is executive chef, founder, owner and of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café in Berkeley, California. She also founded the Edible Schoolyard Project. Waters has received the National Humanities Medal, the French Legion of Honor, the WSJ Magazine Humanitarian Innovator Award, and three James Beard Awards. Waters is the vice president of Slow Food International and the author of thirteen books. An Evening with We’e excited to welcome Yotam Ottolenghi back to our stage. He is the author of Plenty and Plenty More, and co-author of NOPI, Ottolenghi, and Jerusalem, which was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation. All five books were New York Times bestsellers. Now Yotam Ottolenghi is sharing his secrets for making the very best baked goods, desserts, and confections in Sweet. The book features more than 120 recipes for delicious cookies, cakes, mini cakes, cheesecakes, confectionary, tarts, pies, puddings, and more. Dan Goleman unveils new research that shows what meditation can really do for the brain. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence. A psychologist and science journalist, he reported on brain and behavioral research for The New York Times for many years. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including three accounts of meetings he has moderated between the Dalai Lama and scientists, psychotherapists, and social activists. Goleman is a founding member of the board of the Mind and Life Institute, a cofounder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, and co-director of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. There was a time when presidents spoke in complete sentences instead of in unhinged tweets. In his comic, coming-of-age memoir, David Litt takes us back to the Obama years – and charts a path forward in the age of Trump. David Litt entered the White House in 2011 and left in 2016 as a special assistant to the president and senior presidential speechwriter. Described as the “comic muse for the president,” David was the lead writer on four White House Correspondents’ Dinner presentations and has contributed jokes to President Obama’s speeches since 2009. He is currently the head writer/producer for Funny or Die’s office in Washington, DC. David has also written for The Onion, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and the New York Times. He lives in Washington with his girlfriend and their two goldfish, Humphrey and Camille. In Gretchen Rubin’s practical and authoritative examination, The Four Tendencies, the bestselling author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project identifies the four personality types that motivate everything we do. A member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100, Rubin is a thought-provoking and influential writer on the linked subjects of habits, happiness, and human nature. Bryan Cranston won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad. In 2014 he won a Tony Award for his role as Lyndon B. Johnson in the bio-play All the Way. In film, Cranston has won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and received an Academy Award nomination for his leading role in Trumbo. Among his numerous television and film appearances, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and three Emmys for his portrayal of Hal in FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle. Jason Calacanis is a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular weekly podcast This Week in Startups. He’s the founder of a series of conferences that bring entrepreneurs together with potential investors. As a “scout” for top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and later as an angel investor, Jason has invested in 150 early-stage startups including 4 that have achieved billion-dollar valuations. Former Vice President Al Gore spends the majority of his time as the chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis. He is the co-recipient, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.” Gore served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1977-83) and to the U.S. Senate (1984-92). He was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years. The follow-up to his best-selling book, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is an action handbook to help you learn the science, find your voice, and help solve the climate crisis. A companion documentary will be simultaneously released, opening July 28, 2017. Sen. Al Franken has represented Minnesota in the United States Senate since 2009. Before entering politics, Al spent 37 years as an award-winning comedy writer, author, and radio talk show host. In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics.Past Events
