· Music round-up: Squirrel Nut Zippers at the El Rey; The Shys at the Troubadour; David Bazan at Spaceland; KCRW's Gimme Shelter benefit show (with Mandy Moore, Phantom Planet, Matthew Sweet and others) at the Roxy.
· Top Chef judge Padma Lakshmi treks to the Torrance Borders (come on, it's Padma! You'd drive to San Diego if it were Tom Colicchio) to share "the origins of her latest exotic recipes."
· Revver .com puts on a special, holiday-themed edition of its ongoing screening series of shorts at the Goethe-Institut. (There will be food and booze. And the voiceover work of Jim Belushi.)

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