As though Mondays aren't hard enough, now cruel, cruel fate has reached down and plucked the prospect of happiness right from our eager hands.

I just heard from the folks at the Steve Allen Theater that tonight's much anticipated "Duncan Trussell Saves the World: An Exploration of Happiness" has been postponed. No puppy adoption for you tonight. No comedic lecture about how seritonin makes you goofy.

So the bad news is that you'll have to wait a month. But the good news is that they're lining up a gospel choir for the show. We'll keep you posted.

In the meanwhile, I suggest  seeing the Kooks at the Wiltern*, or catching "The Promotion" at the Wadsworth (with a Q&A afterward) tonight. I personally think that'll bring a smile to your faces, but if you're really, really desperate for happiness, you can always watch this or snort some Pixie Stix.  

Always trying to help,

Ward  

* Note: While tonight's Wiltern show is technically sold out, we're never below begging for extras on the sidewalk or texting our connected friends for a pass. But should you find yourself empty handed, head to the Kibitz Room tomorrow night for this free, super-secret Kooks show our LA Times pal Charlie just told us about. 

"Rise and shine, nerds! It's bug fair o'clock!"

Rallying a posse on a Sunday morning is never easy, particularly when you're leading them toward live scorpions.

So when I sent out a 10 am text to my hungover cohorts, I wasn't surprised to wind up heading to the Natural History Museum's annual bug fair alone, waiting for them to stumble over later. As a bug enthusiast, I could have carpooled with Dick Cheney and still been in good spirits.

The museum—which has steadily gained indie cred with their First Friday concerts—was a frenetic jumble of booths and pamphlets, writhing silkworms in terrariums, people handling tarantulas, and thousands of pinned butterflies.

Also among the frightening critters were scores of waist-high humans, tugging their parents from ant farms to beehives trapped under glass. Sure, I got bumped in the leg with an $800 stroller more than once, but not much can tarnish the joy of buying a cocoon or attending a demonstration on how to prepare Cajun seasoned crickets. And just like any good expo, there were even a few booth babes, including one entomologist named Karen who managed to look radiant while kissing a cockroach.

After admiring some carefully preserved stickbugs and squinting through a microscope at mosquito larvae, I breezed past an aquarium of live Madagascar hissing roaches and was offered the option let one crawl on my bare skin. Generally, I would say no to this offer. But the bug fair only comes once a year.  

Only 364 days left,

Miss Alie Ward