Valentine’s is an excuse to seduce. And it’s usually not what you do, but how you do it. You can be the same ol’ washed-up cliché with lingerie, champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries that you’ve been for years, but… wouldn’t you rather charm her panties off with a do-it-yourself surprise that you put your heart and soul into? Carve your own love message into this wooden card that she’ll hold onto longer than the déjà vu cheese from Hallmark. Now, you’re slightly less of a sell-out.

Sure you can do it all over again, the painful way: cat fight to reserve a table at Spago, get all dolled up in your finest threads, pay a ridiculous amount for bad uptight service and mediocre food (because you know that they’re turning and burning those deuces and they are not hiding it either), wait in line for valet and come home frustrated and exhausted. Or… if you’re anything like me, then you think that Valentine’s is but a commercial ploy to drain your wallet. Screw the overpriced pre-fixes and champagne headaches, and add some color to your date by taking her to Lucha VaVoom, which starts tonight ($ 30)! It’s a must-see live show unlike any other, featuring Mexican wrestling, midget wrestling, burlesque and comedy at the Mayan theater downtown Feb. 12-14. To all the hopeless romantics that would tie the knot in a heart beat - the Vegas Elvis Chapel is so last year, this season get down on your knee in the ring and get hitched VaVoom style. The newlyweds will receive a video which will also be posted in LA Times. Doesn’t that sound better than the stuffy table-side manners song and dance?