HBO’s Game of Thrones slays viewer expectations


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Game of Thrones is back, and the bodies — from warm-blooded lovers to frostbitten corpses — are already piling up. Eleven months after the horrific events of the Red Wedding left millions of viewers simultaneously anguished and awestruck, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s sprawling fantasy series returned with a vengeance last Sunday. The fourth […]

Chaos looming after Thrones’ premiere


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Fans of Game of Thrones have been promised that this season will be the bloodiest, most action-packed yet, which has viewers guessing which main characters will be killed off over the next 10 episodes. We didn’t receive any big shocks in Season 4’s long-anticipated premiere — though we did see a fair amount of blood, […]

A graduate’s bucket list for Los Angeles


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Being sick is the worst. Instead of frolicking in the sunshine last weekend (c’est la vie, USC Springfest 2014 and CicLAvia), I was in bed, with only a copious amount of Kleenex and my Netflix account for comfort. That left me with plenty of time to troll the Internet and write a lot of whiny […]

Companies embrace streaming devices


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The white whale of the current technological market is one we always hear in relation to any set-top box: the persistently rumored “iTV,” the evolved form of the Apple TV that Steve Jobs apparently cracked the code of how to make before his untimely death. Despite the pressure and wide range of rumors, with some […]

A call for an increase in antiheroines


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Look at A Clockwork Orange’s Alex, Goodfellas’ Henry Hill, Scarface’s Tony Montana, The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jordan Bellford, Pulp Fiction’s Jules Winnfield, American Beauty’s Lester Burnham, Fight Club’s Tyler Durden, Gran Torino’s Walt Kowalski, American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman and Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle: all riveting characters, all antiheroes and all, interestingly, male. I went […]

Captain America shields audiences


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Captain America is unique among superheroes in that he’s a square with sharp edges, an overgrown Boy Scout whose unflappable sense of right and wrong allows him to reject mindless jingoism in favor of higher virtues: bravery, compassion and a fierce sense of moral accountability. Co-created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character looks […]

Take flight with your own food options


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I have been flying a lot lately. As much as I love traveling in an aerodynamic, gravity-defying machine used to transport people, I am not a fan of all the crazy rules and regulations that are mandated. More than anything, what is the deal with the expensive airport food — or, if you’re on a long […]

Experiencing Runyon Canyon


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The first time I hiked Runyon Canyon, I couldn’t even find the entrance. I aimlessly maneuvered my car, a beat-up and blue ’98 Ford Escort, up the windy Hollywood Hills. I remember focusing mostly on not driving off the road during the turns. Out of desperation, I finally rolled down the window (my car is […]

Facebook invests in virtual reality with Oculus Rift


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Is virtual reality the next arms race in entertainment technology? Facebook certainly seems to think so. Shortly after Oculus VR opened up pre-orders for the Rift Development Kit 2 and Sony’s revelation of Project Morpheus, a virtual reality headset that would sync with Playstation 4, the social media conglomerate bought the tech upstart for $2 […]

Land of the free, home of the loud


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Lately, I’ve been feeling very British. For example, yesterday I was sitting on the tube reading the London Evening Standard newspaper and avoiding eye contact with everyone around me like only seasoned tube passengers know how to do, when some boisterous Americans disturbed my peaceful ride with unnecessarily loud talking and laughter. I was irked […]