There’s a city in northern New Mexico called Chimayo that I visit everytime I’m home. It’s a spiritual site — one of many in The Land of Enchantment — with a sprawling hodgepodge of accumulated infrastructure to accommodate a small well of supposedly holy sand. Imagine: a city built entirely around a circle of dirt […]

On Friday, Japanese film studio Studio Ghibli released Only Yesterday, theoretically their latest film in a long line of celebrated, classic animated films, such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle. However, Only Yesterday, in fact, was made in 1991 and only released in the States this year. Only Yesterday tells the story […]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man, when in conversation with a woman, will always explain things unnecessarily. I recently met a fellow Trojan at an event. He seemed a little out of depth, standing to the side on his own, staring down at the gathered people — he was by far the […]

Last weekend, I attended a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at LA Opera. For those well versed in classical music, praise for The Magic Flute usually stems from the tenderness and superiority of its part writing, rather than it’s subpar and slightly misogynistic plotline, as is the case with most of Mozart’s operas.  With […]

It’s just another Pleasant Valley Sunday. You’re listening to some oldies while taking the Last Train to Clarksville. You’re staring out the window like the Daydream Believer that you are. Gotten the hint yet? Yeah, that’s right. Hey, hey, it’s the Monkees! This month, the beloved ’60s group announced they were releasing a brand new […]