LA stars are more than just celebrities


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Although Los Angeles is now known for its movie stars, many years ago, scientists flocked to the city to look at real stars — the ones in the sky. Despite the incessant blanket of smog caused by Hummers and light pollution from endless rows of streetlights, Los Angeles sits at a unique location that allows […]

An open letter to Wild Thing: I think I love you


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Dear Wild Thing, In commemoration of the movie release of Where the Wild Things Are this Friday, I am writing you a love letter. I’m not sure if you can read this — is it discriminatory of me to think that a Wild Thing lacks literacy? — but I wanted you to know that despite […]

Try to make me go to rehab


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Fellow students, you can relax. You are no longer responsible for the all-nighters you pulled during midterms. The blame for your procrastination can finally be placed on a greater force than yourself, when you are diagnosed with the hot new disorder you’re guaranteed to have: Internet Addiction Disorder, also known as IAD. Apparently, IAD is […]

Staff disappearances often remain mysteries


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Maybe it’s because I haven’t worked in many offices in my 20 years. Or maybe it’s because movies like Jerry Maguire fooled me into believing that every employee’s farewell is public and theatrical. It turns out I was wrong on both counts. In fact, there wasn’t so much as a memo, quick phone call or […]

Game creators crave validation


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Video game designers — especially those looking to produce something truly meaningful — must have some self-esteem issues. After all, their medium simply doesn’t command the same level of respect as film. Just read Roger Ebert’s creakingly unprogressive columns about the inability of video games to attain the same art and business status that film […]

Californians turn to missions for history


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In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know the grade-school rhyme that helps children everywhere remember just which Italian explorer planted a little European flag in the North American continent, bringing with him horses, coffee and smallpox. Americans even observe a holiday in his honor by closing down post offices on the second […]

Rites of passage come in various disguises


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Amid gold confetti, topless figureheads and raging techno, I experienced my first encounter with San Francisco’s LovEvolution last weekend. In an extravagant parade down Market Street, I saw pink elephants and cage dancers, penis balloons and some Amazonian wilderness. I even witnessed at least eight nude men, each posing for pictures with girls young enough […]

Google makes waves of progress


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Every day I check my email, hoping a certain message is there. No, it’s not an acceptance letter, a message from my boss or a shipping confirmation for those amazing shoes I just ordered. It’s my Google Wave invitation — and it still hasn’t come. Of course, I could get one on eBay for upwards […]

3-D effects detract from cinema’s artistry


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Cinematic spectacle is on life support. In some ways, the death knell of grand, eye-popping feats of onscreen ingenuity and artistry was finally sounded this year by the hack trio of Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers and Roland Emmerich. With Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the upcoming 2012, […]