County Fair upholds tradition through food selection


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Tucked in the far eastern reaches of Los Angeles County, behind a water reserve, golf course and park, lies an expansive parking lot. To park here you’ll have to shell out somewhere in between $10 and $25. Why? Because it’s the LA County Fair. A tradition that began in 1922, the LA County Fair boasts […]

Foreign film highlights true brutalities of war


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Forget Tarantino and his Basterds — the real ruthless Nazi killers of World War II can be found in the Danish import Flame & Citron. Based on the actual story of two Danish resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Denmark who come to be known as Flame and Citron, the film chronicles the efforts and accomplishments in […]

First kisses not always ideal


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Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted to fall in love. But more than that — more than the simple act of stumbling into bliss — I wanted to fall in love through a kiss. A peck on the lips, something sloshy — I was even okay with the idea of braces. I […]

New comedy fails to reach its potential


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These days, comedy’s best friend is your average Joe. Writer-producer-director Mike Judge taps into this phenomenon with his own quirky rendition of ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Judge’s latest film, Extract, is being promoted as the unofficial sequel to his box-office-flop-turned-cult-classic Office Space, harnessing the same “stick-it-to-the-man” attitude. The emphasis here, however, isn’t on […]

Foreign film depicts an honest, intimate portrait of family life


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F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said, “Family quarrels are bitter things. They don’t go according to any rules. They’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.” Still Walking, the new film by the modern Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda, is about just that kind of wound, the sort that […]