Meteors remind us to cherish rare moments


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Do you remember when you were five, maybe six, and held an empty pickle jar as if it were as big as the world? And it was once, cradled within the intimate embrace of your innocent touch, this gaping expanse entwined with naïve hope and small, clenched fingers. You scampered amidst giggles and lost breaths […]

Finding love online is trial and error


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The holiday season is almost upon us, and that means love is soon to be in the air. Expect repeat screenings of romantic Christmas movies designed to make you pine for someone to share hot chocolate with by the fire. And because of the inevitable desperation that comes with the closing of yet another year, […]

Make nice with your office neighbors


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Office buildings tend to be more like condominiums than your standard, single-family suburban homes in that the workspace is often divided into small parts and shared by many different families or in this case, businesses. Even well-established companies often lease plots of cubicle space to smaller companies, which often become their annoying neighbors. So, it […]

McCarthy novels sap adrenaline from films


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Ours is a violent generation, and Cormac McCarthy knows it. He knows it, and he knows how to exploit us for it. The final third of Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men was one of the most divisive acts of cinema committed this decade. After establishing a violent and […]

A sweet spot in Little Tokyo


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Chewy. That’s the best word to describe traditional Japanese mochi, a treat derived from glutinous rice. Though most Benihana-eating, less educated folk know the treat as a round rice ball filled with ice cream or as a trendy pétite topping for frozen yogurt, mochi’s origins stem from customary offerings to the gods and are a […]

Cluttered home pages call for November spring cleaning


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When it comes to social networking, I consider myself a generous person. I am willing to click like there is no tomorrow, joining Facebook groups I don’t care about and becoming fans of things I’ve never heard of just so its owners can get one more popularity point. These are the sacrifices I make for […]

Office turns quirks into irritating habits


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Our mothers might say our quirks are what make us who we are; they give us “character.” Unfortunately, some quirks aren’t so charming and can sometimes manifest themselves as bad habits, which are notoriously hard to break. Sometimes, they are so deeply ingrained in a person’s behavior that turning them off is a nearly impossible […]

Single-screen theaters cultivate best and worst of indie film


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What can you say about a movie in 200 words? At the Daily Trojan, the word count for film reviews stands at somewhere around 800. At other papers, that number runs higher or lower depending on the editor and, more frequently these days, the bean counters behind the arts section. Put all those words together, […]

Clichés inevitable in likening cities


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There are two destinations where dreamers go to pursue wealth and fame: If you’re reading this, you’ve probably chosen Los Angeles. The other city, LA’s older sibling, still serves as a destination for wide-eyed youths yearning to make it big: New York City, which, on this side of the country, can inspire either wonder and […]