AltWeeklies Wire
It's Only Up from Here for the Director of the New Cult Classic 'The Room'new
Greg Sestero's film is regarded as one of the great camp classics of all time, a movie considered so bad it's brilliant. Its monthly midnight showings in West Hollywood routinely sell out all five of the theater's screens simultaneously, with crowds that have turned the viewing experience into the craziest interactive movie party since The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski |
08-31-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Randy Jurado Ertll Seeks to Improve Life for Fellow Salvadoran-Americansnew
Ertll, executive director of the Latino advocacy organization El Centro de Accion Social, documents the trials minority children face in America in his new book, Hope in Times of Darkness: A Salvadoran American Experience.
Pasadena Weekly |
Megan Sebestyen |
08-31-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Happy New Year, Peggy Rebernew
I was a few days shy of 11 when in February 1970 a jury in my hometown of Lebanon, Pa., acquitted 27-year-old Art Root of the torture slaying of teenager Margaret Lynn "Peggy" Reber. Not long after that, Root moved away and the case has since been on ice. But no one, including me, ever forgot that time.
Pasadena Weekly |
Kevin Uhrich |
08-19-2009 |
Crime & Justice
'Flame & Citron' Looks Over its Shoulder at the Nazi Occupation of Denmarknew
Even “good” wars are complicated. In director Ole Christian Madsen's Flame & Citron, the loyalties and motivations of citizens in Denmark during the Nazi occupation become so murky that the two title characters aren’t sure who can be trusted.
Pasadena Weekly |
Jana J. Monji |
08-17-2009 |
Reviews
'Funny People' Get Serious About Comedynew
A happy-sad dichotomy is at the heart of the new film “Funny People,” featuring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen joined by Judd Apatow regulars and a galaxy of major star cameos.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski |
08-03-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Funny People, Judd Apatow
Hypocrisy 101: The Vetting of Judge Sonia Sotomayornew
Does Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have cotton in his brains? I was listening to the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor and was gobsmacked to hear Graham's "lecture" about the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.
Pasadena Weekly |
Ellen Snortland |
07-27-2009 |
Commentary
After Nearly 50 Years, Bob Fisher's Ice House Remains L.A.'s Top Comedy Spotnew
The show has gone on -- for almost half a century now. Next year the Ice House will celebrate its 50th year in business, making it the oldest comedy club in America, and on Saturday the club welcomes its four millionth customer.
Pasadena Weekly |
Bobby Pollier |
07-20-2009 |
Performance
Kwei Quartey Takes Readers Back to His Native Ghana in 'Wife of the Gods'new
Quartey has long harbored a passion for writing fiction, and his debut novel is a mystery set in the land of his birth. The book is laced with vivid depictions of its exotic locale, as well as twists and quirks rooted firmly in the traditions of that African nation.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski |
07-20-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The 'Outlier' Elephant in the Room is Gender Imbalancenew
Malcolm Gladwell either ignores, dismisses or is utterly blind to the massive gender elephant in the room -- a shocking disregard for the success and failure rates of half the human race.
Pasadena Weekly |
Ellen Snortland |
07-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
Cash for Clunkers: Buckets of Bolts for the Low, Low Price of $1 Billionnew
Theoretically the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) -- aka "Cash For Clunkers" -- sounds like a swell idea. But it's also pretty pie-in-the-sky. I'm not the first to notice that this bill assumes that there are lots of people driving around a car that is worth less than $4,500 and can actually afford a new car.
Pasadena Weekly |
Jennifer Hadley |
07-13-2009 |
Economy
Latest 'Ice Age' Shamelessly Plucks Plot Twists from a Number of Other Worksnew
As it is, there's little satisfaction and even less humor to be extracted from problems attributed to the central characters that are distilled down to saccharine sound bites.
Pasadena Weekly |
Lisa Miller |
07-13-2009 |
Reviews
California's Ex-Attorney General Calls for an End to Capital Punishmentnew
With more than 700 Death Row prisoners awaiting execution for decades and no money in sight for improving the integrity and efficiency of the failing capital punishment system, John Van de Kamp is publicly calling for an end to the death penalty. But unlike most of capital punishment's ardent opponents, he has actually sent men to Death Row.
Pasadena Weekly |
Joe Piasecki |
07-13-2009 |
Crime & Justice
GM's Bankruptcy Marks the End of an Era of Second-Best Arrogancenew
The truth is we all lose and, in a sense, it is the end of an era. But romanticizing GM's past, particularly the past several years, when we've watched it fall further and further behind Asian automakers in terms of affordability and technology isn’t healthy either.
Pasadena Weekly |
Jennifer Hadley |
06-16-2009 |
Business & Labor
Abortion Wars Turn Deadly With the Murder of Dr. George Tillernew
I've been on the front lines of the choice wars in Los Angeles. We were very aware that we were putting our lives on the line with these wackos. "Baby Killers!" they'd yell at us as we protected family planning clinics.
Pasadena Weekly |
Ellen Snortland |
06-15-2009 |
Sex
'Transformers' Celebrates 25 Years with an All-Out Pasadena Gatheringnew
Transformers will reach a milestone when fans of all ages pack the Pasadena Convention Center for BotCon 2009, celebrating both 25 years of robotic success and the June 24 release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Pasadena Weekly |
Marry Pivazian |
06-08-2009 |
Culture
Tags: BotCon 2009, Transformers
