AltWeeklies Wire
How George and Now Barack Mirror Our American Psychenew
When Barack Obama claimed his victory in Chicago's Grant Park, he thanked many people. But the one name missing from the list was the man who perhaps did the most to win Obama the presidency: George W. Bush. More than anyone else, he showed the disastrous downside of being born rich, white and well-connected.
L.A. Weekly |
John Powers |
11-07-2008 |
Commentary
Political Palates: Obama's Taste for Kine Grindznew
Like everyone else, I would like to think that the politicians I vote for have more discerning palates than the ones I happen not to support, but this is not always the case.
L.A. Weekly |
Jonathan Gold |
11-07-2008 |
Food+Drink
In California, the Mystery Voters Have Their Waynew
The record-breaking 13-million-plus voters proved to be a mercurial throng who followed no code or discernible ideology, placing into the state constitution a ban on gay marriage, even as they trampled a proposal to require notification of parents whose daughters seek abortions. It was an almost schizophrenic Coalition of Whatever.
L.A. Weekly |
Jill Stewart |
11-07-2008 |
Politics
'Ballast': Weight of the Worldnew
Taking measure of Lance Hammer's Sundance-awarded drama.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-07-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
Author Geoff Nicholson Gets Pedestriannew
The Lost Art of Walking explores the creative fuel for history's greatest thinkers.
L.A. Weekly |
Matthew Fleischer |
10-31-2008 |
Nonfiction
Pull Up Your Obamas: Beyond Shepard Fairey's 'Hope' Teesnew
The Obama political-merchandise machine has grown to epic proportions. And why not? Obama is the smartest, best-dressed, best-spoken, most energetic and beloved entity to come along in politics in a long time. People would not only die for him, they would wear flip-flops with tiny plastic Obama bobble heads for him.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
10-31-2008 |
Fashion
What We Talk About When We Talk About Socialismnew
There's something worth examining in the McCain campaign's desire to boil the archetypal Joe the Plumber and the prosecutorial Joe McCarthy up into a strange brew they hope will get an anxious electorate drunk enough to put the Arizona senator in the White House.
L.A. Weekly |
Joe Donnelly |
10-31-2008 |
Commentary
Seoul, Korea: A Food Diarynew

For years, I had contemplated what my first dinner in Seoul might be like. Now I know.
L.A. Weekly |
Jonathan Gold |
10-17-2008 |
Food+Drink
Rick Caruso's Aria: L.A.'s Mall King Mulls a Mayoral Runnew
Caruso has teased his impending mayoral candidacy off and on for nearly five years, yet he's done little to formally promote a holistic vision for the city. In the absence of such a comprehensive civic blueprint, others have stepped in to fill the void.
L.A. Weekly |
Matthew Fleischer |
10-17-2008 |
Politics
'The Secret Life of Bees': Buzz Killnew
Saccharine civil rights drama is all honey, no sting.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-17-2008 |
Reviews
Oliver Stone on 'W.' and the President Who Would Be John Waynenew

W. attempts to cut through the familiar agitprop from both sides of the political spectrum in order to take the long view on its subject and his impact on the course of American history.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Moving Midway': Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?new
A white Southern family's alterna-history meets reality.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-17-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Godfrey Cheshire, Moving Midway
The Strange and Disturbing Trial of Anand Jonnew

Even in its quietest moments, the Jon case is a volatile fable of rape, ambitious but naïve girls, the rag trade and feral male vanity. It is a trial junkie's dream. Inexplicably, the proceedings have so far garnered little media attention.
L.A. Weekly |
Steven Mikulan |
10-10-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Going Door-to-Door for Obama in North Vegasnew
I've come to believe that in my own small way I've helped to allow the takeover of Washington by the present coalition of free-market buccaneers, armchair imperialists and religious zealots -- whose supporters have been all too eager to do the grunt work of politics. And so I take my clipboard and trudge forward in the 97-degree heat.
L.A. Weekly |
Steven Mikulan |
10-10-2008 |
Politics
Bill Maher's Cross to Bearnew

Maher has been hammering away forever at institutionalized faith, but Religulous, which Lionsgate quixotically plans to position as an Oscar contender in the documentary category, raises the bar to a whole new dimension of attack, as you might expect from a movie with Borat director Larry Charles at the helm.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews