Sean J. O'Connell

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Nick Hornby

Sean J. O'Connell
Author Nick Hornby struck a chord with solipsistic young men with his mid-’90s novel High Fidelity, and went on to become one of the most popular English writers in America. Nearly 20 years later, Hornby is still going strong. He adapted the screenplay for the recent Reese Witherspoon vehicle Wild......

Big 10-Year Anniversary Movie Trivia Contest

Sean J. O'Connell
Movie nerds are not hard to come by in L.A.. Valets in this town can list the complete works of Robert Altman. Those valets should head to the Big 10-Year Anniversary Movie Trivia Contest at the Aero for a chance to win free tickets for a year and a night......
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FleischerFest

Sean J. O'Connell
The Fleischer brothers started their eponymous animation studio in New York at just about the same time that more famous fella with the mouse did. But rather than rely on wise-cracking animals, the Fleischers hit it big with Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye and even Superman. To celebrate Dave......
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Jenny Slate With Obvious Child

Sean J. O'Connell
Comedian Jenny Slate is awkward. But huggably awkward. She over-shares on social media and she’ll happily use caps lock when it ISN’T REALLY NEEDED. That adorable discomfort plays out nicely as the voice of web sensation Marcel the Shell, a character whose smokey, childish husk has been heard by tens......
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Dinner Party Download Holiday Frolic

Sean J. O'Connell
Hours of listening to public radio can give people all the ammunition they need to be an engaging dinner party guest, but few people have time for that (unless they take the 405 to work). Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam provide the Cliffs Notes version with their weekly KPCC......
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Dawn Wells booksigning

Sean J. O'Connell
Fifty years after the debut of the television show Gilligan’s Island, the debate over Mary Ann or Ginger still plays out nightly in bars around the world. The hypothetical question can define someone’s character and priorities, but really the only person who probably got to make the decision was the......
Poster for Jaco: The Film; Credit: Courtesy of the Grammy Museum

Metallica's Robert Trujillo Honors a Bass Legend with Jaco: The Film

Sean J. O'Connell
The name Jaco Pastorius looms large in the brief history of the electric bass. In just a few years, the wild child musician showed the limitless potential for the instrument with his fleet-fingered technique and insatiable appetite for boundary-busting experimentation. He was also an emotional firecracker who died at the......
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Truth & Soul Inc: The Films of Robert Downey Sr.

Sean J. O'Connell
Before there was enfant terrible Robert Downey Jr., there was the much more subversive and controversial père terrible: Robert Downey Sr. The elder filmmaker made his biggest impression with the outrageous Putney Swope — a film that has never not been relevant since it first skewered race and advertising in......
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Andrew Dice Clay

Sean J. O'Connell
In the 1980s, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was quite successful at helping people form very strong opinions about him. His chauvinist Brooklyn shtick amused and angered the appropriate groups and Clay went on to a briefly successful Hollywood career, which flamed out shortly after he starred in 1990’s The Adventures......