James Franco

Hanksy, the Banksy-Meets-Tom Hanks Street Artist, Tells Us the Secrets to Spoofing Celebrities

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying Banksy is so 2010. Hanksy, the similarly secretive street artist and love child of Banksy and Tom Hanks, is reaching his own level of notoriety thanks to his celeb-inspired murals, the subject of Gallery 1988 ... More >>

Ana Martinez: The Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Girl

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. In other cities, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce would not be considered a flashy gig. But in Hollywood, it's a dramatically different story and one unique to Los Ange ... More >>

Kate Middleton Helped Make Emerald the Color of 2013. An L.A. Art Exhibit Asks Why

Marisa Tomei Was Pissed When the GMO Labeling Proposition Failed. So She Got Some Friends Together...

It's 3 p.m. on a Sunday, and on the back patio at Axe in Venice, wooden folding chairs and communal benches have been arranged in a semicircle opposite one cushioned chair, positioned front and center, where (the restaurant's chalkboard promises) Dr. Vandana Shiva, environmental activist, seed saver ... More >>

Tawkify, a Matchmaking Service That Includes Treasure Hunts, Robot Compliments and, Well, Talking

Recently, on a blind date arranged by the matchmaking service Tawkify, I blurted out the last thing any sane man in his twenties wants to hear, gesturing to the bald ball of joy in a high chair a yard away as we approached our table: "I'm going to sit on this side, so I can stare at that baby!" T ... More >>

Sundance 2013: Sex with James Franco, Sultry Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Radcliffe's Jew-Fro, and a Great Film From Jordan

In his brief remarks before the first public screening of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford praised the Sundance Institute's ongoing filmmaker development labs as "our core," noting that the festival itself was conceived "to create an audience for the filmmakers in our lab program."

Yung Jake, a Recent CalArts Grad, Could Be the Breakout Art Star of Sundance

Although half of Los Angeles will decamp this weekend to the snowy hillsides of Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, not everyone is going for the movies. Starry-eyed attendees relish access to the suits, the skiing and the swag, but what about the art? Shari Frilot has curated Sundance ... More >>

MOCA Fires Paul Schimmel, Chief Curator: Is This Part of Eli Broad's Downtown Takeover?

Update: MOCA has completed its transformation to trendster heaven by contracting the studio of L.A. street-art celeb Shepard Fairey to do all major design work. Details below. Local arts blogger Mat Gleason broke the game-changing news last night that Paul Schimmel, chief curator at the Los Angeles ... More >>

Top 5 Things You'll Find in an Anime Convention Exhibit Hall as Seen at AM2

See also: *14 Essential Items to Bring to Every Fan Convention *Homestuck Has Me Hooked Last weekend, AM2 returned to Anaheim Convention Center for another weekend of anime, manga and music. The annual event is relatively new to the convention scene -- this is its second year in Anaheim -- but it's ... More >>

Is Riff Raff Serious?

One thing's for certain: This maddeningly inscrutable white rapper is more entertaining than you are

Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO, Thrashed by Anonymous Old White Men in LA Times Roast

Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesHudson takes on the haters.​Half a year into her stint as CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dawn Hudson got a cutting performance review from the Los Angeles Times last weekend. The Times piece is not, at face value, an editorial evaluation of Hu ... More >>

Top 10 Street Art and Graffiti Stories of 2011

Shannon CottrellJR in L.A.​Yes, year-end lists. Not even street art is exempt. But hey, 2011 was a banner year for the Los Angeles street art and graffiti communities, as they enjoyed plenty of worldwide attention. LA Weekly put together the ten L.A.-related street art and graffiti stories th ... More >>

Five L.A. Internet Artists You Need to Know

Eddie Murphy's 10 Comedy Bits To Avoid as Oscar Host

Flicker/wereswanEddie Murphy's head is about to get bigger as the upcoming Oscar host.​ What a wild idea: Eddie Murphy as Oscar host. On the bright side, it's a relief from James Franco and Anne Hathaway, whose chemistry last February rivaled that of a sasquatch and Kathie Lee Gifford. For t ... More >>

Jeffrey Deitch Goes Underground? MOCA Director Supports Launch of Art Publications Public Fiction and Night Papers

Carol ChehMaya D'Aoust, the White Witch of L.A., performs at the launch party for Public Fiction and Night Papers. She acted as an oracle and took questions from the audience.​ I may have to change my mind about Jeffrey Deitch. I wrote some fairly nasty things about him on my blog, following ... More >>

Jacob Kassay at L&M Arts: 27-Year-Old, $290,500-Painting Superstar Is Actually Pretty Good

Jacob Kassay, "Untitled," 2011. Photo: Josh White/JWPictures, Courtesy L&M Arts, Los Angeles.Jacob Kassay's ballet barre, hung in front of silver-coated paper.​ It's not helpful to know an artist's work has sold in the secondary market for nearly $300,000 before you've seen it in person. Nor ... More >>

TCM Classic Film Festival: 12 Highlights

Strippers, junkies, mummies? Classic

Top 5 Least-Google-Friendly Bars in L.A.

​ You know what's awesome? Bars. Seriously. They're just all around great places. Drinks, fun, sometimes a little food...nothing bad there. We also kinda love being able to find bars, using modern marvels like Foursquare, a car navigation system, Yelp or search engines. Little things like tha ... More >>

#Banksy and the #Oscars: Our Fave Tweets About the Artist and the Big Show Are More Entertaining Than James Franco

OK MagazineBanksy?​Banksy seemed to get more positive buzz from the Oscars on Sunday than James Franco. And the artist wasn't even there. After a few weeks in L.A. in which the British wall painter saw his work taken down, stolen and vandalized, it was only fitting that he would then be dis ... More >>

Sasha Grey, L.A. Porn Star, Does Artsy Photography Book; James Franco is Jealous (Pictures)

Vice BooksSasha Grey does hot, banging art.​Update: The folks at Vice Books tell us they weren't going to officially announce the release until tomorrow (although the book's already listed at Amazon), so here's a minor look into the future. What is it about L.A. porn star Sasha Grey? The inno ... More >>

"My Favorite Thing in the World"

Judd Apatow's midLife report

Sleepless in Toronto

Self-curation as self-protection at TIFF

The Joke's on Who?

Take that, Hollywood! Joaquin Phoenix implodes to prove a point. Some point. We think

Movie Reviews: Mugabe and the White African, Peepli Live, Animal Kingdom

Also, Eat, Pray, Love, Mundo Alas, Tales From Earthsea

Some UCLA Students Rally Against Latino Author As Commencement Speaker

Gustavo Arellano.​A few UCLA students have started a Facebook page to campaign against the university's choice of OC Weekly writer and author Gustavo Arellano as the College of Letters and Science's commencement speaker next month. So far the "Bruins Against Gustavo Arellano for UCLA 2010 comm ... More >>

Gustavo Arellano To Deliver UCLA Keynote Speech

UCLA​Gustavo Arellano, author and columnist at LA Weekly's sister newspaper OC Weekly, was announced Thursday as the keynote speaker at the UCLA College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony in June. Arellano is a UCLA alumnus who earned a master's degree in Latin American studies from ... More >>

The TV Crank's Wish List

A DVD gift guide for curmudgeons who think there's nothing good on TV anymore

Milk: Proposition Hate

Biopic recaptures Californian intolerance at exactly the right time

Seth Rogen on Finding the Joke and Fatherly Wisdom

Who's your daddy?

Spider-Man, in Black and White

When good superheroes turn reductive

Eight-Legged Freaks

New York trembles as Spidey, Doc Ock play patty-cake

I, Bug

On Spider-Man and Woody Allen

My List

And welcome to it

Too Good and Weird

The Happy Life and Inevitable Death of Freaks and Geeks