The Lord of the Rings

Identical Twins Who Play Harp Duets

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying Martin Schoeller's new show "Identical: Portraits of Twins" at ACE gallery in Beverly Hills is interesting enough on its own, but the opening this past Saturday was an unusual and memorable experience that, q ... More >>

5 Awesome Free Things To Do in L.A. This Week

See also: *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week Fans of a good laugh, Tom Sizemore and the realm of the fantastic need not break their wallets this week. Check out these free offerings that make even the dullest weekday interesting, f ... More >>

A Different Kind of Fantasy League

The Best Concerts to See In L.A. This Week

Monday, April 1 Rhye, Nosaj Thing MASONIC LODGE Love hurts! On the one hand, Rhye does offer more of that sort of nu-quiet-fire sexy pop that blows through cocktail bars from here to Ouagadougou. You know, the kind that, if your timing is off in the hearing of it, might just encourage you to go ahe ... More >>

Middle-Earth and the Iranian New Year: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

See also: *More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage Friday, March 15 The New Beverly Cinema is presenting a David O. Russell double feature starting at 7:30 p.m. Russell, whose Silver Linings Playbook recently won an Oscar for Jennifer Lawrence, first gained attention back in 1994 for his controversial fil ... More >>

Lord of the Rings Fans Hold Their Own Oscar Party, With Elves, Hobbits and Middle Earth Drinking Songs

If you're going to go to an Oscar party, make sure it's one involving J.R.R. Tolkien fans. On Sunday afternoon, the One Expected Party took over American Legion Post 43 for a Hobbit-centric event that lasted late into the night. We were only a couple blocks away from the Dolby Theater, but the vibe ... More >>

John Rabe and Julian Bermudez: Radio Host and Art Curator Are a Private Couple in the Public Eye

*Check out our entire 2013 Couples Issue here John Rabe, 46, and Julian Bermudez, 38, met at the close of a sunny day in Malibu in 2001, when separate afternoons spent sunbathing on the shores of El Matador beach led both to the Friendship on West Channel Road. The nautical-themed watering hole, on ... More >>

Doing the Best With the Least: 5 Great Aspects of Disappointing 2012 Movies

In a piece about good acting in bad movies he wrote last year, A.O. Scott suggested that "You might almost say that greatness shows itself precisely in the discrepancy between the performance and the material." It's in keeping with this notion that we've decided to highlight some of 2012's overachie ... More >>

Cinefamily's Telethon Will Include Robert Downey, Jr. Digging Up a Time Capsule, and More

10 Great Stores in L.A. For Goth Gifts

See also: *Clockwork Couture, L.A.'s Premiere Steampunk Fashion Spot You've reached the holiday shopping homestretch, but there's one final gift that's driving you mad. Maybe it's for your sibling, or the co-worker whose name you pulled in Secret Santa. Regardless, it's for someone whose known inte ... More >>

USC Professor Uses Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to Teach Students About War

When Professor Patrick James was 13, he picked up The Lord of the Rings. It took him less than three days to finish reading the trilogy. Years passed and James entered academia. Although his discipline is international relations, he wanted to bring the books that captured his attention to the class ... More >>

The Hobbit Review: Why Peter Jackson's Prequel Is for Tolkien Obsessives Only

Phil Jackson is Back at Lakers, 95 Percent Certainty, after Firing of Mike Brown: He'll Convince Kobe to Let Nash Have the Ball

By Paul Teetor Phil Jackson is back - unofficially, but with 95 percent certainty, pending a signed deal, etc. etc. This changes everything for the Lakers. How can simply replacing Coach Mike Brown with the Lord of the Rings make such a huge difference? Suddenly an LA Lakers vs. Miami Heat Final ... More >>

Lord of the Rings Fans Celebrate The Hobbit's 75th Anniversary at TheOneRing.net's Annual Picnic

"We were the number one place to be in Hollywood on Oscar night!" Josh Rubinstein gushes, reminiscing about the three celeb-laden Academy Awards parties he helped plan as one of the L.A. events supervisors for Lord of the Rings superfan site TheOneRing.net (TORn). Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson and most ... More >>

The Ethics of Superhero Gun Use: Why Indy Does It in Raiders of the Lost Ark But Batman Doesn't in Dark Knight Rises

For all his doom and gloom, Batman isn't exactly an antihero--a point that's worth bringing up right now because another, less tortured hero can currently be found on IMAX screens across Los Angeles: ... More >>

If Enya's Music Doesn't Soothe You, You're Probably Not Human

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] On South Park, Enya is portrayed as a horrible joy-sucking presence in pop-culture. Her music actually forces Stan to com ... More >>

Fellowship!

Fellowship!: the musical parody of Lord of the Rings Returns to the Steve Allen Theater, Plus the Latest New Theater Reviews

Bryan Harnetiaux's new play, Holding On -- Letting Go is difficult to watch for the way it captures the realistic agonies of a wife slowly losing her husband to liver cancer. It is nonetheless a tender drama, well rendered under James Reynold's direction at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasade ... More >>

Lord of the Rings Parody Musical Fellowship! Returns to L.A., With Superfans

You might say that Fellowship! The Musical Parody of The Fellowship of the Ring has gone there and back again. After originating at NoHo's El Portal Theatre in 2004 and winning L.A. Weekly Theater Awards for Best Comedy Ensemble and Best Musical of 2005, Fellowship! played to great acclaim in San D ... More >>

Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Goodbye Ben Gazzara, Hello Malcolm McDowell

Jimmy Wong Has a New YouTube Cooking Show (for Nerds)

Jimmy Wong continues to perfect the art of being more awesome than the rest of us. The 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist, actor, goofball and YouTube sensation launched a new YouTube channel in December where he and his hyper-adorable co-host, Ashley Adams, show you how to re-create the food and dri ... More >>

Kraddy's Anthems of the Hero: "The idea was Led Zeppelin 3000"

One week before the release of his new album, Anthems of the Hero, electronic dance music producer Kraddy, aka Matthew Kratz, is shooting the video for the album's first single "Black Box" at a house in Venice. Directed by Mickey Capoferri, the video depicts a house party gone awry, as two girls fig ... More >>

Top Ten Metal Bands With Strange Gimmicks

Oderous Urungus of GWAR​See also: Top Five Metal Guest Vocalists That Make You Say "WTF" When it comes to our musical preferences, we pretend that we value artistic integrity, strong musicianship, and meaningful lyrics above all else. But in truth we often fall for a good gimmick. Whether it' ... More >>

Top Five Metal Guest Vocalists That Make You Say "WTF"

WWEThe Ultimate Warrior​At the end of August, Pennsylvania hardcore/metalcore outfit Century released its third album, Red Giant. The group's emotionally-charged lyrics are given a fiery delivery via the combined efforts of vocalist Carson Slovak and bassist/vocalist Ricky Armellino. On this a ... More >>

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Return to TV in CG Animated Series for Nickelodeon

Shannon Cottrell​See more photos in "San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Preview Night," "San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Day One," "San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Day Two." Friday night, Nickelodeon brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans a sneak peek at what's in store for the franchise with a pizza party at Ba ... More >>

Sean Bean, 'Lord of the Rings' Star, Stabbed With Shard of Glass in Totally J.R. Tolken-Worthy Bar Brawl

IMDBReady to rage​We're about to OD on stupid celebrity news today, but this one's too amazing to pass up -- a perfect "Game of Thrones" stabbing, involving one of Hollywood's biggest badasses, come true at some low-brow London pub. The Playboy Mansion is even involved (sort of)! So late Sund ... More >>

Music Picks: Prince, Amanda Jo Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, Civet,

Also, Miguel, L.A. Bluegrass Situation, Heidecker and Wood, the Ditty Bops and others

Team Unicorn: Sexy and Geeky Girls, They Do Exist!

The tagline on the Team Unicorn Facebook page pretty much sums it up: 'Geek Girls: Like unicorns, we're not supposed to exist.' Rileah Vanderbilt, Clare Grant, Milynn Sarley and Michele Boyd are beautiful and talented women who are also proud to be nerds! Their first video, "G33K and G4M3R GIRLS", ... More >>

Black Death

20 Musicians We Will Miss: 2010, the Year in R.I.P.

20 Musicians We Will Miss R.I.P.

The Birds Are Flying Elsewhere

With Linda Perhacs, we'll think about the world

Comics From the Other Side: Fringe Team Signs at Meltdown

Comic book fans and science fiction lovers - the two are not mutually exclusive by any means, but in spite of the broad cross-over appeal between the two, it's pretty nifty when a sci-fi title throws up props to comic book history. Meltdown Comics hosted a signing and silent auction for Fox's Fring ... More >>

Movie Review: BRAN NUE DAE

W00tstock 2.4 PWNS Thursday Evening Events at Comic-Con 2010

Nicole CamposLen Peralta's W00tstock 2.4 poster - drawn during the show, right on stage!​For what is typically considered one of the lighter, less big events-heavy days of Comic-Con, this year's must-see-and-do Thursday events in and around the convention center were outrageously plentiful. Yo ... More >>

'The Dark Crystal' and 'Labyrinth' Artists Brian and Wendy Froud Appear at Comic-Con

I have a vivid memory of seeing The Dark Crystal at a movie theater as a young child. It was beautiful and, at times, a little scary, but still completely captivating. Much of the otherworldly look of The Dark Crystal is attributed to Brian and Wendy Froud. Brian was the conceptual designer for the ... More >>

Stage Raw: Pasadena Playhouse Emerges from Bankruptcy

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE on KING LEARCAPTURED AURAL PHANTASY THEATER ​CAPT presents a special event tonight (Friday) night, Hooray for Hollywood Extravaganza, celebrating the legends of Our Fair City, In a style mixing radio and vaudeville. The Galler ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Beyond, Priscilla's Perfect Day, Arcadia

Also, The Girl Who Would Be King, St. Nicholas, Oklahoma! and more

Stage Raw: Beyond

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE ON IN THE HEIGHTSNEW REVIEW GO BEYOND ​ Photo courtesy of El Portal Theatre This musical extravaganza, conceived and directed by Aurelien Roulin, is described as a cross between French cabaret and Cirque de Soleil, but ... More >>

Q & A With Rustic Canyon Chef Evan Funke: Quitting Massage Therapy & Firefighting for Cooking Learning the Ropes at Spago

A. ScattergoodRustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke​ Evan Funke, executive chef at Rustic Canyon, is as locally sourced as much of the food he puts on his plates. The chef is third generation California, went to culinary school in Pasadena, and came up through the ranks of Wolfgang Puck's k ... More >>

Fly off the Wall

Do You IMDB?

How a fanatic helped put Hollywood under one big tent

The Dwarf Got Dissed

Why this year’s Oscars suck more than usual