Skylaire Alfvegren

With 2012 upon us, we are indeed entering the Dragon — the water dragon, to be exact. It's a year in the Chinese zodiac we haven't been in since 1952, a year that found Dwight D. Eisenhower — who would later warn of the military-industrial complex — elected president, the......

In the USA, the only country in the Western world whose government allows direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals, deaths due to said legal meds now outnumber those caused by illegal drugs. Ten percent of the population takes antidepressants, and "new" ailments such as adult-onset ADHD might be laughable if Big......

In 1936, Musso & Frank, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, responded to its growing popularity by expanding with an exclusive "Back Room" tucked behind the Vogue Theater. Angelenos desiring to converse with literary titans such as Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hammett, Chandler and West could try to worm their way past an......

This writer is quite convinced the advent of reality television signified the final nail in the coffin for modern civilization. If the Mayan calendar-makers hadn't run out of space, they'd have likely chiseled something about ritually sacrificing small-screen pea brains (Kim Kardashian, Snooki, Kate Gosselin) to avoid the hellfire wrath......

Father Gregory Boyle — a recent recipient of the faith-based humanitarian Opus Prize, which recognizes "heroes who are conquering the world's persistent social problems" — is a straight-up saint. The Jesuit priest became the pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights in 1986. The mission, lodged between two of the......

The Unholy Three describe their act as "a quickly paced, provocative, Dada-esque combination of wizardry, mentalism and offbeat humor." But it's so much more. Made up of the ghoulish Rob Zabrecky (former Possum Dixon frontman), "scientific phenomenalist" David Lovering (who also percusses for the Pixies) and Fitzgerald the "Delusionist" (best......

While it could be said that the "science" of Star Trek has been dissected more than any other sci-fi franchise, some would argue it is Star Wars that has inspired the most science-related career paths among viewers. Wookie-speak may not have its own dictionary (only a few entries in the......

There are movies individuals of a certain stripe go out of their way to avoid: blockbusters like Avatar and Titanic, for instance. Then there are classics that, for one reason or another (say, a friend's fatal Christmastime car accident), a person might manage to miss, like Frank Capra's almost unavoidable......

Silent night, bloody-carnage-from-hell-kept-from-U.S.-theatrical-distribution-for-more-than-a-decade night! Our friends at Cinefamily have accomplished the impossible yet again. Our country — known for its spree-shooting high school students, voyeuristic prison reality shows and ever-encroaching all-around police state legislation — has been deprived of seeing "the most controversial Japanese film of the millennium" on a......

Occupy L.A. is not gone, and not forgotten. Last Monday, thousands paid a visit to the port of Los Angeles. While Occupy Long Beach was due for an eviction, it turns out only one single cop showed up to tell the throngs they could stay. With change a-coming all over......