University of California-Los Angeles

ViFF: Cinema Viet

The Vietnamese International Film Festival showcases a national and diaspora movie industry on the rise

Long Beach Cinematheque to Program Fiesta Twin Theatre in Downtown Santa Ana, Furthering the Area's Gentrification

For years, the Fiesta Twin Theatre on Fourth Street in downtown SanTana has shown English-language films in Spanish and Spanish-language films in Spanish.But there's a new film programmer coming to the cinemas--direct from El Long Beach--to fulfill indie-, student- and LGBT-movie dreams.

On The Line: Steve Parker Of The Tulsa Rib Company, Part Two

Read our interview with Steve Parker of The Tulsa Rib Company, Part One.And now, on to Part Two . . . .When you're not in the kitchen cooking, what are you doing?Training for triathlons, back packing and gardening. Unfortunately, training has gone downhill the last couple of months. I used to do Oly ... More >>

"Gustavo's Awesome Lecture Series!" Returns with Hector Tobar, Middle-Class Mexis, and More!

One of my favorite parts of 2011 was the inauguration of "Gustavo's Awesome Lecture Series!" in which I did my best Dick Cavett impersonation while interviewing authors, intellectuals, and other general awesome people at the Fullerton Public Library, under the auspices of the Cal State Fullerton Dep ... More >>

Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon of "Showtime" Lakers Brighten Christmas for Homeless Kids

Showtime-era Lakers starts Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon are scheduled to come to Buena Park tonight to help give Christmas gifts to homeless children. But, given the state of the Los Angeles Lakers these days, perhaps convincing "Silk" and "Stormin' Norman" to suit up and rejoin their old team would ... More >>

Garden Grove Cops to Hugo Sarmiento: 'This Mexican Speaks English!'

[Moxley Confidential] Targeted for torture after a 2005 anti-immigration rally, the UCLA Ph.D. is still waiting for justice

Levon Marashlian, Noted Armenian Historian, Details TV Coverage of Karabakh Conflict

After the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in Azerbaijan voted to unify the region with Armenia on Feb. 20, 1988, inter-ethnic fighting broke out. This devolved into a war that lasted through May 1994 and likely received little coverage on the nightly news. Here to fill us in on ... More >>

Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, Couple Accused of Planting Drugs in School Volunteer's Car, Have Hearing Delayed

The arraignment of Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, who are accused of planting drugs in a school volunteer's car, was delayed today because of a "healthcare emergency" that left the husband "unable to speak," according to his lawyer.Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schw ... More >>

Doheny Surf Festival Day 2 - Doheny State Beach - 8/12/12

As the second day of the first annual Doheny Surf Festival commenced, so did the swell, the music and the island vibes. The smell of sunscreen and coconut oil lingered in the air over the beach and tents stocked with Polynesian jewelry, surf art and board shorts of all materials began to slowly brea ... More >>

On the Line: Colleen Johnson of 50 Forks, Part Two

Even in her spare time, Chef Colleen winds up incorporating food into her hobbies. Her experience spans decades of working with great chefs like Thomas Keller. She almost gets us nostalgic for cooking class. Almost.Read our interview with Colleen Johnson of 50 Forks, Part One. And now, on to Part Tw ... More >>

Rapper Omar Offendum to Perform at UCI's 'Sounds for Syria' Fundraiser

Friday's massacre of 108 people, including dozens of children, in the Syrian town of Houla, has been roundly condemned by world powers as fears of a protracted civil war take hold. This weekend's horrific violence is the latest episode since a 14-month long uprising openly challenged the regime of B ... More >>

Weenie Breitbart Columnist: Media Not Reporting on Kelly Thomas Murder Because He's White

I remember weenie Breitbart.com columnist Ben Shapiro when he was a precocious snotnose back at UCLA taking the Hugh Hewitt road to fame: whining he was a conservative in liberal-land, and thus getting a column in the local paper despite exhibiting little talent but a hell of a lot of weenie-ness. H ... More >>

Poets and Politicians: Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and Governor Jerry Brown

​Governor Jerry Brown named Juan Felipe Rivera, UC Riverside poetry professor of Chair of Creative Writing, as California Poet Laureate on Wednesday, but he's just getting to know the wordsmith. The appointment is a first ever for a Latino in the state and the poet's writings articulate the life e ... More >>

OC Bookly: OC Bookstores, Part I--You Should See What It's Like in There

The Bibliofella (see photo, right) never passes up even the least opportunity to invoke his earliest literary heroes, writers whose work helped transform the goofy adolescent I once was into, well, the adult goof I am today, a person for whom the truth-telling of novels, short stories, essays and po ... More >>

Morrissey at the Fox Theater in Pomona Last Night

Andrew Youssef​MorrisseyNovember 28, 2011Fox Theater in PomonaClick here to see more photos.Morrissey loves Pomona. Pomona worships Morrissey. The atmosphere was electric inside the Fox Theater as Morrissey closed out his swing of Southern California dates. From the moment Morrissey and his band a ... More >>

Why Do Mexicans Work as Day Laborers?

[¡Ask a Mexican!] And is it true that Vikki Carr and Eydie Gormé are Mexicans?

The Lime Truck Is No Lemon

Daniel Shemtob and Jason Quinn's food truck is a champion on the Food Network and OC's luxe lonchera scene

[UPDATED with UCI Nixing Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board

​UPDATE, JULY 8, 5:25 P.M.: Syrian freedom activists say that when they protested at UC Irvine the morning of June 9, a campus official promised a future meeting with an associate chancellor to discuss what they consider a troubling relationship between Syria's brutal regime and Dr. Hazem Chehabi, ... More >>

[UPDATED with UCI Promising Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board

​UPDATE, JUNE 9, 4:31 P.M.: This morning's rally at UC Irvine targeting Dr. Hazem H. Chehabi--the UCI Foundation's president-elect, Syria's honorary consul general in Newport Beach and a prominent Orange County philanthropist and nuclear medicine specialist--went "smooth," according to an organize ... More >>

Bad Religion's Greg Graffin to Teach at Cornell; Has Bird Fossil Named After Him

Chad Sengstock/OC WeeklyGreg Graffin at not a lecture​Remember that one cool professor you had in college, who let you skip classes as long as you turned in awesome papers and never minded if you came to lectures hung over? Well, now that Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin is teaching Evolution ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

OC Weekly Intern Lunch at Native Foods!

Just another day being an OC Weekly Intern...​Interns at the OC Weekly offices work hard. Updating calendar listings and updating the restaurant database begets quite the voracious appetite, and this last Thursday, fellow intern Mimi Tran and I decided to have an intern lunch at Native Foods!

Veteran OC Register Court Reporter Takes New Job

Srisavasdi​Rachanee Srisavasdi--a prolific court reporter for The Orange County Register--has accepted a new job as communications director for the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC).For several years, Srisavasdi partnered with legendary courthouse reporter Larry Welborn ... More >>

Amanda Russell, Long Beach Poly Senior, Wins $20,000 from KFC for a Tweet!

Flickr user Ollie Crafoord​In the Department of Participating in Every Zany Contest Fast-Food Chains Offer comes this news: a Long Beach Poly senior won a $20,000 college scholarship from KFC for the best tweet expressing how the chain would help the student better their lives.Amanda Russell didn' ... More >>

Irvine is as Boring as You Make It

​If you think Irvine is a boring city, take a look at the article by UCI's Aaron Elias in the student newspaper New University, and think twice!With "Waging War Against Irvine Boredom," Elias makes clear what most of us already know: UCI is a nerd school.

Bad Religion's 'The Dissent of Man' and singer Greg Graffin's 'Anarchy Evolution' Out Today; Do a Meet and Greet This Saturday

​Bad Religion is now 30 years old, and the band is still creating mind blowing music. Today they drop The Dissent of Man (stream it in its entirety here), along with Bad Religion singer/author/professor Greg Graffin's new book, Anarchy Evolution. 

Sunday News Notes

​News highlights include:Meg Whitman's cash is buying her second placeCathleen Decker of the LA Times reports that new polling shows Jerry Brown gaining a "slight edge" over Meg Whitman and that Barbara Boxer has "opened a wider margin over GOP nominee Carly Fiorina in the race for U.S. Senate. ... More >>

DREAM Act Voted Down, Though Not Because Lack of Effort by OC Dreamers

Courtesy of Julio Salgado​While the Know Nothings of both the ethnic and sexual types gloat over today's death of a defense bill in the Senate that included provisions to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban of LGBT service members and to pass the DREAM Act, OC's local Dreamers burnt ... More >>

La Habra Settles Suit by Family of Michael Cho, Victim of Brutality or Justified Police Shooting

​The city of La Habra settled for $250,000 a lawsuit brought by the parents of 25-year-old artist Michael Cho, who died after being shot 11 times by two police officers on the last day of 2007.Cho's death sparked outcries of police brutality in the Korean American community and from his friends ... More >>

OC to Rule UCLA Commencement Speakers Slot Tomorrow

​Tomorrow, I will drive to my alma mater, UCLA, to give the school's commencement speech, a subject I've written about way too much already. Really, the person you should pay attention to is the student commencement speaker, as she's one of our own: Flavia de la Fuente of Irvine.

Q&A: Quadron

Beth Stirnaman/OC WeeklyQuadron at the Commonwealth Lounge last night​Hours before their gig at Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton, we found Coco O. and Robin Hannibal of Quadron hanging out by the stage. So we figured we'd help them kill some time with a probing interview about a wide range of topi ... More >>

Hurley from Lost's Top Five Island Songs

Bethany Shady​Jorge Garcia, the San Juan Capistrano kid who grew up to be the affable Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on the hit show Lost, is leaving the island and returning to his roots in California, but he'll be keeping the aloha close to his heart with his top five island songs. -- as told to partner Be ... More >>

Steve Lopez Connects Viewers to War's Effect on One Camp Pendleton Family

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez tonight gives a video profile of a Camp Pendleton family soon to be separated by an overseas military deployment.

Last Night: Army Navy, The Jakes at the Yost Theatre

Sega Genesis in the hizzy!Last Night: Army Navy, the Jakes, Valley Arena and the Colourist at the Yost Theatre, Santa Ana; June 25, 2009.Better than: Congregating around UCLA hospital.Best tribute: The Sega Genesis Michael Jackon's Moonwalker game playing behind the Jakes during their set (I think i ... More >>

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Aliens,' 'Casablanca,' 'Happy Go Lucky,' More

All Inclusive

Kwanzaa Celebration

Bad Religion, Death by Stereo, The Darlings @ HOB Anaheim 4/3

Last night marked the final weekend for Bad Religion's relentless assault on the Anaheim House of Blues. Since February 29, the elder statesmen of Los Angeles punk have embarked on a blistering "World Tour of Southern California" packing in sweaty, fanatical fans night after night. Los Angeles, Sa ... More >>

Beasts of Burnin'

An outlaw animal-rights group targets a local bank branch in its war on animal testing

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Can The Borg Show Compassion?

Car Booting Violence: The folks over at Universal Guaridan Holdings, Inc. in Newport Beach are smiling today because their Cobra StunLight (pictured) “was successfully used to help disable an armed assailant” recently in downtown Atlanta. They say Jeremiah Day was booting illegally parked cars ... More >>

Guardian scoffs at Times

It's no secret that Jim O'Shea's memos magically find themseleves on Kevin Roderick's LA Observed. The Times chief joked about it himself at April's Festival of Books at UCLA, much to Roderick's delight. O'Shea's latest (published) missive was on the buyouts - 57 staffers are officially on their w ... More >>

Schou Mug Shot Hits LA Times

Yes, OC Weekly investigative reporter Nick Schou got his mug shot in today's Los Angeles Times. No, he wasn't participating again in a riot, peeking inside an undercover DEA 18-wheeler or even driving solo in the HOV lane. A year or so ago, Schou thought it'd be fun to perform his normal work duti ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Nov. 29 - Dec. 5

Special Screenings

It's up to you to put the 'special' in Special Screenings

New Reviews

Crank, Crossover, Idiocracy, Lassie, The Quiet, Wicker Man

Racism With Feeling

Nigger Wetback Chink: Slurs with a point

Brilliant Moments

Mike the Poet takes Polaroids

Get Inside!

Your three-month forecast of the summers top movies

The Lemons of Orange

The Pacific Symphonys vanity fair

Diary of A Mad County

Union Maid

Apathy is sooo 1990s