The Women of the Long Beach Craft Mafia Know the Handmade Revolution Will Not Be Televised

DIY Or DieThe women of the Long Beach Craft Mafia know that the handmade revolution will not be televised—it’ll be on Etsy.com   “I used to crochet pasties,” explains a pigtailed Steph Calvert. The pasties resembled Hostess cupcakes—swirly white icing, chocolate frosting and all. “Cupcakes for your cupcake,” she smiles. “They were great. People would …

The future, Now Past, Looks Like the Present in the Newest Philip K. Dick Anthology From the Library of America

Time PieceThe future, now past, looks like the present in the newest Philip K. Dick anthology   The problem with fiction set in the future is that the present always catches up. Take, for example, A Scanner Darkly, the best-known of the five novels in the Library of America’s latest collection from science-fiction writer Philip …

The Whigs Remind Us That Great Bands Still Come From Athens, Georgia

Southern AccentsThe Whigs remind us that great bands still come from Athens, Georgia You’d think that when a young band have the good fortune to see their self-produced first album rereleased on a big label and are then sent to a proper LA studio to record the second, the results would be something like a …

Why Do People Have a Problem With OC-Raised USC QB Mark Sanchez Being Proud of His Mexican Heritage?

The Mouthpiece That Roared USC's Orange County-raised quarterback Mark Sanchez is proud of his Mexican heritage. Why do some people have a problem with that? Consider the sports mouthpiece. It has a single purpose: to protect one's teeth from errant elbows (or not-so-errant fists). It is, at once, a small bit of hardened plastic that'll …

Just How Did Those Gloves and That Gun End Up in Whistleblower Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons' Car?

Doctored Evidence? A lawsuit alleges an intriguing theory about how a pair of gloves and a gun ended up in a whistleblower physician's car A bizarre case of road rage involving a soft-spoken doctor who exposed shoddy conditions at his own hospital just got even stranger. According to a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by …

Special Screenings

The Wizard of OzThis classic piece of Hollywood fantasy cinema is being screened with live orchestral accompaniment from the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. The audience is invited to come dressed as one of the “Wizard of Oz” characters. Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Dr., Irvine, (714) 755-5799; www.pacificsymphony.org. Sat., 8 p.m. $22-$102. The Big LebowskiThe …