Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
In “The Red Bow,” the crown in George Saunders' new collection of short fictions, In Persuasion Nation, and a contemporary fable to rival Shirley Jackson's classic story “The Lottery,” a little girl named Emily is mauled to death in a schoolyard by some dogs, one or more of which might be rabid. The father of the …
Few directors have CVs as diverse, edgy and interesting as Michael Winterbottom, who over the years has spanned genres ranging from comedy and romance to thriller and sci-fi with effortless grace and consistently unique (and often divisive) results. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is a surreal comedic effort from 2005 that reunited Winterbottom …
Perhaps no one can pinpoint the exact moment vaudeville died, but there's a moment early in Strangers With Candy when you'd swear you had just witnessed the death of visual comedy. En route to her first day of high school, a tarty middle-aged jailbird—this is not a Disney Channel joint—tosses a half-eaten banana out her …
We swear we already warned you about a congressional vote to drill off our coast, and then rejoiced with you when it was defeated. Yeah, wasn't it like two weeks ago? Never underestimate the power of Big Oil lobbyshits. Congress, obviously in need of a diversion from far more grave national matters like flag-burning amendments …
Continue reading “Offshore Oil Drilling Deja Vu All Over Again”
Jim Gilliam sits with his back board-stiff against the headrest of his bed, his legs dangling off the end. That's life when you're 6-foot-9. He has no hair, and he's about as white as they make white guys. He's not making a fashion statement, not trying to replace the lead singer of Midnight Oil. The breathing …
Driving north along Silverado Canyon Road, past the Silverado Cafe, the fire station and post office, you climb uphill to a stand of carob trees. On the left side of the road is Silverado Creek and, beyond the creek, Connie Nelson's home, a green and white clapboard cottage and horse corral wedged up against a steep …
Wednesday, May 17 Results of a 10-year study are released today showing that, pound for pound, women get drunk faster than men. The study, commissioned by the National Organization of Bros and Dudes (NOBD), will be published in the June edition of the group's scientific journal, Greatest News Ever. Thursday, May 18 The O.C. ends …
When kids of all ages discuss comic books and superheroes, there is inevitably one question that comes up time and again: If that one guy and that other guy had a fight, who would win? Comics companies occasionally indulge these debates with special issues pitting Thing against Hulk, or Wolverine versus Spider-Man, but the results …
The notion of a purse made from woven-together seat belts is such a natural idea that it really makes you want to hate Dana and Melanie Harvey for stumbling on the idea nine years ago while restoring their 1950 Buick, and for building it into a strapping (sorry) little concern in downtown Santa Ana. Except …
Just when I thought I was done writing about the national anthem, an alert reader who was never a contestant in the Miss Teen USA pageant (which is a shame, since given the circumstances, he was probably a shoe-in for the Congeniality award) , tipped me to this story from ABC's Nightline. Nightline dispatched an …
Continue reading “Hirelings and Slaves and Tuneless Members of Congress”
W.H. Auden once dubbed the 20th century the Age of Anxiety, but it's beginning to look as if a lot of people may not be up anymore to the sustained psychological tension that's the hallmark of anxiety (you're anxious because you're afraid of something you can't quite name, but at least you're fighting it), and that …
THE SCRUFFS, WANNA MEET THE SCRUFFS? (2002, REV-OLA) The Scruffs came up in Memphis after Big Star as part of a bubbling pond of little fishes who never really got theirs, and although this is sold back to us future people as Big Star #2—and although you can definitely tell they heard “Kizza Me” enough …