“WOLFMAN” by The Real Tuesday Weld Books, in their ever-defiant bid to live, have begun bleeding into new forms of media to promote themselves– and it’s working.  Did anybody ever see the 3 minute “trailer” for “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls”?  It’s here! Author Glen Duncan continues to pair himself with [...]

“CUPID” by Amy Winehouse One of the cleverer series of covers was done for the album “Rhythms Del Mundo.”  Modern celeb singers take old pop standards and give them a vacationing calypso beat.  One of the most successful was the late Ms. Winehouse’s cover of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid.” It’s a song pulsing with life and [...]

“THE MINT JULEP” at The Thirsty Crow The most common sight at Silverlake’s Thirsty Crow Bar has to be a revolving door of hipsters grumbling about “stupid hipsters” going in, and giggling dribbly customers coming out.  I’m of the school of practice what you preach.  If you say you hate hipsters, don’t use hipster products: [...]

The facts are these: On February 12th 2008, in Oxnard, California, at E.O. Green Middle School, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney (pictured right) walked in late to computer class, approached 15-year-old Lawrence King (pictured left) and shot him twice.  Brandon dropped the gun and left the school.  Within seven minutes, Brandon was arrested.  Within an hour, Lawrence [...]

“FRONTIER PSYCHIATRIST” by The Avalanches A recent discovery on my part, this song was popularized in the early 2000′s on the UK charts with its familiar refrain of “That boy needs therapy.” This hipster-bait song is a mash-up of over 30 spoken word album lyrics into a story about, among other things, a boy who [...]

“HEARTBREAKER” by MSTRKSRFT feat. John Legend Yes, occasionally, I will listen to some pop music.  And this is the best kind of pop.  The kind of music you want to drive into Vegas with.  The kind of music that soaks up your smiles when you’re in love.  Plus, it’s got one of my (very few) [...]

Gays have had a subjugation closer to that of women than of Blacks and Jews.  AIDS is the closest we’ve come to having an evil befall us that, at least at the outset, was singularly ours.  We’ve been appendix sufferers during a lot of historical calamities and horrors.  During the Holocaust, we were there, just [...]

J.K. Rowling is possibly one of the biggest e-book holdouts in the industry. Almost everyone has made the conversion option available to customers, but the Great Madame is an eternal servant to ink and paper. Or is she? With the opening of her website Pottermore in October, Ms. Rowling will make available for the first [...]

“SELFLESS, COLD & COMPOSED” by Ben Folds Five Mr. Folds, that unofficial 90′s icon, recently appeared on The Adam Carolla Show as a guest, where this song became a topic of discussion as a red letter for late 20th century songwriting.  Carolla was clearly pre-smitten with Folds before he even arrived, and the comedian’s trademark [...]

Quick!  How much do you know about “I Love Lucy”?  Something I discovered the other night in WeHo was that no matter how much you think you know about Lucille Ball, there’s someone out there who knows more.  Marcus and I met up with his friends to truck it on over to newly opened Westside [...]

I’ve read seven books, watched eight movies, ridden themed rollercoasters, thrown themed parties and drank gallons of what Butterbeer is presumed to be.  Harry Potter is done.  The only place left to go is in my own imagination. WRONG! Pottermore.com is opening this October!  An interactive Potter site that is so secretive that I only [...]

1: The Voice of the “Hulu” Guy President Obama may have a strong and assuring voice, but right now, I have to take a little break from it.  I choose instead to listen to the velvety dulcet tones of “The Hulu Guy” that greets you before the commercials at the top of every Hulu video.  [...]

The Oscar for State Most Likely to Be Next in Line for Gay Marriage goes to…Maryland!  In the words of “The Wire”‘s gay Baltimorian gunslinger Omar– “Oh, indeed.” You may have heard some buzzing about Maryland back in March, but then again, you probably didn’t.  The gay marriage bill wasn’t very well leadershipped by the [...]