The Thermals have been known to leave crowds in a heap of exhaustion with their self-described “gritty post-pop-punk” music. Yet amazingly, with The Thermals’ touring schedule, feverish musical stylings and extracurricular activities, lead singer and guitarist Hutch Harris and bassist Kathy Foster haven’t collapsed as well. Read more...

Mao’s Kitchen 1512 Pacific Ave., Venice $7-$12 4 Paws Out Of 5 After a long day of hanging out in Venice Beach, drum-circling, freak-watching, tattoo-getting, or whatever it is that people do in Venice, you want a meal that is suitably quirky for your Venice Beach experience. Read more...

Fourteen hours. That’s how long third-year theater student Sarah Gold is on campus per day. A typical school day last quarter involved rushing to her job at the BookZone in Ackerman at 7:45 a.m., working until 11:30 a.m., then attending theater classes from noon to 6 p.m. Read more...

“Intuition” Allegra Goodman The Dial Press It would be easy to judge Allegra Goodman’s new novel, “Intuition,” by its cover. An attractive woman with meticulously shaped eyebrows and piercing hazel eyes stares out from it, tantalizingly inviting the next passerby to pick up the book and take it home. Read more...

Remember that scene in “Almost Famous” in which the Led Zeppelin superfan, Vic, walks through the hallways, holding proudly a pen that Robert Plant himself had touched? Read more...

One day he’s sitting in Haines Hall, taking notes in lecture. The next he’s on the red carpet interviewing Halle Berry. Such is the life of 23-year-old political science student Errol Barnett, correspondent for the show “Dailies” on the Reelz Channel, a fairly new network focusing on movie news and eschewing the tabloid fodder of other stations. Read more...

They’ve taken over my posture, the way I walk, and the way I think about myself. I feel that they’re shaping the way I’m seen. My experience is different, as if I am floating. Read more...