For several years now, Pitchforkmedia.com has been the most recognizable, thorough, and respected source of music criticism on the Internet, and for a good reason: It’s hard for anyone to compete with a Web site that, each day, runs up-to-date music news, five lengthy record reviews, track reviews and a variety of features. Read more...

For serious writers of fiction, as Mona Simpson calls them, taking a crash course in writing is not nearly enough to become a real writer. But if there was such a course, Simpson’s English Seminar 180.2, titled “Literary Study for Short Story Writers: Finding Your Own Mentor, Dead or Alive,” could be it. Read more...

Absolute DC: The New Frontier By Darwyn Cooke DC COMICS Darwyn Cooke, an animator on the classic cartoon “Batman: The Animated Series,” manages to bring back that sort of nostalgia ““ finely aged and tuned to perfection ““ that superhero comics today seem to be missing. Read more...

Swan Lake “Beast Moans” JAGJAGUWAR RECORDS “Supergroup” is a term to be approached with a certain degree of skepticism. Sure, The Good, the Bad & the Queen are shaping up to be interesting and “Songs for the Deaf”-era Queens of the Stone Age were actually a force to be reckoned with, but most high-profile collaborations go the way of Velvet Revolver and The Raconteurs, crashing before they even get their feet off the ground. Read more...

Jay-Z “Kingdom Come” ROC-A-FELLA RECORDS The Mike Jordan of recordin’ is back with his ninth solo studio album, “Kingdom Come.” Returning to rap after a three-year “retirement,” Jay-Z is still witty, smart and sharp, boasting the assured flow and wordplay of a hustler wizened through years of being in the game. Read more...

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Well, not always. Jennifer Jester, a graduate student studying the euphonium at UCLA, puts this aphorism to shame. Read more...

Wishful Drinking Saturday, Nov. 18 Geffen Playhouse There’s no underwear in space. At least that’s what George Lucas told Carrie Fisher as the reason she couldn’t wear undergarments for her role as Princess Leia in “Star Wars.” Fisher allows theatergoers and Leia fans alike to enter into the deepest recesses of her mind in her new one-woman show, “Wishful Drinking,” which runs at the Geffen Playhouse until Dec. Read more...