Not too long ago, I surprised myself by telling a girl I liked her. She was a young woman I hardly knew, but in the embarrassing instant the words flew out of my mouth, I suddenly had never been so sure of anything in the world. Read more...

To become a legendary jazz composer and saxophonist, Wayne Shorter’s solo mentality and tendency to push boundaries in music have certainly come in handy. Shorter will be performing with his quartet on April 9 at Royce Hall. Read more...

They say that nothing reveals a person’s true self more than the people with whom they surround themselves. That’s why American heroes such as Hugh Hefner get to hang out with beautiful, half-naked blondes all day long and people like Britney Spears get married to people like Kevin Federline. Read more...

Between new technological gadgets, increasing job demands, and balancing work and family, Americans today are more stressed out than ever before. Our anxious culture is hardly a creativity-friendly environment. Read more...

Several weeks ago, Ethiopian painter Qes Adamu Tesfaw flew on an airplane for the very first time in his life at the age of 75. It would have been great, except that the flight from Ethiopia to Germany and then on to LAX was 27 hours long, and Tesfaw had a fear of flying. Read more...

MIA “Arular” XL/Beggars US Pop music hasn’t seen an artist quite like MIA before. Part of it is the storybook child-of-globalization biography that has publicists everywhere drooling: Maya Arulpragasam, born to members of the Sri Lankan rebel group Tamil Tigers, forced to flee to London as a refugee, an art school graduate with a professed love for everything from her local grime scene and New York hip-hop to Brazilian baile funk and Puerto Rican Reggaeton. Read more...

“The Best in Youth” Directed by Marco Tullio Giordana Miramax Films You may think you are just too busy to watch a six-hour Italian movie with subtitles. Read more...