A walk down to the UCLA Hammer Museum will reveal an unusual transformation of its courtyard. The site has been turned into a construction site for a house, a tropical home designed more than 50 years ago in Europe that has stood proudly on two subsequent continents. Read more...

At a recent family dinner, I was lamenting the challenge of writing a weekly entertainment column. “How about something on “˜Desperate Housewives’?” my mother suggested. “Maybe about how women love the show because it portrays females in control over the men in their lives,” she added, as my dad continued quietly eating his mashed potatoes. Read more...

Sometimes brevity is impossible. Anyone seeking to summarize Noah Baumbach’s new film, “The Squid and the Whale,” quickly becomes acquainted with this fact. Above all, complexity prevails. Read more...

For documentary filmmaker Marc Levin, ignorance isn’t quite bliss. It’s inspiration. Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Levin stepped into a cab in New York City where, to his surprise, the driver revealed his steadfast belief that the Jews were in part, or even entirely, responsible for the attacks that September. Read more...

Marlon Brando was perhaps best known for his legendary acting career and his notoriously reclusive nature. But few may know he also moonlighted as an author. Read more...

Franz Ferdinand “You Could Have It So Much Better” Domino Records Until a month ago, Franz Ferdinand’s sophomore album, “You Could Have It So Much Better,” was going to be self-titled like the band’s debut, with the exact same cover art and a different color scheme. Read more...

“Good Night, and Good Luck.” Directed by George Clooney Warner Independent Pictures With good reason, most movie titles don’t end in periods. Since titles aim to entice viewers before they sit down and watch the film, a nudge seems more applicable than a declaration, and so question marks take over for periods. Read more...