Directing episodes of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” may seem like a difficult job, but for UCLA professor Becky Smith, it came naturally. “Just coincidentally, I’ve directed a lot of the recent gay programming,” said Smith, who chairs the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television and Digital Media’s undergraduate film program and also teaches graduate courses in film production. Read more...

After a brief hiatus, Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” has returned, and critics’ opinions are clashing more than stripes with plaid. Launched on Tuesday, “Queer Eye’s” second season continues the series’ march against the crimes of straight males everywhere. Read more...

Attention all concerned students: I am starting a donation fund. For the sake of humanity and the future of the music business, I am beginning the pop star college fund. Read more...

Although the oud is traditionally played with an eagle’s feather, eclectic multi-instrumentalist David Lindley prefers finger picking the Middle Eastern lute instead. For Lindley, who performs tomorrow night at Royce Hall in the Global Guitars concert, an unusual approach to music is his typical key to success. Read more...

Most major record labels could learn a thing or two from British singer Jem about how to make a great album and save quite a bit of money in the process. Read more...

Even a sore back won’t keep this woman down. Ruth Price, UCLA jazz vocal instructor and owner of Los Angeles’s only seven-night-a-week non-profit jazz club, The Jazz Bakery, mentioned offhandedly that she is going in for back surgery soon. Read more...

In the time-honored tradition of busting windmills and head spins on sheets of cardboard spread over sidewalk pavement, the Hollywood Palladium will host this weekend’s Los Angeles Urban Dance Festival, showcasing brand spanking new styles by international and home-grown talent. Read more...