Over 200 bodies clashed and sweated until 2 a.m. in a tireless mosh pit as the band El Gran Silencio jammed and danced live for three hours at JC Fandango’s in Anaheim earlier this month. Read more...

“American Splendor” Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini Fine Line Features If this year’s disappointments “Daredevil” and “Hulk” are any indication, comic-book adaptations for the big screen have lately failed to capture the true essence of the original comic book.  Constructed with ingenuity and inventiveness, the new film “American Splendor” should help to subside fears of comic book adaptations gone wrong. Read more...

“Freddy vs. Jason” Directed by Ronnie Yu New Line Cinema Devotees of the long-running “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” slasher series now have, at long last, the chance to see two of the scariest film icons ever conceived try to beat each other into bloody messes in Ronnie Yu’s surprisingly entertaining “Freddy vs. Read more...

In Ladd McIntosh’s beginner improvisation class, 15 students encircle the teacher campfire-style with their trusty instruments in hand. As a jazzy rhythm section chugs along, the teacher points to the students one by one for some short, improvisational solos. Read more...

Rock music often looks at the tensions between man and machine, sometimes casting technology as a force that takes the humanity out of the songs, reducing musicians to cogs in the OK Computer. Read more...

At the Verizon Music Festival’s first event on July 24 the stage was set ““ literally ““ for a night of comic irony. After all, what stranger way to kick-off a festival sponsored and named after a corporate behemoth than with a performance by Aimee Mann, who’s possibly made more headlines for her solitary battle against the music industry than for her actual artistic accomplishments? Read more...

A wedding is a joyous occasion ““ the union of two souls, forever joined in holy matrimony. An “American Wedding,” as it turns out, is a bit more complicated. Read more...