In today’s culture, real life often gets confused with the “Real World” ““ and to the extent that it seems like anyone can achieve fame. Melissa de la Cruz and Karen Robinovitz set out to prove this is true in their Marie Claire magazine assignment-turned self-help book, “How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less.” Unfortunately for anyone trying to use the book as a guide to engineer their own rise to fame, the authors start their assignment a step ahead of the crowd. Read more...

David Roussève’s work ethic as a performance artist is synonymous with his mission as the newly appointed chair of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures . Read more...

For Violaine Corradi, the composer behind Cirque du Soleil’s latest production to stop in Los Angeles, “Varekai,” the challenge of creating original music for a Cirque show means more than just finding the right notes. Read more...

What award doesn’t Clint Eastwood deserve? He’s been an Oscar-winning director, one of the most recognizable actors in films, a producer, a military man, a lumberjack and the mayor of Carmel, a small California town. Read more...

Frank Black’s innovative guitar-playing and songwriting skills seem to always be one step ahead of the rest. However, despite his major influence upon the music community, Black appears to have a casual attitude about his musical career and seems content to remain on the fringe. Read more...

In the past year, numerous films based on comic books including “Hulk” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” have been produced in hopes of achieving the box office success of other comic book-based films “Batman” and “Spider-Man.”Â As movie studios vie for the opportunity to adapt another comic book for the big screen, along comes “American Splendor.” But “American Splendor” is the antithesis to the big-budgeted, effects-driven comic book films of the past. Read more...

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...