Ahh, it’s my favorite time of year again. For all the little kids, that time of year would be Christmas as they rush down to the living room to pounce on their presents with glee and inspect them like swarthy antique appraisers. Read more...

“Hold your cue like you hold your woman ““ strong and at the neck!” These are the types of lines heard on any given night at Ultimate Improv, where a fraternity initiation skit turns into a lesson at billiards, then glides into three people trying to milk a cow, then takes a suspenseful turn when a giant lizard begins destroying humanity and can only be stopped if two people profess their repressed love for each other. Read more...

“And I hope you haven’t forgotten me,” said the beaming Ravi Shankar after introducing his accompanying musicians on stage. And, of course, the audience hadn’t. Playing at Royce Hall Thursday night to a multiethnic crowd of elderly folk, hippies, college students and children, Shankar’s music proved its lasting power, unlike the acid trips that his audiences wrongly latched onto his art decades before. Read more...

UCLA jokes are most often told by USC folk, but last Friday they abounded at our very own Royce Hall. Host Tom Kenny began the night with accolades of Royce, saying, “This place is fancy schmancy. Read more...

Watching HBO one night, I caught a segment of “Project Greenlight,” the brainchild of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company, “LivePlanet,” which hopes to give new filmmakers a chance by having them make a film with TV cameras in pursuit. Read more...

No, “Lipstick Traces” is definitely not about make-up. In fact, it’s about the punk revolutionary Johnny Rotten and the aftershocks of the Sex Pistols. It’s a time-travel play exploring the punk movement through the ages. Read more...

It’s hard being a producer. Schmoozing with the rich and famous and driving around in sportscars. However, these are just stereotypes seen in the movies that producers themselves develop behind the scenes. Read more...