New Reviews

we recommend AMERICAN DREAMZ See Film feature. IRON ISLAND (JAZIRE AHANI) See Film feature. also opening THE SENTINEL The director Clark Johnson got his start in TV, and it shows. Two years ago, he turned that cop-drama warhorse S.W.A.T. into a surprise (read: inexplicable) summer hit; now he's back with an enervated presidential-assassination thriller that …

After the Crash

It's unclear whether the rest of the free world has figured out that there is a yearly film festival in Newport Beach, but Hollywood certainly knows. And isn't that what really counts? It is to the army of anonymous filmmakers who'll converge on pricey Orange County real estate April 20-30 for the festival's seventh run. …

Get Out!

THURSDAY, APRIL 20 Ziggens back with a weekend of shows to douse a long absence with a couple of rockabilly songs, a couple of polka songs, some Pink Floyd zone-out moments, probably some loud shirts or weird hats, maybe a Mellotron, possibly a harp, could be a lawn mower—it's been a while, but the circus …

Get Out!

THURSDAY, APRIL 13 Twenty-four hours to go: Sutherland-svengalied Rocco De Luca steels hearts at Detroit. FRIDAY Five years ago, ska-punk band Jeffries Fan Club broke up because—as reported in this paper—lead singer Mike Dziurgot wanted to devote his life to God and prepare for the End Times, though he later admitted—with even more chilling candor—that …

Get Out!

THURSDAY, APRIL 6 Digable Planets' Ladybug (now Ladybug Mecca) comes out to pollinate the flowers in springtime and flutter off last year's solo record Trip the Light Fantastic, which dipped a sleepy hand through her Brazilian homeland tropicalia—lots of finger-picked guitars (“Leaving It All Behind”) and reverbed dub-psych (“Don't Disturb the Peace”)—before thumbing on the …

New Reviews

WE RECOMMEND BRICK See Film feature. (Edwards University, Irvine) GAME 6 See Film feature. (Edwards University, Irvine)   ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK THE BENCHWARMERS The Bad News Bears starring man-children, The Benchwarmers finds aging dorks Richie (David Spade) and Clark (Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder) and the relatively able Gus (Rob Schneider) challenging a little league …

Our Buddy

Editor Will Swaim blogs on The Blotter and a bunch of us comment.   Rebecca Schoenkopf's Commie Girl.   Steve Lowery's Diary of a Mad County.

Who'll Stop The Rain?

It's one of those things you're liable to hear whenever the rain starts pelting down: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” It's one of the few lines of Mark Twain's that just about everybody can quote. Two problems: first, it's not a Twain quote; second, it's not true. The quote …

The Ghost of Malthus in OC

Only four days after OC was named the third wealthiest county in the country (with 113,299 millionaire households), news comes that Irvine is taking measures to ensure low-cost housing remains available. Given the state of low-cost housing in OC (mostly nonexistent), and the fact that the LA Times article is dated April 1, at first …