There are two kinds of film festivals out there. In one camp there is Cannes, Toronto, Venice, and Berlin. These are largely corporate sponsored galas—competitions even—where the aim is for Hollywood studios or multinational financiers to gain clout and distribution. They give out gold stars like the Palm d’Or and the Golden Bear. It’s not…
As I approached the box office of the Fox Theater, I was greeted by a bustling line of people stretching hundreds of feet across 3rd Street. Although it was an hour before the show, eager fans were already lined up to catch Jungle’s performance, only two days before their highly anticipated Coachella appearance. Basking in…
The sun is setting in the heart of Hollywood, and the ambiance (and spirits) of Hollywood Forever Cemetery are palpably alive. The sunset has lit up the sky in hues of orange and magenta, and the twinkling lights of the cemetery sparkle like stars. Serenity reigns, unobscured by the bustling energy of Santa Monica Boulevard.…
Photos by Kayla Hayashi There was something out of place that night. Los Angeles was unseasonably cold. A light rain had drizzled over the city a few hours before. It must have been just strong enough to wash all the Los Angeles off Los Angeles. Kayla and I are UCLA students, so we are both…
“The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a…
Photos by Jeslyn Wang A song online is curated to sound its best. Every step from the recording, to the editing, to how the headphone company handles frequencies is made to amplify the listening experience. It’s extremely hard to match the online sound quality in person, and even harder to add another layer to it.…
“It’s brave to be nothing to no one at all.” “Ribbons” – Ryan Beatty An ironic line from singer Ryan Beatty, who catapulted himself to fame in his mid-teens co-signed by Radio Disney and Ryan Seacrest. After he took a hiatus from music for three years to break away from his teen heartthrob image, he…
On a drizzly night in March, the debauched and profane of Los Angeles gather at the Fonda Theater to witness the dark angelic voice of “BDSM Pop” from Sweden, COBRAH.
Otoboke Beaver @ The Belasco [3/2/2024] Photos by Chloe Gonzales I visited Japan for the first time last winter. Roaming around Kabukicho and walking past multiple cabarets flaunting their sexiest, most profitable hostesses, I slowly began to realize just how much of a commodity female sexuality has become in cities like Shinjuku. Of course, this…
Perhaps that ethos is what makes Wyatt Shears’ music (produced under the moniker, Enjoy) so hard to define, an amalgamation of breakneck punk, quirky electronic synths, and a prickly acoustic guitar; a Johnny Cash song on crack produced under brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears’ label, Vada Vada.