Short Takes

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  Reporting Live from Hell

  Madeleine Connors shells out for fascism cosplay and finds that sometimes the games are best left on screen.

  Jan 5

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  Revolutionary Blake-splaining

  For Jack Skelley, William Blake has it all: from colonization and sex to post-structuralism and the superego.

  Jan 4

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  Into the Red, White, and Blue Twilight

  On the occasion of Tom Smothers's death, John Kaye reflects on words unsaid, questions unasked, avenues unpursued.

  Jan 3

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  How the West Was Revised

  Rebecca Giordano considers the transformation of the Western genre, both its limitations and its possibilities.

  Dec 24, 2023

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  That’s a Wrap

  David Diaz follows legendary LA punk band Graf Orlock to the ends of the earth (well, only to Anaheim—but still).

  Dec 20, 2023

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  I Didn’t Play

  Follow Gracie Hadland’s weekend peregrination through the avant-cultural world of greater Los Angeles, from Koreatown to Pasadena.

  Dec 19, 2023

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  Kathy Acker Masturbated Here

  For Jack Skelley, Kathy Acker was a writer who both masterfully baited and masturbated, occasionally at the same time.

  Dec 16, 2023

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  Making Room at the Inn

  Claire Lewandowski joined a hotel worker union action and learned how to disarm the opposition with some costumes and a whole lot of singing.

  Dec 15, 2023

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  Under the Sign of Saturn

  Whether on mushrooms or not, the only all-bouffon clown troupe in Los Angeles makes fools of us all—just in time for the holidays.

  Dec 14, 2023

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  Love Me Once, Love Me Twice

  Madeleine Connors attends a Jenny Lewis concert at the Hollywood Palladium and finds her just as lovable the second time around.

  Dec 13, 2023

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  Nostalgic for Nostalgia

  Sarrah Wolfe attends a Devendra Banhart concert and finds that, sometimes, the charming musician can be exactly as charming as he seems.

  Dec 12, 2023

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  The Dilemma of #Instapoetry

  Alessia Degraeve explores what is gained, and what is lost, when poetry ventures off the page and onto the screen.

  Dec 8, 2023

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  From Guyana with Love

  Brandon Sward traces the lines between race, sexuality, and colonialism in Vishal Jugdeo’s “Caribbean Television” at Commonwealth and Council.

  Dec 6, 2023

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  Heroes Don’t Die, They Just Sparkle in the Sky

  So bad it’s good, or all the way around to bad again? A. J. Urquidi ponders this and more at a screening of Tommy Wiseau’s sophomore film.

  Dec 5, 2023

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  I Used to Be Disgusted, and Now I Try to Be Amused

  Jack Skelley went to the Poetic Research Bureau and found two writers finding themselves in mass-cultural epiphanies.

  Dec 1, 2023

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  Tuning In to TV Girl

  Brittany Menjivar braves hoards of TikTokers and first-time concertgoers to report on “America’s favorite indie band.”

  Nov 30, 2023