Dr. Drew Pinsky and Dr. Mark Young penned the recent book, “The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America." (LAist Book Review) In this video from 2006, the doctors give a talk at the USC Annenberg School for Communication on celebrity narcissism, and more. Both doctors have Trojan ties. Dr. Young heads the entertainment business program at USC, and Dr. Drew earned his MD from USC Medical School. (The audio sync is a little off -- but not like an old kung fu flick.) more ›

Gearing up for another War on Christmas, combative conservative columnist David Horowitz and the College Republicans are calling out to their hate squad and killing Halloween (not to mention a week of breast cancer awareness month) with what they've dubbed "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." Ann Coulter, recently listed as charging a $25,000 speaker fee by the Premiere Speakers Bureau (and now "call for fee") will speak in the name of Islamo-Fascism Awareness tomorrow night at USC.... more ›

The inspiring and occasionally hilarious Points West columnist delivered the commencement address to graduating undergrads and graduate students of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism (and Strategic Public Relations) on Friday. more ›

USC's Annenberg School for Communication has narrowed its search for a new dean to five candidates and will conduct meetings with the candidates -- open to students and faculty -- over the next few weeks. Last year Dean Geoffrey Cowan announced that he would step down after two five-year terms as dean of the Annenberg School, leading many to speculate on a qualified successor. He was endowed with the inaugural Annenberg Family Chair in Communication... more ›

David Hiller may be the most pessimistic man in the newspaper business. The Tribune Company exec who took over as publisher of the Times when Jeff Johnson was forced out for refusing to roll heads down Spring Street, appears neither ambitious, nor comfortable. His rambling rhetoric (listen below) largely expressed that he "just doesn't get it" and that even he can't wait to get his butt kicked back to Chi-town after the TribCo pinches itself... more ›

members and ex-members of Mara Salvatrucha The Annenberg School at USC is hosting the Getty/TNT/Canon/LATimes World Press Photo Award-Winning Images of '06 thru Feb. 1 and it's bloody horrifying. And not just because TribCo axe-man David Hiller is in town (photo below -- James O'Shea was on hand but held fire, er, I mean he didn't speak). Matter o' fact, USC's Annenberg School is the only host of this traveling Dutch-based show in the U.S.... more ›

No Pulitzers. No Peabodys. No Duponts. more ›

If you want a dose of smartness on Saturday, what could be better than the Science Matters panel on The Science and Ethics of Reproductive Cloning? The 2-hour discussion starts at 1:30pm at the California Science Center at Expo Park and is absolutely free. Smart, lively Geoffrey Cowan — Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at USC — will moderate, which is a good sign. The panel will talk about hard science, perhaps explaining how you clone a cat, and then talk about implications of cloning humans. Would a ban work, or is human cloning inevitable? Would it be ethical to clone humans for health reasons? For offspring? Where do we draw the line? more ›

Although networks of institutions help comprise cities, they cannot survive on conventional institutional arrangements alone. In a vast place like Los Angeles it takes all sorts of institutions within institutions and folks within them to generate new ideas, alternatives, and potential solutions for the innumerable challenges we face. more ›

In an environment so focused on creation of media content, there are also those who take a step back to critically evaluate it. Nor do we mean straight-up critics, but rather thinkers whose fields of knowledge are honed in the halls of the academy and other types of research institutions. Aram Sinnreich is a media analyst and Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC. While not blogging his qualifying exams prep, reading up and lecturing on communications theory, social networking analysis, copyright law, and other media issues, he’s generating his own content with his band, Dubistry. more ›

Here's some upcoming events happening around town: more ›

We're changing things up a bit here at LAist. Because we live in such a vibrant, socially active city, there are things going on all the time. We have long wanted to be able to list events in advance (for the benefit of our wonderful readers), so starting today we have implemented a new strategy: a week's events in advance. We will still post featured events each day, but we've added a permanent sidebar (to the left) that will always link to a post containing this week's events. more ›