After months of debate, Glendale Unified school board members finally reached a decision on whether or not Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" could be added to the curriculum for advanced placement students. District administrators, teachers, students and parents disputed the book for months, wrangling over the nonfiction novel's suitability for teenage readers. more ›

Glendale Unified School District is thinking twice about giving its stamp of approval to Truman Capote's novel "In Cold Blood." The book is noteworthy for being the first nonfiction novel and for getting the whole true crime genre rolling. "In Cold Blood" documents the brutal and baffling murder of wealthy Kansas farmer Herbert Clutter. more ›

NY-based comedian Kumail Nanjiani performs his one man show "Unpronounceable" tonight at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Directed by The Aristrocrats’ director Paul Provenza, "Unpronounceable" chronicles Kumail’s Muslim upbringing in Pakistan and his move to Grinnell, Iowa, for college. more ›

Decapitated antiheroes, suicide bombers and 12-year-old soldiers round out
this weekend's indie and limited release picks.


• A
  History of Violence - Drama starring Viggo Mortensen,
  directed by David Cronenberg. In this screen adaptation of a graphic
  novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, Cronenberg explores how an act
  of heroism unexpectedly changes a man's life. [trailer | local
  showtimes]


• Capote - Drama
  starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Bennett Miller. Truman
  Capote believed fact could be as fascinating as fiction. While researching
  his book In Cold Blood, the author becomes friends with one
  of the killers. [trailer | local
  showtimes]


• The Chumscrubber - Dark
  comedy starring Jamie Bell and Glenn Close, directed by Arie
  Posin. Dean (Jamie Bell) is a quiet teenager living in a beautiful (but emotionally
  vacant) suburb of California. The death of a troubled teen throws a suburban neighborhood
  into chaos, causing the adults to implode emotionally. Similar to the
  demonic-looking rabbit in Donnie Darko, the "Chumscrubber"
  is a post-apocalyptic icon that pops up when things take a turn for the
  worse. [trailer | local
  showtimes]

Transcripts of conversations between Robert Blake and his attorney have fallen into the hands of the LA Times. Other than the creepy feeling we get from this (Law & Order tells us those conversations are privileged, right?), the snippets, give us a, well, creepy window into the mind of now-acquitted Robert Blake. He and his lawyer hatched a brilliant plan: have '70s TV stars visit him in jail and speak well of him to the media upon leaving. Scott Baio? Not cool enough. Suzanne Pleshette? Totally cool. We suppose '70s TV was a better pop-culture memory of Blake, as good-guy Baretta, than, say, '60s art film, which might evoke In Cold Blood, where he played psychokiller Perry Smith. Obviously, other celebrities in trouble with the law have thought to call on their fellow celebs to try to make them look good. But really: Gavin McLeod?

more ›