OK so the Oscars are this weekend. Even though the writers' strike is over, the prediction is that this will be a ho-hum (excuse me?) Oscars. First of all, the majority of the films presented for consideration are real downers, secondly, because of the strike, many potential presenters thought that the awards ceremony would be canceled or drastically cut back so they made other plans and are now not available to present at the show.......

OK so the Oscars a week from Sunday are what we're building up to but as an enthusiastic follower of Dexter on Showtime, I'm intrigued to see how it will translate to its network debut on CBS at 10:00pm this Sunday. At first I was concerned that the end result would be a heavily edited, several minutes shorter, vapid and empty shell of its former glory. Not so according to my Showtime contact. Evidently when......

Monday Chuck Palahniuk presents Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey 6:30pm @ Vroman's Tony Cohan signs Mexican Days 7pm @ Dutton's Donna Hogan (Anna Nicole's Sister) presents The Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith 7pm @ Book Soup Rick Riordan signs The Titan's Curse 7pm @ Borders, Torrance Joan Didion discusses The Year of Magical Thinking 8pm @ Music Center Tuesday Tish Cohen & Rex Pickett present Town House 7pm @ Book......

Sting @ Disney Hall Chris Daughtry @ Viper Room NOFX @ House of Blues The Colour @ Spaceland Fairmona, The Softlightes, BRAM @ Silverlake Lounge The New Hotness, Yes Me to Death @ The Scene Wylde Bunch, The Hear Gallery @ Safari Sam's Thee Gentlemen Callers, Tsk Tsk, Nantucket Suicide @ The Echo Plethora Yearned, Thruster, David Scott Stone @ The Smell The New Motherfuckers, United by Sound, Una @ The Mint Saints of......

Today's Sunset Strip entry below reminds this LAist of a Rodger Jacobs piece, "Wrestling with Mariel Hemingway." "I didn’t tell Steve about the dreams until we were well into our second year of marriage. At first he laughed it off as a silly recurring dream but when he realized the serious intensity of the nocturnal wanderings of my mind he opted for some rather unique therapy. This was back in the day when the......