Let hyperboles of excitement fly: the greatest annual book festival in the country is only a week away. Our beloved Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is set to take over USC’s campus next Saturday, where some of the greatest names in the book world will congregate for LA’s most literary weekend of the year. more ›

The TV Junkie Plan: "Attack of the Show", "FlashForward", "Fringe", "Sober House With Dr. Drew", "The Daily Show" (Tracy Morgan), Kimmel (David Duchovny, Spoon performs!), Fallon (Chris Rock) more ›

Jesus H. Christ might have turned water into wine, but Maynard James Keenan goes for the hard stuff in Blood Into Wine, uncorking this weekend at Laemmle's... more ›

Jeff Bridges will probably end up winning an Oscar for his role in Crazy Heart, but if he doesn't you can bank on Jeremy Renner taking home the statue for his performance in The Hurt Locker. In a just world, Peter Capaldi would be doing the same thing for his brilliant turn as Malcolm "Prince of Fucking Darkness" Tucker in In the Loop. The fact that he probably won't even be nominated is insane. Similarly, Sam Rockwell will likely be ignored for his (inter) stellar work in Moon. Hard to believe that The Simpsons has been on the air for twenty years. Even harder to believe when you consider that it hasn't been consistently funny in over a decade. The Brothers Bloom is exactly the kind of small, quirky film you should find on DVD. It came and went in the theaters, but features great work by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody (LAist interview here). more ›

Following its stunning financial success earlier this year, Paranormal Activity received its required backlash from the cynical (e.g. it wasn't even that scary!). I'd rather focus my attention on the sheer improbability of it all. Folks, this is a film that was made for around $15,000 that went on to gross $107M at the domestic box office. That is an astonishing achievement, both for the filmmakers and the marketing team at Paramount who saw something special where few else did. I say see it! What's a weirder coincidence -- that we would have two films released with the same title in the same year (9, Nine) or that both would come in with high expectations and turn out to be sort of dull? Jennifer's Body should have just been called Megan's Tits. Hey Glee fans -- we get it. You like the show. Modern Family is still much funnier. Accept it. The Swimmer's Nude Massage? WTF? more ›

Patton Oswalt is not only a terrific comedian but also a concerned citizen. In "Toluca Talk," this Toluca Lake inhabitant takes calls from other Toluca Lake residents on environmental issues... sort of. more ›

Thanksgiving is gone and it's officially Christmas time. Happy Black Friday. more ›

Yet another week has come and gone. Luckily, this week offers an amazing array of comedy the likes of which we haven't seen in quite a while. Patton Oswalt is at Largo, the Comedy Store hosts Bootyoke, the best karaoke thigh-showing dance party jam in the game. There's also sketch comedy galore and enough other stand ups to keep you laughing. Seriously, go check out some comedy. You could use it. You don't look so good. But if you want to hype a show or find out some super secret show stuffs, email Farley here. That's a good look for anyone. more ›

After a successful inaugural season that included The Afternoons, The Deadly Syndrome, The Parson Red Heads, Whispertown 2000, The Broken West, Le Switch, Radar Bros., The One AM Radio, Eulogies, Langhorne Slim, One Trick Pony, Local Natives, and Saint Motel, the family-friendly Kidrockers LA returns this Sunday to The Echo, hosted by comedians Matt Dwyer and Matt Braunger with music by The Damselles & the TC4 and Quazar & the Bamboozled. more ›

Tyler Perry's latest mediocrity I Can Do Bad All By Myself demolished the competition this weekend, debuting to $24M to top the box-office charts. The visually delightful (but narratively generic) 9 came in a distant second, taking in only $10.8M in its opening frame. Inglourious Basterds is proving to be a much-needed and resilient winner for Quentin Tarantino and the Weinstein Company ($6.5M | $104.3M), while the renaissance of Sandra Bullock continues with All About Steve ($5.8M | $21.8M). more ›

Wow! Crowded weekend, huh? I'd say 9 has to be at the top of any list if only for its sumptuous animation. Tyler Perry continues to crank out middling material, though Taraji Henson is almost enough to pull me into I Can Do Bad All by Myself. I've railed against bad horror re-makes so I feel obligated to rail against Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, too. It has a decent pedigree (Peter Hyams directing, Michael Douglas starring), but stop recycling old ideas, Hollywood! Sorority Row may (will) suck but at least it has the stones to go for an R rating and let its gore/nudity flag fly. Whiteout is the new Dominic Sena movie. If you know anything about his earlier work, you'll know to stay away (actually Gone in 60 Seconds was good, dumb fun featuring vintage Cage). more ›

I recently had a fan moment when I found myself on an elevator with the star of Big Fan, Patton Oswalt. “I LOVE The United States of Tara!” I gushed as I hugged this perfect stranger. He could not have been more warm and adorable as he chatted with me about the show and how glad he was that my mom loves it, too, and he told me to tell her to keep watching, even though she lives in China and downloads it illegally. (What? They don’t have Showtime.) more ›

The 15th annual Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off tonight at 7:30 pm with the premiere screening of Paper Man at the Mann Village Theater. The full festival begins in earnest the following morning as over 80 documentary and narrative features unspool in venues across the Westside. In addition to that, the festival features panels and seminars, coffee talks and poolside chats, short-film programs, music video showcases, live concerts and free screenings of such beloved films as Ghostbusters, Election and The Muppet Movie. more ›

Look to the skies! The flying saucers will always be there! Not even your local cinematheque is safe when evil extraterrestrials & suave spacemen invade Santa Monica. Should our valiant heroes survive these "Far Out" encounters, they must still contend with a Martian militia, led by none other than our governor himself! I heard it through my magick Tesla Coil! more ›

John Wesley Harding loves a sense of occasion, highly theatrical imagery, and collaboration. He is a busy songwriter, novelist, and new dad. His latest album Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead came out in March. Recently Wes completed his third novel. He is the father of two small children. Since his critically acclaimed 1990 debut, Here Comes the Groom (lauded by the LA Times as “the first great rock record of the `90s”) John Wesley Harding has recorded ten records for both major (Sire, Hollywood) and independent labels. more ›

There's good sketch all over the place this week, and some novelty comedy acts (hypnotism, juggling), but it seems like the Patton Oswalt / David Cross and Louis C.K. show will be dominating the landscape this week. Beyond that, the in-the-dark ASSSSCAT show should be legendary, so go take a look, and hit up Farley to hype yourself or someone you love. more ›

Tonight the Annuals are headlining the Troubadour. Although this North Carolina-based indie/folk/pop six-piece outfit has played some high-profile shows (at Coachella last year, and they've already appeared on Conan twice) they've never headlined a gig here in LA. However, they've been through here a couple times before as a supporting act, most recently in November when they played The Fonda with Minus The Bear. LAist was there and had a chance to get in a few questions with 22 year old lead singer Adam Baker, as well as a couple of the Annuals' biggest fans: Baker's mother (who flew in from North Carolina) and celebrity alt-comic Zach Galifianakis... more ›

A lot of the usual comedy venues are shut down for at least the first part of Sunday because of the Super Bowl, so be sure to keep that in mind if you're looking for chuckles on Sunday. If you're looking for something special during the rest of the week, though, the Comedy Central Stage is doing it up hard this week, and UCB is always on point. more ›

The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, I stayed until the festival's conclusion on Sunday. Never will I make that mistake again. While it did allow for a more leisurely pace, all the excitement (and most of the people) had left Park City by mid-week. So this year I once again planned an early Friday morning arrival and a late Tuesday night departure. I was able to see thirteen films, party three nights out of four and sit five feet away from Damien Rice during his amazingly casual concert at the ASCAP Music Cafe. more ›

My fourth day at the Sundance Film Festival began bright and early at seven am. Thankfully, the night before had been a fairly casual one so I was actually feeling full of bounce and vigor. That energy was quickly sapped by a twenty minute wait for the shuttle bus (in twenty degree weather) but soon enough I made it to the Festival Headquarters and quickly jumped into one of the screening booths. Since I had an empty stomach, I figured it was the perfect time to watch the Norwegian zombie movie about Nazis, Dead Snow. more ›

Last Sunday was the inaugural edition of Kidrockers, hosted by comedians Patton Oswalt (MySpace) and Seth Herzog (MySpace), with performances by locals The Afternoons (MySpace) and The Deadly Syndrome (MySpace). more ›

It was only a matter of time before hipster boys and girls grew up to have boys and girls of their own, and were left with the dilemma of how to reconcile a live music obsession with a dearth of available babysitters. Presto chango diapero! Kidrockers to your rescue! Beg, borrow, or reproduce - all you need is a little one and a sense of adventure to enjoy a family-friendly afternoon of music (not necessarily kid-specific jams) tomorrow afternoon at The Echo. Past bands of this New York staple include Los Campesinos!, Pela, Rogue Wave, Ra Ra Riot, Harlem Shakes, and Bishop Allen. Come join funny man Patton Oswalt (better known as Rémy to your Ratatouille-loving four year old) and co-host Seth Herzog to kick off the West Coast-incarnation, featuring LA’s The Deadly Syndrome. LAist’s Tom Lewis heralded 2007’s The Ortolan as “rollicky melodies of xylophone, organs, jangly guitars, and pleasantly thrashed drumkits” and liked it so much he put it on his Best of list. With openers Afternoons. This ain’t The Wiggles, my friend. more ›

If you haven't caught a show at Largo at the Coronet yet, now might be a good time. Their recently posted, insanely good schedule for the next three months includes performers such as Randy Newman, Loudon Wainwright III, Joan as Police Woman, Maya Rudolph & Fred Armisen, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, Jon Brion, The Ditty Bops, Colin Hay, The Watkins Family Hour feat. Fiona Apple & Dan Wilson, Greg Proops and Flight of the Conchords. more ›

It looks like Time Warner Inc. will be spinning off Time Warner Cable and announcing that sometime today. No word yet on how that might affect subscribers (like yours truly) of the TV, phone, and web services that the cable entity offers. more ›

Comedy Central has started to establish some control over Wednesday nights. What's funny is that I started to go back to them on Wednesdays because of Lewis Black's excellent show "Root Of All Evil" (anyone catch him on Conan last week? He was great) and now I'm finding myself re-engaging with "South Park" but I'm sure that program directors at Comedy Central were planning for the flow to happen the other way. Whatever, it's working on me. "Lewis Black's Root Of All Evil" is the TV Junkie Pick tonight and not coincidentally because the incredible Patton Oswalt is on the show as one of the comedian-debaters seeking to prove whether Paris Hilton (or the very idea of her) is more evil than Dick Cheney. more ›

Comedy-rich LA has a lot to choose from. Here are some highlights for the month of April: more ›

With Lost sent off to Hiatusland for the next month, Thursday's have suddenly deflated to an extraordinarily flaccid state - makes me hunger for the return of Thursday regulars like "My Name Is Earl" (check out NBC's CEO Jeff Zucker season rehash promo). After scouring the listings I can only come up with Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train(1989) on IFC at 8:15pm and then Don Rickles on Jimmy Kimmel for late night watching. In news today Google's YouTube announced that they will provide a tool that will allow anyone with a video on the service to get detailed metrics about who has been watching it - Nielsen for you and me. more ›

Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody to be sure although none of it is familiar-feeling, "safe", or boring - which is perfect for Human Giant's 11:00pm slot (what, the kids can't handle this at 10:00pm?). more ›