Photo courtesy of Focus Features Even on the best days, the Sundance Film Festival is an extremely hectic place to be. Screenings and events often overlap and are spread all over town, and even though the public transportation is good (and free!), it can still be a nightmare to get someplace quickly. Cabs can be hard to come by and parking (when available) is expensive. Furthermore, there are always going to be lines waiting......

If any film cried out for a comprehensive DVD this year it was Zodiac. Casual viewers probably didn't realize it, but Zodiac was swimming in meticulously crafted CGI. Check out this video and be truly amazed by the subtle work of David Fincher and his team. Then, go out and buy the DVD. You know that it's been a good year at the movies when 3:10 to Yuma is only the third or fourth......

While it's true that there's nothing better than teenage lesbian stories, celebrity teenage lesbian stories is like a cherry on top of a delicious sundae. Word is that Maureen McCormick aka Marcia Brady aka Little Miss Stuck Up Older Sister Teen Idol was exploring her sexuality backstage at Paramount with her tv sister Jan, aka Eve Plumb. The word comes from no other than McCormick herself who plans on releasing that tale and others......

Monday Mark Danielewski presents Only Revolutions 7pm @ Vroman's Ellen Sandler presents The TV Writer's Workbook 7pm @ Borders, Sherman Oaks Nell Freudenberger & Jennifer Gilmore discuss their work with Bernadette Murphy 7pm @ Central Library Sy Safransky discusses his work and The Sun 7:30pm @ Beverly Hills Public Library Tuesday James Ellroy discusses his work 7pm @ Central Library Diana Gabaldon presents Lord John & the Brotherhood of the Blade 7pm @ Vroman's......

David Fincher's obituary will likely refer to him as the director of Fight Club, but Zodiac is his most complete work. Luxuriate in its full 157 minutes this week when it reaches stores. The Number 23 had a pretty good trailer, but unfortunately the actual movie was longer than 90 seconds. Bring back Lloyd Christmas, Jim! Sure HBO seems to have the best shows on cable, but Showtime is quickly closing the gap. Weeds......

Monday Mike Carey presents The Devil You Know 7pm @ Book Soup Tuesday Doug Stumpf presents Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy 7pm @ Book Soup Joy Horowitz presents Parts per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School 7pm @ Central Library Michael Tucker signs Living a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love in Italy 7pm @ Dutton's Jerry Stahl presents Love Without 7pm @ Borders, Long Beach Thomas......

Mark Wahlberg lights up TV screens this week as Shooter reaches the DVD shelves. I don't know about you, but this tale of double-crosses and revenge had a distinct late 80s/early 90s vibe to it for me. Did Sly pass on this script 20 years ago or was it Steve in '95? For those of you who want to see Samuel L. Jackson in full-on Samuel L. Jackson mode, pick up Black Snake Moan.......

Tuesday Ron Carlson discusses and signs Five Skies 7pm @ Vroman's Susanna Moore signs The Big Girls 7pm @ Dutton's Wednesday Susan Davis signs Gathering Sound 7pm @ Dutton's Susanna Moore discusses The Big Girls 7pm @ Vroman's Thursday Don Rickles presents Rickles' Book: A Memoir 7pm @ Book Soup Kerry Madden signs Louisiana’s Song 7pm @ Dutton's Sage Bennet presents Wisdom Walk 7pm @ Borders, Pasadena Susan Straight signs A Million Nightingales 7:30pm......

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam died yesterday in a car crash in Menlo Park, CA. He was 73. Halberstam’s work as a journalist ranges wide and delves deep. He covered the Korean War, the Vietnam War and civil rights but he was also fascinated with the humanity and spectacle of sports. He did not simply document the history he lived through – he explained complex societal constructs and cultural shifts in a way that anyone......

Monday P.J. O’Rourke signs On the Wealth of Nations 7pm @ Book Soup Adam Gopnick reads Through the Children's Gate 7:30pm @ Skirball Cultural Center Tuesday David Mamet signs Bambi vs. Godzilla 7pm @ Book Soup Edward Humes signs Monkey Girl 7pm @ Vroman’s Norman Mailer discusses Castle in the Forest with David Ulin 7:30pm @ Writers Guild Theater Daveed Gartenstein-Ross presents My Year in Radical Islam 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble Santa Monica......

Welcome to January, the month when studios traditionally take the shitty movies they've held off releasing the rest of the year and dump them onto unsuspecting audiences. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer -- Synesthesia is the coolest disorder ever! This is a neurological condition in which two or more bodily senses are entangled in "abnormal" ways (i.e. people with synesthesia might see a different color for each letter of the alphabet or smell......

Yo La Tengo I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass Matador (2006) After digesting Yo La Tengo's last two records, the sublime "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out" (2000) and the somewhat sedate "Summer Sun" (2003), I thought perhaps they had entered their twilight years as a band. After 20 years of recording, touring and slowly but surely becoming indie rock icons the band, composed of guitarist Ira Kaplan,......

LAist contributor Josh Spector reports: For two hours on Sunday night inside the House of Blues, rock 'n roll was everything it's meant to be - raw, dangerous, meaningful, and moving. Veteran So Cal rockers Social Distortion brought more than two decades worth of musicianship, urgency, ups and downs to the stage in an inspiring performance. With no new album to promote, the band played a good mix of songs from over the course......

We here at LAist are strong advocates of Halloween, and have provided the list below in an effort to help all of our readers enjoy this fine holiday as thoroughly as possible. Even if you don't get out there in full costume and party like Bela Lugosi, we hope you enjoy some of the following: FRIDAY • Pretty Girls Make Graves, Bullet Train to Vegas and Razrez are on tonight at the Troubadour. Doors......

Editor's Note: Here is the second part of our Interview with author Domenic Priore. Since he's such an expert on SoCal in the 60s, we've asked him to answer our questionnaire as a resident of the Sunset Strip in 1966. Domenic will be discussing "Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece" at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena next Saturday, July 23, 2005 at. 3:00 PM. He'll be joined by Van Dyke Parks, Danny Hutton &......

Southern California is lucky to have Domenic Priore, 45, as a native son. The author and documentary filmmaker has focused his considerable energy on documenting the heyday of the Sunset Strip music scene and Beach Boys hagiography resulting in books like his latest "Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece," which can be considered an adjunct to the documentary on Brian Wilson called "Beautiful Dreamer," and his upcoming book "Riot on Sunset Strip:......

THURSDAY • At the Troubadour hosts Dwarves, Mondo Generator, The Willowz and DJ Brian Vasquez. Doors open at 8 PM; tickets are $12 advance. • Popsters Kinski perform a free in-store at Amoeba Music at 6 PM, followed by a set at The Echo featuring Polar Goldie Cats and Open City at 8:30 PM. Tickets are $8. [18+] • The Like, Soft and The Chapin Sisters perform tonight at the Viper Room. • "Also......

The history of LA punk is a great one, and a story that has been told many times in the twenty-odd years since the initial flowering of the scene. Amidst the many bands that made it up, there's one little band that is often forgotten when looking at the greater whole: The Minutemen, the three-man powerhouse from Pedro. Twenty years after the untimely passing of lead singer D. Boon, We Jam Econo — The......

As the nights grow darker and colder, we seem to treasure light and make it the centerpiece of the winter season. Here are some upcoming events to get you in the mood: Bottom's Dream Theater Company presents the World Premiere of "FireFlow: Two Tales from Andersen" featuring 2 Hans Christian Anderson tales adapted by Erik Ehn "Matcher in the Nigh" (The Little Match Girl) and "Blister" (The Story of a Mother) directed by James......