Dara Weinberg

The Guardian's Charlie Brooker doesn't think that online debate has any value -and he compares comment-posting bloggers to mice on treadmills. "...online quarrelling is also addictive, in precisely the same way Tetris is addictive. It appeals to the "lab rat" part of your brain; the annoying, irrepressible part that adores repetitive pointlessness and would gleefully make you pop bubblewrap till Doomsday if it ever got its way. " We can think of a couple...

DC Comics is resurrecting the Batwoman character (1959 - 1976) as a lesbian for their "52" series, a collaboration between different writers with serial weekly episodes. DC is trying to introduce superheroes who don't fit the usual white male superstereotype. Out.com writes: "Gotham City's sexiest socialite knows more than how to throw a party. Kathy Kane also knows a bit about throwing punches--and she introduces herself to comic book readers by striking her ex-girlfriend...

David Lawrence as Charles Bukowski and Steven Memel as Steven Memel Haven't you ever wondered what could be learned from the inspirational story of Charles Bukowski's life - alcoholic, depressive, and suicidal poet? Stephen Memel, the auteur/directeur/chanteur/Phantom Impersonateur, did, and he has given the world BUKOWSICAL!, now extended at the Sacred Angel Fist Circle Of Note Gang Theater through July 21. Yes, it's a musical about Charles Bukowski, and what better way to celebrate...

L to R: Jordan Savage as Poona and Michael Lanahan as The Handsome Prince Welcome to the magical kingdom of Do, where no one does - a magical land that bears some resemblance to America and some to South Park, Colorado. A talking television, a little girl who learns to kill people over the Internet, a giant foam penis and a dismembered rabbit are among the residents of this double-edged land. Their stories are...

Our two picks for Los Angeles theater this weekend are a completely free show at a high school and a new musical premiering on Melrose — one with a cast of students, one with French Stewart and Sara Rue leading a star-power ensemble. For the cheapskates and the fairy-tale-minded, Cornerstone Theater Company presents 3/7/11: A LINCOLN HEIGHTS TALE for two performances only. A collaboration between playwright Jose Cruz Gonzales and groups of third, seventh,...

Now that the old Actor's Gang space has been hollowed out like a kiwi, and the Open Fist has tenaciously but lightly taken up residence there, the Fist's avant-garde modern dancer friends, Hysterica Dance Company, are taking advantage of the cavernous emptiness of the space with their new work, RAPTURE. We interviewed Kitty McNamee, Hysterica's artistic director and one of the four choreographers featured in RAPTURE, last year. Their vocabulary of movement ranges from...

"New York is like a bad relationship that you can't get out of, because you still think the sex is good. Well, I think the sex is pretty good in L.A. too!" - Publisher Judith Regan Publishing's not just for Manhattan any more. The bombastic right-wing industry mogul Judith Regan, of ReganMedia, is officially abandoning her NY offices and moving the operation to Century City. She claims it's too expensive to operate out of Manhattan...

"Well, what was the lesson? What did we learn? - That blackmail's okay if they're rich and you're poor! - When you chop up a body, start with the head? How about when you kill someone, make sure they're dead?" The (nothing) Sacred Fools have joined the ranks of unforgettable Christmas entertainment with their latest show, A Dr. Jeuss Christmas, running now through Dec. 30. The Fools like to push the envelope, but we...

Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets: More needs she the divine than the physician. And more needs we Shakespeare than either one. Macbeth is a play of sudden, constant, bloody action. The variation comes from watching the actors react, as they each realize - yes, it is that bad, and yes, it's going to get much worse. Josh Costello's sparse...

The 2005 finalists for the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction contest have been announced, and they include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, and John Updike. You can read the complete list and the passages for which the offending authors were nominated here. Laist's (least) favorite follows, from Marlon Brando's godawful, posthumously published novel, Fan Tan; "Oh, Lord," he cried out. "I'm a-comin'!" She could not answer. It is the one drawback of fellatio...