TFPO column: smashingly good music within reach

A break from politics with a brief detour into music - this week's column at TFPO s exactly what the title says it is:

Smashingly Good Music Within Reach

I should probably add that by "within reach" I mean within the LA area.

film review: fat stupid rabbit

This Russian film distributed by Echelon Studios - actually their distribution sibling Singa Entertainment - is a rare thing: a surprise. Going by the movie poster, it won Best Foreign Film at the Schweitzer Lakedance Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the International Festival of VGIK Moscow Russia. In trying to title my review, and failing dismally at coming up with a suitable pun, I went with "a Little-Known Russian Gem." What it lacks in panache it makes up for in accuracy. This is a wonderful little film, and the surprise is not simply how good it is but how persistently it lingers.

Entertainment: ** (out of two)
Craft: ** (out of two)
Gold star recommendation!

'Fat Stupid Rabbit' - A Little-Known Russian Gem

theatre review: sole mate/death and giggles

No episode of The Ladder this week, I'm afraid, on account of being overloaded. But here's a review of Sole Mate / Death and Giggles on stage at the Ivy Substation in Culver City. High recommendations.

‘Sole Mate and Death and Giggles.’ Some Death. Mostly Giggles. All Magic.

TFPO column: A Transit Romance – can we say goodbye to bus advertising?

This week's The Recreational Nihilist topic: that damnable advertising on buses.

A Transit Romance – Can We Say Goodbye to Bus Advertising?

Morbid Outlook september book review and in rotation music

It's the Frederik issue at Morbid Outlook, with...

...a review of Melissa Marr's Ink Exchange

...a new In Rotation with reviews of Risqué, The Awakening, Shugo Tokumaru, and the Long Dead Sevens.