I have a confession to make: I like watching bad films. I take a sort of impish glee from seeing them, rolling my eyes and making snarky comments with my friends on the ride home. My ideal date is sitting at home, watching “Birdemic” or “Battlefield Earth.” I’ve seen “The Room” in theaters. My hobby has given me a...
Vagina, vagina, vagina. Last Wednesday night, I said, heard and appreciated the word vagina more than ever before. Presented by the Women’s Resource Center, UCR’s student production of Eve Ensler’s play, “The Vagina Monologues,” explored the female experience and spoke out against violence against women. “Stories will make you laugh, cry, scream and shout, so feel them completely,” explained...
What seems to be a modern interpretation of mafia-crime movies, “A Most Violent Year” enters the scene away from its proposed goal of depicting the year 1981 as a crime-filled drama, but stumbles into an interesting take on what it means to achieve the typical American dream. Directed and written by J.C. Chandor, the movie opens to New York...
Riverside experienced its first-ever color throw on Saturday, March 5 with the Holi Festival of Colors. Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival that has gained popularity with those outside of the Asian community. Taking place at Martha McClean Park, attendees were able to indulge in delicious vegetarian food, stress-relieving yoga, intriguing live music and perhaps most importantly a...
The Arts Studio theatre reminded me of a Halloween fright house on Thursday evening, March 8. An artificially dense, sickly sweet layer of fog hung low in the room, and the walls were decorated with beige tarps, torn to look mussed from the elements. On the stage stood raised wooden platforms designed to represent a ship, and a single...
After their flashy, dance-friendly album “It's Blitz!,” the New York trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs claim they're returning to basics on their fourth studio production, supposedly reminiscent of “Show Your Bones” (2006). I say “supposedly” because while “Show Your Bones” was a great milestone for the ever-evolving band, “Mosquito” feels painfully inadequate and unable to follow the energy of their...
Owen Pallett is known as somewhat of a musical academic, penning numerous essays deconstructing elements of different popular songs to explain why they work and don’t work. And in his spare time, he is a frequent collaborator with Arcade Fire, arranging strings on all of their albums while also being nominated with band member Will Butler for best original...
Now that the Coachella lineup madness has died down a bit, it’s time to turn my attention to an up-and-coming band. This week’s spotlight is on the Echo Park-based indie band NO. They have released only one EP (“Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Here Forever”) to date, in addition to a single, but they have already shown great potential. Self-described...
“They’re in there being magical and shit,” said lead singer Zahira Gutierrez of Wild Moccasins, referring to legendary indie band of Montreal waiting in the wings during their performance. It was indeed a magical night at the Barn as a sold-out crowd welcomed Wild Moccasins and of Montreal with raucous dancing and cheering throughout the night. The two bands...
Ozark-native novelist Daniel Woodrell (“Winter’s Bone”) is noted for coining the term “country noir,” but there is a new noir on the map and it isn’t in any book. “True Detective” is a new cop series on HBO done in just six 60-minute episodes, starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. This is not the average pot-boiler, whodunit, murder-solved-in-one-episode buddy-cop...