Arts | Culture

Lefévre Sets The Stage Ablaze at Pacific Symphony

By

Audience members found themselves physically moved to stand and—quite literally—bow at the feet of Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St. Clair, and guest pianist Alain Lefévre, these two pillars of classical music having just gone head to head in what can only be described as a “race to the finish” in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Concerto in C Minor for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 18.

Read More
Culture, ENTERTAINMENT, Film, OCMA Film, TV | FILM

FILM REVIEW: Dinosaur 13

By

“When Paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research made the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery in 1990, they knew it was the find of a lifetime; the largest, most complete T. rex ever found. But during a ten-year battle with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists, they found themselves not only fighting to keep their dinosaur but fighting for their freedom as well.”

Read More
Eat | Drink

Alegria Cocina Latina

By

ALEGRIA Cocina Latina’s Grand Re-Opening: Vamped-up Alegria renews our palatable desires. In the quest for something great, I came across Alegra Cocina Latina when invited to attend their grand re-opening. Tucked away under a swath of trees along Pine Avenue, guests enjoy a comfortable patio space whilst flamenco guitar music spills around their ankles, and South American-inspired cuisine fills the air.

Read More
Eat | Drink, Issue No. 7, Wine & Beer

First Annual Bite at the Beach

By

Beyond the studio’s guard post, at which a cluster of security officers are checking driver license’ and writing down names, sits a long, lonely road–one which must be traveled by foot— manned on both sides by volunteers sporting white shirts with “Bite at the Beach” emblazoned across the chest in bold blue and orange hues. One of said volunteers catches my eye, points to a white tent further down, and answers before I can ask: “The party’s thataway!”

Read More
Culture, ENTERTAINMENT, Film, Issue No. 6, TV | FILM

‘THE CONGRESS’ Film Review

By

If given the choice to be young forever, would you jump at the opportunity? Actress Robin Wright (Princess Bride, House of Cards) is given that choice, albeit through contractual agreements, by the fictional Miramount Studios in Ari Folman’s (Waltz with Bashir) The Congress. Studio executives propose her body and facial expressions should be scanned by advanced computers with motion capture technology so they can puppeteer her image into c-grade films and, as the greedy studio head Jeff (Danny Huston) would argue, “keep her young forever.”

Read More
ENTERTAINMENT, Film, Issue No. 6, TV | FILM

‘Cas and Dylan’ Film Review 2014

By

An exercise in the futility that comes with trying to dissect what it is that makes life worth living, Priestley’s film is largely successful on the backs of the mesmerizing Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and veteran actor Richard Dreyfuss. Cas & Dylan follows one terminally ill Dr. Cas Pepper (Dreyfuss) on his way home one day from work at the hospital, when he is approached by the charming Dylan Morgan (Maslany), a 22-year-old quick-witted, smooth-talking social misfit, and talked into giving her a road home.

Read More
ENTERTAINMENT, Film, Issue No. 6, TV | FILM

‘Follow Friday the Film’ REVIEW

By

Technology is a funny thing. In the 21st century, we’ve come to a point in society where we decry the notion of having to live without it; children get their first iPhone in kindergarten and first grade, debates are no longer over ‘phone versus no phone’ but ‘Android versus Apple’, and sightings of anything resembling a flip phone are met with an awe usually reserved for historical museums (and yes, I’m speaking from personal experience).

Read More
Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

“The One I Love” Film Review

By

If you could be with the ideal version of your partner would you be happier? Is embracing them for their flaws part of the accepted insanity that is love? The One I Love aims to answer that by reinventing a familiar premise with excellent performances and a quirky, clever script fusing relatable human drama with science fiction.

Read More
Culture, Humanitarian, Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

‘Welcome Nowhere’ Film Review

By

It always blows my mind that in a day and age where we can communicate and socialize with anybody, anywhere in the world, at any given moment, our biggest problem remains to be that of racial prejudice, especially against minorities. In some ways we’re doing better than our grandparents, and even our parents, but we all know we have a long way to go before we can even begin to mumble of having rubbed out perhaps one of the most embarrassing aspects of U.S., indeed World, history.

Read More
Culture, Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

“Who Took Johnny” Film Review

By

“Who Took Johnny”: What sounds like the beginning of a nail-biting Hollywood thriller is a sad and disturbing reality—one that American parents face each and every day and is the main focus of documentary Who Took Johnny, a dissection of the stranger-than-fiction disappearance of Iowa paperboy, Johnny Gosch, a boy who seemingly “vanished into thin air” and a case that still remains unsolved.

Read More
Issue No. 5, TV | FILM

REFUGE Film Review

By

REFUGE. Amy Behr (Krysten Ritter) becomes a mother out of unexpected circumstances. She tries to raise her two younger siblings who struggle with day-to-day life: her younger brother, Nat (Logan Huffman), writes to-do lists concerning mundane tasks, like attempting to converse with other people, after he has a brain tumor removed that mildly disables him . Amy’s teenage sister, Lucy (Madeleine Martin), has a hatred of high school and experiments with drugs and shoplifting as her grades slip.

Read More