Joan Didion has had an extraordinarily difficult past two years. While she was preparing dinner on Dec. 30, 2003, her husband of 40 years, John Gregory Dunne, suffered a heart attack that took his life almost instantly. Read more...

Halloween really tells a lot about the social structure of any neighborhood. I’m not talking about noting economic disparity through the quality of children’s costumes, nor am I referring to the complex social strata of kids who are trick-or-treating. Read more...

Silver Jews “Tanglewood Numbers” Drag City Records After a bout with depression and a suicide attempt, David Berman is back with the Silver Jews’ fifth full-length album, “Tanglewood Numbers,” and this time he won’t take backstage as a Pavement-goes-Nashville act. Read more...

After having trouble adapting its multi-layered music to the live setting, Metric wanted its new album to be something it could perform with confidence for its audiences. Read more...

Jarhead Directed by Sam Mendes Universal Pictures “Jarhead” is a disappointing film, and that actually might be the best thing it has going for it. Based on the best-selling memoirs of former U.S. Read more...

When it comes to her music, singer Mary Black has never strayed far from her Irish roots. Black, who has outsold both U2 and Sinead O’Connor in their native Ireland, will take the stage with other Irish female vocalists in a UCLA Live performance of the Celtic music featured on the successful “A Woman’s Heart” compilation albums in Royce Hall tonight at 8. Read more...

Superheroes just don’t get enough respect. Recently, a group of friends assembled at my apartment to watch “Spider-Man 2.” The behavior of my buddies during the film appalled me: they talked over the movie, answered their cell phones, and generally disregarded this masterpiece of modern cinema. Read more...