Tuesday, July 21

UCLA alumnus co-authors “Beyond Genius” renaissance men

Scott Griffiths has published best-selling books on art and beer, started a craft beer brand called Rhino Chasers, worked on branding for Fortune 500 companies, lectured in business classes at universities like UCLA and Pepperdine and most recently wrote a book detailing Renaissance men and the characteristics that defined them. Read more...

Photo: Scott Griffiths (right) stands with Frank Nuovo (middle) and David Stewart (left), two of the men featured in his new book “Beyond Genius: The 12 Essential Traits of Today’s Renaissance Men.”



“Beyond the Hills” plays with genres

Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or-winning second feature, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” an intimate drama of two friends forced to seek extralegal abortion under Communist rule, played better as a thriller than a message movie. The same curious quality informs Mungiu’s follow-up, “Beyond the Hills,” a gripping depiction of a remote Romanian monastery that similarly falls short of making a statement. Read more...




Album Review: ‘Cerulean Salt’ by Waxahatchee

Punk rock is dead, punk rock is dying, punk rock died surviving. In a year when the genre threatens to crash at full throttle back into the mainstream (or at least pseudo-mainstream), from the anguished roar of Pissed Jeans to the wheezing desperation of Iceage, the quieter anguish of Waxahatchee’s “Cerulean Salt” could easily be overlooked as a folksy interlude. Read more...


Alumna’s short film ‘Zero’ premieres on HBO

Kimberly Townes, a 2012 graduate of the UCLA theater department’s graduate directing program, said her motto for her first year at UCLA was to apply for everything with the perspective of trying, working and hoping. Read more...

Photo: School of Theater, Film and Television alumna Kimberly Townes had her thesis film “Zero” premiere on Feb. 16 on HBO. It was a finalist submission in the 2012 HBO Short Film Award competition, as part of the American Black Film Festival.