Culture

I followed the very public response to the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation from the moment TMZ first published the disturbing, post-abuse images of the beaten pop star. I’m sorry. It’s not “the Chris Brown/Rihanna” situation. Abuse is not a “situation,” it’s a crime. I’ve also been closely following the very public response to Chris Brown’s recent Grammy performance. The questions of, “did he deserve to perform?” …

So the war in Iraq is officially over. It has been one year short of a decade since it began. This isn’t a political blog, so I won’t share my feelings about the justification for why we went to war, the reasons we were there for 9 years, and what our leaders should do now that it’s over. I will say that I was and …

I know that this is not cool to say. I know that the Occupy Wall Street (et al) movement is a serious thing rooted in a real issue facing our country and so many others. I really do believe in the movement, the gravity of the issue at hand and the powerful manner in which the protesters have decided to go about their campaign. Honestly …

Tonight I will be one among the (hopefully) millions of people oggling at Zooey Deschanel as she makes her network television debut in Fox’s 20-somethings comedy NEW GIRL. It will be the second time I watch this exact episode of television. The first was when the pilot was passed around the TV biz earlier this year (L.A. plus column item #43: advance screeners). I liked …

Last week (or so…) there was an article in The New York Times magazine about the “plague of strong female characters.” “Tough, Cold, Terse, Taciturn and Prone to Not Saying Goodbye When They Hang Up the Phone,” was the title. In it the author specifically references the character Natalie Portman plays in the recent romantic comedy “No Strings Attached”. The movie is about a girl …