Kal Penn has come a long way: from one Taj Mahal to another. It’s been five short years since most audiences were introduced to the New Jersey-born Indian actor in the comedy “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder,” in which the UCLA graduate played Taj Mahal Badalandabad, an endearingly earnest exchange student determined to lose his virginity. Read more...

If you are looking for a nice Brazilian restaurant with enough flavor to fly you off in a fat private jet to some crazy Mardi Gras street party in Rio, Bossa Nova on Sunset won’t quite get you there. Read more...

Flash back to the NBA in 2004: The Los Angeles Lakers have just won the Western Conference Finals. Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the team have disappeared from the crowds and returned to the locker room to congratulate each other. Read more...

If I had to choose one word to describe my experience at Coachella last year, it would definitely be “absolutely miserable.” It may have had something to do with the oppressive heat. Read more...

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Center Theater Group Feb. 6 through March 18 Few actresses receive 30 seconds of applause upon taking the stage. An even smaller number are applauded for opening a play by shouting “Jesus H. Read more...

Chamber music has long served as the more intimate alternative to the expansive arrangements of orchestral concerts and the individual expressiveness of solo performances. It also has a long history of collaboration between professionals and amateurs. Read more...

What would happen if a movie director were given free reign inside a film vault, with thousands upon thousands of titles? What would he choose? What would he say? Read more...