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Short Takes

  • Phantom of the Frida

    Phantom of the Frida

    Emily Ann Zisko spent a night at the opera, darling, and found herself among skeletons and ghosts, feminists and revolutionaries.

    Nov 22, 2023

  • Choose Your Own Hamletmachine

    Choose Your Own Hamletmachine

    Siena Foster-Soltis joins the audience, votes, and—expectedly—witnesses the victory of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

    Nov 17, 2023

  • Too Far Gone

    Too Far Gone

    If you're gonna build a career on proximity to coolness, maybe start by ascertaining whether you are—in fact—cool?

    Nov 16, 2023

  • Ultra-Casual

    Ultra-Casual

    Jack Skelley stumbles right up to the razor’s edge of Los Angeles’s alt-lit scene, and perhaps tumbles into the ether.

    Nov 15, 2023

  • Born Sick

    Born Sick

    The church is the Hollywood Bowl, the priest is Hozier, the hymns are pop anthems, and everyone is very, very gay.

    Nov 9, 2023

  • Always an Angeleno, Never a God

    Always an Angeleno, Never a God

    BOYGENIUS with 100 GECS and SLOPPY JANE, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, October 31, 2023. Emo-folk supergroup boygenius joined hyperpop scoundrels 100...

    Nov 6, 2023

  • Honk If You Love Geese

    Honk If You Love Geese

    A. J. Urquidi treks to Orange County to report on the nexus of country, glam, psychedelia, post-punk, and noise rock.

    Nov 2, 2023

  • Prometheus Downtown

    Prometheus Downtown

    APOCALYPSE HALLOWEEN PARTY, Los Angeles, October 28, 2023. As a recent East Coast transplant, I’ve noticed a major difference between New York...

    Nov 1, 2023

  • Anatomy of a Scare

    Anatomy of a Scare

    HAUNTED HOUSE CONFIDENTIAL: THE ART AND ORIGINS OF THE SCARE with KRISTEN PHILLIPS, Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, October 26,...

    Oct 31, 2023

  • All the World’s a Game

    All the World’s a Game

    Brandon Sward unearths Nathan Wainstein’s review of Bloodborne in anticipation of Halloween: During lockdown, I essentially reverted to my adolescent...

    Oct 30, 2023

  • I Went to Therapy with a Gecko

    I Went to Therapy with a Gecko

    THERAPY GECKO LIVE: THE GECKONING TOUR, Dynasty Typewriter, Los Angeles, October 26, 2023. When I first saw Therapy Gecko, I knew I had to come...

    Oct 28, 2023

  • Speaking of Haunted Language

    Speaking of Haunted Language

    Alessia Degraeve rings up Dorothea Lasky, almost a decade later: Dorothea Lasky finds solace in horror. Horror can empathize with us—it validates...

    Oct 27, 2023

  • Before Los Angeles Was Los Angeles

    Before Los Angeles Was Los Angeles

    THE IRIDESCENCE OF KNOWING, Oxy Arts, Los Angeles, September 14–November 18, 2023. The Iridescence of Knowing at Oxy Arts is quietly radical, but...

    Oct 26, 2023

  • Scary Safe Spaces

    Scary Safe Spaces

    Jared Klegar rattles this piece from the LARB archives: Despite the association with horror and jump scares, Halloween might, in a queer way...

    Oct 24, 2023

  • Waiting-Line Existentialism

    Waiting-Line Existentialism

    HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, September 7–October 31, 2023. There is a special plane of reality that can...

    Oct 23, 2023