Has anyone else been peeved by the "Angels & Demons" graffiti marketing effort that's recently decorated the paths in Dolores Park? Doubtless some clever marketing firm who specializes in "non-traditional" or "guerrilla marketing" convinced Sony Pictures that their new DaVinci Code sequel could really use some of their ultra-hip techniques to spread the word to that coveted 18-34 demo, and they were going to do it by spray-painting the title of the film on sidewalks in places where said demo hangs out. (We know we're buying into their crap by even posting this, but we are expressing our quiet protest by not linking to the film and by gently discouraging all of you from seeing it). Our questions are: a) Has anyone ever decided to go see a movie because they saw the title spray-painted in their favorite park, and b) does that shit wash off? more ›

Scores of Hollywood folk came to Davies Symphony Hall last night to remember Paul Newman, who passed away recently, by performing a staged reading of "The World of Nick Adams," an adaptation by A. E. Hotchner of some of Ernest Hemingway's early autobiographical stories. more ›

So yeah, there's a bunch of movies out this week, but like last week's This Week in DVDs, the movies aren't really the important thing. Sure, we love Harry Potter, but this is also the week in which the first three seasons of "Seinfeld" are being released. Is there anything else that matters? Would you rather watch Tom Hanks play an immigrant "discovering" America while stuck in an airport terminal or George Costanza tell someone try to convince an unemployment clerk that he had a job as a latex salesman at Vandelay Industries? Do we even have to ask? With the release of these DVDs, we can really say that Festivus has come early. more ›

Criticism is a funny thing. One person loves a piece of art and another hates it. Happens all the time. But today there's a particularly delicious example of this phenomenon to relish. more ›