Goth

On a drive-by, Ilene and Bill Graney's Monarch Beach cottage resembles a number of quaint, humdrum homes in this cookie-cutter community off Pacific Coast Highway. But once inside the modest, gated courtyard and through the pine front door, you realize the truth to that adage that real beauty is found within. To mitigate the bland exteriors of this 22-year-old tract, the Graneys decided to go goth. Windows were covered in fabric with medieval motifs and punctuated with tassels.

The unlikeliest of road trips, "This Must Be the Place" puts a retired Goth rocker, played by Sean Penn, on the very cold trail of a Nazi war criminal. If the movie doesn't entirely get past its hard-to-buy premise, director Paolo Sorrentino does have the courage of his convictions, not just embracing every contradiction but spinning many of the story's contrivances into moments of strange, aching beauty. The loopy events concern the dazed but knowing Cheyenne, with Penn striking a tricky balance between eccentricity and childlike honesty.

Edgar Allan Poe died more than 150 years ago, but as arguably the father of modern Goth, he never goes out of style. To celebrate that legacy, music producer Hal Willner assembled an eclectic array of talent including rock singer Lou Reed, actors Karen Black and Howard Hesseman, and comedian Will Ferrell for "Never Bet the Devil Your Head," his fifth annual tribute to Poe and his second at UCLA's Royce Hall.

MUSIC Glenn Danzig is one of the most iconic names in punk and goth music, and he finally brings all of his ensembles (including Samhain, Danzig and, yes, a reunion with his legendary Misfits) into one workhorse night. You'll never see so many mono-bang haircuts in one place again. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. 7:15 p.m. Sat. $13.13-$69.50. livenation.com.

Not all Halloween decorations need to be ghoulish or garish, especially when these economic times are frightening enough. Simple and witty alternatives can add a dash of goth or glamour. While not quite Edgar Allan Poe's fabled raven, these black crow candles have an eerie presence (especially as the wax melts); they also could fit the bill as part of a fall harvest tablescape. They're $10 each at Pottery Barn. The birds can be paired with CB2 Noir vases, $21.95 each, which have a matte black iron finish and a polished nickel interior.

Beleaguered teen retailer Hot Topic Inc. announced the resignation of Chief Executive Betsy McLaughlin amid continuing weak sales and earnings. Board member Lisa Harper, a former CEO of children's retailer Gymboree Corp., is to take the helm of the City of Industry-based company, which operates 653 Hot Topic stores and 151 Torrid stores. McLaughlin, who became CEO in 2003, will stay three months to assist the transition, the company said Monday in a statement. Hot Topic has posted year-over-year revenue declines for seven straight quarters.

MUSIC Glenn Danzig is one of the most iconic names in punk and goth music, and he finally brings all of his ensembles (including Samhain, Danzig and, yes, a reunion with his legendary Misfits) into one workhorse night. You'll never see so many mono-bang haircuts in one place again. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. 7:15 p.m. Sat. $13.13-$69.50. livenation.com.

The pop-punk titans Blink-182 have a new album in the works, but here they take their snotty three-chord skate rock to the rarer airs of the Hollywood Bowl. Their Goth-inclined heirs My Chemical Romance and the effervescent Matt and Kim come along. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. 7 p.m. Sat. $30-$87.50. hollywoodbowl.com.

"Serendipity," a multimedia event, filled a downtown L.A. warehouse space recently with a combination of atmosphere and theatrics that promised at least a touch of the unexpected. Against an "enchanted forest" backdrop by Leila Fakouri and her design company Madera Design, the visual arts, percussionists, aerialists and the Stilt Circus bumped molecules and entertained. The audience? Actors, musicians, yoga instructors, a "goth Judy Jetson" type. Just the crowd for a serendipitous encounter or two. -- Image staff

MUSIC The young electronica producer Skrillex is as divisive as they get, with fans flinging themselves at the feet of his skittish, bass-heavy tracks, while detractors deem him "bro-step" and mock his sideswept goth haircut. But over a rash of purposefully smallish club shows in L.A. he'll underline the one thing everyone can agree on — he is really, really popular and entirely embodies this moment in dance music. Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., L.A. 9 p.m. Sat. $53.50.

It takes a supreme level of confidence to begin an album with the line, "I'm a broken record, you have heard this before," as Ramona Gonzales, who makes music under the moniker Nite Jewel, does on her new release, "One Second of Love. " She sings it with deep, exasperated, melodramatic emotion, understanding that to do so is to introduce complications — the bummer of repetition, for one. Equally gutsy and way more labyrinthine is how fellow Angeleno, kindred spirit and occasional Gonzales collaborator Julia Holter begins her exquisite new "Ekstasis" with the song "Marienbad.

MUSIC The young electronica producer Skrillex is as divisive as they get, with fans flinging themselves at the feet of his skittish, bass-heavy tracks, while detractors deem him "bro-step" and mock his sideswept goth haircut. But over a rash of purposefully smallish club shows in L.A. he'll underline the one thing everyone can agree on — he is really, really popular and entirely embodies this moment in dance music. Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., L.A. 9 p.m. Sat. $53.50.

It couldn't be further from the conventional period drama with the nipped-waist bodices and ostentatious accessories that frequently garner award show attention for costuming. Nonetheless, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," the American film based on the first book of Stieg Larsson's popular Millennium trilogy, is likely to attract some attention with its hard-hitting looks that reflect a darker side of contemporary street fashion. The producers of the film, which opens Dec. 20, put together a style dream team to transform actress Rooney Mara into Lisbeth Salander, a waifish, goth-punk heroine who becomes an unlikely ally for a journalist involved in a twisted mystery.

The pop-punk titans Blink-182 have a new album in the works, but here they take their snotty three-chord skate rock to the rarer airs of the Hollywood Bowl. Their Goth-inclined heirs My Chemical Romance and the effervescent Matt and Kim come along. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. 7 p.m. Sat. $30-$87.50. hollywoodbowl.com.

Beleaguered teen retailer Hot Topic Inc. announced the resignation of Chief Executive Betsy McLaughlin amid continuing weak sales and earnings. Board member Lisa Harper, a former CEO of children's retailer Gymboree Corp., is to take the helm of the City of Industry-based company, which operates 653 Hot Topic stores and 151 Torrid stores. McLaughlin, who became CEO in 2003, will stay three months to assist the transition, the company said Monday in a statement. Hot Topic has posted year-over-year revenue declines for seven straight quarters.

Full disclosure: Comedian Patton Oswalt, author of a new book of personal essays and other flights of whimsy called "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland," once invited me to his birthday party at the Lot, the former Warner Bros. studio in West Hollywood. Oswalt was showing "The Warriors," director Walter Hill's disco-era-scented 1979 cult classic about New York City gang warfare. That he would screen "The Warriors" as though it were "Citizen Kane" tells you much about the cineaste's passion with which Oswalt approaches pulp, both offstage and in his stand-up act. And so we arrive at the first chapter in his book, Oswalt taking us back to the summer of 1987, when as a teenager he worked at the Towncenter3 movie theater, a triplex in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Sterling, Va., near where Oswalt grew up. "That was my Lapin Agile," he declares of the Towncenter3.

The Three Apples exhibit and all the events below are at Royal/T cafe and art space, 8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City. (310) 559-6300. royal-t.org. Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. For more information, go to sanrio.com/threeapples/events. Hello Kitty birthday party Today, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. It's the party of the year and you are invited! The fun begins with a sweet assortment of Hello Kitty's signature pancakes and waffles (10 a.m. to noon) and a visit from Hello Kitty.

Ghostly pale models saunter down a rose-strewn bowling alley-like runway wearing black latex, Victorian frocks and mesh shirts accessorized with bondage hardware, safety pins and metal studs. The crowd swoons to the corrosive sounds of Tool, Nine Inch Nails and Sisters of Mercy. White Christmas this isn't.

UNDERRATED "24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic" on HBO: Now that we've dispensed with all that goodwill-toward-men stuff, it's time to get reacquainted with the brutal poetry of ice hockey with this documentary miniseries. Though we have the Kings and Ducks, hockey isn't as ingrained in our city's fabric as it is on the East Coast, and getting inside these two championship-caliber teams illuminates the sport's many charms with every busted nose and Canadian-accented profanity.

In the sacred Shiite city of Najaf, where women hide themselves behind dark robes and head scarves, 15-year-old Ban wears the wrong kind of black. She likes dark, ripped gloves, silver butterfly shirts and white dice on a chain. She paints her nails black and brushes on matching eye shadow. Ban is an emo, belonging to a subculture that may have gone mainstream in the rest of the world, but sure hasn't here. She pronounces it "emu. " Either way, it means she's a goth with a fondness for sparkle.