ENTERTAINMENT
February 21, 2014 | By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic
Venezuela's state-supported music education marvel, El Sistema, offering free instruction to nearly 600,000 young people in all corners of the country, is not without controversy. With an increasingly restive Venezuelan public protesting human rights violations and economic dysfunction, El Sistema, an agency in the executive branch of the government, cannot escape its association with the administration of President Nicolàs Maduro. But those who argue that El Sistema has always been a program above politics and an example of positive social action that is catching on around the world had powerful evidence with the exceptional Los Angeles debut Wednesday night of the Bahia Orchestra Project.
SPORTS
January 13, 2014 | By Steve Dilbeck
We conclude our annual reviews with the Dodgers' enigmatic young outfielder, the one and only … YASIEL PUIG , 23, outfielder Final 2013 stats: .319, 19 home runs, 42 RBIs, 66 runs, .391 on-base and .534 slugging percentage. Contract status: Remains under contract for the next five years. The good: He was second on the team in batting average, runs, stolen bases (11), on-base and slugging percentages, third in home runs and fourth in hits - despite appearing in only 104 games.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 11, 2014 | By Chris Lee
Never underestimate the power of a well-timed "just sayin'. " That was one of the lessons learned by Australian actress Margot Robbie while filming her career-making performance in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street. " Portraying the Brooklyn-born trophy wife of Leonardo DiCaprio's greedy corporate raider Jordan Belfort - in the $100-million, big-screen adaptation of Belfort's 2007 memoir of the same name - a casual suggestion by Robbie resulted in "Wolf's" most shocking scene.
ENTERTAINMENT
December 12, 2013 | By Dawn C. Chmielewski
YouTube vocal sensation Pentatonix joins such major-label acts as Kelly Clarkson, Michael Bublé and Mary J. Blige with seasonal albums topping Billboard's top 200 chart. The a cappella group's holiday-themed PTXmas (Delux Edition) landed at No. 7 on the album chart for the week ended Dec. 8, with more than 59,000 copies sold. The music video for its rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" has racked up more than 17-million views on YouTube in the last two weeks. Pentatonix came to prominence as the winner of the third season of NBC's "The Sing-Off Competition.
ENTERTAINMENT
December 12, 2013 | By Susan King
William Wyler's enchanting 1953 Cinderella-esque comedy, "Roman Holiday," made Audrey Hepburn an overnight sensation. She not only won the Academy Award for best actress but she also received a Golden Globe, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award and the New York Film Critics Circle honor for her role as Ann, a sheltered princess on a goodwill tour of Europe who escapes her guardians in Rome and finds adventure and a storybook romance....
SPORTS
November 11, 2013 | By Bill Shaikin
Yasiel Puig excited a city, electrified Dodger Stadium, spurred record merchandise sales and helped the Dodgers to within two victories of their first World Series in 25 years. He ignited a national debate about how to play baseball the right way. He even lent his name to a rock band called "Puig Destroyer" and a rap song called "Yasiel Puig," which he promptly adopted as his walk-up music. Even with all that, he did not win the National League rookie of the year award on Monday.