Month: April 2012

In the romantic drama genre, Nicholas Sparks is a veteran. For years, many of his novels have been adapted into successful films like “A Walk to Remember” and “The Notebook.” […]

Concert promoter Goldenvoice always finds a way to vitally screw up the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in some form. This year, Goldenvoice failed massively with its security lay-out, all but guaranteeing massive wait times for festival goers. […]

Wanna-be rock stars, Kasabian, performed Saturday night (complete with lead-singer Tom Meighan in a trench coat). The group performed most of its hits, like “Fire” and “Reason Is Treason,” coupled with a serviceable light show. Still, the band cannot transcend the stupidity of its own material: ripping off the Stone Roses and Oasis wholesale-ly does not, in actuality, lead to good songs.
Andrew Bird is an incredibly talented musician, performing technically dense music plucking away on his violin. However, whether Bird writes entertaining songs or not is another matter entirely. The man has a tuneful voice, but many of his songs sound almost exactly the same, save for a particularly inspired take on Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”
The Weeknd, the pseudonym of R&B singer Abel Tesfaye, performed a highly anticipated set that is among their first performances ever. Tesfaye exhibits some stupefying vocal chops on The Weeknd’s three mixtapes, but he was unable to adjust to live performance and consistently ran out of breath. The Weeknd is renowned for his dense production, and his backing band simply could not compare to the records — overbearing base attempted to substitute for musical complexity.
Nature attempted to put a damper on festivities during Weekend one. Despite a week of warning, fans came unprepared and underdressed for the rain and cold — the first weather of this sort at any Coachella. The wind chilled crowds to the bone and forced the festival to lower its stages’ viewing screens, hampering the view of many.
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As always, the best part of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is once again the music. This year’s incredibly diverse lineup satisfied fans of punk, indie and hip-hop.
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The restaurant goes for a beachy and casual feel despite being on a major thoroughfare and somewhat far from the ocean. As the name suggests, it serves mainly hot dogs but also has options for corn dogs, hamburgers and other American food items. […]

In what almost seems like a mash-up of “Jackass,” “Robot Chicken” and “Tim and Eric Awesome Show,” “Loiter Squad” presents a peculiar form of absurdist humor that’s oddly entertaining at times, yet mindlessly annoying at others.
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With its wonderful design, memorable music score, baffling puzzles and intriguing exploration, the downloadable “Fez” supplies hours of sublime gameplay at a budget price. […]