Entertainment

When “The Room Next Door” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September, the rapturous audience gave director Pedro Almodóvar and his two stars, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, a standing ovation that observers said was the longest at this year’s event. The response presaged the film’s Golden Lion victory at the festival. “It … Read more

Beating the stock market requires knowing something important that others don’t.   When I am lucky enough to take advantage of this basic investing truth, I never fear sticking my neck out. I did it with my outlook for 2023, which was followed by my outlook for 2024. Both were pound-the-table bullish – and pretty darned … Read more

The Dianne salad with a side of zucchini bread from Green Street Restaurant in Pasadena. (Leslie Rodriguez Photography)

Can probiotic supplements prevent hangovers? The ads on podcasts and social media were tantalizing: over-the-counter probiotic supplements that could ward off the worst effects of a hangover if taken before drinking. As a bourbon reviewer who enjoys the flavor of spirits but has always been easily prone to hangovers, Eric Burke was intrigued. He ordered … Read more

Los Angeles seems to be enjoying a mini-trend in the theater these days: two-character battles of wit in which one of those wits is a famous writer. In two different plays on two local stages, a writer clashes with another character over the role of truth in fiction. At the Mark Taper Forum, Donald Sutherland … Read more

My Valley girl accent follows me wherever I go. Long live the ‘likes’ and ‘totallys’ The first and only time I was on national television, I was giving a food tour to a travel TV show host around the San Gabriel Valley, proudly extolling the virtues of Cantonese roast duck, Shaanxi-style stewed lamb and vegetarian … Read more

Linda Lavin, a Tony Award-winning stage actress who became a working class icon as a paper-hat wearing waitress on the TV sitcom “Alice,” has died. She was 87. Lavin died in Los Angeles on Sunday of complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her representative, Bill Veloric, told The Associated Press in an email. A success … Read more

Ball Family Farms founder and Chief Executive Chris Ball turned a passion for the plant into a thriving L.A.-based cannabis business. (Photo by Shannon Brown; photo illustration by Micah Fluellen / Los Angeles Times) Chris Ball walks through the cavernous supermarket-size warehouse space with the purpose of an athlete ready to hit the field. He’s … Read more

(Patrick Hruby / Los Angeles Times) This story was originally published in Group Therapy, a weekly newsletter answering questions sent by readers about what’s been weighing on their hearts and minds. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. Dating can feel like a high-wire act. You put your best foot forward, presenting to … Read more

Elon Musk, wearing a T-shirt reading “Occupy Mars,” prances behind Donald Trump at the latter’s recent rally in Butler, Pa. (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images) The image of Elon Musk that may be dominating people’s mindspace at the moment is of his prancing about joyously — and, yes, a tad weirdly — behind … Read more