Who would have thought watching James Franco co-host the 83rd Annual Oscars would feel like 127 Hours? But it did. He was paired with Anne Hathaway in hopes of bringing in younger viewers.

I'm told that happened to some degree... though the overall audience for the telecast on ABC...

Can Jerry Brown pull it off?

That's the question as he moved into higher gear last week to sell his plan to have voters decide in June whether to extend higher taxes on income, vehicles and sales. Before that can happen, though, he has to get California's infamously dysfunctional state...

No wonder we didn't hear much from Jerry Brown between the time he got elected governor -- again -- and the time he took office. He was apparently busy preparing the feel-bad budget of all time.

Among the horrors: the state welfare program would suffer a fifty percent cut; home...

I understand that Governor-elect Jerry Brown wants to move quickly to try and get California's economic house in order. Good luck there. But, apparently in an effort to save some money, one of his first moves will be shutting down the inspector general's office established by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to...

"Good morning class. Before I begin, let me just say that this section of Biology 101 is brought to you by the makers of genuine Bayer aspirin. If you get a headache from this class, remember to reach for Bayer -- the brand doctors trust! Now, if you can please...

It didn't take long after word spread of the murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen for the news media to start trying to connect the dots: Perhaps it was a professional hit, some wondered. Maybe it was road rage, others said. Or, it could have been related to a last...

There's got to be a morning after

If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on lookin' for the light
--All Kasha and Joel Hirshhorn

OK. It was an awful movie. And Shelly Winters was way too...

What ever happened to the time when voters actually liked the people they were electing to public office?

That question comes to mind because of one of the more extraordinary findings of the latest LAT/USC poll showing that, when it comes down to it, neither Jerry Brown nor Meg Whitman...

Midterm elections are always partly, at least, a referendum on the party in power. But this November 2nd, no matter where you happen to live, your vote is likely to be a very personal one -- that is, directed at one person: Either thumbs up or thumbs down on Barack...

So much has been written of late in California about the race between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, not to mention the Senate contest pitting Barbara Boxer against Carly Fiorina, that it is hard to believe that the real headline come Election Day -- and the story with the greatest...

Time is running out. It will soon be election day. It is time to put the Nicky Diaz Santillan controversy where it now belongs: on the very back burner. If California voters are to decide between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman, they need a lot more information from...

The much awaited gubernatorial debate between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman is coming up Tuesday night, but beware of overly facile analysis following the production because voters this year are a prickly lot and it is very difficult--just five weeks away from election day--to figure out exactly what...

News articles and television and radio reports have expressed shock that Meg Whitman has now broken the record for spending personal money toward getting elected: As of last week, says the Los Angeles Times, the Republican California gubernatorial candidate spent $119 million of her own bucks to get voters to...

On the national level, as seems to be the case since the days of President Clinton, it's the economy, stupid! But here, in California, it's the initiative process, stupid! that is the reason it may not make all that much difference come November whether Jerry Brown returns for another round...

Someone has to say it, so it may as well be me: Apple's iPhone 4 is a total fraud!

I had vowed that last week's chapter on my quest to obtain the new phone to replace my "aging" year-old iPhone 3GS model would be my last. I mean, three weeks...

YES!!!

For those of you who have followed my attempts these past several weeks to secure an iPhone4, the latest time-sucking device from the good people at Apple, I am pleased to report that finally, finally, I have gotten my hands on one.

And, now the sort of bad news:

I didn't get it!

The iPhone 4, that is.

Some of you may recall my post last week on how, as a journalistic experiment of sorts, I tried to play the "Apple game" by "reserving" on-line my very own iPhone 4, which was to be held at the Grove Apple...

What can I say about Apple that hasn't already been said? That said (or not said), let me say this about that: I -- and many, many others (apparently about 600,000 others, give or take a few people in Santa Monica, maybe) are being expertly manipulated by the folks at...

Money won big last night in California. It greatly helped Meg Whitman win the GOP nomination for governor and gave Carly Fiorina the Republican nod to run against Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in the November general elections.

Whitman admits to, and is proud of, the fact that she has...

Eight years ago, $148 million was spent in the New York gubernatorial race and people were amazed, sickened, dismayed and shocked. Last year, again in New York, but this time the city and not the state, Michael Bloomberg spent $108 million of his own money to get elected mayor... again....