The Twilight Saga: New Moon took a healthy bite into the box office over the weekend -- no surprise there -- raking in a monstrous $140.7 million. The figure is above what most industry execs expected. Final numbers arrived Monday but it looks like the second film of the...

Leave it to a spunky Northern California bookseller to steal some of the thunder away from Sarah Palin.

Bookshop Santa Cruz, located in Downtown Santa Cruz and known for its long history of commenting on politics and political books, is now offering an "essential" item as a...

Maybe it's a 21st century anomaly, but for some reason, we can't stop sinking our teeth into vampires. Vampire shows, vampire films -- they're all around. The nation loves them and the love affair doesn't show any signs of fading. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, just opened, generating...

Twenty years after the Loma Prieta Earthquake annihilated Downtown Santa Cruz, locals gathered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the quake, which significantly altered the future of the coastal town and others in the Bay Area. Here's a look at the big soiree atop the Rittenhouse Building in Santa...

Like most people living in the Bay Area at the time, I can vividly recall the day the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit back in October, 1989. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The temperature was well above 80 degrees. No wind. Peaceful. Heaven.

And then came Hell.

Isabella Rossellini really gets excited when she talks about the birds and the bees -- on a number of levels. The revered actress generated buzz at the Toronto International Film Festival recently when she unleashed Green Porno 3, an inventive short that revolved around the mating habits of several...

(Things that happened: In an effort to find a cure for "burn out," I decided to chuck the conventional and embark a three-week long road trip, one that hopefully would be a combination of reflection, self-[re]discovery and new beginnings. First stop: Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.)

A funny thing happened on the way to my nervous breakdown. Sanity called.

Fortunately, I had a cell service.

I know this must sound horribly dramatic, but come to think of it, aren't most nervous breakdowns horribly dramatic? Even if you're just imagining you're having one?

The truth is,...

Like most gay couples in America, Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens have fought hard to have their union recognized by the courts. When that didn't happen earlier this decade in California, where the couple live, they decided to lure all of their passions into one creative bed and...

Hang onto your cappellos Venice, Italy -- the future brides of the sea have arrived.

In what has to be the mother of all gay marriages -- or artistic wedding concepts in general, for that matter--artists Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens have taken their Love...

I glommed onto the Santa Cruz Derby Groms this week--literally.

The SCDG are a young posse of fast-rolling gals, an offshoot of the Santa Cruz Derby Girls, who've been a powerful force in the Northern California derby circuit for some time now.

After slipping into some skates...

Because I always seem to be on the lookout for cool humans doing cool things, I could not pass up getting to know Carina Moreno. We actually met more than six years ago. She gave me a black eye.

It's a ridiculously long...

When in Santa Cruz, California, wax philosophical?

Well, that was the idea. Now considered one of the hottest travel spots in the country, the seaside town is certainly known for its liberal edge and bold spiritual endeavors. Still, a recent trek down the town's main drag, Pacific Avenue, raised...

That red carpet was actually snow white, making the color scheme the only thing "clean" at the taping of the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers.

In fact, there were more insults than actual guests at the wild soiree, which airs 10 pm Sunday, Aug. 9 and repeats...

Several years ago, the owners of Bookshop Santa Cruz gave birth to a bumper sticker. "Keep Santa Cruz Weird" it read. Residents of the curious seaside haven dug it. Sales skyrocketed. Now, I see the stickers whenever I drive around town. I also see a lot of weirdness.

But...

Walter Cronkite is dead.

But is (real) journalism? I'll ponder the latter--a most curious shape-shifting beast of late--later. For now, it's all about Uncle Walt.

What a guy. What an icon. Considered to be the most trusted man in America, the former,...

Welcome to the aftermath of Michael Jackson's death. Take your shoes off. Stay awhile.

The sudden passing last week of the King of Pop, and the death of Charlie's Angels alum/artist Farrah Fawcett, have brought out the news cameras and spawned a...

The death of Farrah Fawcett (at 62) certainly made me ponder a few things. I'm sure I'm not alone. I wasn't even a teenager when Charlie's Angels first burst onto the seen back in 1976. But, for some reason, I was enamored with Farrah Fawcett. I watched every...

Long before Reality TV poisoned the culture with an obsessive need to see people humiliated or booted off, out and so far away from the "group," there was something called reality. Remember that? It's when people, especially those in the arts, genuinely worked hard to hopefully get somewhere when all...

On the day she was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, Victoria Rue felt like every cell in her body was being rearranged. Presumably, the Vatican had a similar reaction.

While news of Rue's ordination in July 2005 was likely enough to make the Vatican drop that wine...