Author Archives: Sommer Mathis

Fine cheese usually tastes better the older it gets. Cheesy jokes, as the latest in a series of one-person shows at the Ahmanson confirms, do not benefit from the same maturation process. Considering Jane Wagner’s “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” won both the Drama Desk Award and the New York […]

Porn. Perhaps no other four-letter word can elicit more outrage and sheer excitement all at the same time. Regardless of how high up the morality meter you place yourself, the truth is that people look at pornography, and they’re doing it right here at UCLA. Of course, this will come as a shock to hardly […]

It’s Sunday afternoon, and you’re stuck on the fourth floor of Young Research Library desperately seeking sources for the term paper you’ve been putting off for weeks. When you find that the book you’re looking for isn’t on the shelf, you head to the computer station to double check the call number. But there’s a […]

Despite rumors of on-set tension with several producers and cast members, director Bryan Singer seems to have maintained the support of Twentieth Century Fox now that “X2″ is set to hit the big screen. Singer, whose previous films include “The Usual Suspects” and “Apt Pupil,” will likely see his second installment of the X-Men franchise […]

Using digital video to create professional quality films is, by now, far from controversial. The medium’s low cost and ease of use does, however, mean that filmmakers with something controversial to say are able to put their work out into the world more than ever before. Recent UCLA Design | Media Arts graduate Eric Olsen […]

Guilt is an emotion that often feels inescapable. We may wish that our past actions had been different, but opportunities to assuage those feelings can seem hopelessly out of reach in the present. With his new documentary, “Stevie,” opening Friday, director Steve James tackles his own demons head-on and discovers that despite his best efforts, […]

Bending and twisting, shaking and shouting, 38-year-old actor and comedian John Leguizamo’s mother is spanking him with her chancleta (a flip-flop sandal). With a backdrop of hundreds of twinkling lights, his jerking body moves to a danceable beat. When the imaginary assault finally ends, he proclaims, “that is how Latin hip-hop was born.” “Sexaholix,” Leguizamo’s […]