Eric East’s parents still don’t know he is the first Chinese-born gay porn star. East, a stage name for the UCLA alumnus, started out as a go-go dancer in a Beijing nightclub at age 18. He only began working in pornography when he moved to Los Angeles from Shanghai for school five years ago. While […]
Category Archives: Film & TV
Movie Review: ‘Ricki and the Flash’
Meryl Streep went the extra mile for “Ricki and the Flash.” A large part of the film’s promotional campaign highlighted the time it took her to learn how to play guitar, although the coaching from guitar master Neil Young must have helped a bit. Because of her unwavering commitment to the material at hand, Streep […]
Editor’s picks: Summer edition
There’s no better place to keep a finger on the pulse of arts and entertainment happenings than Los Angeles. The A&E world is alive – it’s always buzzing, sometimes ready to implode with a hint of a surprise album or a celebrity’s controversial statement. Each week, the Daily Bruin A&E editors will discuss their views […]
Former UCLA postdoctoral scholar schools Hollywood on scientific accuracy
The only solution that Michael Bay’s film “Armageddon” offers, as an asteroid the size of Texas hurtles towards the Earth, is to send Bruce Willis into space with a massive bomb to split the asteroid and save the world. For Kevin Hickerson, a former postdoctoral scholar in the UCLA physics and astronomy department, movies like […]
Alumna chosen for screenwriting program The Writers Lab
To celebrate turning 40, alumna Kellen Hertz applied for The Writers Lab. She decided not to be afraid that her age can often be linked with unemployment in the film industry, she said. Funded by Meryl Streep, The Writers Lab is a program that attempts to combat the sexism and ageism issues in Hollywood. The […]
MFA candidate’s short film nominated for Student Academy Awards
From the age of 10, Balbinka Korzeniowska had been practicing her Oscar speech, transforming her bathroom into the plush Dolby Theatre and her shampoo bottle into a microphone. On Sept. 17, at the Student Academy Awards ceremony, the UCLA student may finally get to take to the stage and make that speech for her short […]
Movie Review: ‘Straight Outta Compton’
In some ways, “Straight Outta Compton” is what its titular album was almost 30 years ago. The film is loud, raw and uncompromising; a street epic weaving together a dramatic, violent fantasy from what many South Central Angelinos knew to be a harsh reality. With racial tensions and police violence pervading the news again, it […]