by Carolyn Blais

Author, Ursula K. LeGuin once said, “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” In the modern world, technology has progressed far beyond the wheel, and aspects of storytelling have also evolved by making use of advanced technology. For writer, director, producer, and all-round filmmaker extraordinaire, Christopher Coppola, technology and storytelling complement each other like PB & J. A member of the famously talented Coppola family, Christopher has been using cutting edge technology to impart meaningful stories on film for years. I was thrilled to be able to chat with Coppola to discuss his current ventures. Read the whole story »

by Tommy Tung

Famed for her pencils, Mercedes Helnwein colors her future in oil pastel. Her exhibition, Temptation to Be Good, is now on view at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles until December 11.

“It’s a title that makes me think of a Midwestern girl being taken advantage of by Jesus and the Devil,” says Mercedes Helnwein of her series, Temptation to Be Good, which finally turns on the on-and-off romance with oil pastels.

Pencils play coconspirators, as they did in last year’s East of Eden, but Mercedes also appoints dominion to each instrument, allowing the pastels to govern the grace of their own pages, and the pencils to remain in office and draft that cryptic comedy of errors. All parties prevail — particularly the artist — who destroys disinterest by adapting. Read the whole story »

by Carolyn Blais
photos by Brook Harker and Global Art Exhibit

Art is a beautiful thing. Art is even more beautiful when its sales benefit a good cause. For Andres Miguel Espana, Executive Director of Global Art Exhibit, art and good causes go hand and hand. Espana’s non-profit organization teams up with generous, talented artists in order “to help end poverty though increasing access to primary education and educational material in underdeveloped regions of Tibet T.A.R China, Cambodia, Thailand and Southern India.” Read the whole story »

by Carolyn Blais

Los Angeles is a curious city—massive in population and geography, but broken down into different areas and neighborhoods like downtown, Hollywood, The Valley, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and the list goes on and on. From the 20th floor penthouse of Sunset Vine Tower, the tallest building in Hollywood, I was able to see the very vastness of this metropolis. From high up, looking out onto the great expanse, LA looks like one, big, glistening glare of brake lights and neon signs extended for miles and miles. Read the whole story »

This article / interview is by a writer, about a writer, and for writers. Fans of the film Sideways will surely enjoy the following conversation with author Rex Pickett as an illuminating exposé on the genesis of his beloved story and its memorable characters. However, by design this piece is not intended for the casual cubicle-worker taking a quick coffee break. Our discussion evolved into an in-depth analysis of writers, the writing process and the publishing industry as a whole.

We here at Forth pride ourselves on digging deeper than the surface most other publications merely scratch. Without oppressive printing-costs to cut us off at the knees, we can indulge ourselves above and beyond the claustrophobic brevity that is generally imposed on standard Q & A’s. For those of you with a crippling case of A.D.D. your time is probably better spent watching the latest cute animal blunder on Youtube. For the rest of you: pour yourself a choice glass of wine, kick your feet up, and enjoy this one-of-a-kind conversation about failure, perseverance and how a writer boldly chose to follow-up his enormously popular novel-turned-Academy-Award-winning-movie.
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