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.

Men suck. Well, not all men, but too many. All it takes is one look on the television or one listen to the radio to realize the accuracy of this statement. I’m not sure when exactly in the history of civilization men decided to become complete d-bags, or if they perhaps just “evolved” that way. All I know is, male behavior toward women has progressively become more and more derogatory. Long gone are the days of Ricky loving Lucy or The Beach Boys serenading sweethearts across America. No Ma’am, what we have on our hands now is one giant Petri dish brimming with bigoted, arrogant, chauvinistic specimens.

On August 7th, Downtown L.A.’s The Hive Gallery threw another shindig, and I, as a patron of the arts, made it my absolute duty to attend. This time, it was their third-annual “Bee-Rotica” show with “Erotrospective: The Best of Bluegirl.” Sounds pretty titillating, right?

I always jump at the chance to go to the Hive because I know that they can put on a killer opening, and this night didn’t disappoint. On Saturday, July 3rd, The Hive Gallery hosted a group show featuring the work of Van Saro, Leyla Akdogan, L. Croskey, Jun Duras, Gaia Bracco, and Charles Swenson as well as their 26 resident artists. With so much art and the promise of live shows and burlesque dancers, how can you not have a good time?

On Father’s Day weekend, June 19th and 20th, Pasadena hosted their 18th annual Chalk Festival in which over 500 artists from across Southern California came together to create 175 chalk murals on Paseo Colorado. If that sounds impressive, that’s because it was; the artists actually made history by setting the Guinness World Record for the Largest Display of Chalk Pavement Art. That involves a lot of organization, and a lot of chalk.