Bruce Wagner’s Hollywood Satiricon The novelist infects his books with madness, celebrity, name-dropping, drugs and sex. And that’s just the realism. BY BRENDAN BERNHARD

Friends and Pranksters A true story of neighborly extremes. BY JAMES VERINI

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Secret Summits Laura Chick summons Hahn's challengers to her home for scandal talk. BY JEFFREY ANDERSON

Image Control "Live Wrong and Prosper." BY JOSH MINTZ

Boxer’s Rebellion A tale of two senators. BY DAVID CORN

Protocol For Lying How it is that so many senators can let Condi slide. BY JUDITH LEWIS

Rice and the New Black Paradigm When it comes to black history, Condi makes cynics of us all.
BY ERIN AUBRY KAPLAN

Reason to Wheeze The governor runs out of gas for major clean-air fight. BY WILLIAM J. KELLY

Revenge of the White Cops The meaning of the Inglewood verdict. BY JEFFREY ANDERSON

Murder on Spec Quiet on the Blake set! BY STEVEN MIKULAN

Dissonance Governor Girlie-man: If Arnold were tough, he’d raise taxes. BY MARC COOPER

Column Dave Peter-Anne Dies Again. BY DAVE SHULMAN

Deadline Hollywood Have they no shame? Oscar gets a razzie for kissing Marty’s and Harvey’s asses. Plus, who’ll win and who’ll lose. BY NIKKI FINKE

A Considerable Town JAMES VERINI on the e-mail revolt against Cynthia’s restaurant; JONNY WHITESIDE on the return of Merle Haggard; and STEVEN MIKULAN on Susan Block’s erotic political protest party.

Plus, a Johnny Carson farewell haiku by DAVE SHULMAN with a photo by TED SOQUI and MARK "THE COBRASNAKE" HUNTER’s Snake Bites.

Letters
We write, you write...

ROCKIE HOROSCOPE

FILM
All that heaven forbids: In Head-On, two Muslim immigrants collide. ELLA TAYLOR reviews the film; DAVID EHRENSTEIN talks with Turkish-German director Fatih Akin.

Heavy surveillance: The paranoid universe of Fear X. BY SCOTT FOUNDAS

BOOKS
MICHELLE HUNEVEN interviews Marilynne Robinson on her long-awaited new novel, Gilead.

THEATER
Perform, he said: Matthew Wilder brings Marguerite Duras’ famously oblique Destroy, She Said to America. BY ERIN AUBRY KAPLAN

Arrested developments: Finer Noble Gases asks the question, Dude, where’s my life? BY STEVEN MIKULAN

ART
The end of Donald Kuspit? The beginning of his "California New Old Masters." BY DOUG HARVEY

TV
Acting the fool: Method and madness in HBO’s Unscripted. BY ROBERT ABELE

MUSIC
Resistance is futile: Chemical Brothers push the button and you surrender. BY SIRAN BABAYAN

Live in L.A. Elefant, Everybody Else, Run Run Run; DJ Qbert, DJ Swamp, Grandwizzard Theodore; Silvertide; Tristeza; Ditch.

A Lot of Night Music Roof-raising Berio, superior second-rate Verdi. BY ALAN RICH.

COMICS
"BEK," BY BRUCE ERIC KAPLAN

RESTAURANTS

Ask Mr. Gold: Killer Pad Thai. BY JONATHAN GOLD

Where to Eat Now: Thai

Counter Intelligence Pho the Soul: Vietnamese chicken soup at Blue Hen and Hoan Kiem. BY JONATHAN GOLD

WHERE TO EAT NOW
Database of restaurant listings compiled by JONATHAN GOLD and MICHELLE HUNEVEN.

CALENDAR
Tsunami Disaster relief: For a list of aid agencies accepting contributions to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia, please see the "Do Good" column in Calendar.

Good Times

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