Some writers deliver stories with a punch – bursts of flashy language, fiery plot turns, lots of fanfare. Acclaimed novelist Tom Perrotta takes a quieter approach. He delivers the goods with such deceptive ease and simplicity, you may marvel at how he does it. In his new short story collection, “Nine Inches,” Perrotta front-loads the […]

The Iraqi artist emerges as an artistic superhero at the PMA

LOS ANGELES — The color wasn’t finished. The visual effects were not complete. The score, temporary. Those details seemed to be of little consequence to director Francis Lawrence, who chose a fine summer day to open his edit bay and show off his work in progress, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” opening this week. While […]

In ‘Mad About the Boy,’ Mark Darcy is gone and Bridget must go on.

The bad-boy chef and food truck king writes about his life in food.