Jonathan Bastian talks with writer, lecturer, and author Susan Cain about the sweet joy of sadness. Cain, author of Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole , reflects on the touch of sweetness that comes from sadness and despair and shares how a greater acceptance of these emotions can be beneficial and even therapeutic. Delve deeper into life, philosophy, and what makes us human by joining the Life Examined discussion group on Facebook ..read more

Much of what we know about routine dental care is not based on sound science ..read more

Critic’s choice and SAG-nominated actor Bill Pullman has starred in raucous laugh fests like Spaceballs, and crowd pleasing romantic comedies including Sleepless in Seattle and While You Were Sleeping. Recently, he’s received acclaim for his roles in darker projects: USA network anthology series The Sinner and the Lifetime miniseries Murdaugh Murders, based on the story of convicted killer Alex Murdaugh. More: Pullman Two-Hander (Theatre Talk, 2009) For his Treat, Pullman shares that whenever he wants to see a subtle performance from a character trying to keep things under control, he returns ..read more

Ron Howard’s career as a director and an actor has taken him through many turning points of innovation in film and TV. Howard became a household name and face as a child actor on The Andy Griffith Show, and as a young adult on Happy Days. He’s since made a seamless transition to directing — with films including crowd pleasers like Splash, Apollo 13, and the Oscar winning A Beautiful Mind. The latter film also earned Howard a statue for Best Director. Throughout his storied career, Howard has interspersed his features with nonfiction documentaries. His latest is Jim Henson: Idea Man, an examina ..read more

A former producer of The Apprentice speaks out about Donald Trump’s behavior on the set of the reality show, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav may have alluded to dropping the pursuit of a NBA deal, activist investor Nelson Peltz sells his entire stake in Disney, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos thinks Barbenheimer would have been just as popular on the streamer. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down another whirlwind week of industry news. Quiet on set? Bill Pruitt, a former producer of The Apprentice, has written about Donald Trump’s behavior on the set of the reality show. “I think prob ..read more

Amidst industry-wide gloom over a weak summer box office, Chris Aronson is still determined to save the theatrical experience from extinction. As Paramount’s head of domestic distribution, he sees the challenges but he’s relieved that the legacy studios now seem to agree: It’s not a great idea to send movies straight to streaming. He got some help in that argument from a certain Paramount star. “Tom was adamant that Top Gun: Maverick was made for theaters,” says Aronson. “And I think all you need to do is look at the worldwide theatrical box office of $1.5 billion and say, ‘Yep, he was right ..read more

For years, we have been told that reducing our meat consumption is one way to curb climate change. But what if animals are actually part of a healthy ecosystem? In his four-part documentary Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there) , filmmaker and professor Peter Byck looks at one small-scale ranching solution that sequesters carbon, is cost-effective and, perhaps most importantly, has convinced many traditionalists. Byck asked this question: Can adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing make the land better while earning farmers more money and helping mitigate climate change? Because of its ..read more

Asparagus, once a beacon of California springtime, used to cover 36,000 acres of farmland in the state. Today, only 3,000 acres remain. What's to blame? In a Los Angeles Times story , reporter Cindy Carcamo explains that asparagus is a labor-intensive crop, originating as a crown underneath the earth. "On a warm day, you can have someone harvesting asparagus in the morning and, by the afternoon, they may have to go back and do another pass because another spear has grown," she says. Commercial growers typically hold off harvesting the vegetables until they're nine inches long but if they wait ..read more

If, like many Angelenos, you love Kismet , the Mediterranean restaurant in Los Feliz, you can thank "the Sara(h)s" aka chefs Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer. Following the original concept's success, the duo have opened several casual rotisserie spots around the city and published their first cookbook, Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes . "Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes" brings the restaurant's favorite dishes to the tables of home cooks. Photo courtesy of Clarkson Potter. Both women showed an interest in cooking but took non-traditional paths to the kitchen. Hyman ..read more

Fadi Kattan is a Franco-Palestinian chef and restaurateur with restaurants in London ( Akub ) and Bethlehem ( Fawda ), where he also co-runs a small hotel, Kassa . His mission over the past several years has been to document and share Palestinian foods, traditions, and the work of home cooks. Kattan's roots are in the West Bank. His cookbook, Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food , came out earlier this month. Delving into it and getting to know the people and places he describes, it becomes more apparent how precious a document it is. Fadi Kattan: I am in battle. I come from a family t ..read more