Entertainment

SANTA BARBARA — “In this next song,” said Paul McCartney, “we’d like you to sing along.” Oh, this was the one? By an hour or so into his concert Friday night at the Santa Barbara Bowl — basically somebody’s backyard by the standards of the former Beatle — McCartney had already gotten the capacity crowd…

Artificial intelligence and its invasiveness in our everyday lives might be endlessly discussed among academics, government officials and social media provocateurs, but Los Angeles Comic Con has injected a dose of gamma radiation and showmanship into that debate. Stan Lee has entered the chat. L.A. Comic Con is introducing its Stan Lee Experience, a 1,500-square-foot…

There’s precisely one surprising moment in Scarlett Johansson’s feature directorial debut “Eleanor the Great,” written by Tory Kamen. It’s the impetus for the entire drama that unfolds in this film, and it feels genuinely risky — a taboo that will be hard for this film to resolve. Yet, everything that unfolds around this moment is…

It was a particularly busy Thursday morning for the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach. The area, which is home to an array of independently owned businesses and small restaurants, both of which boast unique facades from storefront to storefront, saw hundreds of eager fans start lining up outside its doors as early as 8…

Book Review What a Time to Be Alive By Jade ChangEcco: 304 pages, $29 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. Is it cheesy to open this review with “What a time to be alive, indeed”? Almost certainly, but Jade Chang…

A 12-foot statue depicting President Trump holding hands with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning and was removed by the National Park Service less than 24 hours later. The saga, which made the rounds on late-night TV this week, did not stop there. On Thursday, the…

A little sweetness is nice, but Adrianne Lenker knows when it’s too much for her. “You should have mine,” the Big Thief singer and guitarist says to her bandmate Buck Meek, who plays lead guitar, sliding over her iced coffee. “I can’t drink the sugar.” Lenker makes this kind of assessment often, in one form…

Bomb the United Nations headquarters. Or maybe gas it. Fox News host Jesse Watters had plenty of ideas about how to punish the U.N. after President Trump’s humiliating visit to the organization’s New York headquarters Tuesday. Trump’s arrival at the General Assembly meeting with First Lady Melania Trump began with the pair stranded at the…

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky have welcomed the latest addition to their growing family: their first baby girl. The “Love on the Brain” singer announced the arrival of her daughter with the “Highest 2 Lowest” star on Wednesday, sharing a photo of her newest bundle of joy to Instagram. In the picture, Rihanna cradles her newborn,…

Hardcover fiction 1. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology. 2. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teenagers 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 3. Katabasis by…