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Content warning: this article contains a mention of suicide.

1910s and 1920s Hollywood was the Wild West -- and not just because it was churning out so many Westerns. Damien Chazelle's "Babylon" isn't visually accurate, but it captures the spirit of the era. The first kinetograph camera had only been invented about 25 years earlier, and it proliferated quickly, giving birth to a new artistic medium and a new financial industry in swift order. Filmmakers in Los Angeles brought cameras out to the deserts of California, wrangled a few horses, hired actors from then-popular live Wild West shows, and almost deliberately created a genre. Westerns soon became one of the most cost-efficient and popular genres, and studios demanded that directors throw together as many as they could on as narrow a timetable as possible.

Hence, the filmographies of silent film stars and their directors were overwhelmingly plentiful when compared to filmmakers today.

A power outage in Studio City left Kcbs and Kcal without power tonight according to AP and multiple Twitter feeds. The outage occurred around 8 Pm. Freelance reporter/anchor Edward Lawrence posted this YouTube video of the stations’ shared newsrooms and facilities. The video says an emergency generator the stations were using inexplicably shut down, leaving them in darkness. AP said Kcbs aired national programming as usual but that Kcal’s local newscast was knocked off the air. Twitter postings suggest power is being restored. The Dwp was working to re-route electricity from another circuit. Cause of the outage was not known.

Today marks the 100th birthday of Universal Pictures and to celebrate the studio has released a list of 100 facts based on its first 100 years in existence. I have placed in bold some of the ones I found interesting as well as offered a selection of photo and video accompaniments here and there. 1. Universal Film Manufacturing Company was officially incorporated in New York on April 30, 1912. Company legend says Carl Laemmle was inspired to name his company Universal after seeing "Universal Pipe Fittings" written on a passing delivery wagon. 2. The only physical damage made during the filming of National Lampoon's Animal House was when John Belushi made a hole in the wall with a guitar. The actual Sigma Nu fraternity house (which subbed for the fictitious Delta House) never repaired it, and instead framed the hole in honor of the film. 3. The working title for Et: The Extra Terrestrial was "A Boy's Life.