UNDERRATED / OVERRATED

ELI ROTH’S SLASHER MARATHON

For serious horror fans, Roth is pretty much Dane Cook with hacksaws, but his screening series of obscure gore-bucket flicks at the New Beverly (7165 W. Beverly Blvd.) is kind of awesome.

DON’S MUSIC

You might need a shoehorn to squeeze into this closet of a record shop (4873 Eagle Rock Blvd.), but once inside the rewards are many.

ST. VINCENT COURT

Forgo the plane fare and visit this alley hidden away off 7th Street (at Broadway) in downtown L.A.’s Jewelry District for a slice of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern hospitality. Patrons sit at outdoor tables drinking black tea and smoking, while sidewalk cafes serve grilled meats, saffron rice and salads.

LINKIN PARK

As a cross-promotional market phenomenon. Cooing boy-band verses. Tough rap-rock bridges. Screaming nu metal choruses. These guys (March 4 at Staples Center) are a regular Swiss Army knife.

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NAMING YOUR BAND OR ALBUM

AFTER A MOVIE

It’s not that it’s a bad idea, it’s just that Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Stereolab (“Emperor Tomato Ketchup”) already did it best by referencing obscure Japanese flicks seen by all of 11 people. Nice try but no cigar, Weather Underground.

OSCAR POOLS

How exactly is any normal person supposed to handicap the thrilling race for the “best sound mixing” trophy? And the academy voters didn’t apparently care enough about the foreign picture category to actually see the films, so why pretend there’s some science to it? Here’s one lock: If someone wants to bet you on how many times presenter Miley Cyrus says “y’all” on stage, take the over.

“HIPSTER”

So overused we don’t even know what the term means anymore. And while we’re at it, let’s overrate The Guide for overusing it perhaps more than anyone. Consider it banished from our lexicon.