Depth Takes a Holiday

""Depth,"" Tsing Loh proposes, sometimes ""deserves a holiday."" In this collection of pieces from her ""Valley"" column for L.A.'s Buzz magazine, she provides one of sorts, weighing in with tongue-in-cheek observations on such ponderous subjects as the Ikea-ization of 20-somethings' taste in home decor, the semiotics of earrings and the pleasures of Baywatch. But for all their frothy charm, her musings on the plight of an overeducated, underemployed generation that measures success in terms of the ability to afford health insurance are often as insightful as they are witty. Even as she gently mocks the pretensions and delusions of her fellow young Angelenos, Tsing Loh succeeds in making Generation X angst far more appealing and sympathetic than usual. Despite L.A.'s role as ""the nation's cultural scapegoat,"" even the ""smug, incestuous, cultural imperialist hipsters of Manhattan"" will doubtless appreciate-and recognize something of their own experience in-Tsing Loh's sardonic but never mean-spirited take on modern urban life. (Apr.)