A&E

After the disappointing news that DJ AM and Travis Barker were not going to perform at the Bren Events Center for homecoming, ASUCI was on the hot seat. As they have done all year, ASUCI came through again last Wednesday by bringing LMFAO to the Student Center for a free concert at noon.

With 15 minutes until midnight on Friday, Feb. 20, 76 groups of UC Irvine students began filling the grassy amphitheater located near the ArtsTEC Lab in the Claire Trevor School of Arts. As the high level of energy and exclamations of excitement echoed through the halls of the arts center, there was no hint that students were about to endure 24 hours of exhausting and extensive work.

Angelina is a woman scorned. Still wearing her wedding dress in court, she is suing Edwin for leaving her at the altar. The judge takes his seat, the usher pleads with the jury to be "free from all bias" and Edwin tries to sway opinions. Meanwhile, Edwin's past and current lovers are dispersed throughout the jury and audience. The Judge is actually just very lazy, and comedic stops and humor are in every other line. Is this the opera? It is, and director Robin Buck phrased it right while staging the opening scene. "I'm adding one thing," he said. "Laughter."

"Vagina." If you were at the UC Irvine production of the "Vagina Monologues," you became desensitized to this word really fast.

The fight to combat global warming and energy dependence was a key domestic issue ingrained in the American psyche roughly a year ago as President Barack Obama and John McCain journeyed on the campaign trail, preaching the importance of sustainability and decreasing America's dependence on foreign oil. Just as the environmental political platform began to pick up popularity, the financial crisis and global economic woes blew the steam out of environmental issues, making them mere afterthoughts in comparison to the economy.

Reviews of Thursday's "Common Existence" and 4AD's "Dark Was The Night"

Most people desire only two things: security and attention. The two continually war over our hearts; on one end, there is the peaceful calm of security, bound by time and routine, by a lover reliable and devoted. On the other, there is the attention, that spatial leap, the risky rendezvous, the late-night reveries, always craving something less patient than the ticking clock.

At the age of 22, BoA Kwon has already overwhelmed the Asian music industry, claiming top charts in Korea and six consecutive number-one albums on the Oricon charts of Japan.

Highly acclaimed Japanese violinist and composer Mari Kimura performed at Winifred Smith Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Kimura's performance, "Reinventing Tradition: Violin and Computer Plays the East and Beyond," was presented by the Gassmann Electronic Music Series. Kimura's compositions combine elements of classical violin, Japanese and Eastern music and electronics.

The last few decades in Hollywood were awash with inspirational schoolhouse dramas that pitted an exuberant, maverick teacher against a sea of uninspired but capable students. There was always a happy ending — either through fate or fortune, the teacher managed to change the lives of every dangerous mind under his or her influence. Sadly, anyone who has ever endured public schooling, be it in a bustling city or a sleepy suburb, understands that such tidy outcomes are more the stuff of legend than reality. This decade has been a little different. "Half Nelson" (2006), an underrated drama starring Ryan Gosling as a drug-dependent middle school teacher, brought much-needed realism to the dynamics of change in the classroom.

The Irvine Barclay Theatre came alive with a celebration of performances new and old, covering standout pieces in a variety of genres in "Dance Visions 2009." A showcase from the UC Irvine Department of Dance, "Dance Visions" was a tribute to Donald McKayle, a Claire Trevor School of the Arts professor of dance.

Everyone knows that Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is like that kid in the corner everyone picks on. Its sophomore album "Lonely Road" justifies every reason as to why the band is handed so much ridicule... Lily Allen caught many people's attention with her first album "Alright, Still," which discussed many personal situations as well as her true feelings and opinions about them. Her second album, "It's Not Me, It's You," also includes personal dilemmas with a fresh twist to her music.