A&E

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.

The critical part of my brain despises the movie "Taken." It has developed an annoying habit of whining about tired narrative clichés and predictable dialogue right after the credits start rolling. Despite the nagging voice in my head, there were many moments in Pierre Morel's new film – about ex-government agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) who is sent into brutal vengeance mode after his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped by Albanian flesh peddlers in Paris – that transcend the film's overall mediocrity and make the cost of admission somewhat worthwhile. But these moments are just too sparse to make this film more than a good way to kill an afternoon.

Maybe Nintendo figured that there was a market for its latest casual title, "Personal Trainer: Math," in North America because our proficiency in the subject falls so far short from the rest of the developed world. Unfortunately, its title ranks just as badly against the rest of the Touch Generations series on DS.

t's fun to watch individual members of a successful band go on hiatus. Although lead singers tend to go on ego-boosting solo projects while the rest of the band melts into the background, members of The Strokes are too talented to take that route. Vocalist Julian Casablancas and stylish lead guitarist Nick Valensi have made their contributions to music since the band's break, but it's their more reserved bandmates that have made a splash with albums.

The Beatles passionately fantasized about this, Cassavetes' "The Notebook" (2004) was purely based on this, and Cinderella found this when she located her missing shoe. Can you figure it out?