A&E

From the rural backcountry of Placerville outside of Sacramento comes a musician whose affecting brand of music comes across as simple and serene as his surroundings. His name is Andrew Heringer.

On Tuesdays, the Irvine Improv has "College Juice Comedy Night." College comedy, as a genre, is similar to normal stand-up comedy, except it tends to pander to the lowest common denominator. Comics delivering to the college crowd rely on their audience being around the age of 21, emboldened by their new drinking privileges – and therefore, just tipsy enough to appreciate an onslaught of racial humor and dick jokes.

"Music can noble hints impart, engender fury, kindle love, with unsuspected eloquence can move, and manage all the man with secret art," said Joseph Addison. Music, to anyone, is a language; it communicates a combination of emotion and thought more than words can describe. Through its concentrations on stylistic genres, any person can hear the artist's message. These passionate notes inspire, direct and create lifestyles for up-and-coming bands, like UC Irvine's jazz ensemble Open Fifth, who performed at the Anthill Pub last Thursday.

Director Edward Zwick brings us a unique perspective to the Holocaust tragedy in his newest film, "Defiance." Starring Daniel Craig (of "new" James Bond fame) as Tuvia Bielski and Liev Schrieber ("Hamlet," "Mixed Nuts") as Zus Bielski, "Defiance" follows the true story of a group of Russian Jews hiding out in the woods during the height of Nazi aggression in World War II Russia. Tuvia and Zus find themselves taking in more and more refugees until the need for organization arises. Tuvia, much to his brother's chagrin, emerges naturally as the camp's leader.

On Tuesday, Andrew Bird will again prove to fans that mastery and untouchable talent are the makeup of success on his new album "Noble Beast." Whistles, violin loops and poetic lyrics will remind us once again why Bird is so good at what he does.

The Beall Center for Art and Technology in the Claire Trevor School of Arts is hosting an exhibition called "Scalable Relations," showing the complexities and shifting contexts of today's information society through digital media. The exhibit brings together works by faculty of the UC Digital Arts Research Network (DARnet) and is open to viewers from Jan. 9 to Mar. 14.

While you're still trying to figure out your class schedule for this quarter, UC Irvine's arts department began this year prepared with a slew of fresh showcases from local, talented artists. Both running from Jan. 8 until Feb. 7, Kenny Berger's "A Just Noticeable Difference" premiered last week along with Steve Fagin's "The Surfing Memory Syndrome."

While 2008 didn't reach the pinnacle of video game awesomeness that 2007 embodied, the past 12 months also provided an incredible lineup of hardcore titles from nearly every genre, with "Metal Gear Solid 4," "Fallout 3" and "Grand Theft Auto IV" emerging as the most stunning available releases.

Films released in January are not expected to be Oscars. What is expected of the new year is basically new trash, so make sure you keep your expectations low when going into "Bride Wars." However, even with those lowly standards, "Bride Wars" is just an absolute failure. It is downright bad.

Scotland has produced a lot of solid music. Plenty of relatively successful bands make the transition in the states, and even nowadays you'll seldom find hipsters who don't name-drop Belle & Sebastian within their first five sentences when talking about music. So it's easy to give a band the benefit of a doubt, especially if they've already received so much critical acclaim by all those charming U.K. critics, and a lot of it is good. But then again, a lot of it is bad.

Lonely robots, rambunctious villains and curious children were all part of the cinema stew in 2008, as Hollywood recovers from a whirlwind year of record-shattering ticket sales, heated writers' strikes and the passing of a few wonderful actors. With the Oscar race in its final lap, here's a look back at the year's best, by category.

Review of Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion".