On any given day, some UCLA students will gripe about the endless amounts of reading and papers assigned to them by their professors. But then again, most of these assignments do not include a mandatory viewing of the Grammy Awards or selecting two articles to read from Billboard magazine on a weekly basis. Read more...

There’s a stretch of time near the start of every year, beginning on MLK Day and running through the Black History Month of February, when the country collectively makes an attempt to not only acknowledge the contributions of blacks to society, but also to open some kind of dialogue assessing just how far race relations have come in the past half-century. Read more...

When it comes to performing on stage, Sérgio Assad is practically joined at the hip with his younger brother Odair. The world-renowned guitar duo from Brazil has performed with Yo-Yo Ma for crowds of up to 30,000, but without his brother at his side, Sérgio has found it difficult to play even for a small group of friends. Read more...

Beneath the often indecipherably thick Southern accents and the overly dramatized competition between the two leading men, there lies a cast of triple threats who can act, sing, and dance their way into the collectively nodding heads and tapping feet of a very pleased audience. Read more...

Ten-year-old actress Dakota Fanning has allegedly entered drug rehab. At least that’s what a lot of America heard during E!’s Golden Globe red carpet pre-show when comedian, self-proclaimed D-list celebrity and personal role model Kathy Griffin took hold of the microphone at Sunday night’s award ceremony. Read more...

Bright Eyes “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning” Saddle Creek Records Until the release of “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning,” the frequent references to Bright Eyes’ front man Conor Oberst as the new Bob Dylan in glossy rock magazines must have been due to his tendency to write sprawling, seemingly endless streams of lyric-driven verses and a voice that is untrained at best. Read more...

With the growing popularity of foreign films, it’s becoming easier and easier to see the latest Audrey Tautou film or the original Japanese version of “The Grudge” at the local cineplex. Read more...