A little less than a year ago, seven UCLA graduate film students were given the opportunity of a lifetime. Showtime Network, which has 35.9 million subscribers, offered to air and partially fund a film from each student in a joint project with UCLA titled “Images of War in the 21st Century,” which will air in prime time the night before the presidential election, on Nov. Read more...

Everyone knows of a garage band that eventually got out of the driveway. Now there is ProperGander Productions, a backyard theater group that has left the lawn for a real stage. Read more...

In part with its third International Theater Festival, UCLA Live presents world-renowned theater group El Teatro Justo Rufino Garay. Justo Rufino Garay, which comes from Nicaragua under the direction of Lucero Millan and Enrique Polo, has been incredibly successful. Read more...

Late-1980s indie rock prophets the Pixies might not be the most obvious band that comes to mind when describing legendary, crowd-pleasing, sold-out arena tours. The group, which is largely credited with having invented a unique blend of punk, surf and pop sounds which would later be taken up by the likes of Nirvana and Alice in Chains, tends to be more often associated with professional heights it never managed to achieve ““ thanks in large part to a well-publicized feud between bassist Kim Deal and lead singer/guitarist Black Francis (aka Frank Black, aka Charles Thompson) that eventually led to the band’s demise in 1992. Read more...

It is all too often that when actors try their hands at being musicians, the results are disastrous. But some actors manage to make the switch smoothly, as in the case of Juliette Lewis, frontwoman of Juliette and the Licks. Read more...

For those who haven’t heard, the biggest laugh of last week’s “Saturday Night Live” didn’t come during a skit. Ashlee Simpson’s second “performance” of the night went awry. Read more...

He’s larger than Marlon Brando. He’s more rebellious than James Dean. And he’s got more scales than Julie Andrews’ vocal range. There’s a new star in town, and he’s about to take his place among some of Hollywood’s most famous, and infamous, legends. Read more...