Tuesday, March 3

Album Review: ‘Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance’

Belle and Sebastian is more often romanticized than listened to. The whimsical Scottish band is known for its airy melodies with heavy lyrics often quoted on personal blogs, such as the famous line “color my life with the chaos of trouble” from “The Boy with the Arab Strap.” But the group’s newest album, “Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance,” proves once again that they are a band worth paying attention to. Read more...

Photo: (Matador Records)


Cross Cut: LGBT films from Europe, America differ in focus

In film editing, crosscutting is the technique of cutting between actions occurring at the same time, but in different locations. In Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, foreign cinema rarely takes the spotlight from the plethora of local releases. Read more...

Photo: “The Duke of Burgundy,” which releases this Friday at the Nuart Theater, is a prime example of European LGBT cinema conventions. This genre stands in stark contrast to American LGBT cinema. (Protagonist Pictures)


UCLA Film and Television Archive presents rare Mizoguchi films

Kenji Mizoguchi reflects the personal experiences of his sister’s life as a geisha and his father’s business and financial failure onto the big screen. The UCLA Film and Television Archive is showing nine of Mizoguchi’s films from Jan. Read more...

Photo: The UCLA Film and Television Archive is currently screening the films of Kenji Mizoguchi at the Billy Wilder Theater. The first screening of Mizoguchi’s film “Ugetsu” took place Friday to open the month-long series. (Courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archives)


Comics see progressive trend in including more female writers, characters

Comic books are everywhere – Marvel and DC Comics are mining decades of story lines for a huge slate of movies and television shows. But comics are more than a source to be mined for superhero blockbusters. Read more...

Photo: “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” is the first edition of the Squirrel Girl franchise that centers around its title character. (Courtesy of Ryan North and Erica Henderson)


UCLA singer-songwriter jazzes up Irish folk at Fowler debut

Elena Loper said her family first introduced her to Irish folk music when she was just a little girl, and she hasn’t stopped listening since. Irish music has played an integral role in the fourth-year ethnomusicology student’s time at UCLA: Loper studied abroad in Ireland, focused her ethnomusicology thesis on Irish-American music and emigration, and now, models her own songwriting on music of the Irish tradition. Read more...

Photo: Fourth-year ethnomusicology student Elena Loper will perform her brand of Irish and American folk music backed by jazz instrumentals at the Fowler Museum on Thursday. (Heidy Cadena/Daily Bruin)


Album Review: ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’

“American Beauty/American Psycho” Fall Out Boy Island Records 4 paws In a mixture of peaceful and crazy lyrics and beats, Fall Out Boy meets the expectations that its latest album name, “American Beauty/American Psycho,” sets up – the sound alternates between angelic and psychotic. Read more...

Photo: (Courtesy of Island Records)


Q&A: Instrument designer talks ABCs of MIDI device

Among being a musician and a composer, Los Angeles native Nick Demopoulos is a sound and instrument designer. In an attempt to mesh the computer and guitar, he has created the SMOMID, or string modeling MIDI device, an instrument that resembles the guitar but produces both light and sound. Read more...

Photo: Musician Nick Demopoulos created the SMOMID, or string modeling MIDI device (above), an instrument that emits light and sound. Demopoulos has developed four versions of the SMOMID since 2009. He will demonstrate the latest version at the Schoenberg Music Building Tuesday. (Courtesy of Kara Kreider)