A&E

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 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?

The final crew to hit the stage last Sunday was the most anticipated and the most star-studded of Vibe XIV. Kaba Modern Legacy put it down with a set that featured some of the best KM dancers from recent years, including members from MTV's "Randy Jackon Presents America's Best Dance Crew" team. The all-star filled stage blew up with a combination of classic Kaba Modern choreography of meticulous detail and smooth transitions. With every new song in the set came a rumble of appreciation from the hyped crowd as KM Legacy shut the place down.

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.

Indie 103.1 has kicked the radio bucket in order to stay true to its mantra. Despite the rumors, it's not shutting down, just moving everything to online streaming. But why the sudden shift? Esteban Lopez Blanco, Entravision's (Indie's parent company) executive director of interactive relations, clarified the situation...

"Twelfth Night" is hardly as well-known as some of Shakespeare's other plays, such as "Hamlet" or "Romeo and Juliet." Yet that does not mean the play isn't good – especially when the UC Irvine drama department is putting it on.