Arts & Culture

As students, we are expected to make school the focal point of our lives - planning our schedules according to classes and units taken or devoting a good portion of our lives to earning a university education. This is precisely the kind of thing that interests photographer Catherine Wagner.

MUSIC

Katy Perry, Alphabeat

Today, 7:30 p.m., $20

Empire Events Center in Sacramento

Never mind Katy Perry - also known as the woman responsible for arguably the most annoying song of 2008 - I'm turning my focus to Alphabeat. The Danish dance-poppers have been associated with the Wonky Pop movement, a musical crusade for the "quirky, credible and catchy" that is rooted in the offbeat side of pop music of the '80s.

Rating: 3

John Frusciante will always be known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers rather than his side career as a songwriter. His personal work, while generally impressive, is essentially just an offshoot of his work with the band, and The Empyrean offers nothing to the contrary.

Amongst my list of innocently bad habits (i.e. constantly cracking my knuckles, biting on straws), my worst vice has to be a combination of two others: the Internet and going on random tangents.

So when you're leading an Internet-less lifestyle at home like I've been doing for the past month, it's easy to devote an awful amount of time normally spent on web browsing (read: Facebook and online shopping) thinking instead about useless things, such as which of my friends would make the best "Chain Reaction" teammates or what country I would visit if I were Anthony Bourdain.

Liberal arts professors tend to appear quite busy as they sprint across campus from staff meeting to staff meeting, their bags overflowing with academic journals and used notepaper. Always curious about on-campus happenings, MUSE set out to discover what exactly these busybody professors were really up to. The answer for three hard-working professors was simple enough - writing.

Revolutionary Road is essentially a reworking of 1998's The Truman Show, instead using themes of abstract (rather than literal) confinement.

The film's lack of linear plot renders it rather difficult to describe. It spends very little time with back-story, instead choosing to jump directly into what might be termed the conflict. This permeates every part of the film, never allowing the characters or the audience a chance to catch their breath.

Advertisements on billboards, text in album sleeves and letterforms on book covers - the art of typography may be taken for granted, but artist and designer Simon Johnston has made quite a name for himself in the field.

In the exhibit "subject/verb/object," which is currently on display at the Design Museum in Everson Hall, Johnston explores the nature of visual language and the relationship between visual aids and their semantic roles. An artist talk and reception featuring Johnston will be held tonight at 6:30 in Everson Hall.

Even the most casual gamer has heard of, played or avoided World of Warcraft - a game increasingly notorious for anecdotal stories of fun and horror as more and more players log on.

In a speech early last December, former Federal Communications Commission commissioner Deborah Tate said that addiction to online games like World of Warcraft is one of the leading causes of college dropouts across the United States.

The Favorite BIcon Movie Night, a part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center's "Beyond the Binary" Week, is a chance to gather with friends and fellow students to eat cupcakes and watch an award-winning film that deals with bisexual issues.

Sure, it may be the oft-picked on butt of many jokes, but I have to say that I've always found Canada strangely endearing. Loonies & toonies, universal health care, sexy foreign accents - really, how could I not have a crush on our northerly neighbor? So when I heard that Canada was making a mixtape for President Barack Obama entitled "49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel," I could hardly contain myself in the cutesy preciousness. I cooed, I giggled, I died in an explosion of bunnies and rainbows and lollipops and Hello Kitty.

Formed in the summer of 1982 in Olympia, Wash. by Calvin Johnson, K Records still embodies much of what it did when it began nearly 30 years ago as an independent label dedicated to releasing underground artists from the Northwestern and Midwestern U.S. The bands on K Records - like underground music itself - are difficult to categorize and diverse in their sounds.

MUSIC

Connecticut, His Name Shall Breathe, The Squealers

Today, 7:30 p.m.

Sam's Haus

Oregon-based bands His Name Shall Breathe and The Squealers are just a couple of pieces of evidence that 2008 may have been the year for Portland, but what about Connecticut - erm, I mean, Sacramento? Tim Callahan is the main creative force behind Connecticut, whose ambient dream pop recalls that of acts like Caribou with the melancholy touch of Elliot Smith.

This weekend, the UC Davis music department will celebrate a staple instrument: The flute.

The UC Davis Flute Festival starts today at noon at 115 Music. Performances will continue Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Studio Theatre Cabaret. Tickets are $18 general admission and $9 with a student ID. Featuring prominent musicians of the flute world, the festival will also offer workshops for students interested in flutes and musical performance.

If you're looking for a great action comedy, look no further than "24." The series, told in real-time, features Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), a practically invincible secret agent who can kill 10 men in about five seconds, disarm nuclear devices and even kidnap heads of state.