Arts & Culture

For the last five years, the Davis Film Festival has brought cinematic expressions of exploration and worldliness to the city of Davis.

Tonight, the festival kicks off its sixth annual event at the Varsity Theater on Second Street with the screening of Beauty Mark, a film designed to speak to people of all backgrounds.

"Since U Been Gone" Kelly, you have left me to wonder what's next for America's first, and perhaps best, Idol.

After a soulful debut record, a sophomore album loaded with chart-topping hits and the darker, less successful My December, Kelly Clarkson rises from the December ashes to deliver a powerhouse fourth studio album, All I Ever Wanted.

Despite the "early release" of Yeah Yeah Yeah's third studio album It's Blitz! fans are undoubtedly grateful for the refreshing lyrical and audio bliss that Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase present to them on a silver platter made of 100 percent synth-drenched alternative rock.

I like to consider myself a relatively easy-going and tolerant person, but if there's one thing that I absolutely cannot stand, it's when people take their anger/bad mood/general douchiness out on other people.

If people truly love anything, it's themselves. Specifically, talking about themselves and how they have it worse than everyone else.

Enter FMyLife.com, a relatively recent website geared at letting anyone do exactly that - share their misfortunes with the world. FMyLife, or FML, is an increasingly popular online trend of self-deprecation. And as the hordes of fans that view the site over a million times daily suggest, it's incredibly funny.

Student musicians, the spotlights are searching for you! It's time for the annual campus media sponsored Search Party talent show. Co-sponsored by KDVS 90.3 FM, The California Aggie and the ASUCD Entertainment Council, Search Party gives UC Davis' budding musicians the opportunity to perform to the campus community.

After serving for 30 years as conductor of the UC Davis symphony orchestra, D. Kern Holoman has passed the baton to a new face. After an international search, Christian Baldini has been named the new symphony conductor.

Baldini is scheduled to make his conducting debut on June 2 as the symphony orchestra ends its current season. He will join the UC Davis faculty on July 1 as an assistant professor in the music department.

Have your say in "i got Aggied" before the polls close.

Students can vote for the 11 contestants in UC Davis' first-ever campuswide video contest until Friday at 11:59 p.m. Visit igotaggied.ucdavis.edu to watch the videos and make your choice.

MUSIC

UC Davis Gamelan Ensemble

Today, 5 p.m., free

Delta of Venus

If you feel the need for world music outside of the standard Putumayo CD you find playing at the Sharper Image in the mall, look no further than the UC Davis Gamelan Ensemble, a group that specializes in the traditional court music of Indonesia. Plus, it's free, and who could argue with that?

Rating: 3

If anybody marches to the beat of their own drum, it's this band.

Tera Melos is a four-member group from Roseville, Calif. whose music is best described as experimental rock or math rock. Their songs have a chaotic sound, deviating from any musical rules or norms.

There's no better way to wrap up the UC Davis Fashion Week than to attend the "Share the Love" fashion show this Saturday night at Freeborn Hall.

Freedom of expression is no strange topic, but sometimes finding a medium to share something you're passionate about doesn't always come very easily.

Arguably the most popular band of all time, The Beatles have remained one of the few high profile music groups whose songs have yet to appear for sale online.

Despite the embarrassment of comic book movie riches the public has enjoyed in recent years, Watchmen was definitely the most anticipated, if not the most hyped. Making a movie out of the most celebrated graphic novel of all time brings certain expectations and a lot of pressure.

This week in Davis -

Neurotunnel

Oatmeal, Deers!, Dumpling