If you’ve ever wanted to sing for a packed house at UCLA, you finally have your chance. The “U-Sing-It Messiah” will roll into Los Angeles with its tidings of holiday joy and cheer on Saturday. Read more...

De La Soul is coming to Royce Hall. No, really. At first, it seems a hip-hop act would hardly consider a concert hall where world-renowned cellists and speakers have entertained fans ushered to their seats by bow-tied employees an ideal venue. Read more...

Rio de Janeiro consists of 600 “favelas” ““ the Brazilian word for an urban slum or ghetto with illegal squatter settlements. Anderson Sá is native to the Vigário Geral favela, which, controlled entirely by an underworld society of teenage drug armies and policemen, is considered the most dangerous of them all. Read more...

Beyond a sweating Bruce Lee dubbed with usually robotic English pronunciation, the history of Chinese martial arts cinema has remained relatively obscure. However, thanks to decades of collecting and newly remastered prints, the UCLA Film and Television Archive is currently presenting “Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film, Part II,” a continuation of the 2003 series intended to change preconceptions of Chinese martial arts cinema. Read more...

The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation. In the case of “Rent,” war is the battle for love ““ and against the AIDS epidemic within a 1980s New York City Bohemia. Read more...

blink-182 “Greatest Hits” Geffen Records Someone neglected to tell blink-182 that its 15 minutes of fame ended about four years ago. The San Diego band, which recently went on hiatus (conveniently in time for its newest release), began its career with raunchy jokes and teen angst. Read more...

In 1951, Truman Capote sent the manuscript of his first novel, “Summer Crossing,” to Robert Linscott, his Random House editor at the time. He had written the book seven years earlier, in 1944, and had since achieved international fame with his first published novel, “Other Voices, Other Rooms.” Looking for a follow-up, Capote hoped he could edit the manuscript, originally written when he was 20 years old, but Linscott’s response to the book convinced him otherwise. Read more...