Friday, July 31

UCLA film students’ commercial enters final round of Coke ad competition

In a recent, student-made commercial, a single sip of Coca-Cola allows a high schooler a glimpse into his future. The 17-year old is shocked to see his 30-year old self on a movie date with a sophisticated woman. Read more...

Photo: Nathan Nguyen-Le, a graduate cinematography student, and Elon Zlotnik, a fourth-year film student, teamed up with Coca-Cola and Regal Cinemas to make a 30-second advertisement that encapsulates the movie-going experience. The commercial shows a young couple on a movie date, and is competing for the opportunity to be to be screened in Regal theaters. (Metztli Garcia/Daily Bruin)


Renewable Energy Association’s SWAP Meet to promote sustainability

The Renewable Energy Association’s SWAP Meet will unite thrifty bargain-seekers. In celebration of Waste Awareness Week, the Renewable Energy Association will be collaborating with a variety of other organizations to create informative events for the environmentally minded, including DIY workshops. Read more...

Photo: Ryan Condensa, a third-year chemical engineering student, is president of the Renewable Energy Association, which is celebrating Waste Awareness Week through informative events and DIY workshops. (Metztli Garcia/Daily Bruin)


UCLA professor and pioneer of media archaeology reflects on sharing work abroad

A manually driven car may be as antiquated as a landline telephone in the future, Erkki Huhtamo said. Huhtamo is a professor at UCLA’s department of design media arts and a founder of the field of media archaeology, the discipline that seeks to understand new and emerging media through examination of the past. Read more...

Photo: Erkki Huhtamo, a professor at UCLA’s department of design media arts, gave a series of lectures throughout Japan entitled “Media, Transportations, and the Challenges of Posthuman Culture.” (Courtesy of University of Tsukuba)


Authors consider own backgrounds in portrayals of refugee and immigrant experiences

In the early 1990s, writer Viet Thanh Nguyen read a book about the Mexican-American border he found timely: “Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border,” by Luís Alberto Urrea. Read more...

Photo: Authors Viet Thanh Nguyen, a refugee from Vietnam, and Luís Alberto Urrea, an immigrant from Mexico, will discuss their writing and personal backgrounds in Royce Hall on Thursday. (Courtesy of BeBe Jacobs and Joe Mazza)


‘LA Metro Project’ web series highlights unseen diversity of Los Angeles scene

Los Angeles is more than just one city – it’s Brentwood and Culver City, Santa Monica and Inglewood, Westwood and more. However, the different sides of the city aren’t well represented in film, said Matthew Oquendo, director of “LA Metro Project,” a new web series that connects each episode by way of the Metro. Read more...

Photo: “The LA Metro Project,” which premieres Thursday night at the James Bridges Theater, takes audience members to different locations throughout Los Angeles. Director Matthew Oquendo wanted to avoid the typical tourist locations, instead highlighting different aspects of the city. (Courtesy of Carlos E. Pèrez)


Budding Los Angeles: The Cure Company’s tailored cultivation of cannabis sprouts top-shelf strains

Thirty years ago, buying cannabis was difficult, expensive and illegal. Buying cannabis in 2019 is somewhere between picking up a prescription from a pharmacy and buying beer from a liquor store. Read more...

Photo: The Cure Company, a cannabis cultivation facility near Boyle Heights, houses thousands of plants in eight different grow rooms. Seedlings at the facility begin their life in a nursery and are then moved into other grow rooms as they reach maturity. (Liz Ketcham/Assistant Photo editor)


Festival showcases klezmer to restore interest in Yiddish culture

Klezmer originated in Eastern Europe but finds its future in a new generation of American Jewish youth. UClezLA, which took place Sunday at Schoenberg Hall, is a Yiddish culture festival which included workshops on klezmer, a musical genre containing Jewish influences and a mixture of sounds from Romani music and Polish folk music. Read more...

Photo: Miri Koral, a professor of Yiddish culture and language at UCLA, read Yiddish poetry during a workshop Sunday while musicians from the band Klezmer Juice played music behind her. (Amy Dixon/Photo editor)