By: Brennan Carley

I long for the days when Nicholas Cage had his head on straight, that time when Lindsay Lohan took the world by storm in Mean Girls, and when John Travolta wasn’t constantly battling rumors about his private life rather than making quality movies (I mean come on, Road Hogs, John? You were in Grease, for God’s sake). The days of when actors’ private lives didn’t actually overshadow the reasons for which they had their fame to thank (namely their acting) are long gone. Who can honestly say that they’ve seen a Tom Cruise flick more recently than they’ve read an article about his wacky antics on Perez Hilton’s website?

By: Darren Ranck, Brennan Carley, Charlotte Parish

For this week’s very special Oscars issue, we decided to host a mock vote among our staffers, Joe Allen, Katie Lee, and Dan Siering, and editors, Arts & Review editors Darren Ranck, Brennan Carley, and Charlotte Parish, and Editor-in-Chief Mike Caprio. 

By: Brennan Carley

Taking a look at yesterday’s top 10 most downloaded songs on iTunes, one finds the list littered with predictable hits by Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, the cast of Glee, and Justin Bieber. Glancing further down the page, the far superior but vastly underappreciated British soul singer Adele dominates the albums chart with her pitch-perfect new album 21.

By: Brennan Carley

Performing their least-television friendly song, the Canadian-bred band members tore their way through an edgily wonderful “Month of May.” Moments later, Win Butler accepted the Album of the Year Grammy for The Suburbs, the first time in years that the award has truly gone to the best album of the year.

By: Brennan Carley

Assoc. Arts & Review Editor Brennan Carley recounts the best Lady Gaga performances.

By: Brennan Carley

A frequent topic of conversation in the Arts corner of The Heights office is, obviously, entertainment. When the conversation turned to Jake Gyllenhal earlier this week, my fellow editor asked an interesting question, that I wonder if the actor has ever asked himself: “Do you think Jake Gyllenhal is ever going to make it big in Hollywood?”

By: Darren Ranck, Brennan Carley, Charlotte Parish

“Here’s looking at you, kid.” “You had me at ‘hello.'” “I hate how much I love you.” Song lyrics, movie quotes, they embody a love we usually are not articulate enough to express. Everyone wants to identify themselves as a pop culture couple or place a moment within a pop framework. Why does society partake in this phenomenon? To put it simply, pop culture is the perfect love story.

By: Brennan Carley

The Strokes

It has been quite some time since this New York-based band has released any sort of music, but rumblings arose last year that they had finished recording another album. The Strokes confirmed the news, and this week gave us some more information about their fourth disc. Titled Angles, the album features a concise list of songs (10 to be precise), the first of which, “Under Cover of Darkness,” is set to come out later this month. With a headlining set at the upcoming Coachella, more tour dates seem more than likely. Let’s cross our fingers.

By: Brennan Carley

I can’t be the only one to notice the hot new trend that seems to be taking the movie industry by storm over the past few years, can I? It is becoming increasingly more difficult to find movies in which a relationship remains firmly intact at the plot’s end.

By: Brennan Carley

Just when it seems like filmmakers have milked nearly every angle of it, the father-son themed story comes back for another go-around. In Disney’s TRON: Legacy, the father is played by Jeff Bridges and the son by Garrett Hedlund, both actors give a laudable performance despite a thin and convoluted storyline. The valiant efforts, aided by a heart-pumping score by French techno duo Daft Punk and absolutely mind-blowing visuals, elevate TRON: Legacy to an enjoyable and memorable diversion.