LIGHTS: Sam Fogarino discusses new bandmates, playing Coachella and dealing with obsessed fans.

“An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them.”

Despite his two decades of service in the House of Representatives, our suspiciously orange Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ohio native John Boehner has only now begun to catch some major notoriety. Even as a member of the Gang of Seven, a group of (not surprisingly) seven representatives known for squashing the House banking scandal in the early 1990s, Boehner stayed pretty quiet. It’s not for his newfound power or politics, that we know him now, though. It’s for his tears. That’s right, John Boehner is the federal crybaby.

One of the largest applause lines in the State of the Union was the moment when President Obama mentioned his success in repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which barred gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly. The extended standing ovation for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not particularly surprising, given that it was one of Obama’s signature accomplishments, one of many that happened during last December’s lame duck session.

China. Does the name send shivers down your spine? Should it? The World’s Most Populous State (1.3 billion people) is the fastest growing economy in history, rocketing past Germany and the U.K. in recent years to take third place in the world market. In the past three months, Japan has reportedly fallen just behind China for yet another quarter, tentatively making China the world’s second largest economy. With that kind of track record, how long before they take number one?

This truth has become self-evident in Egypt, where a grassroots populous movement calling for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and for a new democratic government has begun. For 30 years, the people of Egypt have dealt with an exponential rate of unemployment, increasing food prices and a rapidly diminishing quality of life. However, on Jan. 25 2011, the Egyptians finally said “kefaya,” or “enough is enough,” and took to the streets with a resilient determination to overthrow their oppressive regime.

Through the course of history, protests have always proven to be an essential element in preserving the democracy that we hold on to so dearly. Protests are a form of expressing dissent to certain events and policies. Most importantly, the act of protesting is protected through our First Amendment right of freedom of speech, and to be punished for peacefully exercising this right is completely unreasonable. Despite this, the district attorney of Orange County recently subpoenaed six UC Irvine students and compelled them to testify before a grand jury regarding an event that took place about a year ago.

Twitter is everywhere these days, so it’s no surprise that even our beloved elected officials use it. It is such a common part of their business nowadays that Twitter has sent a representative to the capitol to better serve those congressmen who use the blue bird. The novelty of old, technologically naive politicians entering the social networking world has not worn off quite yet, but one of these days Congress using Twitter will be as unremarkable as e-mail. When it comes to making political statements or campaigning, however, Twitter is still a powerful attention-grabbing tool and will be an important aspect of electoral strategy, not only in the next election but well into the future.

The UC Regents, perhaps trying to make up for their relatively low participation in staving off the budget cuts, are urging schools to adopt...

Compiled by the New University Editorial Board.

A capacity crowd for a basketball game at the Bren Events Center is 4,984. During many athletic events, the Bren is nothing but a sea of empty blue seats with a few spectators sprinkled here and there. On special nights, the Bren can feature a boisterous crowd of one to 2,000. However, when a blue moon casts its shadow over UC Irvine, 4,000 or more bodies will cram into the Bren Events Center to watch a basketball game.

HAIR: UCI’s Mike Wilder has been a fan favorite thanks to the growth of his shooting, rebounding and afro.

Ah, Super Bowl Sunday. It came and went on Feb. 6 and won’t return for another 12 months. On only one day of the year can 30 teams and their fanatics sit at home with chips, salsa, guacamole, adult beverages, friends and family and pretend that they’re not totally, super pissed off that their team didn’t make it to the big game. Over the years, I’ve learned one thing from the Super Bowl: its exclusive nature of only allowing two teams to compete somehow, ironically, results in the most inclusive television program in America.

STRUGGLE: After beating the CSUF Titans, the Anteaters were shocked by the last place Matadors.