CITY WEEK

Photography
All about Annie
Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz takes pictures of presidents, rock idols and movie stars; that's the work we've all seen in magazines and advertising campaigns for the last few decades. The San Diego Museum of Art's newest exhibition, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, gives us a more complete and intimate look at Leibovitz's work. Hanging next to her portraits of Nicole Kidman and Johnny Depp are the acclaimed photographer's rarely seen, large-scale landscapes, family snapshots and other images of more personal significance. The traveling exhibition, which includes nearly 200 images, opens at SDMA in Balboa Park on Sunday, Feb. 10. 619-232-7931 or www.sdmart.org.

Theater
Bad things come in three
There's this trio of women out there that can't buy a break these days. One's been jailed for shooting and wounding her abusive husband, another's beloved horse has been struck and killed by lightning and a third is tasked with informing the other two about a major illness in the family. The three are sisters, and they're going to show us a lot about themselves in Crimes of the Heart, which opens in previews Thursday, Feb. 8, at New Village Arts (NVA)-but when all is said and done, they illustrate as much about the inner resolve of one family. NVA is located at 2460 Impala Drive in Carlsbad and will run this show in repertory with Chekhov's Three Sisters, which opens Feb. 17. These are the last two NVA shows in that space before the company moves to a permanent home on Carlsbad's State Street. $20-$22. 760-433-3245.

Books
The end?
It's finally here-the anticipated third and final volume of Cardiff resident Chalmers Johnson's Blowback trilogy, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. Johnson, a UCSD professor emeritus and president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, will be at Book Works, Flower Hill Promenade, 2670 de la Valle in Del Mar, at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, signing and discussing the book, which picks up where the last two left off. In Nemesis, readers will finally have to face the economic and political consequences of the United State's imperial overreach. The outlook isn't all bad, though, so show up and find out what the author says is our nation's only path to renewal. www.book-works.com or 858-755-3735.

Nightlife
Air Conditioned CityBeat
We just couldn't resist the temptation of getting in on the makeover craze that's devoured America. From 8 to 10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, at the Air Conditioned Lounge, 4637 30th St. in Normal Heights, we'll select three ladies from the crowd of attendees to undergo makeovers with the help of three teams of local professionals-boutique owners, manicurists, hair stylists and tanning-salon proprietors-who'll be on hand at the lounge to meet one another for the first time. Come on down, rub elbows with San Diego's style-makers, groove to some great music and nibble on appetizers provided by Antique Row Café. And stay tuned-CityBeat will be DJing every second Monday of the month at the AC Lounge from here on out. www.sdcitybeat.com.

Music
East side story
East L.A. has been an assembly line for one Mexican-American icon after another, not least of which is Grammy-anointed Los Lobos, a band that for 30 years has been unchallenged as L.A.'s emissaries of rock en español. But “Spanish rock,” just like their breakthrough cover of “La Bamba” in 1987, doesn't come close to defining the band. On 13 studio albums since 1983, they've hopped genres like inch-high border fences-from rock to punk to Tex-Mex to traditional Latin American folk and back again. Very few groups (especially in rock 'n' roll) get better with age, but Lobos' last three albums have been so good it's hard not to call it a renaissance. For this “Acoustic En Vivo” tour, they'll unplug to play songs from their newest, The Town and the City, as well as the pan-Latin folkloric music from their 2005 live CD. The one-night performance is at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium. $32-$36. 858-534-TIXS or www.artpower.ucsd.edu.

Pretty tough kids: There's just nothing funny about Ugandan orphans who live alone in dilapidated tents because their parents' generation has been all but wiped out by the AIDS pandemic, and there's not really anything snarky to be said about the Christians who rescue them and encourage them to sing, either. It seems like the only thing to do is admire them both. You can do so in person when the Ugandan Orphans Choir performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, and Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the World Beat Center, 2100 Park Blvd., in Hillcrest. Free. 619-230-1190, www.worldbeatcenter.org.

TV
It's back!
We fess up. We're geeks. At least on Wednesdays, when Lost is on. But we've been in withdrawal since our favorite show went on hiatus in early November. Yes, our trips to the CityBeat water cooler have been short and sad, as we desperately wonder what will happen to Jack, Sawyer and Kate but have no new adventures to discuss amongst ourselves. All that changes at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, when you'll find us in front of our TVs, eating microwavable popcorn and watching the reemergence of Lost on basic cable (ABC), totally entranced. www.abc.go.com.

Art
Culture keeping
Baghdad-born artist Doris Bittar doesn't let her Middle Eastern roots get lost in the melting pot of the United States. Her work celebrates and explores her rich culture, navigating through its personal and political realms. Bittar's solo exhibition, Jusour wa Kusour: The Work of Doris Bittar, 1989-2007, opens from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way. The exhibition includes Bittar's paintings, her photographic series documenting a recent trip to Lebanon, Syria and Iran and her mixed-media works using fabrics of the Ottoman Empire. $8. ww.oma-online.org or 760-721-2787.

Film
Animation maturation
Animation isn't just for kids and stoners anymore. The third installment of the Animation Show features all kinds of wonderful short films, including an Oscar nominee (Shane Aker's Nine), a Bill Plympton joint, an appearance by Beavis and Butt-Head (courtesy of Mike Judge), and some seriously twisted and beautiful visuals. These are simply ingenious short films, pushing the boundaries of what you can put on a screen. One night only and not to be missed, the Animation Show 3 plays at the Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, Downtown, at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8. Tickets are $12.75. www.animationshow.com.

Follow the rules: Taking on the seedy underbelly of pre-war French society, Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game is one of the staples of film-history classes, and with good reason. This digitally restored new print is gorgeous, and the chance to see it on the big screen rarely comes along. Rules of the Game plays at Landmark's Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Ave. in Kensington starting Friday, Feb. 9. www.landmarktheatres.com.