Saturday, May 19, 2012
Funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen is at it again, this time as a flashy, offensive North African dictator who comes to the U.S.
From the guy who brought us Ali G and Borat comes a new character named General Aladeen — a ruthless dictator from a fictional country in North Africa who is part buffoon, part horn dog and part bloodthirsty ruler in "The Dictator." Through a ridiculous set of circumstances, that I will spare you the details of because they are so contrived, Aladeen ends up in New York while his even sillier double is in charge of his country. There are plenty of cameo appearances from big stars to keep things interesting. As for the element of political satire we get a pretty heavy-handed lecture that borders on being a bit corny. The dictator himself, like so many other characters by Cohen, is offensive but somehow there is a certain likeability to him…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Yes, it's become cool to bash Facebook, Twitter and the like—but they can also work for the benefit of us all.
Several weeks ago, I wrote a column on how social media is influencing our buying habits. However, that is only one part of the story of social media’s reach into our homes. It is also being used as a tool in fundraising for charities. Consider the recent email I got from a friend of mine: "Hello my trusted friends. Yes, you. The charity I represent, Help a Mother Out, is conducting its annual Mother's Day fundraising campaign. I need help spreading the word and I am hoping you can share the message below with your readers and followers so that we can raise money and diapers....HAMO is still just a tiny scrappy group with a tiny operating budget and no compensation for any of the organizers. It's truly a labor of love, which is why I am…
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Freebirds opening is part of a mini-restaurant boom along Elk Grove artery.
Tuesday's launch of Freebirds World Burrito on Elk Grove Blvd is just one in a handful of recent high-profile restaurant openings in town. As one KCRA reporter pointed out, at least three other restaurants have opened on Laguna Blvd within the last four months, including Leatherby's Creamery, Smashburger and Dickey's Barbecue Pit. The new eateries are all part of chains (some small, some large) offering different takes on gourmet American food. And they've all used social media marketing to cultivate a loyal fan base. Now that all the buzz is beginning to die down, where are you most excited about eating? Vote in our poll and feel free to share your comments below.
Friday, April 27, 2012
It may be Claymation, but it's the best pirate movie in years.
A below-average pirate captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) seeks to win the elusive Pirate of the Year award but faces some strong competition in The Pirates! Band of Misfits. From the folks who brought us Wallace and Gromit, the story is feather-light but strong enough to introduce the characters and establish their conflicts, which are pretty predictable. It's more of a comedy than an adventure, appealing to both children and adults. Such a film should be a crowd pleaser at the box office. Audiences love pirate movies. Toss in some quirky characters, like a twisted Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin, and you have an evolutionary success. The film is an enjoyable 90 minutes. The voice casting was mostly on merit and not stunt casting, making …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
What to do when you're overwhelmed by your love of books?
Here's the thing: I'm looking to get rid of most of the books that I own. This is not, however, a simple task. Nor is it a painless one. I don't have just one or two boxes; I come with the lifetime collection of a bookworm, writer, and graduate student in literature. That adds up to, as one friend faced with helping me move said, a s**tload of books. If you are not a lover of books, then you'll think I'm making a big deal out of no deal. Give 'em away, I can hear you say, or throw them out. If you are a lover of books, on the other hand, you're probably squirming in anticipated pain at even the idea of divesting yourself of your precious books. If you are a lover of books, then you know that each of them has meaning for us. They’re …
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Teen heartthrob Zac Efron breaks out in his first real adult role as a war veteran who has come home looking for love in a romantic melodrama that is worth the price of admission.
Zac Efron plays Logan, an Afghanistan war veteran on his third tour, who comes across a picture of a woman who inspires him to search for her, stateside, in The Lucky One. His search lands him at a kennel in Louisiana owned by Beth (Taylor Schilling) and her grandmother, Ellie (Blythe Danner). He gets a job there and over a period of time settles in, still not telling anyone his real reason for being there. As you might imagine, sparks start to fly. The Lucky One is a Nicholas Sparks movie. He's good at this kind of thing, writing books turned into movies like Message in a Bottle, Nights in Rodanthe and The Notebook. This film, in my opinion, is one of his better stories. And with an attractive young cast, it should be very appealing to …
Friday, April 13, 2012
The trio get a new look with some fresh new faces, and no one is laughing.
From the people who brought you "There's Something About Mary" and "Dumb & Dumber" comes the much anticipated movie about three morons in "The Three Stooges." It's Larry, Moe, and Curly 2.0. This time around Larry is played by Sean Hayes, Moe is Chris Diamantopoulos, and Curly is Will Sasso. Three shorter episodes combine for one 90-minute movie, in which the Stooges try to save the orphanage they grew up in. This movie has been talked about for more than 10 years now and, sad to say, it's pretty anticlimactic. I was never a real big fan of the original Stooges, and it's pretty safe to say that these three were doing impressions rather than a performance. The eye-poking and slapping is so repetitive it's almost sad. This film does not …
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Passover is a family holiday. How do you celebrate it when your family is thousands of miles away?
Passover started at sundown last Friday—Good Friday to be exact—which is appropriate considering that the Last Supper was a Passover seder. Seders are the ritual, ceremonial meal that are the highlight of the celebration of Passover. When you see paintings of Jesus sitting around that table with all the Disciples, they’re doing the same things Jewish families have done since long before the Christian era. They are telling the story of the Israelites' enslavement by the Egyptians and the way in which God freed them from bondage. It’s a happy holiday, with food and songs and four glasses of wine that must be drunk before the eating can even begin. It is, for many Jews, the favorite holiday. The High Holydays, which are much more …
Monday, April 9, 2012
We have a strict sign ordinance for a reason. We want our city to be aesthetically pleasing.
Citizens worked for years to get the Elk Grove City Council to adopt a strict sign ordinance. One of the most compelling reasons was that we didn’t want our city to look like Florin Road. A pretty good reason, don’t you think? It was a painstaking process, with residents and the Elk Grove Planning Commission, businesses and the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce all weighing in, and then onto the Elk Grove City Council for final approval. But finally an ordinance was passed that everyone could live with, and more importantly, one that businesses abided by. This ordinance didn’t come about without tremendous effort and compromise on all sides. Now that all may change! At the March 21 Elk Grove City Council meeting, one company, at public …
Friday, April 6, 2012
Break out the pie—the American Pie, that is. It's been nearly a decade since we last heard from the crew that made amorous behavior toward pastries so popular. Now, they're back.
The kids are back, rediscovering their youth, now in their thirties in "American Reunion." This is the fourth installment of the "American Pie" franchise, featuring pastry lover Jim (Jason Biggs), nice guy Oz (Chris Klein), and party animal Stifler (Seann William Scott). Each character is dealing with some sort of midlife crisis and relationship problem that builds up to an actually funny comedic payoff in the end. The supporting cast of secondary characters helps this film bring humor to sexless marriages, rehashed high school flings and dead-end careers … or, as I like to say, comic gold. This may be the best film in the series since the original, which came out back in 1999. Serving as a reminder of lost youth, many of these characters …
M.Legison
1:49 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
That's a very good use for social media, Jane. Probably the reason you can't buy diapers with food stamps, other than they are primarily intended for food, is that if someone has children and is getting food stamps they probably get GA too and that's partially what that is intended for. more ›