HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A Big Read partnership with Mt. High Coffee and Books will host a young people’s talent show on Saturday, Oct. 26.
The event begins at 7 p.m. at the coffee shop’s Hidden Valley shopping center location, 18983 Hartmann Road.
Dress in costume if you wish and support the student performances to benefit the Middletown Unified School District music program.
The Big Read is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.
Lake County is one of 77 communities across the country to receive a 2013-14 Big Read grant award.
For more information, visit the www.NEABigRead.org Web site or contact program director for the Lake County Big Read, Robin Fogel-Shrive, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Perhaps you’ve experienced the sudden, unsettling intimacy of putting on somebody else’s jacket and finding a wad of tissue in the pocket. Here’s a fine poem by Debra Nystrom, raised in South Dakota and now teaching in Virginia.
Little Parka
Dream of Mom’s red parka gone— someone stole it right out of the closet of the burned-down house—what good could it do anybody else, broken zipper that always got caught, she’d jimmy it loose, just part of putting it on—and she was so tiny, the arms too short even for me, too-tiny gloves in the pockets, thumbs stubby, practically useless to anyone but her—they deserve it if they shove in a hand, find the tissue she used and then left there who knows which cold day, what she needed it for, or why.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2009 by Debra Nystrom, from her most recent book of poems, Bad River Road, Sarabande Books, 2009. Reprinted by permission of Debra Nystrom and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
As film director and writer, Robert Rodriguez has a definite style, one that for the most part fits nicely into the exploitation genre that once dominated “grindhouse” theaters.
The Rodriguez approach to filmmaking has had so much similarity to Quentin Tarantino’s that the two of them collaborated on the 2007 double feature “Grindhouse,” consisting of Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” and Tarantino’s “Death Proof.”
For the uninitiated, “Machete Kills” is the sequel to “Machete,” both of which starred the tough, menacing Danny Trejo in the titular role as a former Mexican Federale still teamed up with Jessica Alba’s agent Sartana Rivera.
Like parachuting into the second half of a serial franchise, there’s little point to joining the exploits of the machete-wielding hero (yes, Trejo is the good guy) without having seen the first film, though the real reason is to appreciate the quirky experience to the fullest.
“Machete Kills” is the contemporary version of the exploitation experience that was brought vividly to the screen with African-American actors like Richard Roundtree (“Shaft”), James Brown, Pam Grier, Fred Williamson and a host of others during the 1970s.
Back then, it was called “blaxploitation,” focusing on the urban landscape with a wide variety of criminal enterprises involved, from drug trafficking to prostitution. The genre stirred controversy and even opprobrium from civil rights organizations.
Today, the “Machete” franchise generates little heat, other than critical derision from some film critics who may be operating under the misguided impression that this kind of B-movie should offer more than gratuitous absurdity.
Rodriguez has performed impressively in films like “El Mariachi” and “Desperado,” but one must understand that having Sofia Vergara as a brothel madam equipped with a machine-gun bra is a sign that “Machete Kills” is not to be taken seriously.
“Machete” fans will be thrilled with the film’s opening, as a garish trailer heralds the next splatter-fest with “Machete Kills Again … in Space,” which might even be inspired by the late Ed Wood’s “Plan Nine from Outer Space” or the detritus of other sci-fi junk.
Trejo’s Machete is a man of few words, sort of like the Man with No Name in spaghetti Westerns, which is fitting since he spends much of his time on the dusty, untamed desert of the Arizona-Mexico border, dealing with vicious thugs from Mexican drug cartels.
With a fixed facial expression, Machete, never smiling or winking at the illogical proceedings, growls his trademark one-liners before slicing various body parts from assorted bad guys.
A renegade enforcer, Machete is enlisted by off-kilter U.S. President Rathcock (Charlie Sheen who’s credited under his birth name, Carlos Estevez) to assassinate Mexican madman Mendez (Demian Bichir).
Adding to the mystery, Mendez has a split personality. He’s either a zealous revolutionary or a drug cartel leader surrounded by vicious henchmen. In any case, he’s got the trigger for a nuke aimed at Washington, D.C. surgically implanted on his chest.
Machete’s handler in the field is Miss San Antonio, a blond bombshell (Amber Heard), who is also a deadly assassin in her own right and a schizophrenic that is very much at home in the lunacy of this exploitative B-movie world.
To everyone’s delight, tough gal Michelle Rodriguez returns, though late in the story, as Luz, leader of an underground network that joins forces with Machete just at the right time.
As loco as he is, Mendez turns out to be fronting for a more sinister villain, arms dealer and space visionary Luther Voz (Mel Gibson), who is putting together a space mission to escape an inevitable nuclear destruction of Earth that he is trying to engineer.
Meanwhile, as Machete makes his way across the treacherous terrain of Mexico back to the United States with Mendez in tow, he is pursued by a chameleon-like assassin who constantly changes his identity.
Reminiscent of Martin Landau and Leonard Nimoy in the “Mission Impossible” TV series, the chameleon pulls off masks to reveal a new disguise. The fun is seeing the part played by Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas and Cuba Gooding Jr.
The best thing about “Machete Kills” and the franchise so far is that it is campy good fun, a spoof as well as parody of the exploitation genre. Nonetheless, Robert Rodriguez delights in old tropes of the “grindhouse” era.
In less capable hands, “Machete Kills” wouldn’t be as much gory, ridiculous fun, and would lack the stellar cast. In other words, without Rodriguez at the helm, this would be the type of cheesy film relegated to 2 a.m. showings on a cable channel.
Machete often tells us what he won’t do. In the first film, it was “Machete don’t text.” Here it is “Machete don’t tweet.”
What he won’t do in outer space, we can only guess. For fans of this cult franchise, here’s hoping Robert Rodriguez delivers on his intergalactic promise.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Rotary Club is presenting a free musical show at the Soper-Reese Community Theater at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20.
The show features young adults from the favellas in Rio de Janeiro, currently traveling across the USA performing cross-continental music, dance and acting.
Sponsoring this show for the community is a facet of the Lakeport Rotary Club International outreach.
The “Getting the Show on the Road” concert will bring the audience entertainment they might not have an opportunity to enjoy in Lake County at any other time.
There will be unique interpretations of Brazilian and American songs. These performers are part of a Brazilian Arts & Transformation organization.
The show is free, however donations are welcome.
Rotary Clubs participate with International projects around the world and this project is an example of building international relationships in a variety of ways.
Many International projects are sponsored by Rotarians who travel to other countries and do projects which enhance the living environments of villages by building fresh water systems, bringing much needed medical supplies and in some cases helping to build hospitals where there were none.
The Lakeport Rotary Club has participated in all of these projects in different countries over the past several years.
For more information about the Lakeport Rotary Club please visit www.lakeportrotary.org .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Local band Ailura Fate, recent winners of the Rock2 category at Rising Stars Music Competition, will be performing their rockin’ set of originals and favorite covers at the Ukiah PumpkinFest on Sunday, Oct. 20.
They will perform from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the Alex R. Thomas Plaza Stage in downtown Ukiah.
“The Pumpkinfest is a great family event and we’re grateful to DJ Ken Steeley, Mary Chadwick and the staff of K-Wine 94.5FM for inviting us,” the band said in a statement. “This is going to be a blast!”
"Yes! We're excited to have the live band ‘Ailura Fate’ perform at the Ukiah PumpkinFest on Sunday,” said DJ Ken Steely of K-Wine.
The Ukiah Country PumpkinFest is the largest street fair in Mendocino County. This annual two-day event is held each fall in the month of October.
Along with a variety of delicious foods, the streets of downtown Ukiah are filled with craft vendors, fine arts exhibits and “Scarecrow City.”
Enjoy live music, a haunted house, the Scout-o-Rama, pet costume classes, the Deep Valley Brew & Wine Festival, and the ever-popular children’s carnival including many games and amusements
For more information and directions for Pumkinfest, visit www.cityofukiah.com .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Soper-Reese Community Theatre will present its Third Friday Live concert series on Oct. 18 featuring Ukiah-based band Will Siegel & Friends.
Join them for an evening of danceable jazz and folk rock music.
The theater has an open dance floor and table or loge seating. Snacks and beverages are available for purchase.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; the show starts at 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 each and are available at the box office, 275 S. Main St., on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., telephone 707-263-0577; at the Travel Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .
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