The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is conducting an art contest to select the design for the state’s 2013 upland game bird stamp.
The California Upland Game Bird Stamp Art Contest is open to all U.S. residents ages 18 and over. Entries will be accepted from May 13 through July 13, 2013.
This year’s stamp will feature the sooty grouse, and art contest entries must include at least one adult sooty grouse.
Entries will be judged on originality, artistic composition, anatomical accuracy and suitability for reproduction as a stamp and a print.
The contest will be judged by a panel of experts in the fields of ornithology, conservation, art and printing. The winning artist will be selected during a public judging event, with the date and location to be announced later.
An upland game bird stamp is required for hunting migratory and resident upland game birds in California.
The money generated from stamp sales must be spent on upland game bird-related conservation projects, education, hunting opportunities and outreach.
CDFW sells about 200,000 upland game bird stamps annually, which includes sales to collectors. Hunters are no longer required to attach the stamp to their license.
It’s a difficult task to accurately imagine one’s self back into childhood. Maybe we can get the physical details right, but it’s very hard to recapture the innocence and wonder. Maureen Ash, who lives in Wisconsin, gets it right in this poem.
Church Basement
The church knelt heavy above us as we attended Sunday School, circled by age group and hunkered on little wood folding chairs where we gave our nickels, said our verses, heard the stories, sang the solid, swinging songs.
It could have been God above in the pews, His restless love sifting with dust from the joists. We little seeds swelled in the stone cellar, bursting to grow toward the light.
Maybe it was that I liked how, upstairs, outside, an avid sun stormed down, burning the sharp- edged shadows back to their buildings, or how the winter air knifed after the dreamy basement.
Maybe the day we learned whatever would have kept me believing I was just watching light poke from the high, small window and tilt to the floor where I could make it a gold strap on my shoe, wrap my ankle, embrace any part of me.
Shane Black made his mark in Hollywood mainly for original screenplays of high-octane action films such as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Last Boy Scout.”
For “Iron Man 3” Black performs the double duty of writer and director.
This duality explains, in large measure, why “Iron Man 3” has its fair share of loud noise and explosions, including the surreal destruction of Grauman’s Chinese Theater carried out by the red-eyed minions of a mad scientist.
To its credit, “Iron Man 3” works fairly well as a stand-alone entertainment, beginning with a flashback to New Year’s Eve 1999 at a swank affair in Switzerland, where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) rebuffs the entreaties of a tech geek.
Flash forward to the present, the nerdy scientist, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), though still weird, now looks like a male model for Abercrombie & Fitch, albeit one with a diabolical plan for world domination, or possibly nothing short of global annihilation.
Killian holds a grudge that Tony Stark, whose alter ego is Iron Man, rejected his program for a project called Extremis, so now he’s in cahoots with an Osama bin Laden-style terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).
Apparently, Killian’s thugs are an army of zombie-like characters who outwardly look like normal humans, but they turn their bodies into a red-hot fury of molten flesh and then explode like human grenades for maximum devastation.
Worn out from too many superhero duties, the eccentric billionaire Tony Stark, suffers from anxiety, causing him to ceaselessly tinker with refinements to his armored Iron Man suit. This results in our hero being a mere mortal for much of the film.
His old pal, Captain Rhodes (Don Cheadle), ends up carrying the load of action heroism. Meanwhile, Stark is also paying little attention to his love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Spurred on by taunts from Stark, the Mandarin launches a full-scale rocket assault on the industrialist’s Malibu seaside mansion, blowing the entire estate into a pile of rubble at the bottom of the ocean.
In the manner of bin Laden’s videotaped threats, the Mandarin interrupts global television programming with diatribes intended to inflict fear of the latest terrorist assault.
Still fiddling with his metal suit, Stark tests a new system that allows him to fly through the air only partially armored while the other pieces hurtle in his direction as if he were a large magnet.
Testing his prototype armored suit leads him to the backwoods of Tennessee where his only ally is a young orphaned kid (Ty Simpkins) who helps the superhero piece together the mystery of the Mandarin.
The clock is running because the Mandarin continues to hijack the airwaves and threatens to bring America to its knees if President Ellis (William Sadler) does not exceed to his outrageous demands.
As expected in the Iron Man franchise, there are plenty of great action set-pieces, even if Stark spends much of his time outside his alter ego comfort zone.
Most spectacular of all is the hijacking of Air Force One, resulting in Iron Man having to fly through the air to rescue about a dozen people blown out of the plane, turning the exercise into what resembles an aerial circus act.
Of course, as with all action-fueled adventures in the superhero genre, the climax is a spectacular battle on the massive loading structure at an unidentified shipping port.
The climactic showdown proves to be too big a job for just one man, so Iron Man is joined by his War Machine colleague, Captain Rhodes. The reunion of the pair allows for them to engage in easygoing banter.
What makes the “Iron Man” franchise entertaining in many ways is the ease with which Robert Downey, Jr. infuses his character with affable wit and charm, along with a superb knack for delivering biting one-liners with facile nonchalance.
Without a doubt, “Iron Man 3,” fittingly as it is based on a comic book, has its cartoonish aspects. Nevertheless, it strives for a higher purpose than just being loaded with special effects.
Though it is hard to imagine the “Iron Man” character inhabited by anyone other than the quirky, fevered Downey, the best of all this time around is Ben Kingsley, whose surprises should not be revealed.
If you are game to sit through endless minutes of credits (where it appears that half of everyone in Hollywood was involved in the production), there’s an amusing session of Tony Stark in a bit of psychoanalysis at the very end.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Soper-Reese Community Theatre will present the local musical group Twice As Good during its Third Friday Live concert on May 17.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show will take place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the theater, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.
The May 17 performance will be the 10 year celebration show for Paul and Rich Steward, the father and son musical duo that makes up Twice As Good.
Come and dance to the dynamic duo's high energy blues, soul, and rock and roll with screaming guitar and soulful vocals, backed up by their own Twice As Good band.
The theater has an open dance floor with table or loge seating. Snacks and beverages are available for purchase.
Tickets cost $10 per person and can be purchased through the theater's Web site, www.soperreesetheatre.com , or at the theater box office from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fridays; at The Travel Center in the Shoreline Shopping Center in Lakeport from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; or at the Tallman Hotel on Main Street in Upper Lake.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A two-week acting camp that will give young people an experience with theater and drama takes place in Middletown next month.
The camp runs 9 a.m. to noon, Mondays through Fridays, June 10-14 and June 17-24.
The acting camp is open to students ages 6 to 13. Healthy snacks will be provided.
The cost is $200 per child.
“Acting builds confidence, self-esteem, and helps discover new talents. That, plus it’s a lot of fun,” said camp director Jessica Sage.
Sage has been teaching acting as well as directing theater for 17 years. She hopes this camp will be a place for young people to be expressive, creative, and spontaneous in a noncompetitive environment.
“Young people need a healthy and safe way to express themselves,” Sage said. “Creating characters allows them to do that.”
Campers will have the full experience of putting on a show – everything from learning lines to performing in front of an audience.
They will rehearse a play, “The Not So Grimm Fairy Tales,” and perform on the last day of camp.
All campers will have their own parts in this spirited and funny tale. Children also will play improvisation games, have daily talent shows and learn vocal skills.
Campers will perform for invited friends and family on the last day of camp at 11 a.m., followed by a cast party.
To enroll and for more information go to www.actlakecounty.com , call 415-328-6363 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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