How to resolve AdBlock issue? Arts & Life
- Details
- Written by: Editor
BACHELOR VALLEY – The Bachelor Valley Gourd Club will be showing their gourds for the third year at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum in November through Dec. 12.
Club members recently worked with museum curator Linda Lake to set up the display.
There are 18 members' gourds represented in this year's display.
A Christmas tree decorated with gourd ornaments placed first and best of show at the Lake County Fair in September.
Museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving.
The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum is located at 16435 Main St., Lower Lake, telephone 995-3565.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Editor
A Kids' Fest filled with great animation and short films will be on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Every ticket is $5 at the door.
Both screenings are at Calpine Geothermal Visitor’s Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown. The program will be approximately 75 minutes.
The animation and short film lineup is appropriate for kids ages 5 through 14 and those of us who are kids at heart.
Please come at least 15 minutes before the show begins. There will be popcorn, candies and drinks for sale, as well.
Some of the titles for this weekend’s fest include “CrabFu” ( a crazy kung-fu crab), “The Ringbearer” (Sometimes dogs just do what they want!), “The Zit” (need we say more), “Gopher Broke” (gopher plans gone awry), “Hold the Onions” (a tween orders fast food), “Mommy, Mommy, There’s a Monster on the Stairs” (a boy’s imagination runs wild) and many others.
All films have been well received at kids' fests across the country. They'll keep the program going fast and fun.
In addition, a food drive will be at Coyote for folks to donate food from the list below and receive $1 off the ticket price for each item. You can get in free with a frozen turkey or canned ham, or five items. This will help families in the South Lake County to celebrate the holidays.
Food donations needed are: frozen turkeys, canned ham and meats, canned cranberry, corn bread mix, Bisquick, corn meal, flour, sugar, brown sugar, canned pie filling, pie crust mix, Jell-o, pudding mix, canned veggies, yams, marshmallows, stuffing mix, instant mashed potatoes, rice, dried beans, fruit cocktail, canned fruit, canned gravy, broth and canned milk.
Coyote Film Festival is the fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, an arts nonprofit dedicated to bringing visual arts opportunities and education as well as ecologic stewardship to the residents and visitors of Lake County, California. Visit www.EcoArtsofLakeCounty.org or www.CoyoteFilmFestival.org.
See you at the movies!
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Wellman Moody
KELSEYVILLE – The Lake County Blues Allstars play Thursday, Nov. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro Restaurant and Bar.
The rhythm and blues quintet plays the second Thursday of each month at the Saw Shop.
Featured are Lake County stalwart Jim Williams on guitar, harmonica and vocal; popular blues chanteuse Neon Napalm on percussion and vocal; and 1960s legend Mike Wilhelm on guitar and vocals.
Filling in on bass, for the absent Jon Hopkins, is Bill McMenomy from Bottle Rock Blues and Rhythm Band. Rounding out the band is former Street Dogs drummer Mark Phillips, also a member of Bottle Rock along with Napalm and Wilhelm.
The Saw Shop Gallery Bistro displays fine art by local artists and is known as one of Lake County’s top restaurants, featuring steak, seafood and pasta as well as nightly specials and a full bar.
Located at 3825 Main St., Kelseyville, it is open Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. and has live music on Thursday night. Telephone 707-278-0129 for dinner reservations.
For more information go to www.sawshopbistro.com.
{mos_sb_discuss:5}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Family comedies seem increasingly rare these days, owing in part to the fact that so many of them are animated films, which are not as speedily produced as regular features.
Pleasantly for a sequel, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” does a better job on its jokes and sly humor, not to mention its brilliantly colorful animation.
Several of the lively characters from the original secure more face time, adding significantly to the laugh quotient. Even a few new ones brought into the mix prove to be either unusual or intriguing. On the other hand, there’s some outright imitation of key elements of “The Lion King” that appears useful only for creating some needless dramatic tension.
You may recall that the quartet of New York zoo animals ended up marooned on the distant shores of Madagascar. Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), the show business lion, has a flair for Bob Fosse-inspired dance moves. The hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) is certain of his imminent demise. Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) doesn’t know if he’s black with white stripes or vice versa, and this proves to be a problem when he meets up with his species. The lovable hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) is looking for love in all the wrong places.
Meanwhile, the loopy King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), aided by his fawning flunky Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer), is anxious to establish his kingdom without regard for the wishes of his potential subjects.
Later, the wacky king is involved with a misguided plan to mollify the water gods with a ritual sacrifice in a volcano. More fun is at hand with the penguins, under the leadership of Skipper (Tom McGrath), working feverishly to repair an old crashed cargo plane as the instrument for flight back to New York City.
Claiming ownership of the aircraft, King Julien imagines that he will become King of New York, just by the sheer force of his charismatic personality. But first, in order to get the aircraft functional, Skipper and his penguins require help from a large group of monkeys, who figure on organizing a union to secure a hefty benefit package. For Air Penguin, liftoff proves successful, but it turns out to be short-lived, and soon the aircraft lands on the African continent, in the vicinity of a wild animal preserve.
Alex and company feel they have returned to the motherland, though they are hardly prepared for a primitive existence. As a young cub, Alex was lost to poachers, eventually ending up at the zoo, and now he is reunited with his father Zuba (Bernie Mac, chief of the local pride, and mother (Sherri Shepherd). As the alpha male of the pride, Zuba’s authority is being challenged once again by the nefarious Makunga (Alec Baldwin), who sees an opening by insisting that Alex go through the rite of passage, one that the urbanized lion is certain to fail.
At first, Marty is all excited that he gets to run with hundreds of zebras who share his heritage. But then, he quickly tires of the novelty when realizing that all zebras look and sound exactly like him. On the other hand, Gloria is thrilled to splash around in the water with her species, especially when she meets the charming hustler Moto Moto (will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas) who eagerly woos her. Melman has had so much experience with medication back at the zoo that the locals make him the witch doctor. Fearing that his life is at an end, Melman struggles to make his deep feelings for Gloria known, even though it would an interspecies romance.
Full of jokes and slapstick humor, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is a pleasant surprise for a sequel. Let’s face it, there’s something funny about a lion making the dance moves of a Broadway professional. The hard-nosed penguins and the wild and crazy King Julien don’t disappoint as fun, amusing characters. It could be a very good thing if a “Madagascar 3” is just around the corner.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
There’s little need in this space to tell you about the release of “The Jason Bourne Collection.” After all, it’s all three films in one neat package. So let’s look at a truly oddball film, an intriguing rite of passage story that is weirdly erotic and dark.
“Mister Foe” stars Jamie Bell as a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears and most peculiar desires.
Haunted by the sudden death of his mother, Bell’s Hallam Foe spends his days spying on his family, suspecting his beautiful stepmother of playing a hand in it. Running away to Edinburgh, he becomes a Peeping Tom, looking for love. No wonder that “Mister Foe” is rated R for strong sexual content and language.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
{mos_sb_discuss:5}
