This is the archive for May 2009
LOVE N' DANCING
2 stars (out of 5)
Cast: Tom Malloy, Amy Smart, Billy Zane, Rachel Dratch
Director: Robert Iscove
Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes
Industry rating: PG-13 for some sexual references
By Roger Moore
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)
"Love N' Dancing" isn't a "Lifetime Original Movie." Not yet. But you can hear the commercials for it as you watch it.
"She couldn't feel until she learned to move. He couldn't hear until he listened to his heart. And switched on his hearing aid."
This edge-free competitive dance drama doesn't drift much from its formula — pretty school teacher (Amy Smart of the "Crank" movies) lives in the shadow with dullish fiance (Billy Zane) until she starts taking West Coast Swing Dance lessons from the two-time U.S. champ, Jake (Tom Malloy).
Posted by courier at 04:53 PM. Filed under: Entertainment
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"Fallout 3: Broken Steel"
For: Xbox 360 and PC
Requires: Fallout 3
From: Bethesda Softworks
ESRB Rating: Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, sexual
themes, strong language, use of drugs)
Your successful ability to download "Fallout 3: Broken Steel" will be acknowledged in "Fallout 3" via a dialogue box stating as much, but beyond that — and unlike "Fallout 3's" previous content packs, which jetted you off to faux-Anchorage and Pittsburgh — "Steel" leaves it up to you to find it.
That, mostly, is due to the fact that "Steel" not only takes place after the events of "Fallout 3," but possibly alters some of those events as well. If you've witnessed the game's final scene, you likely know what, precisely, needs altering.
Posted by courier at 09:15 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Mei-Xin Yang, Courier Daily Editor
We hear from TV advertisements and other media channels that we should go green and save our environment, by recycling papers, using solar energy for electricity and more.
Next week, on Saturday and Sunday, the San Mateo Expo Center is going to have a Maker Faire for everyone who is interested of using recycled materials to make new things. This event advocates going green and saving our environment, just the thing that fits our needs for today's society.
Posted by courier at 10:50 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
43337 Christy St., Fremont, Ca 94538
510-651-9000
A small, trendy sushi eatery in Pacific Commons, Little Mad Fish is a treat for the taste buds as well as the wallet.
Walking into Little Mad Fish with my family, we were promptly greeted and led to a table. Seated at the booths, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the design of the restaurant. The perfect mix of classy, modern and traditional the looks of this restaurant are only fortified by its delicious food and excellent service.
Posted by courier at 10:26 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Cait Baca, Courier Staff Writer
The annual two-day Dance Concert winds up tonight after opening night performances Thursday.
Every year, Logan holds a showcase where dancers of the Intermediate and Advanced dance classes have an opportunity to present various dance numbers. Dance styles include Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Lyrical. The dancers have been working hard to create the various pieces all semester, and have experienced some straining rehearsal practices this week. All are anticipated to perform tonight and tomarrow night.
Posted by courier at 08:59 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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EMINEM "Relapse" Grade: D
The most annoying thing about Eminem's latest album, "Relapse" (Aftermath), is the waste.
Oh, sure, he says disgusting things. He talks about giving a woman a crude, old-school abortion in "Medicine Ball." He fantasizes about kidnapping Hannah Montana and then forcing her to choose between marrying him or getting murdered in "Underground." And he graphically discusses getting sexually molested by his stepfather in "Insane."
Posted by courier at 10:05 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Rob Christensen
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Elizabeth Edwards said she became physically ill when her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, told her he was having an affair.
"I cried and screamed. I went to the bathroom and threw up," Edwards says in her new memoir.
Elizabeth Edwards, 59, who lives outside Chapel Hill, N.C., writes that John Edwards told her of his affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter shortly after he announced his second run for the presidency in December 2006 in New Orleans.
Posted by courier at 09:01 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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The Yomiuri Shimbun (MCT)
TOKYO — The uproar over a Japanese video game featuring the rape of two girls and their mother has led to increased calls by the public to more strictly regulate child pornography.
Although the sale of the rape game has been suspended in response to a protest from an international human rights organization, a large number of similar games are still on sale across the country.
In the computer game, developed and first sold in 2006 by a Yokohama-based game software maker, a player gropes two girls — who appear to be teenagers — and their mother while in a subway carriage, then confines and rapes the three, making them pregnant. The player then forces the three to terminate their pregnancies.
Posted by courier at 08:34 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Jericho Faustino, Courier Daily Editor
In the large scale WW2 strategic game,
Order of War, you command either the Axis or Allies. The developers Wargaming.net has partnered with Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix in hopes to create a comparably epic game. Order of War offers huge battles in both single-player and multiplayer with upwards of 1.000 soldiers actively fighting.
The game has been in development for some three and a half years; in fact, it has been released in Russia under the name "Operation Bagration." Although "Operation Bagration" only had Eastern Front combat, it still went on to win several Russian gamer community awards.
Posted by courier at 06:03 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Velvet Assassin
Reviewed for: Xbox 360
Also available for: Windows PC
From: Replay Studios/Southpeak Games
By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)
ESRB Rating: Mature (blood, strong language, intense violence, use of drugs)
Provided you have your wits about you, "Velvet Assassin" — which loosely takes its inspiration from the heroic efforts of World War II Allied Forces secret agent Violette Szabo — is a game with small issues that only occasionally prove troublesome to the overall experience. That's saying something, because if there's a kind of game that really can't afford to get sloppy, it's a stealth action game that, like this one, penalizes you hard for your own lack of self-discipline.
Posted by courier at 05:53 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Courier Staff Report
Olympic womens softball silver medalist Vicky Galindo will be the Grand Marshal of the Union City 50th Anniversary Parade tomorrow.
James Logans Marching Band and Color Guard, which performed with the official International Olympic Orchestra were hometown hero Galindo won her medal, will also be a featured parade entry in the parade.
Posted by courier at 06:00 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Jamey Padojino, Courier Daily Editor
The newest version of Star Trek has movie watchers wondering what the future holds for Captain James T. Kirk and the I.S.S. Enterprise crew.
Released last Friday, this movie is said to be the biggest movie of the season. Considering the positive reviews Star Trek has been receiving, this feat nonetheless stands true.
The movie is enjoyable for both sci-fi lovers and the average Joe who has no background on the storyline. It is a prequel to all the other movies, so they storyline is not difficult to understand.
Posted by courier at 05:05 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Dan DeLuca
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
PHILADELPHIA — Asher Roth isn't like other rappers.
The rising star whose debut album "Asleep in the Bread Aisle" went straight to No. 1 when it was released on iTunes on Monday hails from nowhere near the hood.
The 23-year-old rhymer grew up in the middle-class community of Morrisville, Pa. His hip-hop calling card is "I Love College," an ode to higher-education hedonism born of his experiences while sort-of studying to be an elementary-school teacher on the leafy campus of West Chester University.
Posted by courier at 09:19 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Walter Tunis
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
The catalyst was always rebellion. From the time George Clinton merged his Parliament and Funkadelic bands into a single, massive conglomerate, he knew the grooves his fans would flock to would be the ones their parents actively avoided.
"I always try to find the music parents hate and then gravitate towards that," said Clinton, 67.
"Doing that, I legitimize that music. It has always worked like that. When I hear something that parents hate, I know it's going to be the next big music. Hey, kids always like what their parents don't like, right?"
Posted by courier at 06:31 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Glenn Gamboa
Newsday (MCT)
After reinventing themselves as serious rock artists and reviving their commercial fortunes with "American Idiot," Green Day is in the unusually awkward position of following a masterpiece.
So what do the Berkeley, Calif., punks do? They uncork "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise) — an album that's bigger, broader and even more ambitious than "Idiot," an album that manages to cram in both more potential hits and more far-reaching sociopolitical statements. Yes, they've raised the bar once again.
Posted by courier at 06:26 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Circle of Three: Ring of light
By Isobel Bird
Reading level: Young Adult
Library Binding: 220 pages
Publisher: Rebound by Sagebrush
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0613492986
ISBN-13: 978-0613492980Kate stopped at the door and turned to look at her boyfriend. His black hair was, as usual, tousled but adorable, and his eyes, a peculiar deep gold color, sparkled in the July sun. Her parents had met Tyler a few times and seemed to like him, but she was still a little nervous. This was the first time they'd all be together for more than half an hour. Tyler was the first guy she'd brought home since Scott, and they'd thought that Scott was the perfect boyfriend for her. They hadn't understood when she broke things off with him, and she knew that might make them particularly critical of Tyler, who had replaced Scott as the guy in her life. "Don't worry," she said, reassuring herself as much as she was reassuring Tyler. "They're going to love you." Tyler grinned. "That would be nice," he said, "but the only one I need to love me is you."
Book six of Isobel Bird's popular series
Circle of Three is about all three girls trying to continue their studies of Wicca. Well, except for Cooper, who decided to leave the group in the previous book in the series. So, will Cooper really stop the group altogether or will fate bring her back to Annie and Kate?
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Posted by courier at 10:24 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Excitebots: Trick Racing
For: Nintendo Wii
From: Monster Games/Nintendo
ESRB Rating: Everyone (mild fantasy violence)
For all the credit "Wii Sports" garners as the Wii's gateway drug, perhaps no Nintendo-branded game better demonstrates the benefits of motion controls than "Excite Truck," which launched
on the same day and aptly set itself apart from other racing games in ways no non-Wii game ever could.
The entirety of that game exists within "Excitebots: Trick Racing," which lifts the controls and methodology and inserts them into an entirely bizarre but blissfully fun racing experience starring giant, mechanized bugs and animals.
Posted by courier at 09:05 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Chad Brady, Courier Staff Writer
Last Friday, the summer movie season began with the release of
X Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the other three X-Men films.
The film, distributed by 20th Century Fox, has raked in a U.S. Box Office take of $85,058,003 as of today, according to yahoo.com. It's rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
Posted by courier at 10:18 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Rick Bentley
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
In "Next Day Air," Donald Faison plays a delivery man who's more interested in smoking weed than making sure his packages get to the right addresses. That lack of interest is the trigger for this dark comedy/action film that opens Friday.
Faison knows exactly what it's like to have a bad job. Back when he was trying to launch his acting career, he was an administrative assistant in a talent agency.
Posted by courier at 09:06 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Jim Carnes
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It's not that long a trip from Redding to Nevada City, Calif., but if you're blues guitarist Roy Rogers and you've traveled around the world making your music, it can take a while to come "home."
"I'm a California boy. I love California for all the reasons everybody wants to live here," Rogers said recently, taking a break in sprinkler repair for a telephone interview from his Nevada City home.
Posted by courier at 06:41 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Evanescence singer Amy
Lee in Brazil. wikipedia photo
Despite the nearly three years since their last album dropped, Evanescence has been awarded Platinum and Gold certification by the RIAA, a recording industry association, for the 2003 single "My Immortal" in digital form, with more then 500,000 sold, and the digital single "Call Me When You're Sober" has been certified platinum (more than a million sold.)
So perhaps it's a good time to review this fantastic band's output.
Posted by courier at 09:54 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Cait Baca, Courier Staff Writer
Hip-Hop Artist, Rick Ross, dropped his new album last month. The highly anticipated album, "Deeper than Rap" is considered to have "restaged the rapper's self image" said
The New York
Times. In addition, one of the purposes of
Deeper than Rap is to diss fellow rapper, 50 Cent, in an on going battle amongst the two to raise the expectations of Rap and top the music charts.
Posted by courier at 09:09 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446610399
ISBN-13: 978-0446610391,
Courier Staff Writer
Many of you have heard of the author, Nicholas Sparks, who wrote
The Notebook, which was made into a major motion picture last year. Sparks has written several other books, too, including
The Rescue, which I read recently.
The Rescue, the first of Sparks' books to reach number one on the
New York Times bestseller list, is about a man named Taylor McAden, a volunteer fireman who dreams of saving as many lives as possible. To do so, Taylor takes extreme and terrifying chances while carrying out his fireman's duties.
While he's eager to face the dangers of firefighting, he's reluctant to face the dangers inherent in falling in love. In heroic firefighter mode, he rescues several women, and sometimes romance with the rescued seems ready to catch fire, but he quickly snuffs out such relationships before the nascent loves become inflamed.
Posted by courier at 09:36 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the
Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Free Press (October 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743284283
ISBN-13: 978-0743284288,
Courier Editor-in-Chief
Women had come so far, I learned, we no longer needed to worry about objectification or misogyny. Instead, it was time for us to join the frat party of pop culture, where men had been enjoying themselves all along. If Male Chauvinist Pigs were men who regarded women as pieces of meat, we would outdo them and be Female Chauvinist Pigs: women who make sex objects of other women and of ourselves.
Female Chauvinist Pigs is one of the most interesting books I have read for years. As the title implies, it explores the new breed of chauvinist pigs: females. I do not say women because female chauvinist pigs (FCPs) can be found at any age, something one cannot help but notice when walking around Logans campus or flipping through a teen magazine. I definitely recommend this book in the hopes that some FCPs read it and realize just how ridiculous they and their confused excuses are.
Posted by courier at 08:23 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Dan Gallagher
MarketWatch (MCT)
SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com is widely expected to lift the wraps on a new large-screen Kindle device this week, which could be the first in a line of electronic reading devices geared toward newspapers and textbooks.
The online retail giant has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday — 10:30 a.m. Eastern — at Pace University in New York City.
Posted by courier at 09:08 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Ninja Blade
For: Xbox 360
From: From Software/Microsoft
ESRB: Mature (blood, violence)
"Ninja Blade" has garnered an unsavory reputation for its dependency on quick-time events —those instances in which a game has you complete some amazing stunt by following a series of onscreen button prompts that bear no resemblance whatsoever.
The rap checks out, because "Blade" indeed employs the technique like perhaps no game ever has. Rarely do five minutes pass where you aren't interrupted by some bland recitation of prompts that allow your onscreen likeness to do something significantly more exciting than what you're doing.
Posted by courier at 06:38 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Sprinkles
393 Stanford Shopping Center
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 323-9300
Sprinkles is a bakery chain famous for their dreamy cupcakes.
Located in Palo Alto at the Stanford Shopping Center, Sprinkles may be a little far for people to get to, but their cupcakes are like no other.
In fact, their menu is comprised solely of cupcakes, featuring more flavors than you can imagine. It is a cupcake that is rich in cake and adds extra sugar to your frosting.
Posted by courier at 10:23 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Sampan Kitchen
24297 Hesperian Blvd.
Hayward, CA 94545
(510) 300-3388
Featuring a unique, sophisticated design, Sampan Kitchen is the place to go for fine dining that wont break your wallet. Going in for lunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, my family and I arrived at Sampan soon after it opened so there werent that many people there. Being seated immediately, the server brought over our menus and poured us all glasses of water.
Prompt and kind, service at Sampan Kitchen was excellent. Serving fusion Chinese food - a mix of foods of different places incorporated into many types of Chinese dishes - Sampan Kitchen offers an unique dining experience.
Posted by courier at 10:12 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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