This is the archive for March 2010
Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb
G.P. Putnam's Sons (2010)
356 pages
$26.95 (hardcover)
For the growing legion of J.D. Robb fans, the countdown is down to single digits: Roarke and Eve return in a matter of days.
"Fantasy In Death" is the latest of Eve's compelling murder cases ... and is another opportunity for fans to conjure their own fantasies about her rich, powerful, sexy and outrageously handsome husband, Roarke.
If you haven't become addicted to this series, it's because you haven't read a word of it yet. How can a romance reader not become an instant fan of a series with such compelling lead characters, a fearless, smart and fiercely capable heroine who depends on only one person _ her brilliant, powerful and enigmatic husband.
Posted by courier at 08:32 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
God of War III
For: Playstation 3
From: Sony Computer Entertainment Santa
Monica Studio
ESRB Rating: Mature (blood and gore, intense
violence, nudity, strong language, strong
sexual content)
An uncommonly high number of games that owe an uncommon amount of debt to "God of War" rolled out quickly and furiously in the early going of 2010, and upon completion of "God of War III," it's pretty clear why they did.
They wanted to get out of this thing's way, and with good reason.
To keep the conversation grounded: No, "GOW3" doesn't shake up the formula — brutal third-person melee combat combined with ambitious environmental puzzle-solving — that made its predecessors among the best games in the Playstation 2's and Playstation Portable's libraries.
Posted by courier at 03:49 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
Umi Sushi Boat
6225 Jarvis Ave
Newark, CA 94560
(510) 494-8944
,
Courier Managing Editor
After a long afternoon spent strolling around the lovely streets of San Francisco, my parents, sisters, and I were in search of local Japanese cuisine to satiate our hunger. First, we drove to Nameki Sushi in Union City, but upon being informed of the 30-minute wait, we promptly left in search for another restaurant. When we arrived at Kioku Sushi in Newark, we found that the restaurant was full as well, but rather than giving up and settling on another type of cuisine, we walked into Umi Sushi Boat across the street with no expectations.
Posted by courier at 06:55 PM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic
Everyone once in a while, you might be in a mood to enjoy a comedy that provides you with nonstop, unintelligent laughs. One movie that perfectly fits that description is The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. The movie stars Jeremey Piven, as Don Ready, a highly enthusiastic car salesman, with his own team of salesman following his lead. The plot revolves around the failing dealership of Ben Selleck (James Brolin), an elderly and beloved car salesman.
Due to the failing nature of his business, he is forced to hire Don, in hopes that his team will have the capability of bringing his business up. In the first day of their new partnership, Ben’s dealership sells an amazing amount of cars. Due to his success, Don is quite happy, until Ben’s future son-in-law, Paxton (Ed Helms), shows up to the dealership with an offer to buy it.
Posted by courier at 09:20 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Julie Mendoza, Courier Staff Writer
In 1990 Cry-Baby premiered and was recognized as one of Johnny Depp's most memorable break-out roles. His performance is phenomenal as the young, handsome, polite but rebellious, Wade Walker, otherwise known as Cry-Baby. Setting in the year 1954, satire is expressed between stereotypical squares and the bad-ass outsiders in high school. Society standards are defied when Allison Vernon-Williams, a square, takes an unexpected interest in Cry-Baby Walker. Despite the disapproval of her close-minded former boyfriend and uptight grandmother, Allison allows herself to be free for one night in the arms of Cry-baby.
Posted by courier at 07:03 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Anar Salayev, Courier Correspondent
Utopian Trap, made up of Bay Area residents Chandra Garud (guitar), Vinod Bhat (guitar/lyrics), Jai Dhar (drums), Anand Kannan (Vocals), and Sidharth Thakur (Bass/backing vocals), just recently came out with their debut album,
Fiction Fades Into Reality.
The symbolic name of the band, Utopian Trap, represents how something so perfect and pure could lead one to confusion and frustration and, essentially, trap them within their own minds.
Posted by courier at 05:42 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:
Dawn of the Dreadfuls"
by Steve Hockensmith;
Quirk Books, Philadelphia
(288 pages, $12.95)
At least this time Jane Austen doesn't get a Zombie wedgie.
In "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls" author Steve Hockensmith doesn't have to contend with adding zombie mayhem to an existing revered text. He makes the most of this prequel, set four years before, to concentrate on how the Bennet girls — Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia — became the excellent zombie killers.
Zombies, or "Dreadfuls," have only one interest in life: killing the living and eating their brains. They were stopped for decades by the simple precaution of decapitating the dead. Unfortunately this was stopped and the zombie plague re-emerged — literally — from the tombs, graveyards, basements, local ponds and wherever there might be a dead body.
Posted by courier at 09:56 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
"Battlefield: Bad Company 2"
For: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC
From: DICE/EA
ESRB Rating: Mature
(blood, strong language, violence)
All the important bullet points that were present in 2008's "Battlefield: Bad Company" — and, fundamentally, just about every "Battlefield" game in the series' magnificent lifetime — are present in "Bad Company 2" as well. Mechanically, there might not be a better military first-person shooter, and the multiplayer component that is the franchise's hallmark has only improved with the refinements DICE has made.
This is good, maybe essentially so, because the single-player campaign that was such a major surprise in the first "Bad Company" has taken a slight turn into sophomore slump country this time around.
Posted by courier at 06:28 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Julie Mendoza, Courier Staff Writer
Fairytales have always been an essential part of childhood in most cultures. Childhood is about magic, and the ability to believe in the impossible. For years, stories have taught children the importance of honesty and the value of living honorably. Every protagonist fairytale character faces difficult obstacles regardless of the circumstances. Pan's Labyrinth is no exception.
The movie combines reality and fantasy, creating conflict in both. The film takes place in Mexico where little Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live with her cold, prideful, and menacing step father. Upon arriving to her new and unfamiliar home, Ofelia comes across a fairy-like creature. Curiously, she follows the fairy through a mysterious labyrinth and into an underground room. Within the walls of this secret room a faun approaches her. The faun proposes that she is a reincarnated princess returning to claim her place beside her father in a magical kingdom.
Posted by courier at 09:26 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic
It is not quite often that a movie is able to fulfill its task in keeping its viewers entertained from start to finish. Anyone who is looking for a movie that accomplishes this in the comedy genre should definitely either purchase, or rent,
The Hangover, which is currently available on both Blu-Ray and DVD.
The film follows four friends, Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Since Doug is engaged to Alan’s sister, the four friends decide to take a trip to Las Vegas for a bachelor’s party. Doug’s future father in-law lends him his car for the trip. The four friends waste no time in partying once they arrive to Las Vegas.
Posted by courier at 09:11 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Hourglass by Claudia Gray
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061284416
ISBN-13: 978-0061284410,
Courier Books Editor
Lucas shifted until he sat next to me. His tall frame, well-muscled but wiry, made me feel small and delicate, and his dark gold hair looked brilliant even in these dingy surroundings. His warmth made me imagine that I was in front of a fireplace in winter. As he put one arm around my shoulders, I rested my aching head against him and closed my eyes. That way I could pretend that there weren't a couple dozen people around us, talking and laughing. That we weren't in some grey, ugly warehouse that smelled like rubber. That there was nobody in the world but Lucas and me. Into my ear, he murmured, "I'm worried about you.' "I'm worried about me too.' "Lockdown's not going to go on much longer. Then we can get you some---something to eat, I mean---and you and I can figure out what to do next.
That short excerpt is from the third book in Claudia Gray's
Evernight series, which follows the adventures of young students attending a high school for vampires. This came out on March 9th.
If I could sum up this book in one word I would go with "fascinating."
Posted by courier at 06:34 PM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books
ISBN-10: 1594743347
ISBN-13: 978-1594743344
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith is a very unexpected book. I should start this out by saying that I have never read Austen’s original Pride and Prejudice, nor do I intend to. So while I can’t accurately compare the two books, I am quite sure the original does not contain much of the “ultraviolent zombie mayhem”, and I’m not even sure how much between the two plots is the same.
England has fallen prey to a strange plague in the novel, where the dead come back to life as zombies. Anyone the zombies bite and don’t kill also becomes a zombie. This plague creates the need for a class of zombie hunters sworn to protect the English population and exterminate the zombies. Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters are part of this warrior class.
Posted by courier at 09:23 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
2 comments • Permalink
Aliens vs. Predator
For: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and
Windows PC
From: Rebellion/Sega
ESRB Rating: Mature (blood and gore,
intense violence, strong language,
suggestive themes)
There are moments in each of "Aliens vs. Predator's" three single-player campaigns where the game flashes some honest-to-goodness greatness that other first-person games can't touch.
The brightest of these flashes happens straight away in the marine campaign, which outfits players as a standard soldier in a world crawling with aliens and, eventually, the Predator. "AvP" drops players into an environment where light is a precious commodity, and the game doesn't waste time with dull shootouts against grunt enemies. The aliens are the enemy, and each one alone can easily take a player from healthy to dead. In packs and in darkness, they're a nightmare.
But once the scene changes to less intimidating pastures and the aliens resort to less frightening tactics, "AvP" regresses to also-ran status.
Posted by courier at 08:15 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
By Julie Mendoza, Courier Staff Writer
The Beatles left a legacy of peace and good music before their band's bitter end in 1969. After entertaining thousands of fans, their unique genre inspired the 2007 film,
Across the Universe. The movie generates around the existence of the Beatles. Each character, place, and song is significantly connected to the English rock band. Jude, named after the song Hey Jude, leaves Liverpool in order to find his father at Princeton University. Liverpool is where The Beatles originated in 1960. Jude then meets Max Carrigan, the reckless and charming college drop out. What do they do then? What any irresponsible, unmotivated, drop-out would do. Go to New York, like tonight.€
Posted by courier at 09:38 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic
Anyone who is a fan of watching classic movies remade will be glad to hear that The Wolf man was released in theatres February 12. The film is a remake of the classic that was made in 1941.
Benicio del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, an actor who returns to his ancestors house in England in order to figure out the whereabouts of his missing brother. Upon arrival, his father, John Talbot, informs him that his brother’s body has been found and that a funeral will be arranged. To Talbot’s surprise, his brother’s body is found in torn pieces. He decides to go into a town, in which his brother hung out, in order to investigate further details about his death.
Posted by courier at 09:29 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Jericho Faustino, Courier Staff Writer
Ludacris’s latest album, “The Battle Of The Sexes”, is basically sex, drugs, parties, and texting all in one CD consisting of 15 tracks of club party music on which Ludacris demonstrates his trademark humor and energetic style.
Overall, this album of raunchy erotica you can snap your fingers to deserves 3.5 out of 5 stars, strictly because, while his album starts out strong with his intro, which to me should have been a song on its own, and his instant club banger, “How Low”, the strength of the album diminishes almost instantaneously, a decline exemplified by the song “Sexting”.
Posted by courier at 09:39 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Julie Mendoza, Courier Staff Writer
Life is a beautiful and fragile gift often taken for granted. There are countless experiences to be fulfilled and only a lifetime to live. Everyone wants to feel something rare and spectacular while living on planet earth. But how many people actually find the opportunity to do so? After years of living with restrictions, rules, standards, and expectations it makes you wonder how many of your decisions are made by you. Or is the average life lived the way society intends it to be? Hopefully not.
What if circumstances were different and you only had one day to live? What would your last most important experiences be? Would you sky dive or write a novel? Would you leave something behind? Or take something with you? What do you want to do before you die?
Posted by courier at 09:00 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Victoria Johnson, Courier Staff Writer
As a former member of boy group B2K, Omarion didn't inspire fans to have much confidence in his achieving success as a solo act. However, his album
The Ollusion exceeds many fans’ low expectations.
Posted by courier at 08:30 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Stargazer by Claudia Gray
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061284408
ISBN-13: 978-0061284403“At midnight, the storm arrived. Dark clouds scudded across the sky, blotting out the stars. The quickening wind chilled me as strands of my red hair blew across my forehead and cheeks. I pulled up the hood of my black raincoat and tucked my messenger bag beneath it. Despite the gathering storm, the grounds of Evernight still weren't completely dark. Nothing less than total darkness would do. Evernight Academy's teachers could see in the night and hear through the wind. All vampires could. Of course, at Evernight, the teachers weren't the only vampires. When the school year began in a couple of days, the students would arrive, most of them as powerful, ancient, and undead as the professors. I wasn't powerful or ancient, and I was still very much alive. But I was a vampire, in a way—born to two vampires, destined to become one myself eventually, and with my own appetite for blood. I'd slipped past the teachers before, trusting in my own powers to help me, as well as some dumb luck. But tonight I waited for that darkness. I wanted as much cover as possible. I guess I was nervous about my first burglary.”
Stargazer is the second book in the
Evernight series of teen vampire books written by Claudia Gray . Beyond being the title of the series, Evernight is an old, creepy looking school in which the series of stories is centered.Gray describes the school as an ancient, gothic- looking place, but if you read the first book you know that’s because the school is full of vampires.
Posted by courier at 09:30 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Bioshock 2
For: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC
From: 2K Marin/Digital Extremes/2K
Games ESRB Rating: Mature (blood,
intense violence, sexual themes,
strong language)
The game-playing public spent roughly two years wringing its collective hands over why anyone would dare make a sequel to a game so perfectly complete as "Bioshock."
2K Marin, which assumed primary development duties this time around, needs roughly five minutes to render that worry mostly worthless.
This isn't to say the worries lacked any merit. "Bioshock 2's" storyline picks up 10 years later, but a decade isn't nearly enough time to dramatically change the landscape in Rapture, the brilliantly-realized underwater not-quite-utopia that supplied the stage for "Bioshock's"
arguably groundbreaking storytelling. The sequel takes players into new areas of Rapture, but the overall visual presentation, combined with a reliance on the same mechanics that made "Bioshock" its own creation, can't help but leave "Bioshock 2" feeling superficially like an imitation product barreling down pre-blazed trails.
Posted by courier at 08:30 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Cupcakes Created by Idle Hands Baking Co.
image:idlehandsbakingcompany.com
For my birthday, I was treated to a vegan cake and cupcakes, all of which were delightfully decadent and rich. The company supplying my tasty treats was Idle Hands Baking Company, based in Oakland. The company features an extensive, completely vegan-friendly selection of everything from peanut butter cupcakes to strawberry shortcake. The company was started and is currently run by Rachael Devlin, it's self-taught sole proprietor, whose environmentally conscious outlook and love of baking have created a sustainable and delicious small business. I had the chance to interview her, and her well-formed opinions and personal experience have showed me that you can get a job or start a business where you can get paid the big bucks and still love what you do, all while lightening your carbon footprint, so right on!
What made you decide to start your own baking company?
When I was 23 I started a vegan donut business with a friend. After moving on from that, it was only natural that I would do my own thing.
Posted by courier at 08:53 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
Image: http://www.papillonrestaurant.com
Before entering the Papillon, you may be apprehensive about the restaurant's possibly pompous or extravagant environment. The restaurant is altogether the opposite. Stepping inside, you will be greeted by obliging, friendly waiters and your uneasiness will most likely disappear as mine had. This was Friday night when my boyfriend took me out to dinner here, and the wait to be seated was only about 5 minutes. Looking around the restaurant I noticed the customers at the bar and tables were laughing and talking comfortably. No one was dressed overly fancy, so in general I felt no sense of arrogance in the environment. Their choice of paintings, intricate wallpaper, ornate ceiling fans, and the overall color themes within the separate rooms were all tastefully put together and created a pleasant atmosphere for dining with friends, family, or a date.
Posted by courier at 09:56 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
1 comment • Permalink
By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic
Anyone who is looking to watch a movie that will take them through a rollercoaster of action and violence should definitely check out From Paris with Love, starring John Travolta, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The movie was released February 5, 2010, and follows James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who is a personal assistant to the U.S. ambassador of France. Although that is his primary job, he takes great pride in his side job as a low level operative for the CIA. Because he is a low level operative, he strives to receive a higher position in the CIA, and immediately jumps at the opportunity when he is offered his first high leveled assignment, however, he is caught off guard when he learns his partner is Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a rebellious, loudmouth, unorthodox, and extremely violent operative. To make matters even worse for Reece, he discovers that Wax and he are working to prevent a terrorist attack from occurring, and that he himself is also a target of the crime.
Posted by courier at 09:50 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
By Alyssa Pimentel, Courier School News Editor
The semi-annual musical presented by the drama and choir program,
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, was a hilarious treat for the audience.
The musical was about six kids competing in the spelling bee, all hoping to be the winner. Each character’s background story was performed as an aside as the spelling bee competition progressed.
Posted by courier at 09:32 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
2 comments • Permalink
By Farah Habad, Courier Staff Writer
Chris Brown released his newest mixtape a few weeks ago, and, mind you, I've been a Chris Brown basher since the first time I heard his high pitched wail that passes for singing.
Things change. I downloaded his mixtape "In My Zone" last night and I was blown away. I actually listened to the entire thing and I did not have suicidal thoughts afterward. In fact, I even enjoyed it!
Posted by courier at 09:01 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Evernight by Claudia Gray
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (May 27, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061284394
ISBN-13: 978-0061284397,
Courier Books Editor
Fire. The old, dry wood of the meetinghouse ignited in an instant. Dark, oily smoke filled the air, scratching my lungs and making me choke. Around me, my new friends cried out in shock before grabbing weapons, preparing to fight for their lives. This is because of me. Arrow after arrow sliced through the air, stoking the flames higher. Through the haze of ash, I desperately sought Lucas's eyes. I knew he would protect me no matter what, but he was in danger, too. If something happened to Lucas while he was trying to rescue me, I could never forgive myself. Coughing from the soot-thick air, I grabbed Lucas's hand and ran with him toward the door. But they were ready for us. Silhouetted against the flames, a dark, forbidding line of figures stood just beyond the edge of the meetinghouse. None of them brandished weapons; they didn't have to in order to make their threat clear. They had come for me. They had come to punish Lucas for breaking their rules. They had come to kill. This is all happening because of me. If Lucas dies, it will be my fault. There was nowhere to go, no place to run. We couldn't remain here, not with the blaze around us roaring, already so hot that it stung my skin. Soon the ceiling would collapse and crush us all. Outside, the vampires waited."
I know I put in a long quote this time, but that is only because this book has so much in it and everything written is just so empowering. This book, the first in a series, is truly spectacular. I could easily see this being just as big as
Twilight if more people hear about it.
Posted by courier at 05:59 PM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
Dante's Inferno
Reviewed for: Playstation 3 and
Xbox 360 Also available for: PSP
From: Visceral Games/EA
ESRB Rating: Mature (blood and gore,
intense violence, nudity, sexual content)
It isn't very original to half-dismiss "Dante's Inferno" as a "God of War" knockoff, but guess what? "Dante's Inferno" isn't very original, either, because guess what? In every way beyond the source material that inspired its storyline, "Inferno" is the "God of War" knockoff to end all "God of War" knockoffs.
It's good to preface this by stating that this isn't necessarily a bad thing or even a criticism, because for the most part, "Inferno" pays pretty good tribute to the game that so obviously provided its blueprint. Dante executes his arsenal of moves with the same fluidity as does Kratos, and "Inferno" tosses nine circles' worth of demons, behemoths and the damned at him without any wear whatsoever on the action, which cruises along at the same rock steady frame rate for which "War" is so well known (and, to Visceral Games' credit, few "War" imitators get remotely right).
Though some will never see the transformation of the 14,000-line, 14th century Divine Comedy into a high-octane video game as anything short of blasphemous (and though they certainly have an argument), "Inferno" doesn't trample the poem's memory as it so easily could.
Posted by courier at 09:37 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
No comments • Permalink
