Movies and Martinis

Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro is continuing its popular Movie Monday Nights promotion in the Cellar Bar. Classic films are projected silently onto a seven-foot screen starting at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Five different martini specials are available for $5 each. Come drink in the taste and feel of old Hollywood every Monday. February’s schedule of films includes Psycho (Feb. 2), Splendor in the Grass (Feb. 9), Citizen Kane (Feb. 16) and The Great Escape (Feb. 23). Zinc is located at 3009 Central NE.

Animated import conjures fear in the abstract

Fear(s) of the Dark is an omnibus of short animations commissioned and assembled by France’s Prima Linea Productions but composed by artists from around the globe. The subject--as one could reasonably guess from the title--is fear. These quick-and-dirty shorts run though a gamut of common human phobias: insects, needles, dogs, fire, tight spaces. Though they vary widely in subject and style, all are rendered in a stark, black-and-white palette. This gives Fear(s) of the Dark a bold and distinctive look.

Fantasy book series comes fitfully to life

It must be frustrating for movie studio executives. The Harry Potter books and subsequent movie series have set the bar for kiddie fantasy. That particular page-to-screen series has proved fantastically profitable and has no doubt stimulated the salivary glands of many a profit-seeking studio exec. It would seem, given the obvious evidence of Harry Potter, that young readers are eager for just about any young adult fantasy series to get snatched up and turned into a big-budget film series. So far, that has proved entirely false. With the epic failures of Eragon, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles and many others, turning successful book series into successful film series obviously isn’t as easy as J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. would have us believe. Heck, even Disney recently balked at producing a third Chronicles of Narnia film, citing diminishing profits and spiraling costs.

Super Bowl XLIII on NBC

People in this country love a David and Goliath matchup. Americans perpetually cheer for the underdog. And the time has come to cut it out.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth