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Chasing Che
He's an icon and, like most icons, the legend of his life has
overtaken the facts. In Bolivia, the site of his execution has become a
tourist mecca. In college dorm rooms, his image (defiant gaze, beret
adorned with a red star) remains a perennial favorite among wannabe
revolutionaries. Sartre called him "the most complete human being of our
age." Journalist Daniel Wolf, in a recent issue of England's Spectator
magazine, labeled him "one of the most oversold figures of the past half century."
Thirty-seven years after he was executed in Bolivia, Che Guevara lives
- and then some. The man who helped Fidel Castro spearhead the Cuban
revolution remains a potent and divisive figure, even though most North Americans today know him only as an image, an
abstract radical. ...[MORE]
• Meet a kinder, gentler Che in 'Motorcycle Diaries'
• Beer flows, zombies must go in 'Shaun of the Dead'
September 24 releases
MADtv: The Complete First Season
(Warner Bros.; $39.98 three-disc DVD) The late-night comedy sketch show
debuts in a set featuring the first 19 episodes, featuring such guests as
Whoopi Goldberg, LL Cool J, Neve Campbell and Claudia Schiffer. The set
includes deleted material and the series' 200th episode, a reunion show that aired last season.
Mean Girls (Paramount Home
Video; $29.99 DVD) Playing a girl home-schooled in Africa until age 16,
Lindsey Lohan is the only tabula rasa at North Shore High, meaning she's
devoid of stereotype, humor or cool clothes. Scripted by "Saturday Night Live's" Tina Fey. ...[MORE]
• Under the hood with 'Star Wars'
• September 17 releases
MORE IN ON DVD / VIDEO >>
All 'Mixed' up in more ways than one
Jake Gonzalez, a passionate but failed cultural anthropologist
walks into the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and demands
the bones of his "sister," the 9,000-year-old remains of La Brea Woman,
the only human being found in the La Brea Tar Pits. Jake wants to give his ancestor a proper burial. By blood, he is
one-sixteenth Chumash.
Fortunately, for plot purposes of Cherylene Lee's play "Mixed
Messages," having its premiere at East West Players, Jake makes his
demand of the one person least prepared to handle it: Wai Lin-Lawson, a
one-year post-doctoral research associate who happens to be cleaning out
an office. Because Wai, who studies ancient dental patterns, never kicks Jake's gadflyish request upstairs, "Mixed
Messages" can go forward. ...[MORE]
• Bernhard's comedy keeps evolving
• Fielder's choice
• Shalt thou make a killing?
Theater Reviews | MORE IN STAGE >>
Hasselbeck of 'The View' pregnant
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's not free cars for everyone, but "The View" audience received a surprise Thursday. Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck announced her pregnancy.
The former "Survivor: The Australian Outback" contestant and "The View" co-host revealed the news during the ABC daytime chat fest's "Hot Topics" segment.
"I'm nauseous," said Hasselbeck, "but I'm fine with that because it's all for a good cause." ...[MORE]
Emails demand Dan Rather's resignation
NEW YORK (AP) -- Station managers at several CBS affiliates said Thursday they appear to be a target of a national e-mail campaign placing pressure on the network to oust Dan Rather as anchorman of the "CBS Evening News."
The anger stems from Rather's role in a "60 Minutes" report on President Bush's service in the National Guard. CBS has apologized for reporting on documents critical of Bush's service, widely assumed now as fakes, and appointed a panel to investigate what went wrong in the report.
Bob Lee, president and general manager of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., and head of the CBS affiliate board, said many e-mailers offer the same message: I will not watch CBS News again until Rather is gone. ...[MORE]
• Sitcom without borders
• "Complete Savages"
• "dr. vegas"
• CBS fined $550,000 for Jackson stunt
Watch-o-rama | TV Fall Season Preview | MORE IN TV >>
Battlefront lets players re-enact Star Wars battles
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader may get all the glory, but a new Star Wars video game finally gives credit to the everyday grunts who couldn't summon the Force for help.
The aptly named "Star Wars Battlefront" takes you on a tour of duty through some of the fiercest fights in the movies, plus some you've never seen before.
You'll take charge in epic conflagrations ranging from Hoth and Tatooine from the original movies to Geonosis, scene of heated clashes during the Clone Wars, and Kashyyyk, home world of the oversized Wookies.
I've long wondered what it would be like to relive those silver screen moments.
Based on my experience with the PlayStation 2 version (it's also out for Xbox and PC), life in the trenches is apparently fraught with frequent dying. ...[MORE]
• Snoop Dogg to host Video Game Awards
• First person perspective brings terror closer to player
MORE IN VIDEO GAMES >>
New CD's this week
Green Day, "American Idiot' — The Berkeley punk trio breaks from the norm to create a 21-song punk rock opera. While never becoming overtly partisan, the group weighs in on our nation's current administration while stretching the boundaries of what a mainstream album should sound like....[MORE]
• Pacific Symphony's fireworks fizzle
• Concerts reaps rewards of higher education
CD Reviews | Music News | MORE IN MUSIC >>
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