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AUGUST OPENINGS  - Photos ©2008, All Rights Reserved
20th Century Fox, Universal, MGM, Sony, Focus Features.

FEATURED VIDEO!
See Hardin Minor perform "The Typewriter"

• The Actor's Theatre of Charlotte presents Cult Movie Monday - The Princess Bride, Monday, August 25 at 8 pm. .....FREE, followed by a special event, more here
• Lowes Foods presents Raggs Dance Party, August 23 at CPCC Halton Theater .....family friendly, "wag & wiggle," more here
• MaxxMusic presents David Lindley, August 22 at the Evening Muse .....music that redefines eclectic, more info here
• The Neighborhood Theatre presents Acoustic Syndicate, August 22 at the Evening Muse. .....a rock/folk/bluegrass band from North Carolina, more info here
• MaxxMusic presents The Alternative Champs, August 22 at the Visulite Theatre (must be 18 years or older) .....over-the-top, hilariously goofy spoof lyrics, more
• Queen City Theatre Company presents Educating Rita, August 7 - 23 at the Duke Energy Theatre. ....."a marvelous play, painfully funny and passionately written," more info here
• MaxxMusic presents String Cheese Incident from Red Rocks - Hi-Def Film, August 23 at the Visulite Theatre. .....a virtual concert shot in hi-def, more here
• The Actor's Theatre of Charlotte presents Slut! The Musical, August 7 - 23. .....a life-long quest for one-night stands
• The American Guild of Organists presents Organ Recital, August 24. .....a program of organ music, FREE
• Century presents Orson Welles: The Other Side of Hollywood, every Saturday in August at Century, 1508 Central Avenue. .....Free, read more
• Birkdale Village in Huntersville presents Mingling on the Green Concert, every Friday & Saturday night through September 27. .....live music!

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In real life, of course, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market...Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game.

Anita Brookner

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Read our theatre and film reviews!   Support the ARTS!    Find out what's happening in Charlotte.   Look under Latest News.  Support the ARTS!

TROPIC THUNDER      There are amusing bits, even a laugh or two, in Tropic Thunder. Just not enough, nor consistently, to qualify as a must-see comedy. Maybe broken up it could’ve been effective as an ongoing skit in SNL or Mad TV (or best at such, the late, classic SCTV). The talent, first rate, helps a lot. If only the material could have matched it. Starting off with a fake movie ad and several film trailers (don’t miss these which present/help define the lead characters) we arrive upon the film location of a Vietnam War battle scene. .....more

EDUCATING RITA      Queen City Theatre Company presents yet another enjoyable evening of theatre with Willy Russel’s classic, Educating Rita. Many will be familiar with the film of the same name starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. The play, unlike the film, focuses solely on the conversations between two bright minds, one hungry for knowledge and the other hungry for that hunger—for a little more than two hours we are in a single academic office with only two characters to keep us entertained. .....more

JOHANNES VERMEER (1632 - 1675)
Dutch Painter
Very little is known about the life of Johannes (Jan) Vermeer. Although he was a respected painter in his town, he was not widely appreciated in his time. He died young leaving a wife and eleven children. It wasn't until 1886 that his work began to attract notice. Only 35 of his paintings survive but he has since received recognition as one of Holland's greatest painters.

Vermeer painted mostly domestic, bourgeois life scenes. One of his masterworks, Girl with a Pearl Earring, shows his use of subtle gradations of light, and the warm colors he favored. Historical novelist Tracy Chevalier's best selling book of the same name as the painting was inspired by the "Girl" and made into a film (with the same name) in 2003 starring Colin Firth as Vermeer.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (1665)

(Mauritshuis, The Hague)

Weekend Box Office
Weekend Box Office Estimates - August 17

1.   Tropic Thunder    $26M
2.   The Dark Knight    $16.7M
3.   Star Wars: The Clone Wars   $15.5
4.   Mirrors    $11M
5.   The Pineapple Express    $10M
6.   The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor   $8.6M
7.   Mamma Mia!    $6.4M
8.   The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2    $5.9M
9.   Step Brothers    $5M
10.  Vicky Cristina Barcelona    $3.7M

Even though the Dark Knight came in second this week, it's closing in on a gi-normous $500M! Despite mixed reviews and controversy, Tropic Thunder did well. The extra attention may actually have helped. We'll see what happens next week as the summer continues to wind down.

New York Times Best Seller's List
Paperback Advice
August 16, 2008

1    A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle. (Plume)
2   SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. (Running Press)
3   THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle. (New World Library)
4   WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. (Workman)
5   SOUL WISDOM, by Zhi Gang Sha. (Atria)
6   THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman. (Northfield)
7   THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, by Rick Warren. (Zondervan)
8   HUNGRY GIRL, by Lisa Lillien. (St. Martin's Griffin)
9   LEONARD MALTIN'S MOVIE GUIDE, by Leonard Maltin. (Plume, Signet)
10   THE SPEED OF TRUST, by Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca R. Merrill. (Free Press)

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