She Likes to Watch

What better way to end the week than by watching a man in a pith helmet rap about tea?

Elemental dishes it out, Victorian style.

Dr. Drew visits Cal Poly to talk about sex, relationships and drug use

In high school and college, while driving to a coffee shop to meet friends or home after a long night of work, I’d invariably find myself listening to “Loveline.”

The radio show aired four nights a week between 10 p.m. and midnight, on my favorite alternative rock station.

The format was simple: Dr. Drew Pinsky* and his then-co-host, comedian Adam Carolla, would listen to callers confess about relationship problems, sexual hangups and substance abuse.

Dr. Drew would offer practical, often enlightening advice. Adam would crack jokes. Then they’d break to chat with an up-and-coming rock star.

There were college students with STDs and drug problems, suicidal high schoolers with heartbreak, 20-somethings dealing with parenthood or exploring their sexuality.

No question was too gross, too strange or too pathetic. In fact, they were frequently hilarious.

It’s been more than 20 years since “Loveline” went on the air, but Dr. Drew is still dispensing advice with his signature dry wit.

He speaks tonight at Cal Poly about “Loveline” and his current TV show, “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” on VH1. He’ll also dish out wisdom about alcohol, drugs and sex.

See Dr. Drew at 7 p.m. at the Cal Poly Recreation Center, 1 Grand Ave. in San Luis Obispo. Come early for good seating.

The event is free to students with a Cal Poly ID, and $10 for community members.

For more information, call 756-2324 or visit www.calpoly.edu.

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* Unlike some people who claim the title, Drew Pinsky is a real MD. He serves as medical director for the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena. He also works as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at USC.

Photo courtesy of “Loveline.” 

“Grand Theft Auto IV” has appeal, even for novice gamers

When it comes to video games, I’m definitely a novice.

As a kid without a console, I was more interested in puzzle-solving PC games such as “Myst” and “Sim City.”

Now entrenched in a coven of hardcore gamers, my personal experience remains limited to the user-friendly basics: Wii Sports, Harmonix’s “Rock Band,” Nintendo’s “Mario Party” and”Katamari,” a delightful Japanese game in which players collect items ranging from ice cream cones to cats by rolling them into balls.

My main game strategy? Randomly mashing buttons. (Oddly, it usually works.)

Yet even I’m intrigued by “Grand Theft Auto IV.”

Set in the fictional burg of Liberty City, this latest addition to the GTA empire lets players explore life as an Eastern European thug. You run errands, battle fellow crooks and cops, and of course, nab the occasional sweet ride.

As the Mature rating suggests, “GTA IV” has more than its share of sex, violence and crime, but there’s something to be said for the game’s gorgeous graphics and all-inclusive “open world” format.

A friend of mine even noticed the tags of a real-life graffiti artist, Cope2, on various game environs. Now that’s realism.

You can read more about “Grand Theft Auto IV” at my co-worker Justin’s brand-new blog, Up Down Left Right.

Check it out.

* Image courtesy of Rockstar Games.

You’d be hard-pressed to find two movies more diametrically opposed than “Pulp Fiction” and “Amelie.”

The first is a hip, hard-hitting bloodbath replete with cuss words, pop culture references and infinitely quotable dialog. The other? A whimsical French film about an adorable young do-gooder.

The two female protagonists (Uma Thurman in “Pulp Fiction” and Audrey Tatou in “Amelie”) both sport black bobs, but that’s where the similarities end.

Yet, for some reason, both movies are being screened in San Luis Obispo this weekend. It’s a golden opportunity to see two very different, but very good films.

For those of you who have spent the last 15 years searching your couch cushions for sustenance, “Pulp Fiction” is one of the best movies in recent history.

Direction Quentin Tarantino influenced scores of film students with his creative storytelling and liberal, yet stylish, use of violence and obscenity.

“Pulp Fiction” cemented Samuel L. Jackson’s reputation as filmdom’s ultimate badass. It resurrected John Travolta’s career (which he prompty ruined, of course).

It rocked, and continues to rock, successive generations of moviegoers.

In short, if you haven’t seen “Pulp Fiction” yet, WHY THE HELL NOT?!?

Catch “Pulp Fiction” on the big screen tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Come a half-hour early for trivia and prizes.

Tickets are $7.50.

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On the other side of the spectrum is “Amelie.”

Originally titled “Le fabuleux destin d’ Amelie Poulain,” this French-language beauty is one of those rare movies that’s cute without causing nausea.

Audrey Tatou stars as the title character, a winsome yet lonely girl who works at a Paris cafe. When she discovers a box of childhood mementos left by a former tenant, she returns it to the man and is delighted by the results.

Inspired, Amelie decides to help the many unhappy people around her — including her father, the customers and clients at the cafe, a grocer’s much-abused assistant, and her neighbor, a man with bones as brittle as glass.

Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and company make “Amelie” impossible to dislike, bathing the Paris scenery in lush greens and reds and adding a charming soundtrack. Characters are quirky, but very human.

To Jeunet’s credit, he throws in enough elements of the real world that Amelie’s story never seems trite.

(A self-taught auteaur, Jeunet has his share of darker visions, including “Delicatessan” — about cannibalistic city dwellers — and “City of Lost Children,” in which an scientist kidnaps children to study their dreams.)

“Amelie” plays at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

** Art courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

I like to think of myself as a bit of an intellectual. I watch opera, read lengthy novels. My tastes are a wee more refined than your average bumpkin.

I mean, I’m no sophisticate, but I can tell the difference between French’s mustard and Grey Poupon.

Then why, oh why, am I panting with anticipation at the thought of tonight’s season premiere of “American Gladiators”?

Hosted by “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan and Muhammed Ali’s daughter, Laila, NBC’s “American Gladiators” is the ultimate exercise in schadenfreude.

Like the original ’80s-’90s television show, this new-and-improved “Gladiators” pits contestants against spandex-clad “gladiators” in a series of physical challenges.

The men are buff, the women smokin’ hot. And the challenges? Downright ridiculous.

Competitors fire tennis balls, clamber up padded cliffs and duke it out on platforms suspended 12 feet above water. They wrestle, run and hang from rings. And man, do they get clobbered.

Part of the appeal is the gladiators themselves, whose names are the stuff of “Street Fighter.”

My personal favorite, Wolf, looks like a cross between a bayou croc wrestler and an out-of-work Shakespearean actor.

Titan, the Aryan poster child, has enormous pecs and baby-smooth skin. Justice, the show’s most massive bruiser, weighs in at 6-foot-8, 290 pounds.

And then there’s Hellga, a 6-foot-1 valkryie with the voice of James Earl Jones.

This season, two former contestants join the ranks: Evan Dollard, now named Rocket, and Monica Carlson, rechristened Jet.

See how obsessed I’ve gotten? My mouth is actually watering right now.

Have I been suckered by NBC’s hucksters? Or is “American Gladiators” possibly … quite possibly … one of the most entertaining shows on television?!

I’ll let you be the judge.

***

The second season of “American Gladiators” premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC (channel 6).

* Photo courtesy of NBC/Universal.

“I love the whole world …” This video just makes me smile.

HopeDance FiLMs, the thought-provoking local movie series , is on hiatus until September.

Don’t despair, loyal moviegoers.

HopeDance Magazine is teaming up with Cal Poly this month for two food-related screenings.

“King Corn,” directed by Aaron Woolf, follows one acre of corn from the fields to the dinner tables of American consumers. The second film, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” chronicles the story of maverick Midwestern farmer John Peterson.

“King Corn” plays at 8 p.m. on May 21 at The Sandwich Factory on the Cal Poly campus. Bud Evans, a political science lecturer at Cal Poly, will lead a discussion on the importance of food choices.

“The Real Dirt on Farmer John” will play at The Sandwich Factory on May 28, also at 8 p.m.

Both screenings are free and open to the public. For more information, call Tracy Owens at (310) 938-0709 or e-mail towens@calpoly.edu.

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Meanwhile, you can rent films via HopeDance’s library at The Novel Experience, 779 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo.

According to HopeDance publisher Bob Banner, the library has about 500 films, mostly documentaries on subjects ranging from spirituality to the environment to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Many have been screened as part of the HopeDance FiLMs series.

Rental prices are $3 for three days and $5 per week, with a $1 late fee.

Library users can also purchase a film card for $200, which qualifies a family to rent up to four films a week for an entire year. Novel Experience customers receive a free rental by buying more than $25 of books.

For more information, call (805) 544-9663.

“Easy Rider” star Peter Fonda must dig “the SLO life.”

The Oscar-nominated actor will act as master of ceremonies this summer at the Avila Beach Music Festival, organizers announced Wednesday.

Classic rockers Crosby, Stills and Nash will perform at the June 10 concert, which benefits local non-profit OPTIONS. The group works with people with disabilities.

It’s Fonda’s second visit to the Central Coast this year.

In March, Fonda, 68, appeared at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival to accept the King Vidor Career Achievement Award. (Named after former county resident King Vidor, the prolific director of “War and Peace,” it honors excellence in filmmaking.)

Part of the famed acting family that includes father Henry, daughter Bridget, and sister Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda’s recent films include “Ghost Rider,” “Wild Hogs,” and “3:10 to Yuma.”

David Crosby presented the award to Fonda and shared stories about his Hollywood pal. He spent most of the presentation raving about 1969’s “Easy Rider.”

“This film changed everything,” Crosby said. “Every young person in America saw this film, without exception, and it changed all of us. I know it (changed) myself.”

In fact, Crosby said, he and his band mates in Crosby, Stills and Nash passed up a chance to do the soundtrack to “Easy Rider” — opting to work on their first, self-titled album instead.

“Peter is quite a man who has had quite an impact on the film industry,” Crosby said.

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Crosby, Stills and Nash perform June 10 at the Avila Beach Golf Resort, 6464 Anna Bay Rd. in Avila Beach. Gates open at 5 p.m., with the concert starting at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $65 to $95, available via Vallitix.

For more information, call (805) 772-6066, ext. 101, or visit www.avilabeachmusicfestival.org.

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The above photo is by Tribune photographer Jayson Mellom. Pictured are rock musician David Crosby (left) and actor Peter Fonda.

Whenever manufacturers advertise screening videos on the latest hand-held gadgets, I have to scoff.

Watch movies? On those tiny screens? I don’t think so.

Despite great strides in digital technology, there are few videos that look downright awesome on an iPhone screen. Skateboarding dogs and laughing babies? Sure.

Watching “Lawrence of Arabia” on my Zune, however, has a much appeal as a week-old fish wrapped in US magazine.

Bottom line: Movies are best on the big screen.*

Whether they’re big-budget epics, action flicks or intimate romances, feature films just look better with stadium seating and plenty of popcorn.

They’re made for theaters, filmed with giant screens and state-of-the-art sound system in mind. What good is sweeping scenery if it’s three inches wide? What’s the point of explosions heard on tinny ear buds?

Plus, I crave the human interaction of a live audience. The sensation of sharing laughter in a darkened cave, of watching hundreds of tears slide down hundreds of cheeks at the saddest moment in “Schindler’s List.”

Even pricey home theaters fall short.

You can catch “Lawrence of Arabia” in all its big-screen, full-color glory tonight at the Fremont. Thrill to Maurice Jarre’s thundering score. Drink in Freddie Young’s stunnig cinematography.

“Lawrence of Arabia” starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, following a half-hour of trivia and prizes. Tickets are $7.50.

* I can think of only a few films I’d prefer to watch on a black-and-white, 13-inch Zenith. “Hostel” and the “Saw” series” come to mind. Also, anything starring Paris Hilton or Dane Cook. Shudder.

***

“Lawrence of Arabia” poster courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

With gas prices skyrocketing and future of fuel looking grim, it’s safe to say most of us have an interest in oil.

Few of us, however, have the gumption to dedicate more than two years to researching the subject.

Filmmakers Scott D. Roberts and Jeremy Wagener did just that with their documentary “Gas Hole.”

Using scores of interviews and miles of film footage, they delved into the history of oil and the future of fuel-efficient technologies and alternative fuels.

“Instead of going the film festival route or looking for distributors, we felt the subject matter was so timely and so important that we thought, ‘Let’s put on a tour,” said Roberts.

Roberts and Wagener will be in San Luis Obispo tomorrow (Tuesday) to screen the film and answer questions.

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