She Likes to Watch

Is Paso Robles getting a taste of Hollywood misbehavior?
Just as news of the visiting film production of “Farm House” spread, Paso Robles police received two reports of partying early Wednesday morning at the local Motel 6, police logs show.
On their second visit, a noise complaint at 3:48 a.m., officers advised the “management co. of film” that the loud guests could lose their rooms if police had to visit again, the log said.
No word on whether there’s any link between the partiers and “Farm House.”
– Sarah L.

Brian from “Wings,” a “Star Trek” Romulan commander and the psychic girl from “Heroes” on one Central Coast movie set? Who’da thunk it.
The cast of the psychological thriller “Farm House” is currently filming in the countryside west of Bradley, production spokesman Terrance Gillum said.
According to Gillum, “Farm House” follows a young married couple, Chad and Scarlet, as they head west to escape their tragic past.
When a horrific car crash leaves the duo stranded in the desolate Midwest, they come into the care of Samael and Arlene. But the country folks turn on their new guests.
According to Gillum, the Alliance Group Entertainment film takes some of its inspiration from Dante’s “Inferno.”
Steven Weber (“Wings,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) and the lovely Kelly Hu (“X-Men: United,” “The Scorpion King”) lead the “Farmhouse” cast as the creepy country couple.
William Lee Scott (“Pearl Harbor”) and Jamie Brown (“The Notebook”) are the young lovers.
The rest of the cast ranges from Jack Donner, best known as Romulan Subcommander Tal in the original “Star Trek” series, to Adair Tishler, who plays the little girl Molly on NBC’s hit “Heroes.”
Filmmaker George Bessudo also directed “Lake Dead,” set to be released in theaters July 13. In the horror film, three sisters confront the demented family occupying their dead grandfather’s backwoods home, according to genre fansite Bloody-Digusting.com.
“Farm House” also stars Sam Sarpong of MTV’s “Yo Momma,” Drew Sidora of “Step Up” and relative newcomer Nick Heyman.
The film crew plans to stay in the Paso Robles area until July 4, Gillum said. Rumor has it the cast is staying at the Paso Robles Inn.
– Sarah L.

Ever wonder what “Dungeons and Dragons” players do behind closed doors?

A movie with a Cal Poly connection offers new insight into the world of role-playing games that will make moviegoers laugh and probably cringe.

Geared toward hardcore gamers and total newbies, “Fellowship of the Dice” explores the joys of spending an afternoon armed only with paper, imagination and multi-sided dice.

The film will be screened tonight at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. at PolyCon, Cal Poly’s annual convention dedicated to card, board and role-playing games. Now in its 25th year, the San Luis Obispo event features game vendors, industry pros and tournaments for everything from “Warhammer” to “Magic: The Gathering.”

“Fellowship of the Dice” stars Aimee Graham as a bored party girl who accepts an invitation to play the fantasy role-playing game, “Wizards, Warriors and Wyrms.” (Think “Dungeons” with an extra dose of nerd.)

She finds herself trapped by confusing rules, high-stakes adventure and a big dose of geeky drama between the tyrannical Game Master and his fellow players.

“Fellowship of the Dice” blends the story with interviews with real-life gamers, filmed two years ago at PolyCon.

According to producer John Collins, “Fellowship of the Dice” draws on a life-long love of role-playing games shared by writer Tom Hietter.

“After encountering a good deal of quirky players and odd ‘Game Masters,’ we felt this subculture was ripe for the Christopher Guest treatment,” said Collins, who also stars in the film.

“Working on the film in our off hours from our day jobs in reality television, Tom and I have brought our love of the game and our professional expertise to form an entertaining and comedic entrée into the goofy world of RPG’ers, half-trolls, and paranoid computer game beta testers,” he said.

Collins and co-director Matthew Ross will be on hand at Poly Con to promote the film.

“Fellowship of the Dice” is also available at www.fellowshipofthedice.com and at online stores including Amazon and Barnes & Nobles. It’s slated to hit brick-and-mortar stores in the next six weeks.

*******

PolyCon XXV runs Friday through Sunday at Embassy Suites, 333 Madonna Rd. in San Luis Obispo. In addition to several game tournaments and a barbecue, the event will feature guest appearances by Randal Keith Hilholland of the online comic “Something Positive” and Tom Jolly, creator of WizWar, Drakon and Camelot.

PolyCon is also offering an Independent Game Prize worth $500 for aspiring game designers.

Registration is $35 at the door. For more information, visit the Web site.

– Sarah L.

Here’s a gaggle of movie dads who didn’t make the cut for this week’s Ticket cover story.

More top pops

Elliot Hopper in “Ghost Dad”
Bill Cosby loves his family so much that he comes back from the dead. See also “Jack Frost,” Michael Keaton’s so-called “comedy” about a father who’s resurrected as a rude, crude snowman. Really.

Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family”
Easily the best dressed of the movie dads, Raul Julia in the part is charming, generous and madly in love with his wife and odd, demented children. And, oh yeah, he’s got a severed hand for a butler.

Ted Kramer in “Kramer vs. Kramer”
Dustin Hoffman plays a loving dad who sacrifices everything — even his advertising job — to win custody of his son. He’s just not very good at making French toast.

Jack Butler in “Mr. Mom”
At first blush, Jack (Michael Keaton) seems like a pretty crappy dad. After he loses his job as an engineer for an auto manufacturer, his wife lands a job as an ad executive, and Jack becomes a stay-at-home dad. Yet, it’s apparent early on that he has spent little time with his kids. The guy is absolutely clueless. But, hey, this is Michael Keaton, right? You can’t not like him. And, as the movie progresses, he gradually finds his way, realizing the importance of being an involved dad. This film did a lot for changing the perception of gender roles, so much that real-life stay-at-home fathers are still often referred to as “a Mr. Mom.”

Armand and Albert Goldman in “The Birdcage”
This gay couple (Robin Williams and Nathan Lane) makes a set of loving parents to Armand’s son, Val. So loving, in fact, that when Val gets engaged to the daughter of an ultra-conservative Senator, they go along with a plan to obscure their lifestyle and Jewish background in order to make a good impression on the irascible man for Val’s sake.

More bad dads

Allie Fox in “Mosquito Coast”
Mad scientist Harrison Ford drags his family to Central America so he can build an ice factory in the jungle. Do we hear “custody battle”?

Gideon Largeman in “Garden State”
This doc-turned-dad is one cold, clinical S.O.B. When his wife is paralyzed in a household accident, Ian Holm’s character blames his son, then sends the kid into a medicated stupor for at least a decade. Jerk.

Vito Corleone in “The Godfather”
The don of the Corleone family, Vito (Marlon Brando) surely fancied himself a family man, what with his big get togethers and what not. Indeed, the concept of family probably did mean a lot to him. But let’s talk about what kind of a role model the guy was. First of all, his job entails several anti-family-values activities, such as, oh, let’s just start with murder. Then he thinks, oh well, this murderous career is so great, I’ll recruit my sons into it because, you know – the dental plan is something else. His child rearing is so bad, the kids even kill each other. (“I know it was you, Fredo.”) Lesson learned: If your job entails thievery, deception and murder, you should probably leave your work at the office.

More in-betweeners

H.I. McDunnough in “Raising Arizona”
Sure, this small-time crook — played by Nicolas Cage — did kidnap his so-called son. But what dad is so devoted that he’d hold up a convenience store to get diapers?

Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible in “The Incredibles”
Mr Incredible’s (Craig T. Nelson) selfish bid to relive the glory days of superheroism causes him to lie to his family, shirk his responsibilities and lose his job, so he loses points for that, but by the end his questionable choices have led to the defeat of a villain systematically wiping out the world’s “supers,” and in the formation of a family-size super-squad. So we’ll call it a wash.

NOTE: Today’s blog is presented Larry King-style, with bolded names and entries that have no connection to each other.

***
OK, I have a confession to make.

I went to the movie “Surf’s Up” over the weekend on the premise that I thought our 3-year-old daughter would like it. But in reality I just really wanted to see it myself.

And wow. How fun. If you’re a fan of surfing or “The Big Lebowski” — or even if you’re one of those weird, into-penguins people — you’ll get a huge kick out of this.

I’ve seen quite a few surf movies, and I have to say “Surf’s Up” is better than many. First of all, it has a story. And secondly, believe it or not, I think it captures the surfing experience far better than, say, “Blue Crush.” (Don’t laugh – it was work-related!) You really sense this as Cody — a surfing penguin — barely paddles over his first big wave in the “Big Z Memorial” contest. But beyond that it captures the vibe so well, the writers have to be surfers themselves.

Maybe I’ll look it up sometime. But not now.

Also noteworthy was Jeff Bridges, whose character is basically The Dude from “Big Lebowski” — that is, if the Dude was a big fat penguin who can charge giant waves like Laird Hamilton, except that he doesn’t have the nice tan Laird has.

I wasn’t surprised to see lots of kids in the crowd. But I figured there’d be more surfers. The film features several nods to popular surf movies like “Step Into Liquid” and “Riding Giants.” And it’s definitely not all kid humor.

Besides, that surfing chicken? HILARIOUS!

And, yeah — my daughter liked it, too.

***

Speaking of my daughter, getting a 3-year-old ready for a musical is quite a challenge. On Sunday, Sunny performed in “Peter Pan,” put on by the Pacific Dance Center, at the Spanos Theater. It was a small part, of course — she’s only three — but I think it’s important for her to experience being in front of a crowd. And I want to support the studio.

The problem is, the play started around 3 p.m., which is pretty much smack in the middle of Sunny’s nap time. In fact, it’s pretty much smack in the middle of every 3-year-old’s nap time, which is why you don’t want to be in a dressing room full of 3-year-olds at 3 p.m. By the time they went on stage, I was ready for a nap.

But they pulled it off. And, unlike in last winter’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas,” Sunny didn’t hit anyone in the head with a shoe this time.

***

The new album by Wilco is pretty great, by the way. Jeff Tweedy’s voice often sounds like John Lennon’s on this one, and there are some terrific, but not overdone guitar solos. This is a mellow album with insightful lyrics. That it was atop the Billboard charts recently restores a little faith in the music industry, even though I still think it’s awful.
***

I was happy to see in our recent online poll that no one thought The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band” was “vastly overrated” or “the worst album ever.” (55% thought it was the best ever.)

Granted, 40 responses doesn’t exactly meet Gallup Poll standards. Still, I would’ve been discouraged if anyone didn’t like this Beatles masterpiece.

***

If you want to talk about overrated albums, though, I’d like to nominate Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” I mean, I dig the concept, and I can appreciate innovation in sound. But the album just . . . bores me.

In fact, rumor has it that if you play the film “Wizard of Oz” to “Dark Side of the Moon,” the album still really sucks.

Yet, classic rock stations just can‘t get enough Floyd.

So, at the risk of upsetting stoners with Floyd flags hanging from their ceiling, I’d like to propose a 5-year radio moratorium on Pink Floyd.

And as soon as it comes out on DVD, I’m going to recommend you play “Surf’s Up” to the Beach Boys’s “Pet Sounds.” Now that’s trippy.

— Pat P.