Articles by Diana beechener

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/17/11

Rango

A hilarious western cartoon spoof sure to haunt the dreams of young children

Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp: The Tourist) is a chameleon with an identity crisis. Kept in captivity, he makes himself the hero of elaborate plays, using a Barbie torso, a windup fish and a dead bug as a supporting cast. His bleak little theater troupe is shattered, literally, when his tank falls out of his owner’s car and lands on a desert highway. Bewildered by new surroundings, Rango meets Roadkill (Alfred Molina: The Tempest), an armadillo partially flattened on...

Article - Green Living; by Diana Beechener - 3/17/11

Is Bigger Better?

Anne Arundel County hopes larger containers amount to a greater recycling haul

The bigger, the better. That seems to be the theory behind Anne Arundel County’s push to distribute 65-gallon recycling containers throughout the county. “Recycling is a budgetary priority of this administration,” says County Executive John R. Leopold. “I’m always looking for ways to enhance the convenience of our recycling plan.” Our recycling habits now fall 10 percent short of the county goal of 50 percent recycling...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/10/11

Take Me Home Tonight

Do you love the 1980s? Then skip this movie.

Poor Matt Franklin (Topher Grace: Predators) is having a bummer of a year. After graduating from MIT, Matt decides to forgo a career working for the corporate machine. Instead, he works at the mall’s Suncoast Video — which is a corporation, but don’t tell Matt — and makes plans for his future. Matt sees his opportunity to turn his loser luck around when his high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer: I Am Number Four), visits the store. He lies...

Article - Things; by Diana Beechener - 3/10/11

What's With That? Lessons of a Tumbled Tree

Timber!

On a recent blustery day, a thunderous crack and immediate darkness in the kitchen alerted me to a wayward limb obstructing the power lines. Dangling from our power lines and blocking our road was the top half of a neighbor’s pine tree. We should call someone, the gathering of alarmed neighbors agreed. Who do you call when a tree takes a swan dive onto a public road? As we debated the finer points of tree...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/3/11

Drive Angry 3D

Fast cars, naked women and explosions add up to a surprisingly dull ride

Drive Angry 3D After winning the best actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage decided to become an action star. For 14 years, Cage has made a career out of kicking ass and taking names. Yet the actor never seems comfortable playing the badass. His oddly nuanced voice and pregnant pauses come off as uncertainty instead of a quirky character trait. If Cage can’t convince himself he’s an action star, what chance does he have of convincing the audience?...

Article - Live Music; by Diana Beechener - 3/3/11

Blues to Land on the Shores of Sandy Point

Annual festival set for May 21, 22

Sarah Petska has already got the blues, though her festival doesn’t start until May 21. In preparing for The Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival’s 10th anniversary, the event coordinator has been putting in long hours. Her hard work has been rewarded with an all-star lineup. Saturday, May 21 features the Chesapeake Bay Blues Band with Patty Reese, Marc Wenner, Tommy Lepson and Dean Rosenthal; The Lee Boys; Mac Arnold and Plate Full o’ Blues; The Otis Taylor...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/24/11

Unknown

An excellent cast struggles to elevate a spy thriller that thinks it’s smarter than it is

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson: The Next Three Days) is having a bad day. After realizing that he’s left his briefcase, containing vital information for a bio-medical conference he’s speaking in, at the Berlin Airport, he leaves his wife (January Jones: Mad Men) at their hotel to retrieve the case. One cab crash and concussion later, Martin wakes from a four-day coma and returns to his wife and the conference. Only one problem: His wife doesn’t know him....

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 2/24/11

This Week’s Creature Feature: Wild Birthday...

DC Cupcakes gives you a sweet reason to Go Bananas

Eleven-year-old Kwame and 9-year-old Kojo celebrated their birthdays with cupcakes. As part of Georgetown Cupcakes’ reality show on TLC, DC Cupcakes, the sister-owned business, delivered a giant gorilla sculpture, comprised of cupcakes, to the National Zoo where the two male western lowland gorillas were celebrating their big days. Sadly, gorillas can’t get the real sweet treat, so zookeepers gave them an approximation of Georgetown Cupcakes’ red velvet...

Article - Places; by Diana Beechener - 2/24/11

Black History On a Street Where You Live

A neighborhood walk can be a history lesson

In honor of Black History Month, Bay Weekly tracks down unsung African Americans behind some street signs. In our capital, many streets are footprints for the African American communities that developed in the late 1800s. In Annapolis, King’s Apostle Holiness Church sits at the mouth of Kirby Lane, watching over a sleepy street dotted with residences. No more than 500 feet in length, the small stretch of pavement is named after a country teacher....

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/24/11

The Redhead Did It!

Tips for surviving Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa’s murder mystery weekend

As fans of murder and mayhem, fiancé Jack and I often spend weekends watching thrillers and mysteries. We consider ourselves quite the couch-potato detectives. We’re also veterans of Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa’s first Murder on the Chesapeake Weekend. It stood to reason that when we returned for the Resort’s second round of Agatha Christie-style, murder-in-a-hotel drama, we’d have it all figured out by the end of the first night. ...