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ECLIPSE 6 Popular sextet with Utah State ties still going strong after 15 years

The Herald Journal

DECEMBER 23-29, 2016

contents

December 23-29, 2016

COVER 6 Aggies on stage: 15 years later, Eclipse 6 is still a strong concert draw

THE ARTS 4 Steve Williams looking to jazz things up on UPR

4 Brigham Museum shares

a ‘Journey Through Time’

5 Summerfest Arts Faire

now acception applications

8 Lin-Manuel Miranda

named top AP’s entertainer

MOVIES 3 Two and a half stars:

‘Passengers’ takes Pratt, Lawrence for a long ride

8 ‘Rogue One’ dominates the box office during first weekend after release

9 Two a half stars: New

‘Assassin’s Creed’ isn’t bad for a video-game movie

COLUMN 5 Two front teeth won’t

be enough for Dennis Hinkamp this Christmas

CALENDAR 11 See what’s happening this week in Cache Valley

James Case, left, and Dan Kartchner perform with Eclipse 6 earlier this month. On the cover: Shayne Taylor, left, and Kartchner sing with Eclipse 6 at the Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City. (Eli Lucero/Herald Journal)

FROM THE EDITOR I’m not sure when it happened exactly, but there was definitely a time in my life when it went from taking FOR-EV-ER for Christmas morning to arrive to having it come way, way too quickly.

As you get older, it seems like you prefer to savor the season, rather than just want to fast forward ASAP to tearing open presents. Mostly because — at least if you live in this part of the

world — you know it’s going to be nothing but cold (and quite possibly gray) for the next two to three months after Christmas. So, unless you’re a big fan of snow, basketball and Groundhog Day, there’s not much too look forward to until spring once Christmas and New Year’s are in the rear-view mirror.

That said, now that we’re so close to Christmas day, there is pretty much nothing going on in Cache Valley right now.

All the concerts and shows that have filled the pages of Cache Magazine in recent weeks have come to an end, allowing everyone an opportunity to focus on their

family and friends.

However, the exception to that generalization is New Year’s Eve. As you’ll see on Pages 4 and 5, there as a few fun activities that can provide you with a chance to get out of the house on Dec. 31 and ring in 2017 in style.

But if staying home and watching football and simply struggling to stay awake until midnight is more your style, then ... well ... chances are you’re probably my kind of people.

Happy holidays.

— Jeff Hunter

Lawrence, Pratt team up for a lengthy cruise to Homestead II

By Aaron Peck Cache movie critic

There’s that joke where someone says, “It’s (insert regular story premise) in space!” Like the “in space” part is supposed to make the story more exciting.

I must admit, for me, that’s mostly the truth. If I have one weakness, it’s deep-space scifi. There’s something about the crushing loneliness of the great void that speaks to me as a storytelling mechanism. I find it fascinating.

“Passengers” is the latest futuristic sci-fi movie that attempts to put the stars within our reach. Only there aren’t any warp drives or jumps to hyperspace. Here the passengers and crew of the Avalon, heading for a new habitable world named Homestead II, are confined to hibernation pods where they’ll sleep in suspended animation for over a century.

Since it would probably be a pretty boring movie watching people snooze in pods, something has to happen … and it does. Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) unexpectedly awakes from his hibernation 90 years before the ship is due at its destination. Jim, an engineer, cannot figure out a way to put himself back to sleep. Doomed to live out the remainder of his life on a lifeless spaceship full of sleeping people, he does, however,

AP Photo

Above, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence share a scene in “Passengers.” Above right, Michael Sheen, Lawrence and Pratt pose during a portrait session in Los Angeles.

★★ ‘Passengers’ Director // Morten Tyldum Starring // Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Fred Melamed Rated // PG-13 for sexuality, nudity and action/peril

have the ship’s whole bar to himself. So, being alone in space certainly has its perks.

Surrounded by unimaginable beauty — parts of the universe unseen by human eyes — Jim’s losing his mind.

The loneliness is closing in on him. This vast starship might as well be a prison cell. Without another human being to talk to, Jim starts going mad.

Aurora Lane (Jennifer Law-

rence) wakes up under suspicious circumstances after Jim has been awake a year. The two of them are basically forced into a relationship because humans naturally gravitate to each other. The other option being isolation, which is practically a death sentence.

Sure, it seems quite lucky that the two most beautiful people on the Avalon hap-

pened to wake up. But welcome to Hollywood. It’s a love story ... in space! Pratt and Lawrence have some chemistry, but its strained.

This isn’t the kind of layered chemistry that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling exuded in “La La Land,” but it’s sufficient for this tale.

Director Morten Tyldum and writer Jon Spaihts have thought up some heartpounding conundrums. The Avalon is a high-tech cruise ship — in space! — which comes complete with its own set of problems. Take for example a thrilling scene in which the gravity fails while Aurora is taking a dip in the ship’s swimming pool. The

water rises up and out of the pool, into a hovering bulb with Aurora at its center.

We’ve all seen astronauts play with water on the International Space Station, now imagine room-sized floating globules and someone trying to swim their way out of one.

There are a few other tense action scenes — in space! — that make the movie worth seeing on the big screen. The love story? Eh. It’s aggressively OK. There’s nothing overtly thrilling or memorable about it. The real interest in “Passengers,” for me anyway, is its set dressing.

The ship, space and the idea of journeying to another star kept me along for the ride.

Space travel deadens my cynicism and naturally opens me up to accepting far more for far less. I don’t know why that is, but admitting you have a problem is the first step I suppose.

The ending is, perhaps, where it sinks. It has a chance to make some tough decisions, to confront consequences that have been building the entire movie. And instead, it takes the easiest way out. One that undercuts the movie, its characters and robs them of real redemption. But, then again, it happens in space!

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

Sci-fi ‘Passengers’ needs its space

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ALL MIXED UP

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

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all mixed up UPR adds Steve Williams to its Sunday lineup New Year’s Eve at LGCC Come celebrate the New Year with your friends at Utah Public Radio beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Logan Golf & Country Club.

The evening will feature music

by Way Way East Bay and a plated dinner from Hamilton’s at the Country Club, with special guest host Steve Williams, jazz host of KCPW’s “Jazz Time

with Steve Williams” and former KUER jazz director/host of “Nighttime Jazz.”

Individual tickets are $100 each ($70 of each ticket is a taxdeductible donation). No-host bar. Reserved tables of eight available.

For more information or questions, please contact Ted Twinting at 797-9507.

Utah Public Radio has added to its regular lineup a radio program that will please jazz lovers, a demographic that is underserved, says Tom Williams, UPR’s program director.

The Utah State Universitybased radio station, a National Public Radio member, will air “Jazz Time with Steve Williams” from 6 to 10 p.m. each Sunday, beginning in this month.

“We know that many of our listeners love jazz and have missed having jazz available statewide,” said Williams.

“We think our audience will really enjoy spending Sunday nights with Steve Williams.”

Williams hosts his show live from the studios of KCPW Public Radio in Salt Lake City. He offers jazz music from along the historical timeline — Havana to Paris, Billie Holiday to saxo-

‘Journey through Time’ in B.C. The Brigham City Museum of Art and History exists to acquire and to treasure important works of art. The museum’s current exhibit “An Art Journey through Time” features masterworks from its extensive, permanent collection on show Nov. 12 through Jan. 21.

The museum is located at 24 N. 300 West in Brigham City. Admission is free.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. For further information, please phone (435) 226-1439 or brighamcitymuseum.org.

J. T. Harwood, Lee K. Parkinson, Minerva Teichert, E. J. Bird, Theodore M. Wassmer and other premier artists have created “1,000word stories” that will enable viewers to experience joy or grief or courage as they vicariously travel as far away as Saint-Tropez, France, and as near as North Ogden, Utah.

The imagination of many of the painters and draftsmen encircles Utah with such themes as old Frisco mine; thorn-apple tree east of Murray; desert sentinel; Mill-

This untitled painting by E.J. Bird and many other paintings are part of “An Art Journey through Time” exhibit currently on display at the Brigham City Museum.

creek autumn; City Creek, Salt Lake; and home of the brave (Native American scene).

Placed throughout the exhibit is some of the artwork from the Hinckley Collection owned by the Box

Elder County School District and stored at the museum.

“Art’s sweet relationship with the brain and the body will make a trip to the museum worthwhile,” museum director Kaia Landon says.

“Particularly engaging are

the portraits ‘Dance Family,’ ‘Helen,’ ‘Fleur de Blu,’ ‘At the Market’ and ‘Contemplation,’ all by Wassmer,” The media in the exhibit include watercolors, drawings, etchings, paintings and photographs.

phonist Joe Lovano. Among the musicians he plays are Duke Ellington, Diana Krall, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and Joe McQueen.

He primarily features music, but often includes interviews, history notes, live performances and a local jazz calendar of events.

The show is streamed live at upr.org. It can also be heard live at 91.5FM in the Cache Valley.

Celebrate the New Year at the Elite Hall Ring in the New Year New Yorkstyle this year at the historic Elite Hall in Hyrum.

The party will start at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, with dinner, music and dancing on the legendary spring dance floor.

Games, movies and popcorn will start at 8 p.m. along with live music and dance demonstrations.

Then we will celebrate the arrival of 2017 by watching a live stream of the ball drop in New York City on the big screen at 10 p.m. MST. Dinner will be catered by Firehouse Pizzeria and music, dancing, dessert and beverages will be available all night.

Tickets are $10 per person or $40 for a family of five — additional children in the same household are only $5 and children 3 years and younger are free.

If you’d like to join the party after dinner, “party-only” tickets are available starting at 8 p.m. and are $5 each or $15 for a family.

Tickets can be pre-purchased by visiting hyrumcitymuseum.org or at the door.

This event is a fundraiser for the restoration Elite Hall, which is located at 83 W. Main St. in Hyrum.

hear, see or read about another election. The last 18 months have been like fingernails on a chalkboard, licking sandpaper

and being given a choice of decaf coffee or decaf Coke wrapped into one.

• I want nothing but kittens, puppies, wombats and capybaras on all social media for at least a month to cleanse my soul. I don’t even care is it fake news of the aforementioned adorables.

• I want flags to be kept at half-mast all the time because they are already at half-mast so often we can’t divine the reason. The same goes for the Aggie “A” on the Old Main tower; just keep it blue so we don’t have to keep guessing.

• I want more experiences and less stuff. Or at least, experience-less stuff.

• I want security and predictability, even if it does label me a socialist.

• I want to use my same password for everything forever without fear of getting hacked by the Russians or Trump’s imaginary fat guy sitting on a bed somewhere.

• I want ATMs to dispense something besides $20 bills; it can’t be that hard.

• I want Cubs fans to shut up already. You won

even though the Indians scored more runs. What is this, the Electoral College?

• I want Daylight Savings Time to be rebranded as Daylight Losing Time so that it will sound as terrible as it is and thus be voted out.

• I want every state to either legalize marijuana or ban it because do you really want people border-hopping when they are high? This is why we standardized the drinking age to 21 in all states.

• I want all swimming apparel to be advertised

as “half off” because I’m childish and it always makes me giggle.

• I want someone to buy Sherwood Hills and stick with it. Likewise for Zanavoo and whatever that place is across from the state liquor store is now. Which reminds me, if Logan can’t get a bigger state liquor store, how about at least a bigger parking lot because both are the same size as when Logan had only four stop lights. State booze outlets are popping up See LIST on Page 11

Time to think Summerfest COMING UP

Applications being taken for vendors and featured artist

Logan’s Summerfest Arts Faire is now accepting applications from visual artists, performers and food vendors for its 2017 festival, which will take place June 15-17. The deadline for applications is Feb. 18.

Performers and food vendors wishing to participate can apply at logansummerfest.com. Visual artists and craftspeople may apply through Zapplication, an online arts application service at zapplication.org. All links are on the Summerfest website.

“We strongly encourage all artists to apply online,” said Summerfest executive director Elaine Thatcher. “If someone needs help with doing an online application, they can call and make an appointment to come in, and we’ll help them.

Online applications are much easier for us to manage than paper ones.

“One thing we’re changing for performance applications this year is that in addition to being able to upload photos and audio samples on the application, performers may also put the samples on a CD or flash drive and mail them or drop them off at our office.”

In addition, applications are now being accepted from artists interested in being Summerfest’s featured artist this year.

Each year, one artist is selected to be the fair’s featured artist. That artist’s work appears on the festival’s posters and other publicity, and the selected artist receives a free booth at Summerfest See TIME on Page 11

Classic Christmas films

Classic holiday movies will continue at the Utah Theatre this week in downtown Logan.

Films will be shown on Friday, Dec. 23, and then Monday, Dec. 26, through Saturday, Dec. 31.

Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age. Tickets are $5 on Wednesdays.

Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre.org for a full schedule and more information.

Parade of Gingerbread

With the holiday season here, it’s time again for the annual Parade of Gingerbread Homes in Downtown Logan.

Starting on Saturday, Dec. 3 and continuing through December 31, everyone is invited to stroll downtown to vote on their favorite gingerbread creations.

The event has grown into a much loved local tradition, not only for the architects who design gingerbread creations but for everyone who participates by voting on their favorite edible wonderland.

Visit logandowntown.org for more information.

New Year’s Eve Dance

The New Year’s Eve Program and Dance for all Cache Valley singles 46 year old and older will be held Saturday, Dec. 31, at the LDS Logan South Stake Center at 350 W. 700 South.

Musical entertainment featuring Kate Francis & Friends will begin at 7 p.m., followed by games This year’s Summerfest Arts Faire will be held June 15-17 at and refreshments. Dancing will take place from 9 Tabernacle Square in downtown Logan. p.m. to midnight. Admission is free.

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

One of the many downsides of adulthood is that not only can you not sit gracefully on Santa’s lap, but nobody asks you what you want for Christmas. Since nobody asked, I’m just going to put this list right here in case one you wants to be my secret Santa: • I want to not ever

Slightly Off Center DENNIS HINKAMP

It’s the night before the night before Christmas and all through the valley All the creatures are stirring and Main Street looks like the Cruise-In car rally.

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If Santa’s reading, this is my Christmas list

Eclipse 6: An evening in SLC with G o to an Eclipse 6 concert for the holidays and it’s clear a little Christmas cheer isn’t complete without a little Christmas humor.

The a cappella group of six men who originally met at Utah State University began their concert on Dec. 12 at the Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City with a short video quizzing people downtown on fun Christmas trivia (for the record, “Frosty the Snowman” doesn’t conclude the famous jingle by saying he’ll “make Christmas great again”).

After the video, audience members joined in a final countdown before the band hit the stage for the show called “Christmas with Eclipse.”

“Come on, y’all, it’s Christmastime.

Ho! Ho! Ho!” band members Jake

Despain, Paul Hansen, Kevin Jones, Dan Kartchner, Shayne Taylor and James Case sang to a cheering crowd of all ages.

The concert came in the midst of the band’s latest project, an online video called “Hamildolph: An American Christmas Story,” a spoof of the popular Broadway production “Hamilton: An American Musical.” In their video, Eclipse 6 reinvents the Hamilton song wherein Alexander Hamilton is called up as General George Washington’s “right hand man” and instead has Rudolph as Santa Claus’s “lead reindeer.”

“Watching our beloved red-nosed reindeer rap with an intensity worthy of revolutionary war is comedic genius,” Eclipse 6 stated in a press

release.

Eclipse 6 is known for their writing their own songs and spicing up other performers’ songs a cappella-style.

The latter was mostly the case at the Salt Lake City concert, when the band put pop twists on Christmas classics like “This Christmas,” “Come Al Ye Faithful” and “We Three Kings.”

But they also performed a “Santastyle mash up” of top 40 hit parodies with Christmas lyrics — something out of their own genius.

“Hey to the sleigh to the Ho! Ho! Ho!” Eclipse 6 sang. “My name is Ho! My sign is Ho! My number is Ho! You need to let it snow.”

There’s a bit of acting during the show, too. Scripted lines in between songs got people laughing, as did a

video where band member James Case invites former contestant from “The Voice,” Madilyn Paige, to sing with them, ending with him riding onto the stage with her on a motorcycle.

And then, there were moments of reflection, too.

“This time of year, I can’t help but think about the excitement I had as a child during Christmas,” band member Kevin Jones told the crowd, noting he has children of his own, who now experience, “the excitement, the joy, the fun of Santa Clause, of snow, of baby Jesus.”

Jones dedicated the next song to his 10-year-old daughter before launching into a part song, part-spoken word rendition of “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.”

Far left, Dan Kartchner, left, and Paul Hansen sing with Eclipse 6, band that was originally formed in Cache Valley 15 years ago. Left, the six members of Eclipse 6 perform during a concert at The Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City earlier this month. Above, Jake Despain and Shayne Taylor sing during the band’s show in Salt Lake City.

Right, Paul Hansen performs as an Eclipse 6 video plays in the background.

Story by Kevin Opsahl Photos by Eli Lucero

h the group that started at USU Grassroots Beginnings

Band members Jake Despain, Paul Hansen, Kevin Jones, Dan Kartchner, Shayne Taylor and James Case met in 1999 at USU — all of them on a music scholarship performing in the Glenn Miller Show.

The show, which ran for almost 25 years before ending in 2002, was held in January, February and March, featuring a big band, dinner and dancing.

The Glenn Miller Show recruited talent from students in college or just out of high school, said Derek Furch, who directed the show for 20 years.

That recruitment of talent would form 12 singers — six guys and six girls — known as the Sunburst Singers.

Furch, now a teacher at Legacy Junior High School in Layton, recalls

asking six students to organize a show in Thailand that would bring USU’s Sunburst Singers and students from a Thailand university together — all part of an exchange program between the two countries.

“That was kind of the grassroots beginnings of Eclipse,” Furch said.

“There was absolutely no doubt about the brilliance behind that group.”

Brothers from Utah State

The band reflected on the time they met and the last 15 years as Eclipse 6 in an interview backstage at the Grand Theatre before the Dec. 12 show.

Shayne Taylor talked about how they went from being a group of guys performing in the Glenn Miller Show

to becoming a pop a cappella group.

“I enjoyed big-band swing music and caroling and so forth, but we all felt like we could woo women more effectively with contemporary music,” Taylor said, laughing, before getting serious. “That wasn’t the 100 percent motivation, but that was part of it. We liked the idea of arranging and performing our own music. It was nothing in the beginning.”

The band wanted to use the name Eclipse, but decided they would be easier to look up on the internet by adding something else to the name.

So, they added the 6 to represent the number of band members.

The band’s first paid performance was at a “poetry and beverage night” at the Skyroom in the USU Taggart

Student Center. The student government paid them, “Three hundred big ones,” Taylor said.

Kartchner recalled that performance, saying, “We thought we had arrived.

We thought we were awesome.”

Kevin Jones said the band’s debut album, released in 2001, was called “One” because “we thought it was going to be one and done. It never crossed any of our minds we’d be doing this years later.”

But Eclipse 6 got a big break the following year when they were invited to perform at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics “We were just six guys from Utah State. and we were rubbing shoulders

See USU on Page 11

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” soared to the top of the weekend box office as expected, scoring the second-best December opening ever with $155 million in estimated ticket sales.

After the biggest Thursday night debut of the year, the intergalactic adventure blasted past industry expectations for a $130 million AP Photo weekend, according Sunday’s studio “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” dominated the estimates. “Rogue One” opened at box office during its opening weekend.

No. 1 in all markets globally, though

it has yet to bow in China and Korea.

“We’re in uncharted territory for December,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “It’s going to be really hard for any movie to catch up to this movie. ... This is only the second time a movie has opened this big in December.”

The record-setter was “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the space saga’s seventh installment, which debuted to $247.9 million in the U.S.

and Canada last December.

Like “The Force Awakens” did in 2015, “Rogue One” could top the box office for the rest of the year, Dergarabedian said.

Set before the events of the original 1977 “Star Wars,” it stars Felicity Jones and Diego Luna as leaders of a rebel faction that steals plans for its imperial enemy’s master weapon, the Death Star.

See ROGUE on Page 9

Miranda named top entertainer of 2016 NEW YORK (AP) — Winning a Pulitzer Prize and a clutch of Tony Awards in a single one year would be enough for anyone. Not LinManuel Miranda. Not in 2016.

The “Hamilton” writer-composer picked

up those honors and also earned a Golden Globe nomination, won the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired

by American History, wrote music for a top movie, and inspired a best-selling book, a best-selling album of

“Hamilton” covers and a popular PBS documentary.

A new honor came Wednesday when Miranda bested Beyonce, Adele and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, among others, to be named The Associated Press Enter-

AP Photo

In this July 11, 2016 file photo Jennifer Lopez, left, and Lin-Manuel Miranda perform on NBC’s “Today” show in New York. Miranda, who was everywhere in popular culture this year, was named The Associated Press Entertainer of the Year.

Called, the Great American Novel series, all 5 books are now in paperback at Amazon.com!

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The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

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‘Rogue One’ fights its way to a huge opening

tainer of the Year, voted by members of the news cooperative and AP entertainment reporters.

“There’s been more than a little good luck in the year itself and the way it’s unfolded,” Miranda said after being told of the honor. “I continue to try to work on the things I’ve always wanted to work on and try to say yes to the opportunities that I’d kick myself forever if I didn’t jump at

them.”

Miranda joins the list of previous AP Entertainer of the Year winners who in recent years have included Adele, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence, Lady Gaga, Tina Fey and Betty White. The animated Disney juggernaut “Frozen” captured the prize in 2014, and “Star Wars” won last year. (By the way, Miranda wrote one of the songs in “The Force Awakens.”)

When he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October, he somewhat tonguein-cheek acknowledged the rarity of having a theater composer as host, saying: “Most of you watching at home have no idea who I am.”

They surely must by now.

Miranda was virtually everywhere in popular culture this year — stage, See TOP on Page 10

★★

‘Assassin’s Creed’

Rogue Continued from Page 8 “Rogue One” knocked the No. 1 movie for the past three weeks, Disney’s “Moana,” to a distant second with $11.6 million, followed by “Office Christmas Party” with $8.4 million.

The weekend’s other new wide release, the critically panned Will Smith drama “Collateral Beauty,”

opened in fourth place with $7 million.

“This is one of the most intense marketplaces for movies I’ve ever seen,” Dergarabedian said. “You have a ‘Star Wars’ movie out there looming like the Death Star over everything, and a really great crop of Oscar contenders that keeps expanding.”

Denzel Washington’s “Fences” opened in limited release this weekend and expands on Christmas Day. “Manchester by the

Sea,” ‘’La La Land” and “Arrival,” which all earned awards nominations recently, remain in the box office top 10.

Moviegoers who see “Rogue One” will also get a peek at next year’s anticipated blockbusters: Trailers for the new “Guardians of the Galaxy,” ‘’Spider-Man” and “Fast & Furious” films play before the feature.

“Rogue One” is the “perfect leadin for 2017, which looks absolutely massive,” Dergarabedian said.

Action!

2297 N. Main MOVIE HOTLINE

753-6444

FOr sHOw TIMEs aNd HOurs, pLEasE VIsIT Our wEbsITE: www.waLKErCINEMas.NET

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The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

the globe, would that be a good thing?

Certainly using it to control everyone, wouldn’t be, would it?

At any rate, they need Cal to jump into their memory machine so they can retrace the steps of Aguilar, the last person rumored to have come in contact with it.

The specifics of how the machine (Jeremy Irons) laments works are impossible that their group has, so to explain. It simply far, not succeeded in does. The plot is controlling the Earth’s population. They’ve tried rather mundane, but the questions it poses everything, he says. Not seem out of place in even inventing religion AP Photo could keep the populace a video game movie.

Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender star in “Assassin’s Creed.”

Can a video game under their thumbs, so movie really make us now it’s time to find the scientists spend lives and apple. With it they’ll be think? Conceivably, fortunes searching for a able to control everyone. yes. fabled religious artifact.

The actions scenes Rikkin’s daughter, No matter, the apple Sofia (Marion Cotillard), here inexorably give is a MacGuffin. It’s just thinks the apple holds the way to quick-cut Director // Justin Kurzel a reason to get all the power to cure mankind’s editing and blurred Starring // Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, players in the same room, penchant for violence. framing, which proJeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Michael K. Williams so to speak. Cal Lynch She doesn’t really under- duces less-than-stellar Rated // PG-13 for intense sequences of violence (Michael Fassbender) scenes involving stand her father’s true and action, thematic elements and brief strong is apparently a direct Fassbender and his plan, and therein lay the language descendant of Spanish deadly parkour skills. peculiar philosophical the genetic makeup of Anyway, the Knights assassin Aguilar, who But, as far as video conundrum posed by man’s freewill.

Templar (up to their old belonged to the Assasgame movie adapthe movie. If the apple’s You’ll just have to go New World Order tricks sin’s Creed. This group power were just used tions go, you could with it, OK? If you have yet again) have coveted swore to protect the apple to quell violence across always do worse. any chance of enjoying one religious artifact from the Knights Templar. this movie you’ll have to Sacrificing their lives so above all others: the accept its hilarious claims, people can live on makApple of Eden. Yes, that and you’ll also have to apple. Only the apple ing their own choices. doesn’t look like an apple, manage to hold a straight At one point, one of the face as self-proclaimed and it’s said to contain leading Templars Rikkin

The Reel Place Aaron Peck

Usually video game movies get lambasted for being too dumb, but “Assassin’s Creed” may get flack for not being dumb enough. That’s because you’d expect a video game where the central component to gameplay is deadly assassinating, to produce a movie filled to the brim with over-thetop action scenes.

While there are some decent violencecharged sequences, surprisingly this latest adaption of a best-selling video game tends to philosophize more than pulverize.

There’s something to be said for a movie that has every chance to devolve into a glut of action scenes, to instead find moments to discuss weightier issues. It’s a preposterous plot, yes, but it provides a stage on which to pit religion against science; freewill versus blind obedience.

The story involves a machine that, somehow, can transport genetic relatives back in time to live their ancestor’s thoughts. If the “science” behind the machine was ever explained I missed it. I’m pretty sure it was just accepted that this machine exists because it must, and that’s that.

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‘Creed’ solid for a video-game movie

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

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Wahlberg’s ‘Patriots Day’ gets it right BOSTON (AP) — For Jessica Kensky, seeing the new Mark Wahlberg movie about the Boston Marathon bombing was deeply personal.

She and her husband, Patrick Downes, both lost their left legs below the knee in the 2013 bombing. Almost two years later, Kensky chose to have her right leg amputated because of excruciating pain caused by severe injuries she suffered in the bombing.

So when it came time to publicly express her feelings about the movie “Patriots Day,” Kensky chose her words carefully.

She said she and her husband were initially reluctant to be involved in the film, but after seeing the movie during a special screening in Boston last week, she believes Wahlberg and director Peter Berg treated the victims

and their stories with respect. But she said the question of whether the filmmakers “got it right” was one that’s impossible for her and other survivors to answer.

“It can feel OK, they can feel respected, they can feel proud and happy it was done, but ‘right’ is so hard because what happened to us was just anything but right,” she said.

“Patriots Day” is set to open Wednesday in theaters in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, and Jan. 13 nationwide.

The movie’s title refers to Patriots’ Day, the day the Boston Marathon is run, a state holiday commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolutionary War. Some of the key characters in the movie who saw the film last week said they were anxious about it accurately capturing the devastation of

Top Continued from Page 8 film, TV, music and politics, while engaging on social media as he went. Like a lyric he wrote for Alexander Hamilton, it seemed at times that the nonstop Miranda was working as if he was “running out of time.”

Julio D. Diaz, of the Pensacola News Journal, said Miranda “made the whole world sing, dance and think. Coupled with using his prestige to become involved in important sociopolitical issues, there was no greater or more important presence in entertainment in 2016.”

Among the things Miranda did this year are asking Congress to help dig Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis, getting an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, performing at a fundraiser for

this, it was a cathartic experience for me,” Davis said.

Wahlberg, a Boston native, said he was initially hesitant to make the film but came to feel a personal responsibility to his hometown to tell the story and tell it right. In the film, Wahlberg plays Sgt. Tommy Saunders, an amalgam of Boston police officers who were at the finish line when the bombs exploded and later helped find the bombers, brothers Tamerlan and AP Photo Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Mark Wahlberg, top left, stars in the “Patriots Day,” a new The movie depicts the movie about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. carnage caused by the bombing: the bloodied the twin bombings near the bombers, and they also victims, the severed finish line of the marathon. managed to capture the limbs, the anguished The explosions killed three emotional toll the attack screams, a police officer took on police and every- standing guard over the people and injured more one else affected by the than 260, including nearly covered body of 8-yeartwo dozen people who lost bombings, said former old Martin Richard, the Police Commissioner Ed youngest casualty. limbs.

Wahlberg and direcDavis, who helped lead It also shows the city’s tor Peter Berg took pains the investigation. response: strangers tying to show how many law “Watching the movie, tourniquets around the enforcement agencies not only did they get it injured, doctors and cooperated to find the right ... but at the end of nurses racing around

Hillary Clinton on Broadway, lobbying to stop gun violence in America and teaming up with Jennifer Lopez on the benefit single “Love Make the World Go Round.”

He and his musical “Hamilton” won 11 Tony Awards, but perhaps his deepest contribution that night was tearfully honoring those killed hours before at an Orlando nightclub with a beautiful sonnet: “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love, cannot be killed or swept aside,” he said. “Now fill the world with music, love and pride.”

He started the year onstage in the Broadway hit “Hamilton” (which in 2015 had won a Grammy and earned Miranda a MacArthur genius grant) and ended it with a Golden Globe nomination for writing the song “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana,” which was on top of the box office for three weeks

this month, earning $165 million.

“I’ve been jumping from thing to thing and what’s been thrilling is to see the projects that happen very quickly kind of exploding side-by-side with the projects I’ve been working on for years,” Miranda said.

Though theater fans have long cherished his fluency in both Stephen Sondheim and Tupac, “Hamilton” helped Miranda break into the mainstream in 2016. The groundbreaking, biographical hip-hop show tells the true story of an orphan immigrant from the Caribbean who rises to the highest ranks of American society, told by a young African-American and Latino cast.

The cast went to the White House in March to perform songs from the show for the first family and answer questions from school children. A version of the show opened

in Chicago in October and a production is slated to land in California next year and in London soon.

When the gold-winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team returned from the Rio Olympics, where do you think they wanted to go? “Hamilton,” naturally, which they did in August.

The show’s effects were felt across the nation this year, cheered by politicians, stars and rappers alike and even helping shape the debate over the nation’s currency (Hamilton stays on the $10 bill, in part due to Miranda’s show.)

But the musical also sparked controversy when the cast delivered a pointed message about diversity to Vice President-elect Mike Pence while he attended a performance in November. President-elect Donald Trump demanded an apology, which did not come.

emergency rooms to save severely injured people, people lining the streets and applauding police after the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The film focuses heavily on the intense manhunt for the Tsarnaevs and the resilience that came to be known as “Boston Strong.”

“I’m so proud of my community as a whole and the way they responded,” Wahlberg said at a news conference Thursday in Boston.

Kensky said one of the most difficult things for her and some other survivors was seeing the Tsarnaev brothers portrayed in the movie. Tamerlan was killed during the shootout with police; Dzhokhar was sentenced to death and is appealing.

Another movie about the bombings — starring Jake Gyllenhaal as survivor Jeff Bauman — is slated for release next year.

That kerfuffle was part of a “Hamilton”-heavy fall that included an album of celebrity covers and songs called “The Hamilton Mixtape,” as well as a documentary on the show that aired on PBS and attracted more than 3.6 million television viewers.

Erin O’Neill of The Marietta Times said Miranda dominated entertainment news this year but, more importantly, “opened a dialogue about government, the founding of our country and the future of politics in America.”

There’s more Miranda to come in 2017, including filming Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” with Emily Blunt (due out Christmas 2018) and an ambitious TV and film adaptation of the fantasy trilogy “The Kingkiller Chronicle.”

“I’m back in a planting mode after a harvest,” Miranda said, laughing.

Hardware Ranch WMA offers a unique opportunity to get up close to wild Rocky Mountain elk on a horse-drawn sleigh beginning Dec. 9, and running through Feb. 27, 2017. Hardware Ranch is open Mondays and Fridays from noon to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are sold in the visitors center. Tickets are $5 for ages 9 and up; $3 children ages 4-8 and children 3 and under are free. Visit wildlife. utah.gov/hardwareranch for more information.

Classic Christmas movies continue at the Utah Theatre in downtown Logan. On Friday, Dec. 23, “Elf” will be shown at 7 p.m., and “A Christmas Carol” at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age. Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre. org for more information.

The Logan Library Holiday Film Festival will continue at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23, with “The Polar Express.” Admission is free and the movies will be shown in the Jim Bridger Room of the Logan Library at 255 N Main

USU Continued from Page 7 with Sting and the Dixie Chicks, who had actually done stuff,” Taylor said. “It really gave us the boost we needed. It pushed us to think we could do something with the group.”

The band would score another high-profile gig with the Stadium of Fire Fourth of July event at Brigham Young University.

They also released their second album, “Think Twice,” in 2002, while 2003 saw their first foray into Christmas music, with “Three Kings.” That was followed by the band’s first world tour, and then an accompanying

St. Visit library.loganutah.org for more information.

The Cache Valley Chapter of the Utah Watercolor Society will host a show and sale from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec. 23, at the Thatcher Mansion, 35 W. 100 South.

SATURDAY

Emmanuel Baptist Church is holding a candlelight Christmas Eve Program from 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 24, at 310 N. 800 East in Hyrum. You are cordially invited to enjoy this special program honoring the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come and join us as we celebrate with scripture, hymns and hearts filled with anticipation and wonder.

NewLife Fellowship will host a Christmas Eve candlelight service from 5 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 24, at 2045 N. 800 East in North Logan. Everyone is welcome for a time of worship with song and teaching of God’s Word.

MONDAY

Park Zoo, 419 W. 700 South.

Come and enjoy the zoo decked out with lights for the holidays.

Admission is $2 for person or $10 for a family.

Classic Christmas movies continue at the Utah Theatre in downtown Logan. On Monday, Dec. 26, “A Christmas Story” will be shown at 1 p.m., and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at 4 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age. Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre. org for more information.

TUESDAY Classic Christmas movies continue at the Utah Theatre in downtown Logan. On Tuesday, Dec. 27, “Home Alone” will be shown at 1 p.m., “The Polar Express” at 4 p.m., “Meet Me in St. Louis” at 7 p.m. and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age.

Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre.org for more information.

Zoo Lights will begin at 6 p.m.

Morday, Dec. 26, at the Willow

The Logan Library Holiday Film Festival will continue at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27, with the sing-along version of “Frozen.”

live album in 2005.

Then, Eclipse 6’s fifth album, “Grateful Praise,” was followed by another world tour from 2009-2010.

Today, Eclipse 6 is looking beyond Christmas to recording another album, “Gospel,” which is expected to be released in spring 2017.

“We are excited to do this next project. We have a decent following in the Christian community to have music of a spiritual nature, and that obviously means a great deal to us,” said Kartchner, referring to the band’s LDS roots.

The band is listening to final mixes of the album.

“It’s kind of like Christmas morning as a child,” Kartchner said. “You know how the song goes, but the first time you can hear it finally put

together … I’ll listen to it 20 times so I can fully digest that moment. To hear it with my buddies is rewarding.”

Furch, who still keeps in contact with the band, said Eclipse 6 continues to impress him.

“I’m amazed,” he said.

“Every year, they just keep taking it to newer heights.

They’re as competitive as an a cappella group out there.”

But despite all of the projects and concerts, it’s fun for the six USU alums to get together and do what they love most — singing. It “qualifies as a brotherhood,” band members said, and that “brotherhood” has “kept us close” “As lame as it may sound, to be stuck in the middle of a chord with these guys, it really is just joy,” Despain said.

Admission is free and the movies will be shown in the Jim Bridger Room of the Logan Library at 255 N Main St. Visit library.loganutah.org for more information.

The Logan Library will host Teen Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27, in the Jim Bridger Room. This week’s theme is “Lights, Camera, Anime!” Kick back, relax and enjoy some Japanese animation.

Feel free to bring snacks. All of the anime that we will be showing are rated TVPG & TVPG-13.

Visit library.loganutah.org for more information.

WEDNESDAY Classic Christmas movies continue at the Utah Theatre in downtown Logan. On Wednesday, Dec. 28, “Elf” will be shown at 1 p.m., “A Christmas Story” at 4 p.m., “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” at 7 p.m. and “Meet Me in St. Louis” at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age.

Tickets are $5 on Wednesdays.

Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre.org for more information.

List Continued from Page 5 like Mavericks in the St. George area for some reason.

• I want Ubers for dogs, lawn mowers, snow blowers, posthole diggers and grandchildren

Time Continued from Page 5 as well as other benefits.

Applications are being accepted from interested artists who live anywhere in Utah and selected counties in surrounding states. The art pieces submitted for consideration must depict some aspect of Cache Valley or Summerfest. The

The Logan Library Holiday Film Festival will continue at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28, with the animated and live-action versions of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Admission is free and the movies will be shown in the Jim Bridger Room of the Logan Library at 255 N Main St. Visit library.loganutah.org for more information.

THURSDAY Classic movies continue at the Utah Theatre in downtown Logan. On Thursday, Dec. 29, “Annie” will be shown at 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 under 12 years of age. Call 750-0300 or visit theutahtheatre.org for more information and a full schedule of films at the Utah Theatre.

The Logan Library Holiday Film Festival will continue at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, with “A Garfield Christmas” and “Prancer.” Admission is free and the movies will be shown in the Jim Bridger Room of the Logan Library at 255 N Main St. Visit library.loganutah.org for more information.

because there are a lot of things that you want, you just don’t want them all the time.

Oh, and of course, I also want peace on Earth, good will towards all and a Red Rider BB gun.

———

Most importantly Dennis Hinkamp wants 2016 to be over.

application deadline is Jan. 16.

“We accept applications from regional artists who work in two-dimensional media like painting and photography,” Thatcher said. We will accept either actual paintings/photos, or for those artists who live farther away, high-quality photos of the work.”

Interested artists and vendors can contact Thatcher at (435) 213-3858 or elaine@logansummerfest.com.

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, December 23, 2016

FRIDAY

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calendar

The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Friday, DDecember 23, 2016

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CrossworD

By Myles Mellor and Sally York Across 1. Signal-carrying, in a way 7. A bob, shag, pixie, buzz...

14. Military uniform cloth 19. Smoke out 20. Close to land 21. Mathematician 22. Romantic question 25. Like bread for pigeons 26. Later’s opposite 27. “___ in black” 28. Untrue 29. Long 30. ‘’__-Pan’’ (Clavell novel) 32. Features of some fonts 34. Duck and down preceder 39. Infamous insecticide 41. Hat material 44. Kind of cross 45. These hang around on a farm 46. Gobbled up 48. Way out 50. “My boy” 52. Serb or Croat 53. Immediate falling for 59. Special perception, for short 60. Pull over sound 61. Stink 62. Super server, in tennis 63. “Hollywoodland” star, Affleck 64. Jogged 65. .0000001 joule 66. Resin 69. Meter feeder’s need 71. Term of address in a monastery 74. Legal thing 76. French philosopher 78. “Here’s lookin’ at you, ___.”

79. Now, I see!

81. Common yule color 83. Fleece provider 85. Protection 86. Memorable song 90. Dentist’s advice 91. Jedi in Star Wars,

Deadlines

first name 94. Romantic Beatles’ song 96. Renovate 98. Coloring 99. Equivalent 100. Myanmar monetary unit 101. Bluegills 103. “Andy Capp” cartoonist Smythe 106. Folded manuscript sheet 108. Winter month, for short 111. Mix-up 112. Off the mark 114. Pigs’ digs 116. Dictionary abbreviation 118. Alpine gear 120. Holed up 121. Hopper 123. Gut flora 125. Sad love song from Alicia Keys 131. Put together 132. Adult doodlebug, insect-carnivore mix?

133. Cringe 134. Euripides drama 135. Ones taking five 136. Lays to rest Down 1. Full of gossip 2. Split 3. High ground 4. Turn over 5. At this point 6. August baby 7. Great Depression rail rider 8. From the top 9. Philosophy suffix 10. Poet’s challenge 11. Like many CIA ops 12. Greek Muse of astronomy 13. No. on a business card 14. Bingo relative 15. Staying in shacks 16. Rope-a-dope boxer 17. Barbie Doll’s beau 18. Indignation 23. Condo, perhaps

24. U.S.N. officer 31. Ocean voyage locale 32. Fancy ice cream shape 33. Light musket 35. Licenses, for example 36. “Get rid of it,” to a proofreader 37. Generations 38. Are you coming?

40. Bar 42. Dissatisfied customer’s demand 43. Angle between the stem and the leaf 45. Dislodge from the saddle 47. Bo Derek film 49. Ruler opposed by the Bolsheviks 51. Eyeball 53. Chinese fruit 54. Greek mountain nymph 55. Best-known 56. Lift 57. Playing with a full deck 58. Roman garment 60. Bed 63. Witnesses 66. No. 2 in the statehouse 67. Pop up, as a conversation topic 68. Ex or Ab follower 70. Madly in love 72. After-lunch sandwich 73. Remote control button 75. Glass beer mug 77. Replace bullets 80. Unite 82. Wears 84. Chinese calligrapher ___ Qing 87. Beauty salon workers 88. Full of foliage 89. “Show and tell” for a client 90. Household nuisance 91. Eyeballs 92. Swiss capital 93. “I had no ___!”

95. X marks the ___ 97. Blockhead

102. Deltoid 104. Torch type 105. West African storytellers 107. “___ that special?!”

109. Develop gradually 110. More tranquil 112. Cry before firing 113. Not for minors 115. Long (for) 117. Cambodian cash 119. Soda nut 121. Crude dude 122. Taverns 124. Lump 125. “It Must Be ___” 126. Four quarters 127. Walletful 128. Place for a plug 129. Material-forming tool 130. Special effects: (abbr.)

Cache Magazine calendar items are due Tuesday by 5 p.m. They will also run for free in The Herald Journal one to two days prior to the event. Calendar items can be submitted by email at hjhappen@hjnews.com. Any press releases or photos for events listed in the first half of Cache Magazine can be sent to jhunter@hjnews.com. Poems and photos can also be sent to jhunter@hjnews.com and run on a space-available basis if selected.

answers from last week

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