Vol. 1, No. 9 by Waco Weekly

12.04.13 - VOL. 1, NO. 9 - WACOWEEKLY.COM

contents

12.05-12.11

meet the team PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Shepperd EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matt Shepperd BUSINESS MANAGER Leisha Shepperd MANAGING EDITOR Chris Zebo CREATIVE DIRECTOR Brittany Hicks ASST. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bekah Skinner LAYOUT/DESIGN Sally Franckowiak WRITERS

Sara Gilmore Topher Hawkes Luke Murray Brandon Nowalk

Essentials:

Play 3 Discover 4 Listen 6 Calendar 11 Look 14

Upcoming:

Mat Kearney headlines an evening of magic as Kappa Omega Tau “Lights the Tree” and kicks off the holiday season.

INTERNS Kathleen Callison Claire Hand Chandler Hodo Olivia Montagna Cheyenne Mueller Catherine Neil Kaitlin Vickers Dani Wilkins

Waco Weekly is an independent, publication and is not affiliated with the city of Waco.

Interview

6 - Nathan James Allen of the Denton indie folk group, Seryn, talks about the lost art of performing live, analog vs. digital, and a whole lot more.

Listen 8 - Jake Owens’

new album is like a backwoods party on the beach. Read our review of the new album out this week.

Look 15 - Brandon gives a rundown of this week’s top 20 box office films.

Opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the editor, publisher or the newspaper staff. Waco Weekly is not liable for omissions, misprints or typographical errors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express consent of the publisher.

1st copy is FREE, additional copies are $0.50 each

LISTEN

••••••

6th Annual

Dr. Pepper Christmas

Roadtrips and Getaways Within a Day’s Drive

By Dani Wilkins

Dickens on Main It’s one of those places that makes you think of your favorite old-timey Christmas movie: beautifully decorated shop windows, families strolling down sidewalks, the scent of cinnamon and pine wafting through the air, snowflakes floating on the breeze. Except you’re not in a movie; you’re in downtown Boerne, in the middle of the Texas hill country. Lose yourself to the holiday spirit at one of the best Christmas events in Texas, in the quaint town of Boerne during the annual “Dickens on Main” event. Dickens on Main is a replica of a Norman Rockwell Christmas with a Texas twist. For 13 years, the city and its charm have fascinated the community and tourists alike. Between the Festival of Tress, Tannenbaum Trail, Weihnacts Parade, and Boerne Business Alliance Annual Pet Parade—in addition to all of the goodness of the city itself—you’ll have plenty to do during “O’ Tannenbaum” Weekend. Dickens on Main events begin each night at 5pm; but for the whole experience, get to Boerne around lunch time to check out some of the best shopping in the Hill Country. And if you’re hungry for a Bumdoodlers sandwich, for pub grub at Dodging Duck Brewery, or café eats at Bear Moon, you can’t go wrong with some of Boerne’s best dining venues.

For a few hours this weekend, head over to one of Waco’s favorite landmarks, the Dr. Pepper Museum. The museum is hosting a holiday season kick-off featuring something for everyone. From 6:30-8:30pm, musical acts, sweets, savory treats, entertainment stations, and the season’s most famous celebrity, Santa, will be scattered throughout the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building, the courtyard, and the Kellum-Rotan building. You can do everything from creating your own sweet holiday soft drink, enjoying the music of local church and school choirs, and snapping a picture with Santa. Perfect for ages 1 – 92, take the whole family and enjoy a great start to the season. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at drpeppermuseum.com or at the door. For $20 (adults)/$10 (kids), all activities, performances, snacks, and hot Dr. Peppers are included.

As the afternoon progresses and you’re aching for Christmas festivities, the Boerne Business Alliance Annual Pet Parade begins at 5pm. With prizes for the best Dickens costume and for best pet costume, you can either compete or be a spectator. After the pets have strutted their stuff, the famous Weihnacts parade will kick off at 6pm. Featuring grand marshal Boerne Village Band, the twinkling Christmas custom will get you into the holiday spirit.

the scoop

If the parades aren’t quite enough, be sure to walk the Tannenbaum Trail – a collection of wildly decorated Christmas trees along the banks of Cibolo Creek at the River Road Park. Warm holiday treats and eats will be provided throughout the stroll. For more information about antique shops, coffee shops, fashion-forward boutiques, and all dickensonmain.com.

By Dani Wilkins

Dickens festivities, visit

WHAT: DR. PEPPER CHRISTMAS WHERE: DR. PEPPER MUSEUM WHEN: DECEMBER 6

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Magic in the Air •••••• DISCOVER

By Sara Gilmore

If someone were to tell me Waco isn’t an exciting place to live this week, I would tell him or her to come out from beneath the rock they’ve been living under, because I’m pretty sure there isn’t a town in Texas with more magic in the air right now. Downtown is in full fledged Wonderland mode. The 101, No. 9 ranked Bears say goodbye to a sold-out Floyd Casey Stadium this Saturday against the Longhorns. And Thursday night, Baylor’s campus becomes a Christmas dreamland as 5th Street shuts down to welcome the most wonderful time of the year. This place is electric right now. And adding to the electricity is the Christmas on 5th Main Event, the 48th Annual Tree Lighting put on by Baylor’s Kappa Omega Tau fraternity featuring Mat Kearney and Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. Over the years, KOT has earned a reputation for creating memories by bringing in entertainment that Baylor students and people of Waco would travel to see, and they certainly didn’t disappoint this year. You can all thank the men of KOT this week for the best free show you’ve seen in a while. “We felt like these two artists complimented each other well, and their styles are different enough to

cover a wide spectrum of interests,” said KOT’s Tree Lighting Chair, Preston Edwards. “And there’s just a lot of life in their music; it’s relatable to everyone.” For the connoisseur of witty rhymes and catchy melodies, Mat Kearney is an expert at combining the two. The singer/songwriter is hard to categorize within a genre. It sounds like pop, but he also has a rapper/spoken word element to his music. Kearney, originally from Eugene, Oregon, has shared the stage with the likes of John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and

list of prime time TV shows Kearney’s music has been featured. Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors kick off the Tree Lighting at 8pm, and if you aren’t a fan yet, chances are you will be after their hour-long set. Baylor is catching Holcomb at a great time, having released his most successful album yet, Good Light, earlier this year. The band just wrapped up its Good Light tour last month, playing 35 cities, 10 of which they sold out.

“There’s just a lot of life in their music; it’s relatable to everyone.” - PRESTON EDWARDS, KAPPA OMEGA TAU’S TREE LIGHTING CHAIR

MuteMath. He has been nominated for five Dove Awards and won Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year for “Trainwreck” in 2006. He’s been hitting the Billboard charts ever since, with singles such as “Undeniable”, “Nothing Left to Lose” and “Hey Mama”. You may actually know his music without knowing it if you watch 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights or Grey’s Anatomy—just a few from the long

pg 4 • WACO WEEKLY • December 04, 2013 • wacoweekly.com

The term songwriter doesn’t really do Holcomb justice; he’s the kind of songsmith who writes in a way that seems to know you. Every song feels like a story, drawing you into a journey in such a way that makes you feel — well, neighborly. Maybe it’s because we share a home state of Tennessee, but I always want to call Holcomb’s music “music that feels like home.” He weaves Southern

Christmas Get the th on 5 Lights Goods: up Waco Like us

Facebook facebook.com/wacoweekly comfort into a front-porch-acoustic-picking sort of way, with rock & roll and a hint of gospel melodies sprinkled in, all with the help of his band, the Neighbors. The riffs of lead guitarist Nathan Dugger are likely to leave you jaw-dropped and drooling (sorry ladies, he got married this fall), and the vocal harmonies of Holcomb’s wife and band mate, Ellie, complete his songs in a way only a wife could. Ellie is actually taking a few days away from a solo tour as a Christian artist to be here Thursday night, which you’ll realize is a special treat as soon as she sings. This is the first year in several years that the band isn’t doing its annual “Neighborly Christmas” tour, so here’s to hoping they play a few of their Christmas tunes at the Tree Lighting on Thursday. Whether they do or not, you’ll want to snag one (or both) of their Christmas albums, A Neighborly Christmas and Another Neighborly Christmas, on iTunes to add to your playlist this season. In addition to being a great show, the Tree Lighting event is also supporting a great cause. All proceeds from t-shirt sales and donations will go to Baylor’s Fund for West, Texas, to continue relief efforts after last semester’s explosion that devastated the city. “The main thing we want people to come away from this event with is more awareness of the relief efforts for West,” said Edwards. “All of us at Baylor were affected in some way by the tragedy last semester, and there is still a great need for support.” ‘Tis the season for giving, and Edwards said he and his KOT brothers feel like there’s a great opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people who had a lot taken from them this year. Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors will go on at 8pm followed by the Kappa Pickers at 9 and Mat Kearney at 9:30. All of the above will be at Baylor’s Burleson Quadrangle.

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By Cheyenne Mueller On Thursday, December 5 from 6-11pm, Waco is hosting Christmas on 5th Street. Activities will be found throughout the area, taking place at the Fountain Mall, Burleson Quadrangle, Traditions Plaza, and the Bill Daniel Student Center (The SUB). Christmas on 5th will be a family-friendly affair, with a Christmas tree lighting, a huge selection of musical performances, and a Christmas marketplace that will open at 10am and run until 10pm. The festival will be fun for all ages, with carriage rides, a petting zoo, a live nativity, pictures with Santa, a chance to take some classic family portraits, and a Christmas movie on the lawn featuring everyone’s favorite holiday flick, Elf. All aboard the Mayborn Express! The Mayborn Museum will be a stop for Christmas on 5th and serves as a place to park and catch the bus for the festivities. Baylor buses will transport guests between the Mayborn Museum and 5th Street starting at 6pm. The schedule of events begins at 6pm with the department of modern foreign language performing “Carols Around the World” at the SUB Bowl.

the scoop WHAT: CHRISTMAS ON 5TH WHERE: 5TH STREET WHEN: DECEMBER 5 wacoweekly.com • December 04, 2013 • WACO WEEKLY • pg 5

BY CHRIS ZEBO

Seryn Seryn, a 6-piece indie folk group out of Denton, take sound seriously. When you peel away the band’s layers of instruments—of guitars, ukulele, accordion, bass, viola, banjo, and percussion— you get to the people playing them. That all might sound trite and obvious to you, but in today’s soundscape of digital over-production—of multiple takes, post-production edits, Pro Tools’ copy-and-pastes—the “musicianship” of the player gets produced out of the final mix. If Seryn had it their way, they’d go back in time and record purely analog. Fortunately for them, they don’t’ need a Delorean to go back; they only need a venue, their instruments, and your eardrums. If you listen to them—and we mean really listen to them—they’ll take you with them. Last week, we caught up with Seryn’s Nathan James Allen to talk about how the band operates as a collective of musicians, what it means to play before people and to capture an audience, and what music needs at the moment. Seryn will perform at Common Grounds on Friday, 6. WW: The 6 of you take the idea of “band”ing together quite seriously. You don’t believe in having a frontman/woman; you believe Seryn--all 6 of you-- front the group. Talk a little about that philosophy. How does it differ, in your day-to-day operations, with everyone contributing equally, compared to how other groups operate. Allen: How do other groups operate? I don’t think we even understand our own operations, which might be one reason we are able to continue making music together. Having a lead singer is different. The voice is simply another sound maker, albeit the one that makes the strongest connection with the reptile/horse remnants of the human brain. Everything else is a man-made, sound-making machine, and yet they allow for other complexities, namely polyphony, which is totally miraculous. WW: The Dallas Observer said your music “seems more fitting washing over dilapidated wooden pews in an old church than the usual torn-up couches, vinyl booths and barstools of area venues.” What would the ideal venue be for your music? Have you ever dreamed of “the” ideal place to perform? Allen: Honestly, wherever we can sound best, the most people can fit, and the alcohol is the cheapest. We want the same thing as anyone else does: attentive listeners and people who are prepared to be taken somewhere slightly unexpected. WW: Your live shows are quite an experience. The band tends to take over the room and captivate audiences. What do you think it is about Seryn’s “presence” that transforms the room? Allen: I think we are too busy making music to even have any idea what you mean. We have been in plenty of places where we were kicked to the curb and ignored, no matter how passionate we were about what we were doing. Honestly, what makes that energy is a room full of people who are all there for the same purpose. If two or three hundred people show up ready to be immersed in song, then its fairly easy to have a really cool experience. If that same number of folks show up to talk to their friends and drink Pabst, then its a little

pg 6 • WACO WEEKLY • December 04, 2013 • wacoweekly.com

more difficult to win them over, especially because we also love talking to our friends and drinking Pabst. WW: If you were to give one thing back to music today, something that’s been lost, what would it be? Allen: I think the biggest thing that has been lost in music today is the idea of performance. It seems obvious, but you almost never hear any performance on a record these days. In the past, you had to get it right, all the way through, and so did everyone else. Nowadays, the norm is to patch it all together inside a computer.

the scoop WHAT: SERYN WHERE: COMMON GROUNDS WHEN: DECEMBER 6 My favorite recordings have substantial live elements in them—some records that we helped make, actually, like Foreign Fields new EP, Tuscaloosa. Nothing sounds as good to me as that record, or Doug Burr’s The Shawl, which we are still trying to collect all the stories about, because it is just a stunning, fascinating piece of art. These are records where real musicians performed, and a recording engineer (artists in their own right) properly captured a moment in time that is totally unique and can never be reproduced.

Allen: Everyone played music from a young age, whether it was Suzuki Method, bluegrass lessons, honor choir, or middle school band. We have all played worship music at churches, and that vibe certainly influenced us as well. Blending the things and using tons of instruments is largely a result of being ADD. We get bored of bands that use the same five sounds for an entire record. Variety and new sounds keep us interested in our own music, and we hope that translates to our listeners as well.

That is the amazing thing about old records. When you put on Kind of Blue you are literally listening to electricity that was moved by a dead man’s trumpet. That is literal time travel, especially if you can find a vinyl that was cut off the original master lathe. That is what I would want back for music: To have pure analog recording be revived. I wish Seryn was able to make records like that, but it is even more expensive now and requires an entirely different skill set and preparation. I hope some day we will. My dream would be to make a record that is cut straight to the master lathe and only pressed to vinyl. Do it all in one or two days and only three takes for each song. Its a monster undertaking.

WW: The 6 of you are known for producing stirring vocal harmonies in many of your songs. They become another instrument all together. Describe a session when you’re working on vocals together. Does it happen in a living room, in an open field?

WW: The band blends guitars, ukulele, accordion, bass, viola, banjo and percussion into one wall of sound. Did all of you have backgrounds in your instruments, or did you learn them for the band?

Allen: Working on vocals is always a lengthy process. There are really two main parts. The first is actually composing the melody and lyrics, which tends to happen at the same time. Trenton, our main vocalist, does the bulk of this part, with various melodic/thematic/vocal contributions from the rest of us. Occasionally, we start with words or a melody, but most times we work from the instrumental music to make something that fits. Arranging harmonies all comes down to our bassist Aaron. He spends a lot of time trying things out and working on all the bits and pieces. Once the vocals are written, the arranging is a ton of fun and goes rather quickly. It’s something everyone looks forward to.

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By Luke Murray

Jake Owens Album: Days of Gold

Release Date: December 3, 2013

Rating: Sounds Like: Luke Bryan Dierks Bentley Florida Georgia Line

Recommended Tracks

Since emerging in the music scene in 2006, Jake Owen has been producing his own brand of new-age, gritty honky-tonk music straight out of Nashville. He rode the fence for 5 years, searching for something to propel him into the spotlight—finally producing his breakthrough album, Barefoot Blue Jean Night, in 2011. While being true to himself, he began to incorporate a few more huge choruses and some over-the-top production to connect with his audiences. The album produced four consecutive No. 1 singles.

1972 One Little Kiss Ghost Town

Track Listing:

Days of Gold Beachin’ 1972 Ghost Town Life of the Party Good Timing Tall Glass of Something One Little Kiss What We Ain’t Got Tipsy Drivin’ All Night Sure Feels Right

Now releasing his fourth studio project, Jake stays the course with his style of bringing the backwoods party to the beach—much like Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffet before him. Although he has the same approach as Chesney and Buffet, Days of Gold is anything but Margaritaville. With a new collection that emphasizes the Florida native’s country-surfer personality, Owen shows us subtle notions of a risk-taker and bold new approaches to the style that’s served him well—including some vulnerability, free-form dynamics, and an introspective piano ballad (similar to the hit “Heaven” from his previous album). The tight 12-song release’s tone is set by its title track—filling the entire album with sun, longing and love. Heavy percussion and breakneck banjo on the full-throttle title track gives one of the most impassioned performances of Owen’s career, setting this record up to be another massive seller.

pg 8 • WACO WEEKLY • December 04, 2013 • wacoweekly.com

Kevin Morby

“Harlem River”

Release Date: Nov. 26, 2013 Morby’s focus on his debut record isn’t on reconfiguring old genres but rather just retracing them. He’s laid significant trust in his songwriting hand to make the difference. The opening track, “Miles, Miles, Miles”, is reminiscent of a 1950s dance track but features a dark perspective we aren’t used to hearing from such easy music. The title track, on the other hand, is nine minutes of breezy jazz that exhibit essences of Jim Morrison-style songwriting. Above all, Harlem River is easy listening. Its nostalgic nuances tend to overstay their welcome, and the record has as much edge as a tennis ball, but like spending the holidays at home with your family, there’s a comfort to it. Maybe it’s not a daily-listener, but definitely a good addition to your collection. Recommended Tracks: Mile, Miles, Miles, Slow Train

Pitbull

“Global Warming: Meltdown”

Release Date: Nov. 22, 2013 Mr. Worldwide has released a deluxe version of his previously released Global Warming album, including 5 new tracks that are also available separately if you already purchased the initial release. If not, we recommend snagging the whole thing. Since his initial breakthrough on the radio dial, Pitbull has progressively become more and more confident in his craft, producing more chart-pleasing hits and party anthems than most other pop-charters combined. His consistency has served him well, and his ability to incorporate other pop stars into his music keeps him current and adds new flavor to every song he drops. The five new tracks on this album includes “Timber”, his current chart-topper that features Ke$ha. Recommended Tracks: Feel This Moment, Timber

D-WHY

Release Date: “Young, Loved, Hated, & Broke EP” Nov. 19, 2013 Is it possible for rap to be feel-good? This kid has it figured out. From the drop of the first beat, we hear a lot of Drake in his voice, but his flows are far-more impressive—especially for a relative no-namer. Four bucks for this five-track set is quite a steal since you’ll wear down the record playing it on repeat. D-Why finds relatable topics to preach on, and he keeps it real-life. His enunciated lyricism is well-appreciated in a world of rapping-faster-than-your-synapses rappers. He takes a fresh spin on the rap game, much needed in a time where the topics simply become blurred lines and who’s more “thug.” This kid may be our wildcard of the week, but we’re hoping and betting that his next release will be more widely received from the get-go. Recommended Tracks: One Day, Young Madonna wacoweekly.com • December 04, 2013 • WACO WEEKLY • p 9

LISTEN

••••••

Two Tons of Steel at Fast Eddie’s

By Cheyenne Mueller

Since 1992, Two Tons of Steel have been playing close to 200 shows a year. Based out of San Antonio, Two Tons have been touring across America and have crossed the pond to play shows in Europe. They’ve been featured on the Grand Ole Opry eight times and have been featured in a documentary produced by Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame. Their sound—best described as Elvis and the Ramones meets Texas twang—is swingin’, high-energy rockabilly. Two Tons are considered a mainstay of the oldest and most revered dancehall in Texas, Gruene Hall. Gruene Hall hosts an annual summer series called “Two Ton Tuesdays”, where Two Tons is obviously the event’s namesake. The series has consistently sold out for the past 14 years. The band released their eleventh album, Unraveled on July 2 of this year. Lloyd Maines produced the album—and even though he is one of the state’s most sought-after music producers, he always makes time for Two Tons. Maines also produces for Pat Green, Robert Earl Keen, and Roger Creager. He attributes his commitment to Two Tons to them being, in his professional opinion, “one of the best bands in Texas.” Two Tons of Steel will be performing at Fast Eddie’s in Waco on December 6. For ticket information, call 254.399.9300.

the scoop WHAT: TWO TONS OF STEEL WHERE: FAST EDDIE’S WHEN: DECEMBER 6

pg 10 • WACO WEEKLY • December 04, 2013 • wacoweekly.com

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Mat Kearney headlines an evening of magic to kick off the holiday season.

Two Tons of Steel headlines at Fast Eddie’s.

The Dr. Pepper Museum rings in the holidays with flavor.

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WEEKLY // EVENTS OF

DECEMBER 04 - DECEMBER 11,

2013

FIND MORE AT: WWW.WACOWEEKLY.COM/CALENDAR

an indie/folk band. COMMON GROUNDS 1123 S. 8th, Waco, Dec. 6, 2013 8:30 PM $10-12

CASH ON DELIVERY

When a Social Security check for a past tenant arrives in the mail, Landlord Eric Swan is overjoyed, as he cannot find work. Happy with the benefits he’s receiving, Eric creates more alter egos, all which qualify for government aid. His schemes run smoothly until his ploy starts to catch up with him. WACO CIVIC THEATER Dec. 6, 2013 7:30 PM

SATURDAY 12/07 FARMER’S MARKET

SERYN

THURSDAY 12/05 ALL ABOARD

One of Waco’s most popular holiday exhibits, All Aboard the Mayborn Express, will be open during the Christmas on 5th event where Baylor buses will transport guests between the Mayborn Museum and 5th Street. The extensive train set-up in the Anding Traveling Exhibit Gallery will include elaborate scenes of bridges and trestles, cities and towns, and

depict both the past and present. MAYBORN MUSEUM Dec. 5, 2013 5:00 PM

FRIDAY SERYN

12/06

Seryn, having only played together since March 2009, have culminated a unique blend of everything ranging from guitar, ukulele, kalimba, accordion, bass, drums, viola, and percussion, to name a few. Fare the Gap is

The Waco Downtown Farmers Market is a year-round riverside market located at 400 South University Parks Drive. Since November 2011, the Market has been and will continue to be open every Saturday from 9am to 1pm, featuring the best local agricultural producers and artisan vendors within 150-miles of Waco. DOWNTOWN WACO Dec. 7, 2013 9:00 AM

MISTLETOE MARKET

70 vendors that will fill Waco Convention Center. Shop for the last minute items on your gift list or buy a little something for yourself and enjoy free admission into the market. WACO CONVENTION CENTER 100 Washington Ave. Waco, Dec. 7, 2013 10:00 AM

HOLIDAY PARADE

The grand finale to Waco Wonderland, the Holiday Parade will be the final kick off for the Christmas season. DOWNTOWN WACO Dec. 7, 2013 10:00 AM

Have an event for our calendar? Submit it at www.wacoweekly.com

As part of the Shopapalooza Ladies event series, Mistletoe Market presents more than

CALENDAR

••••••

WEEK

Design | Branding | Web

wacoweekly.com • December 04, 2013 • WACO WEEKLY • pg 11

NOV 30

TREE LIGHTING AND FIREWORKS!

Downtown comes alive for Small Business Saturday with a 30-foot tree, stage performances and a dazzling fireworks show

DEC 1

Bring a bike, take a hike and play the day away as Camp Gladiator closes Austin Avenue for a winter recess

DEC 2

Put on your Pearl Snaps and Boots and head to the Square for a holiday animal display and carriage rides

DEC 3

Give back to the community and bring a canned good to receive a dollar off a skating ticket

DEC 4

“ELF” on a GIANT movie screen, a bad sweater contest and seasonal treats from Dancing Bear Pub, Balcones Distillery and Dichotomy Coffee

DEC 5

Make the holidays special and bring a toy to receive a dollar off a skating ticket

DEC 6

Join us for a free holiday concert in the park with Waco’s Holly Tucker and more

DEC 7

The annual Holiday Parade returns to Downtown Waco and will travel down Austin Avenue at 10 a.m.

SUNDAY FUNDAY

COWBOY CHRISTMAS FOOD DRIVE BAD SWEATERS, GOOD SPIRITS TOY DRIVE! CONCERT IN THE PARK DOWNTOWN PARADE

PLAY

••••••

3 Apps You Won’t Regret Downloading By Luke Murray FOODIE RECIPES During the holidays, we gather together with family to do what we do best as Americans—eat copious amounts of food and then go back for seconds. You want to be sure that you have the perfect meal set up to impress mom—or worse, the in-laws. No one wants to hear their nit-picky grandma talking about how dry the turkey is or that the dressing needed more sage. Get it right the first time with the Foodie Recipes app. With a variety of contributors to the recipe list, get the best of the best from experts in everything from gravy to green bean casserole. Go through the list, pick your favorites, gather your ingredients and get cooking. Follow easy step-by-step instructions with clearly labeled prep times and yields. Invite the family over for a little more chewing and a lot less complaining. – FREE ICYCLE: ON THIN ICE This game is a bit on the random side, slightly all over the place, but with something new around every corner. In short, it can’t get boring. Travel through this platform-style runner game going from world to world on everything from tiny bikes to shopping carts. You take the role of Dennis, the initially naked biking hero, as you go through the game to find clothing and transportation upgrades. Dress Dennis in a variety of ensembles to get a good laugh, and find hidden treasures as you scale the landscapes of the game’s highly-detailed levels, riding your bike over rooftops, ice, and rainbows. Enjoy a vivid soundtrack across a spread of 80 missions or your quest to find...love? Plot twist. Surely you can help this hero go from a naked-nobody to a hard-pedaling heartthrob? Grab the chain oil and get going. – $0.99 SNIPSNAP COUPON APP For some, the only thing that trumps food and football this time of year is that shop-till-you-drop, get-the-best-deal, and comeout-on-top feeling. Oh, the gift of giving. With all the stresses of holiday shopping, a little organization goes a long way. The SnipSnap Coupon App is designed to give you peace of mind during holiday time. Take pictures of coupons and keep them stored for later so you aren’t fumbling through them at the register, pull up the barcode and let the cashier scan it for a quick getaway. The app notifies you about upcoming expiration dates and even shows you links to e-coupons related to your interests. SnipSnap will even monitor what stores you enter and remind you of what coupons you’ve logged for that location. Bargain shopping couldn’t get easier. – FREE

wacoweekly.com • December 04, 2013 • WACO WEEKLY • pg 13

- By Brandon Nowalk -

Homefront ACTION (R)

Oldboy

ACTION (R)

Oldboy, the remake by Spike Lee, has a hell of a hook. Josh Brolin plays sleaze incarnate, a drunken, lecherous ad exec who skips his baby daughter’s birthday for a meeting with a client. After puking outside his buddy’s restaurant and accosting a woman with a distinctive umbrella, he wakes up in a sort of motel room. He’s fed at intervals, he’s allowed certain television shows and books, and he has appropriate toiletries. He’s kept there for 20 years watching the news reports of his ex-wife’s rape and murder and his baby girl’s subsequent adoption and maturation as a moving cellist. And then he’s released. His captor promises to give him a confession and a purse of diamonds if he can figure out why. I’m not against American remakes, or remakes in general, and if Oldboy 2.0 increases the exposure of the original—Park Chan-wook’s 2003 poster child of Korean extremity—more power to it. It’s just that Spike Lee doesn’t do much with his material. The original is as stylish as stylish gets, all distorted compositions and subtly unsettling touches. This one’s at its best when it nods to Park, as when Brolin contemplates a live octopus in a restaurant aquarium, a reference to a notorious scene in the original. Lee can’t help but fail to live up to another notorious scene, a tracking shot down a hallway as the original protagonist takes on a whole gang with just a hammer. Still, Oldboy is such a provocative story that even a mild telling is interesting, bringing up questions about imprisonment and justice even before the real fireworks. Oldboy is basically a film noir, a style of movies about beat-up losers succumbing to a single moral, failing in a dark universe, helped along by a mysterious femme fatale. Lee has a certain flair for urban creepiness, from up-to-no-good warehouses to the hackle-raising hum of neon gas. The solution wipes away some of the moral gray, but the fun is in the mystery.

pg 14 • WACO WEEKLY • December 04, 2013 • wacoweekly.com

Homefront puts you in the mind of an old Woody Allen bit. “The food in this restaurant is terrible,” it goes. “And such small portions!” So it is with Homefront: not just an awfully put together action drama about a single father in a rural Louisiana community that turns on him, but one with such meager action. The trailer suggests a big siege for the climax, but it’s over in a flash. The fight scenes are shot and edited into oblivion. You can never tell who has the upper hand until the end, when somebody apparently wins. And it’s such a shame because Jason Statham is perhaps our greatest action star right now, and this role allows him to have some fun in between all the punches. Meanwhile, Kate Bosworth, of all people, dances circles around a cast with the likes of James Franco and Winona Ryder.

The Act of Killing DOCUMENTARY (NR)

While it’s more of a television holiday, there are a few outstanding Thanksgiving movies. Many are about the stresses and joys of reuniting with friends and relatives, like Home for the Holidays, the recent indie Turkey Bowl, or Woody Allen’s masterpiece Hannah and Her Sisters. A darker version of the holiday family gathering is The Ice Storm, but for a more fun edgy Thanksgiving, go with The House of Yes, from the director Mean Girls. One more dark pick: Eli Roth’s trailer for a fake movie called Thanksgiving that plays in the middle of Grindhouse. For historical flavor, Terence Malick’s The New World has a centerpiece scene where the Powhatan tribe rescue the English settlers at Jamestown with maize and blankets. Best, though, is the buddy comedy Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss and Peeta are thrown into an all-star season of the hunger games, but something’s different this time around. Revolution is in the air. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer join the cast. PG-13 (146 min.)

2. Frozen

In a kingdom cursed to endure permanent winter, a young girl voiced by Kristen Bell teams up with a mountain man to rescue her sister and stop the curse in the latest Disney animated adventure. PG (108 min.)

3. Thor: The Dark World

A valuable mystical substance infects Jane (Natalie Portman), so Thor (Chris Hemsworth) brings her to Valhalla while dark elves conspire to retrieve the substance. Also starring Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, and Rene Russo. PG-13 (112 min.)

4. The Best Man Holiday In this sequel to 1999’s The Best Man, the cast of college friends reunites after 15 years to celebrate Christmas together, where the old jokes, romances, and hard feelings resurface. R (123 min.)

6. Homefront

Jason Statham plays a retired DEA agent and single father who moves with his daughter to a rural Louisiana community that doesn’t take kindly to him. Co-starring James Franco, Kate Bosworth, Winona Ryder. R (100 min.)

6. Delivery Man

Vince Vaughn plays a slacker who finds out a mix-up at the sperm bank has made him the father of 500-someodd children, which helps him find a direction in life. PG-13 (107 min.)

7. The Book Thief

During World War II a young German girl who likes to steal books bonds with a Jewish refugee hiding from

the Nazis in her parents’ basement. Geoffrey Rush stars as the family patriarch. PG-13 (131 min.)

8. Black Nativity

From the writer-director of Eve’s Bayou comes this musical set to Langston Hughes about a teen spending Christmas in New York with his estranged family. Starring Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, and Angela Bassett. PG-13 (93 min.)

9. Philomena

Steve Coogan plays a serious journalist who decides to write a human interest piece, the story of Philomena, who is trying to track down the son she put up for adoption years ago. PG-13 (98 min.)

10. Last Vegas

Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, and Morgan Freeman go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party in this fish-out-of-water comedy. Think The Hangover meets Grumpy Old Men.

11. Gravity

In this revolutionary 3-D rollercoaster, a space mission gone awry forces astronauts Sandra Bullock and George Clooney to fend for themselves among various space stations and to get back home. PG-13 (90 min.)

12. Dallas Buyers Club

Matthew McConaughey plays a reallife Texan who was diagnosed HIVpositive and begins a ring to fasttrack meds not yet approved by the FDA by importing them from Mexico for HIV-positive Americans. Costarring Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto. R (117 min.)

13. 12 Years as a Slave

The Toronto Film Festival winner by chic arthouse director Steve McQueen chronicles the abduction of a free northern black man (Chiwetel Ejiofur) and his enslavement for 12 years on southern plantations. R (133 min.)

14. Bad Grandpa

Johnny Knoxville gets out the old-age

make-up to play an 86-year-old man taking his 8-year-old grandson across the country. Their goal? To prank an unsuspecting populace, like a cross between Borat and Jackass. R (92 min.)

15. Free Birds

Just in time for Thanksgiving, two turkeys get the bright idea to travel back in time and prevent turkey from becoming a holiday staple in this cartoon. Voice cast includes Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler. PG (91 min.)

16. Captain Phillips

Based on a true story, Tom Hanks stars as the captain of a U.S. ship transporting supplies to Kenya when his ship comes under attack by Somali pirates in this journalistic depiction of international institutions colliding. PG13 (134 min.)

17. Oldboy

Josh Brolin plays a sleazy ad exec who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 20 years and suddenly released. His captor will give him a full confession if he can just figure out why. R (104 min.)

18. Nebraska

Bruce Dern plays an old man who believes he won a million-dollar sweepstakes, and Will Forte plays his son, who knows there is no money... but accompanies his father to Lincoln, Nebraska anyway. R (115 min.)

19. The Christmas Candle In a rural English village, a progressive minister and a skeptic team up to trade the old legend of a miracle-granting candle for a new way of performing miracles: spreading good deeds and compassion. PG (100 min.)

20. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Our hero, Flint Lockwood, voiced by Bill Hader, leaves his job when he finds out the machine responsible for the original is still in operation, leading to another avalanche of foods crossed with animals. PG (95 min.)

wacoweekly.com • December 04 2013 • WACO WEEKLY • pg 15