Vol. 1 No. 16 by Waco Weekly

02.26.14 - VOL. 1, NO. 16 - WACOWEEKLY.COM

contents

02.27-03.05 meet the team PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Shepperd EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matt Shepperd EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sara Gilmore BUSINESS MANAGER Leisha Shepperd MANAGING EDITOR Chris Zebo CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bekah Skinner ASST. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kaitlin Vickers WRITERS

Essentials: Listen Discover Taste Play Look

3 6 10 11 14

Randle Browning Sara Gilmore Cheyenne Mueller Luke Murray

Cover Story:

College-dropout-gone-carpenter-gone-full-time 6 musician Joe Pug sat down with us last week to talk inspiration, moving to Texas and more.

INTERNS Haley Clark Katy DeLuna April Elkins Alex Gieger Brittany Holm Avery Moore Kelly Porter Heydy Sanches Kyla Spaugh Camille Youngblood

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

Taste 9 - No juicer? No ice

Look Listen 4 - Beck is back! His new 15 - Cheyenne gives

cream machine? No album ushers his musical a rundown of this week’s top 20 box worries. Randle cools legacy into new aural office films. things off for this week’s territory. Our Town Table.

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. © Copyright 2014 Campus Press LP

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Cody Jinks at Wild West Waco By Katy De Luna

Cody Jinks shamelessly admitted that his weirdest show was at a 1,500 seated venue where he only played for a crowd of 15 people. Then he and his band proceeded to get drunk next door with a hip hop group they met after. At another show, Jinks got into a fight and then wrote on his guitar “No Linedancing” so that dancers don’t bust a move at his concerts. He says that line dancing has a “nails on the chalkboard effect” on him.

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He has a country outlaw vibe about him that transcends into his music. Jinks’ sound fuses traditional, outlaw, and modern country all into one sound. Tracks like “Fast Hand” and “Glad to Stay” channel Merle Haggard, while “Hippies and Cowboys” sounds closer to Jamey Johnson. Jinks is currently on a North American tour and making his way to Wild West Waco February 28. The show begins at 9pm.

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Reviewed by Megan Ingram

BECK Album: Morning Phase

Release Date: February 25, 2014

Rating: Sounds Like: The Flaming Lips Cake Blur

Tracklist:

Cycle Morning Heart is a Drum Say Goodbye Blue Moon Unforgiven Wave Don’t Let it Go Blackbird Chain Phase Turn Away Country Down Walking Light

Morning Phase is his first album since 2008. However, Beck has never stopped recording and writing. Besides the one-off singles and a sheet music song collection, rumor has it that he has unreleased material simply lying around untouched. But at the beginning of 2012, the folk multi-instrumentalist began piecing together the groundwork for Morning Phase, completing the foundation in just three days in Los Angeles. The album is the sequel, or “companion piece,” to Beck’s Sea Change (released in 2002). Recalling the same California folk-rock sound, Morning Phase alludes to the sensational harmonies, song structure, and powerful emotional blow of its predecessor, while moving forward with a rush of optimism. The album evokes a new kind of trance induced by swooning vocals and poetic lyrics. An unconfined lunar theme is laced throughout the collection, ebbing with early tracks “Morning” and “Blue Moon” and flowing through “Waking Light” with crepuscular reverence.

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For many, Beck has been somewhat of an enigma. Over the years, he’s displayed many a persona: from the rock baby boy of the ‘90s to the L.A hipster minstrel to the experimentalist who, last year, delivered a book of sheet music to the world. Now, as he releases his twelfth studio album a full eight days before its scheduled release, it’s not hard to find ourselves wondering which Beck we’ll hear this time.

Morning Unforgiven Phase

LISTEN

Recommended Tracks:

The Fray

“Helios”

Release Date: Feb. 25, 2014 Reviewed by Haley Clark The Fray is hot off the release of their third studio album, Scars and Stories, which was released in February 2012. Now, a year since their last album release, the Denver-based foursome is releasing their fourth studio album, Helios. The album’s first single, “Love Don’t Die”, was released in December 2013. The track has an upbeat, anthem-esque vibe, an unusual sound for the group. The single is a fresh and catchy take on a typical love song. “Hurricane” is the other single on the album and features lead-singer Isaac Slade’s trademark vocals. The pop-rock group’s new sound is a little different (in a good way), with a rock edge that is louder than the softer sound the band refined in the past.

Dierks Bentley

“Riser”

Release Date: Feb. 25, 2014 Reviewed by Haley Clark Dierks Bentley’s seventh full-length album, Riser, is his most personal release so far. Riser was written and recorded following his father’s death, and its main theme is accepting change and moving forward. Bentley purposefully rearranged his team members so his new sound would have flair unlike anything we’ve heard from him in the past. While still keeping his roots, the result is a deeply emotional album from the country superstar. The track “I Hold On” is predominately about faith, family, and love. “Bourbon in Kentucky” features vocals by fellow country star Kacey Musgraves. The song is about the angst and sorrow of heartbreak—not new territory for the country singer, but poignant in this rendering. Riser is a deeply personal album and may be Bentley’s best to date.

Design | Branding | Web

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Exclusive Interview: Joe Pug By Sara Gilmore When he was about to start his senior year at the University of North Carolina, Joe Pug decided he’d leave it all behind, move to Chicago, and pursue music. The college-dropout-gone-carpenter-gonefull-time musician is now working on his third studio album. His journey actually began with spending the money to make music...and then giving it away for free. Pug wanted see what might happen if he let people share it with their friends. High risk does, we suppose, come with high reward sometimes. Since his 2011 move from Chicago to Austin, Pug has been growing into one of the more renowned singer/songwriters of today’s folk generation. (Paste Magazine placed him among the ranks of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Josh Ritter.)

Pug happens to be playing Common Grounds this Friday, so we got to spend a few minutes chatting with him this week, to see for ourselves who the guy behind all these crazy stories is. Enjoy the interview, and if you have plans Friday night, cancel them. You’ll want to be in the back yard at Common Grounds with this guy. WW: I’m sure you’re used to people wanting to know this part of your story, but I want to ask you about dropping out of school at North Carolina right before your senior year. How did you reach that point of, “Yep, this feels right. I’m leaving this all behind and taking a risk?” JP: Well, that was just an interesting following of

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intuition against every other consideration. Which is not always the right call, but sometimes it is. WW: I love the way you got your start, just giving away music and letting people share it with their friends. I don’t think there are many musicians willing to take that big of a risk, but it obviously has paid off. JP: Thank you. WW: What was that like? Just spending the money on making that music and sending it off, not knowing what would become of it? JP: That’s always been kind of in line with my

personality. I feel like if you’re doing your best work, and you’re sharing it with people who want to participate with it, then, in general, good things will happen. It might not happen in the timeline that you want it to happen; but overall, if you’re patient, good things will happen. WW: Since the release of Messenger and more recently The Great Despiser, people have been comparing you to songwriters like Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Josh Ritter. Have you always been drawn to the Americana/

JP: There’s not a real huge formula to it. It’s just kind of sitting down with a page in the morning, and it changes day to day; but what doesn’t change is that you sit down and do it. When you’re in the writing mode, you just have to show up for work. WW: Tell me about your move to Texas in 2011. What made you choose to leave Chicago and come to Austin? JP: I was just looking for a change of pace. I had visited Austin a bunch, and I was really drawn to

“It’s tough to go out and find inspiration, and you find it wherever you can get it. I’m just always seeking out experiences that inspire my creative instinct.” - CHRIS MCGOWEN, WACO CHAMBER DIRECTOR OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

folk style, or did that just happen to be where you fit when you started? JP: Yeah, I’ve been listening to that for a while. I mean, it wasn’t called Americana when I was a kid listening to it, you know, it was just American songwriting. So yeah, we put different names on it now. But yes. I’ve definitely always listened to the music that is now categorized as that for sure. WW: What keeps you inspired as a writer? JP: That changes on a day to day basis. It’s tough to go out and find inspiration, and you find it wherever you can get it, whether it’s in a novel, or a movie, or a conversation with a friend. I’m just always seeking out experiences that inspire my creative instinct. WW: Have you had any recently inspiring experiences like that? JP: Yeah, constantly. I just finished a Hermann Hesse book, Narcissus and Goldmund, which I found really inspiring. That sent me down a couple different creative rabbit holes, and now, you start looking for — well, you go wherever that leads you next. WW: What does the creative process look like for you?

a lot of the songwriters I love, guys like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams — they’re all from Texas. So I wanted to get down there. WW: What has that move done for your career? JP: I don’t know. It wasn’t really a career move, it was more of a personal move. I wanted to get down there, and it’s been good for me personally. WW: What are you working on right now? JP: We’re going to record a new album next month and hopefully release it over the summer. WW: What sets that apart from what you’ve done previously? JP: Well, I think this will be an interesting one because I’m recording with the band that I play with live. We’re gonna go in and try to kind of replicate what we do in a live show on an album. WW: Will this be your first time to play in Waco? JP: I’ve never played Waco before. I’m excited, I’ve heard a lot of great things about this venue that we’re playing.

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By Megan Ingram and Katy De Luna

ONE MORE THING

by b.j. novak The name B.J. Novak may be familiar to some of you as the man who played Ryan Howard on The Office. However, what some of you might not know is that Novak was also a writer for the show. Now he’s written his first book. After the show ended, Novak penned One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, a collection of humorous short stories. The tales vary in size; some are almost twenty pages, whereas others are only a few sentences. One More Thing will not have you laugh-out-loud laughing, but it will elicit giggles and a snort from time to time. One More Thing is also great for adults with short attention spans. “The Rematch” revisits the classic tale of the tortoise and the hare and adds new dimensions while “Chris Hansen at the Justin Bieber Concert” rants about both men and their ill-framed celebrity.

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION by elizabeth kolbert You might not know it, but scientists around the world are currently in the middle of tracking Earth’s sixth extinction, an event said to be the most disastrous since the asteroid encounter that ravaged the dinosaurs. But this go ‘round, it’s not a rock that’s causing all the ruckus; it’s us. New Yorker staff writer and two-time winner of a National Magazine Award, Elizabeth Kolbert has long since carved herself a name as a premiere science writer. In The Sixth Extinction, she delves into a riveting account of the species vanishing all around us and follows the progression of extinction from its first manifestation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionera Paris to modern day. Kolbert reports from the Andes, the Amazon rain forest, the Great Barrier Reef, and her own backyard – all prime stages for the head-on collision between human civilization and Earth’s ecosystem. In an illuminating exposition, she analyzes the effects of climate change on the current global wave of plant and animal loss, acquainting us with a dozen species, some that are already lost and others seemingly running down the clock on Earth.

STILL LIFE WITH BREAD CRUMBS

by anna quindlen

They say that in every novelist’s life there eventually comes a moment when he or she throws off the dark weight of anything and everything that drags them down - the stereotypes and conventions, the follies in style and language, the leverage and influence of those who have come before them. The past is gone and there’s only one way out: forward. Described by The New York Times as a “feminist novel for a post-feminist age”, Still Life with Bread Crumbs is Anna Quindlen’s quest into her own uncharted territory. Beginning with an imagined gunshot, the story details the life (and more accurately, the crisis) of an unexpected heroine. Rebecca Winter, 60, is a photographer whose work has inspired many women. Marriage and motherhood inspired the creation of her renowned art. The power of her early photos was rooted in darkness, in anger towards her selfish husband and towards herself for life characterized by a conventional and unhappy marriage. Now, with both her career and her bank account on a downward spiral, she trades the city for the middle of nowhere, forging her own path for the very first time.

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TASTE

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Randle Browning is a food writer and photographer who grew up in Houston, graduated from Baylor in 2010, and studied and cooked in kitchens in New England and the UK before coming back to Waco. When she’s not blogging, you can find her at Shorty’s Pizza Shack, where she slings pizza dough and serves frothy pints with her husband. Find her food blog online at crandlecakes.com. This is that point in the year when I notice people who have gotten ahead of the weather, people who went with shorts instead of slacks a little too soon. By evening, they’re shivering in their flip flops and sprinting from the car to the door, realizing they can’t move their sweaters to the back of the closet yet. For me, winter citrus is that transitional, in-between category that gets foodies from the soups and stews of winter to the salads and popsicles of the coming months. It’s bright and refreshing, and just in time for those who are ready to put starches and dark chocolates (and coats) behind them for a while. Before I knew very much about seasonal cooking, I associated most fruits with spring and summer. But citrus actually peaks during the colder months, bringing these bright bombs of flavor and energy. When it comes to winter fatigue, though, we’re not doing quite so badly here in Texas, where all our chilly days come sandwiched between warm and breezy afternoons. Still, it’s hard to resist the lure of winter citrus, from the familiar ruby red grapefruits and Meyer lemons to kumquats and clementines. And of course, the blood oranges. In the last few years, blood oranges have had the spotlight. Up there with kale and quinoa, they were “trending” in the food world for a while there. Don’t let that put you off. Blood oranges are full of a beautiful deep red juice, and they have grapefruit and raspberry undertones. The best ones are tart without being bitter, sweet without being cloying. I find blood oranges are best eaten in raw segments, juiced into a cocktail, or frozen in a sherbet like this one. As you might remember from eating the tricolored “rainbow” variety as a kid, sherbet takes cues from both sorbet and ice cream -- a combination of cream, milk, and gelatin add depth to the fresh juice and sugar. Do yourself a favor: don’t wait until it’s officially hot out to try this stuff.

Blood Orange Sherbet (Makes 5-6 cups)

No juicer? No ice cream machine? No worries. Squeeze the blood orange juice into a large bowl and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Discard pulp and seeds. To freeze, pour prepared sherbet mixture into a shallow dish, stirring to break up ice crystals every half hour. Continue for at least 4 hours, until sherbet is smooth. Return to freezer to set. Ingredients: 1 ½ cups sugar 1 packet unflavored gelatin powder 3 ¾ cups fresh-squeezed blood orange juice, strained 2 Tablespoons heavy cream 1 cup whole milk ¼ teaspoon lemon extract Directions: 1. Whisk together sugar and gelatin. 2. In medium saucepot, pour in blood orange juice and slowly whisk in the sugar and gelatine mixture. Heat juice mixture over medium heat until gelatin and sugar are fully dissolved and there are no granules. 3. Remove from heat and pour mixture into a heatproof bowl. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream, then add the milk and lemon extract. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool.

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4. Churn the sherbet mixture in an ice cream machine for 10-15 minutes, until thickened. Transfer churned sherbet to an airtight container and freeze for at least 1 hour, until firm. Serve in bowls or cones. If you don’t eat the sherbet within 48 hours, I recommend letting it melt in the fridge and rechurning it. Homemade sherbet will get too rock-hard in the freezer if you leave it for weeks.

Won’t Regret

The Village Herbalist

Downloading

Herb Shop & Holistic Health Center

3 Apps You

Bulk Herbs, Holistic Massage, Tea Bar, All Things Herbal THREADFLIP - BY KELLY PORTER With Threadflip, you can sell and shop for clothes right from your phone. To sell, you just take a picture of the item you’re selling and upload it. You can shop and browse different items by category, style, brand, or size. You’re able to double-tap a photo and save items that you like and follow select closets. You can also purchase new items from brands at up to 70% off retail. Get fashionable ideas from viewing photos of other fashion savvy people. New items are posted daily, and you’re able to choose whether you access your account from the app or the web. Threadflip offers a buyer protection guarantee, and you have the ability to manage your sales and track your orders. Standard shipping with USPS Priority Mail is free and easy with their prepaid shipping label.

www.wacoherbalist.com

iTRANSLATE VOICE 2 - BY MEGAN INGRAM Featured on the iPhone App Store as an “Editor’s Choice”, “Best of 2013”, “10 Apps that WOW”, and “App Store Essentials”, iTranslate Voice 2 has been revamped for iOS 7. Boasting faster translation and increased accuracy over its predecessor, the app is a handy tool for those interested in converting and conversing between many different languages. Simple in both design and use, it offers 42 different languages, including Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Korean, and many European languages. On one side of the screen is a flag depicting your chosen language. In one tap, choose the icon of the language you’re about to speak, then speak and await your results. iTranslate’s AirTranslate feature is said to work even better now, due to iOS 7’s new peer-to-peer technology. SOOSHI - BY HALEY CLARK Sooshi is an app all about, you guessed it, sushi! Whether you’re a novice or connoisseur, the app teaches the different kinds of sushi, different ways to prepare it, and the best spots to order it. Sooshi has 5 different groups, each entailing important information about each section: sushi, utensils, fish, ingredients, and restaurant finder. The traditional sushi restaurant offerings are also offered on the app: Maki, Nigiri, Gunkanmaki. Tools and utensils needed to make sushi and information on how to use them is listed in the app as well. A full list of ingredients and steps on how to prepare different rolls is another feature. But if you’re not feeling like making your own one night, the restaurant finder section finds some of the best sushi spots close to your location.

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TEXAS BACK ROADS facebook.com/TexasBackRoads

A Journey Back in Time: Dinosaur Valley State Park By Jeremy Rinard of txbkrds.com Dinosaurs are awesome! If we’re being honest, they stand heads and shoulders above zombies and sparkly vampires, if for no other reason than they actually walked the earth. We had theropods with teeth like steak knives, sauropods with necks so long they’d make a giraffe blush, and they ruled the earth for millions of years. Texas was home to many of these prehistoric beasts. The fossils of 21 different types of dinosaurs and a number of other nondinosaurs--think mammoths, marine reptiles and dimetrodons (the ones that looked like alligators with sails on their backs) —have been discovered in the Lone Star State. And while many of the awesome museums around the state have some pretty cool displays about these “terrible lizards”—and I recommend checking them out when you get the chance—there’s no better bang for your buck and all around awesome experience than treading where these hulking beasts have actually tread at Dinosaur Valley State Park. This isn’t some kitschy roadside attraction; there are real dinosaur tracks all over the place and the tracks are the real thing. They were left by theropods (sharp-teeth), sauropods (longnecks) and hadrosaurs (duck-bills) some 113 million years ago (give or take a million years) during the Cretaceous Period. Back then, north Texas was beachfront property and the Glen Rose area featured a shallow sea floor teeming with all sorts of prehistoric life. A nine-year-old boy first discovered a track in this area in 1909, but the tracks found in the park were made famous by paleontologist Rowland T. Bird in 1938. These tracks are some of the bestpreserved tracks in the world, and the park is home to the first sauropod trackway ever discovered (now believed to have been made by Paluxysaurus Jonesi, the official state dinosaur of Texas). A portion of Bird’s discovery was excavated and is now on display in the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., but there’s still plenty more to see. Don’t worry, if you haven’t really thought about dinosaurs since

you were nine, the headquarters has a nice interpretive exhibit explaining everything from what dinosaurs we know roamed Texas to what the area looked like back then to how the dinosaur tracks were made and preserved. And let’s not forget the parks two stars: a life size tyrannosaurus rex and brontosaurus from the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York. These guys are great photo ops, and if you’re curious about all the details of their history and how they were made, there’s a plaque for that. There are also plaques to tell you all about t-rex (a native Texan) and “brontosaurus” and all about the chicanery of why the brontosaurus is no more. And if these two aren’t enough for you, there’s Dinosaur World right next to the turnoff for the park. Dinosaur World features more than 100 life-sized dinos, and while they’re not exactly Jurassic Park-quality models, it’s still fun and they do give you perspective on how big these creatures actually were. Just know to expect tourist-trap prices. And if dinosaurs aren’t your thing, or you just want to make a day trip into a weekend trip, there’s all the regular stuff you can expect from a state park: camping, hiking, mountain biking, and whatever else you can find to do in the park’s more than 1500 acres. Insider Tip: The best tracks in the park are on the other side of the river. And while there is a limestone boulder path across, depending on the time of year and rainfall, you may have to get a little wet. Bonus Tip: If you want to know more about the park or surrounding area, there’s an app for that. Look for the DVSP app available in the app store. Dinosaur Valley Sate Park is located just west of Glen Rose, Texas. Take U.S. Highway 67 to FM 205 for 4 miles to Park Road 59; then go 1 mile to the headquarters. The park is open 8am-10pm and busy season is March-November. If you have any questions, you can call 254.897.4588 or visit tpwd.state. tx.us/state-parks/dinosaur-valley for additional information and reservations.

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“thinking of view”

- so listen carefully

Across 1 AMA members 4 Defiant stayer’s stance 11 Race participant? 14 Black Eyed Peas singer will.___ 15 Place for a friend to crash 16 SOS part 17 Bed linen where bad stuff goes on? 19 Hosp. diagnostic 20 “___ fair in love and war” 21 Smooth fabric 22 Random link from some stranger, say 23 Late comedian Phyllis 26 Island show 28 Planner square 29 “West Side Story” actor Tamblyn 32 Site to search for stomach remedies 36 Drinkware crafted between the mountains? 40 “In ___ of flowers...” 42 Clearer, as the sky 43 “Silver Spoons” actress Gray 44 What sports car engines have? 47 Put at, as a price 48 Sinn ___ 49 “But ___ Cheerleader” (Natasha Lyonne movie) 52 “The Georgia Peach” 55 “Primal Fear” actor Edward 57 Roo, for one 60 Disaster relief org. 63 Better Than ___ 64 Major miner concern? 65 Technical genius at filmmaking? 68 Animation studio drawing 69 D, E and F, but not F#, on a piano 70 Quit fasting 71 Daily ___ (political blog) 72 Instant coffee brand 73 Common omelet ingredient Answers

Down 1 Total one’s totals? 2 Mexico’s national flower 3 Reason for insoles, maybe 4 “Was ___ das?” 5 Pursue with passion 6 Deep-sixes, to a thug 7 Language spoken in “Avatar” 8 Government IOU of sorts 9 Lizard that pitches insurance 10 Kind of poem 11 Easy win 12 A psychic may claim to see it 13 Barber’s quick job 18 Adult ed. course 22 “Jackass” crewmate once on “Dancing with the Stars” 24 Pitching stat 25 Rough game on a pitch 27 Abbr. in personal ads 30 Toby Keith’s “Red ___ Cup” 31 Tobacco type 33 Event where 13 is a good number 34 1051, to Caesar 35 Opium lounge 37 Utter madness 38 Late golfer Ballesteros 39 Senator Hatch 40 Jazzophile’s collection, often 41 Detroit suburb Grosse ___ 45 General ___’s chicken 46 “Bed-In” participant 50 Pat of “The Karate Kid” 51 Headwear of yore 53 Bingo call 54 Jeff who bought the Washington Post in 2013 56 Court judge 57 Sporty stereotype 58 Brand with a “Triple Double” variety 59 Slippery critters 61 “Walking in Memphis” singer Cohn 62 Coloratura’s offering 65 Earn a title 66 Cool, to the Fresh Prince 67 Suffix for sugars 2014 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

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By Cheyenne Mueller

Upcoming: Non-Stop ROBOCOP

ACTION (PG-13)

Making his lead role debut, Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman plays Alex Murphy in RoboCop, a human police officer transformed into a cyborg crime fighter in director José Padilha’s remake of the 1987 sci-fi thriller. Set in the year 2028, fifteen years before the original RoboCop was set, Padilha’s rendition keeps the basics similar: the setting is Detroit, Murphy’s a cop with a family he adores, and he has a bad habit of getting himself into hairy situations. His life is forever changed when he wakes up from a near-fatal assassination attempt to discover that he’s been re-built as a steelgirded action figure. Before going to see this movie, rumors had been circulating that the reboot had missed the mark of the original entirely. Keeping with the original, the movie opens with a group of suicide bombers planning an attack on American robots in Tehran with a mission to die on television. As the deaths transpire, the news reporters remain collected and unmoved, even though the gruesome scene happens right before them. Despite the acceptance of violence by people in the future, humanity is still a beacon of hope in RoboCop. More importantly, the idea of free will is alluded to throughout the film. It’s a hackneyed theme, but it adds another dimension to the original plot, making the new version appeal to the 21st century’s fear of tech domination. Also, in the original, Alex Murphy’s body isn’t revealed. But Padillha doesn’t spare the audience and shows Murphy’s gruesome innards—a frightening thing to observe, but a calculated move that heightens our sense that Murphy is alive despite his armor and programming. There’s not much left to him, but he still is human inside. As the film progresses, Murphy’s dopamine levels are decreased, transforming him into nothing but a robot wearing a human mask. However, he’s eventually able to “override” the doctor’s tampering and begins to feel emotions again, out of his own free will. The movie balances on that beam of hope until the very end and manages to take us for quite an action-packed thrill ride.

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On an international flight from New York to London, U.S. Federal air marshal Bill Marks receives a series of threatening text messages warning every 20 minutes a passenger will be killed unless $150 million is transferred into an offshore bank account. After investigation reveals that the bank account is under Marks’ name and a bomb is found aboard the plane, Marks is labeled a hijacker. Not only does he have to prove his innocence and find the killer, but the entire plane becomes his responsibility… and no one trusts him. Now, I’m not entirely sure how this movie is going to work logistically. Typically, when I’m on a flight, there’s no cell reception. Also, with wi-fi available, you’d have to sign in with your account and pay for it. So, while the crime is being pinned on the air marshal, is there no possible way to track whose using the Internet? I’m not a tech wizard, but it just doesn’t make sense. Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra has worked with Neeson before in 2011’s thriller, Unknown. Collet-Serra’s other directorial projects include Orphan and House of Wax--no stranger to suspenseful movies. The most recent films Neeson has appeared in are both animated: he voices the raccoon in Nut Job and the “bad cop” in Fox’s The Lego Movie. But Non-Stop proves that Neeson hasn’t gone soft. He’s just as tough as he was in Taken.

1. The Lego Movie

An ordinary LEGO, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.PG (100 min)

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 (102 min)

from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall from goldplated grace, this Scorsese film is like The Godfather for investment bankers. R (180 min)

2. 3 Days to Kill

9. Endless Love

15. Philomena

A dying Secret Service agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment. PG-13 (113 min)

The story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy whose instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart. PG-13 (103 min)

3. Pompeii

10. Winter’s Tale

A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him. PG-13 (98 min)

4. RoboCop

In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot cyborg police officer. PG-13 (108 min)

5. The Monuments Men

6. About Last Night

Two couples journey from the bar to the bedroom, and their ties are eventually put to the test in the real world. R (100 min)

7. Ride Along

Fast-talking security guard Ben joins his cop brother-in-law James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying Angela, James’ sister. PG-13 (100 min)

kingdom

11. Lone Survivor

Based on the failed 2005 mission “Operation Red Wings”, four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. R (121 min)

12. American Hustle

An unlikely World War II platoon are tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners. PG-13 (118 min)

8. Frozen

One night in winter, Peter Lake, orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side. But through a happenstance meeting, Peter falls in love with the daughter of the house, a dying woman named Bethany. PG-13 (118 min)

A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the mafia. R (138 min)

13. That Awkward Moment

Surly, a curmudgeon, independent squirrel is banished from his park and forced to survive in the city. Lucky for him, he stumbles on the one thing that may be able to save his life and the rest of park community as they gear up for winter. PG (86 min)

14. The Wolf of Wall Street cursed

endure

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort,

A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman’s search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent. PG-13 (98 min)

16. The Nut Job

17. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack. PG-13 (105 min)

18. Gravity

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.PG13 (91 min)

19. 12 Years a Slave In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. R (134 min)

20. Her

A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that’s designed to meet his every need. R (126 min)

wacoweekly.com • February 26, 2014 • WACO WEEKLY • pg 15