Extinction for Western Gorillas?, Red Carpet for Resident Evil: Extinction, What I’m Reading, Movies This Week, Peruvian Meteorite, Bistro Zinc, Saint or Homewrecker? and more...

Packed for Camping Trip to East Africa. We leave soon, with the October 1st TDH the last until November 5th. Actually, I’ve been packed for about 6 months buying up all the brown and beige safari clothes I could find. I’ve got one of those ultra-light expensive sleeping bags and a really neat ThermaRest magic pad.

The African safari we took last year was fantastic – safaris are luxurious trips. However, to see the gorillas in their natural habitat, we once again went with the U.K. tour company we previously trekked to Tibet with. The only shock is not the camping conditions, but that we are expected to pitch in and cook, clean up, and mount our own tents! Oh, the horror! If we survive Kenya’s notorious crime city of Nairobi, we will make our way through Masai territory to the highly restricted community of gorillas. The gorilla population is on the brink of extinction. The Ebola virus is depleting Western Gorilla populations to a point where it might become impossible for them to recover.

What I’m Reading. Several books I have been reading referenced Michel Foucault, the French philosopher, considered one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th Century, so I brought “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison,” written in 1975. I watch National Geographic Channel’s “Lockdown” and MSNBC’s new “Lockup” series, “Lockup: San Quentin - Extended Stay.” I’m a fan of MSNBC’s original “Lockup” series. MSNBC spent months taping inside San Quentin, one of the country’s most notorious prisons. The six-part series, which expands on MSNBC’s existing “Lockup” series, airs Fridays at 11 p.m. and began on September 7th.

I know the gang signs, I can read tats, flag, write “code,” know all about the “E” Unit, and I know how to make a shank. If I only knew how to do hair weaves.

Foucault believed prisons serve a greater purpose than just incarcerating criminals and explains why prisons continue to be popular even when they are not successful. He describes how prisons really enslave everyone to a life of government-imposed discipline.

Foucault begins with describing a prolonged, horrific 1757 public execution in France. He describes torture and execution as a public spectacle that announced the state’s power and punished the only real property the criminal had – his body. An interesting fact: “Decapitation, the punishment of the nobility, was the least shaming for the criminal’s family.” Decapitation was messy and not very quick or precise. It usually took more than one blow. Hence came the more humane invention, the guillotine, first used in March 1792. It was the perfect vehicle for a public execution, since death was instantaneous and there was no physical confrontation between the condemned and the executioner. http://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Punish-Prison-Michel -Foucault/

Special Forces Annual Picnic. Last Sunday I went to the annual Special Forces Association Picnic arranged by the SF Chapter Ll, where my husband is an active member. This year, someone booked a terrific band, Sweetbox. Their set included Stevie Ray Vaughn, Taj Mahal, George Thoroughgood, Johnny Cash and Clear Water Revival. Sweetbox performs an open blues jam every Wednesday at Barbeque Masters Tavern, 2650 S. Decatur Blvd. (362-7500).

Movies This Week. “Across The Universe” (YES), “In The Valley of Elah” (YES), “Good Luck Chuck” (YES, but), and ”Resident Evil: The Extinction” (YES).

“Across The Universe.” It is daring and brilliant. A Julie Taymor triumph. A mélange of visual creativity using the Beatles music to capture and express a generation in full. The interpretation of the music is perfection. Powerful L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke’s article “Across An Alternate Universe” (Deadline Hollywood, April 11, 2007) chronicled the crisis leading up to the release of “Across the Universe.” The problems were its Titanic-like length, “its lack of narrative, and its weird flights of LSD”. I loved Taymor’s two previous films, “Titus” and “Frida”, and I strongly disagree with the naysayers. The 60’s and 70’s were all about LSD, hippies, groupies, flower power, Merry Pranksters, anti-war sentiment and Beatles music. If you loved Beatles music, Taymor presents a dazzling rendition of 33 songs, all done with sensational imagination.

A corn-fed, all-American girl, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), leaves home to follow her older brother Max (Joe Anderson) to New York after her boyfriend dies in the Vietnam War. In Britain, a Liverpool kid, Jude (Jim Sturgess), comes to New York and meets Lucy’s brother who invites him to live at singer Sadie’s (Dana Fuchs) hippie-influenced Greenwich Village apartment. In NYC, they go through all the changes of the dramatic cultural revolution happening at that time.

Taymor begins the film on the face of newcomer Sturgess, who is incredibly charismatic. While everyone is terrific, Dana Fuchs, styled as a Janis Joplin singer, is mesmerizing.

I loved all the performances with Bono as a Merry Prankster singing “I Am A Watrus,” Joe Cocker singing “Come Together” and Eddie Izzard performing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." As far as Actors-Against-Taymor, “Frida” star Salma Hayek is wonderful as the Singing Nurse. Many of the Beatles characters and greatest songs are represented. The most striking image for me is the underwear shod soldiers carrying the Statue of Liberty on their shoulders.

Don’t fear the uncompromised length, because after seeing it you will complain they probably made Taymor cut your favorite Beatles song.

“In The Valley of Elah.” Tommy Lee Jones astonishes with a silent, agonizing pain you will feel and not easily forget. Director-screenwriter Paul Haggis has written a breathtaking emotional role for Tommy Lee Jones. Here is an actor who has – up until now (who knows what the future holds) – refused to alter his aging face. There are very few actors who could have played this part. “In the Valley of Elah” demanded an actor who looked like a real middle-aged person.

Hank Deerfield (Jones) gets a phone call regarding the disappearance of his son Mike (Jonathan Tucker). Just back from Iraq, if Mike does not return to the base in a few days he will be deemed AWOL. Hank, a former sergeant in criminal investigation, immediately goes to Albuquerque, New Mexico army base to find his son.

After days of doing his own investigation, a mutilated and burned body is found and identified as the remains of Mike. The horrific crime scene borders military and civilian jurisdiction and is arbitrarily given to the military to investigate. Hank asks Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), a newly promoted police detective, for help. She was originally called to the scene. Hank asks her to take him to the location of the killing and he immediately tells her how ineffective the crime scene investigators were. Up against the closed society of the military, Hank’s stoic training and over-riding grief keeps him searching for the answers. Ripping apart the layers of deception, Hank finds out that Mike had secrets and hidden darker issues. Slowly, Hank starts to feel he is in some way responsible for Mike’s decision to go into the military in the first place.

Jones is electrifying ands this is the most important role in his career. He is the film. There is one (of many) memorable scene where he just sits, saying nothing. His face expresses all the grief he is feeling.

“Good Luck Chuck.” It’s gross but exactly what the target demographic wants and gets here. You are warned. It’s a vulgar sex comedy.

I’m not a Dane Cook fan. I hated his “reality” comedy tour, didn’t get his un-funny stand-up act, and wondered how he vaulted so quickly into movies (“Employee of the Month”). I did like his dramatic work in “Mr. Brooks.” Stay that course, Dane! If we have to live with him, and we do, “Good Luck Chuck” shows Cook off in the best possible way. His target movie audience will find him now. If only they knew what to do with his hair. His hairdo is the one studio hairdressers give to stars to make them look younger than they are. All you want to do is say: “Hey dude, get a comb. You look ridiculous.” (See photo of hair below.) When Charlie was 10 years old he had a no-good encounter with a goth schoolmate who put a anti-love hex on him.

The love hex takes 20 years to show up. It took 2 decades for Chuck to notice that he is always the last guy a woman dates before she gets married. Chuck (Dane Cook) is now a successful dentist with the standard-issued best buddy from elementary school – the fat kid who is obsessed with sex.

Chuck’s best friend is fat, short, pudgy-faced, vulgar plastic surgeon Stu (pictured, Dan Fogler). Let’s evaluate Stu: He graduated college, went on to medical school, did a hospital internship, and got board-certified (I hope!) as a plastic surgeon. Opened up his own practice. However, Stu is as dumb as the strippers he transforms into blow-up dolls. I’m shocked every woman has heard about Chuck’s reputation as a good luck charm but Stu’s creepy, masturbating surgeon has a thriving career. He is never in surgery so he must perform his only specialty, breast enhancements, in the back of his car.

After attending the wedding of a former girlfriend, Chuck finds an office full of hungry young women demanding sex from him. He complies though he likes Cam (Jessica Alba), a penguin expert he met at the wedding. Chuck can’t say no. Even his mature, full-figured receptionist demands he have sex with her – she read all about him on match.com. And here is exactly where the script works in Cook’s favor. He gracefully complies with kindness and a sincere feeling for his employee.

Stu goes along masturbating in warmed-up cantaloupe and steering Chuck to see his good luck charm as a public service. I agree with Stu and would have advised Chuck that he was a love philanthropist collecting merit in the Buddhist after-life.

How to break the curse? Chuck and Stu come up with some interesting, funny ideas. Chuck decides to have sex with a morbidly obese woman and see if there really is a soul-mate after-effect to the curse. You know how the movie ends. But what about Chuck having oral sex with a cuddly, stuffed penguin?

The obscene sidekick is necessary and according to the rules of movie-making, this guy must be a fat pig who has never had sex. The leading character has to know the sidekick since pre-school and puts up with his vulgarity because they have “history.” Stu is the end of the line here, and you’ll hate yourself for being fascinated by him. As supporting characters, I liked Cam’s pot-smoking brother and Chuck’s receptionist.

“Resident Evil: Extinction.” The World Premiere and Red Carpet took place on Thursday, September 20th at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at the Stomp Theater. The film’s stars Milla Jovovich (heavily pregnant), Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps, Ashanti, director Russell Mulcahy and the film’s writer Paul W.S. Anderson walked the Red Carpet. Celebrity guests included Christopher Egan, Rachel Hunter, Spencer Locke, and Sylvester Stallone, among many others.

The third and final installment of the $100 million Resident Evil hits, “Resident Evil: Extinction” has Alice (Milla Jovovich), now in hiding in the Nevada desert. She again joins forces with Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and L.J. (Mike Epps), and some new survivors to try to eliminate the deadly virus that threatens to make every human being undead. Since being captured by the Umbrella Corporation, Alice has been subjected to biogenic experimentation and becomes genetically altered, with super-human strengths, senses and dexterity.

Red Carpet events, usually a pushing and shoving match among reporters, was perfectly handled the PH staff and the studio reps. It was a hand-picked reasonable number vying for a brief minute with the stars. I had the recommended preferred spot at the end of the line, but too close to the exit door, which meant the stars could see freedom a few steps away from those of us at the end of the line. Regardless of my placement, Hans Klok, Pamela Anderson, and Oded Fehr were very gracious. Pam brushed off, but did not deny, an internet rumor that she had secretly married Paris Hilton’s infamous sex tape co-star. We liked British actor Graham McTavish, who will soon be seen in Stallone’s “John Rambo.” I asked McTavish about the rumor Stallone was having his aging face digitally fixed post-production. He said: “Absolutely not. Sly is a force of nature.” He kept praising Sly!

Then Sly walked the Red Carpet – talking forever to everyone! By the time he and Jennifer reached us, there was no time left. However, the young radio producer next time to shouted for Sly to give out a “Yo, Adrienne.” And Sly did! What a great guy!

The after-party at PH’s pool on the 6th floor was one of the best catered affairs at a hotel-casino I have been to. And I go to all of them. There were extravagant food stations with exotic food everywhere. No expense was spared.

Human Evolution Gets A Boost. Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area. Villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor." Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide and 20-foot-deep crater. Reports said "Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned.” (Stills from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”)

“XNA” Anyone? Current scientific theory (or speculation) is the possible involvement of viruses, rather than just classical mutation and natural selection, as a driving force which could explain the punctuated periods of evolution depicted in the fossil record.

Current cataclysmic theories can explain rapid extinction, but do they explain the rapid evolution of many new species? The principles of natural selection dictate that a dramatic change in environment or ecological structure can speed the forces of natural selection using "mutants".

One thought is that the same comets or asteroids that may have caused extinctions could have also carried new "XNA" to earth which could explain the rapid appearances of new "higher order" traits. Studies of the Murchinson meteorite from Australia have shown the presence of amino acids and nucleotides and spectrophotometric studies of Halley's comet showed the presence of organic molecules.

Bistro Zinc. Chef Joseph Keller’s award-winning Bistro Zinc, on the lakefront of MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas (where Hans Klok told me he has a house while performing at PH), celebrated its grand re-opening with a bang, serving complimentary cocktails and hors d’œuvres with a smoke-and-fire theme on September 22. Chef Keller, a true culinary artisan, says it’s his way of extending thanks to his customers, both old and new, for their support in the aftermath of the restaurant’s June 30th fire.

The restaurant re-opened for the dinner-time rush on August 15th. Devotees of Bistro Zinc’s European-style pizzas, Kobe rib eye, Kobe burger, brie fries and braised short ribs, will find new additions to the menu such as Halibut Francaise — medallions of halibut dusted in flour and egg then pan sautéed in a lemon-caper butter sauce. The restaurant’s raw bar, a carved mahogany work of art built by Chef Keller’s brother, Michael Keller, continues to serve its Grand Plateau — a double-stacked seafood savory of shellfish with ten oysters and eight clams layered with crab, lobster, shrimp and mussels. The bistro also is known for its bakery which, under the direction of Pastry Chef Jennifer Powers, supplies the breads for Keller’s COMO’S at Lake Las Vegas. www.bistrozincrestaurant.com. To make reservations to dine, call 702.567.9462. (Photo by John Gurzinski)

Saint or Homewrecker? We all saw the movie, “Walk The Line,” about the great love affair between Johnny Cash and June Carter. How saintly was the real June Carter? In the movie, she fought off druggie Johnny Cash for years! June made him shape up and sing. Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian Cash, has written a book, “I Walked The Line: My Life With Johnny” (with Ann Sharpsteen). Vivian describes a confrontation she finally had with June, which ended with Carter saying, “Vivian, he will be mine.”