Television adaptation: ‘American Gods’ by Richard Gaiman

There is another book based series coming to television this month. This one is by Neil Richard Gaiman, British author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. He is best known for his comic book series The Sandman as well as the novels “Stardust,” “Coraline,” “The Graveyard Book” and “American Gods.” The first season consists of eight episodes and will premiere on Starz on Sunday April 30, 2017 and stars Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon and Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday.

According to Amazon, “American Gods” is a mixture of Americana, fantasy with elements of ancient and modern mythology centering around a mysterious character named Shadow Moon. The central theme is that gods and mythological creatures exist if people believe in them and their power diminishes as people’s beliefs decline. Due to America’s new obsessions with media, celebrity, technology and drugs, new gods have arisen. Shadow Moon is a man serving three years in prison who is unexpectedly released with only days remaining on his sentence after his beloved wife Laura is killed. He meets an enigmatic man named Mr. Wednesday who offers him a job as a bodyguard, driver and overall errand boy. The truth is that Mr. Wednesday is the god Odin who is making his way across America reuniting the old gods to confront the new gods, including Media and Technology, who are growing stronger.

Television adaptation: ‘Einstein: His Life and Universe’ by Walter Isaacson

einsteinlife — The television adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s ‘Einstein: His Life and Universe’ premieres on Tuesday April 25, 2017. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Walter Isaacson is a writer, journalist, the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, the chairman and CEO of CNN and Managing Editor of Time. As an author, he has written biographies of Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger. His best-selling biography of Albert Einstein, “Einstein: His Life and Universe” has been adapted into a ten-episode series for National Geographic making it the network’s first scripted series. It premieres on Tuesday April 25 and is executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and stars Johnny Flynn as a young Einstein, Emily Watson as his second wife and Geoffrey Rush as the older Einstein. This series takes viewers beyond the academic life of Einstein and focuses on his struggles to be a good husband and father and a man of principle during an era of global unrest.

According to Amazon, in “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” the author writes about how Einstein’s scientific imagination was born out of his rebellious personality. It is the story of how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk and struggling father became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos. His success was the product of his constant questioning of conventional wisdom and an appreciation of the mundane. His work led him to embrace a lifestyle based on respect for free minds, free spirits and free individuals.

Mother’s Day brunch at SweetFire Kitchen

Next up on the calendar is Mother’s Day and SweetFire Kitchen at La Cantera Resort & Spa is having a Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday May 14 for $65 for adults and $26 for children. Reservations are available through open table or by calling (210) 558-6500. (SweetFire Kitchen, 2017)

Some of the brunch offerings include:

The breakfast station: smoked bacon, chicken apple sausage, SweetFire Benedict- smoked ham organic eggs and blood orange hollandaise, Breakfast Quiche – house made ricotta, preserved lemon and charred leeks, roasted red bliss potatoes, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, Waffles, butter, pecans, berries, whipped cream and maple syrup and a made to order Chef’s omelet and egg station.
The Raw Bar: oysters on the half shell, crab salad and gazpacho shooters, Old Bay and Shiner Bock poached shrimp, horseradish cocktail, house made hot sauce and champagne mignonette.
Cheese and Charcuterie: house cured meats and Texas cheeses, spiced lavosh, seasonal jams and local honey.
Salad table: baby romaine, brown butter croutons, shaved parmesan and roasted garlic dressing, bluebonnet green, summer berries, feta cheese and candied pecans, charred broccoli, bacon, almonds, grapes and dill mustard vinaigrette, red quinoa salad, Persian cucumbers, fennel, olives and preserved lemon, seasonal melons and fruit.
The bakeshop: pecan shortbread cookies, opera cake and white chocolate coffee ganache, chocolate hazelnut tortes, lemon meringue tarts, eclairs, spring berries and vanilla cream, black financier and pistachio streusel, plum tarts and almond cream, flourless oatmeal banana cakes, vanilla cheesecake and peach cream, chocolate pot de crème, croissant bread pudding and caramel cream.

SweetFire Kitchen is located on the lobby level of La Cantera Resort & Spa and features an open-air style kitchen. Guests can enjoy home style cuisine and signature dishes as well as a full-service bar with unique craft cocktails, an extensive wine list and draught beers.

SweetFire Kitchen
16641 La Cantera Parkway
San Antonio, TX 78256
(210) 558-6500

Fiesta Like a VIP package at The Hotel Contessa

hotelcontessaatrium — The Hotel Contessa is offering guests its Fiesta Like a VIP package during this year’s Fiesta San Antonio. Photo courtesy of The Hotel Contessa, used with permission.

Fiesta San Antonio is well under way and The Hotel Contessa, the only Four Diamond all-suite hotel on the Riverwalk, is offering guests its Fiesta Like a VIP package from April 20 through April 30, 2017. The package starts at $900 per person per night and it is only available during Fiesta. Reservations may be done online. (The Hotel Contessa, 2017)

The Fiesta Like a VIP package includes:

Overnight stay in the Contessa Suite, Hotel Contessa’s 1,000 sq. ft. signature suite located on the top floor and offering modern furnishings, spacious living room, dining table and wet bar, master bedroom and double vanity bathroom with garden tub.
Complimentary in-room amenity of two traditional Margaritas.
Hotel Contessa’s Commemorative Fiesta Medal, a custom-designed hotel medal not available to the public.
Two tickets to NIOSA conveniently located along the Riverwalk and within walking distance from Hotel Contessa.
Traditional Cascarones Confetti Eggs to celebrate Fiesta like the locals.
Fiesta Recovery Breakfast for Two featuring a hearty selection of traditional Fiesta breakfast items, including Huevos Rancheros, Andalusian Breakfast Skillet or Traditional Eggs Benedict.

The Hotel Contessa
306 W Market Street
San Antonio, TX 78205
(210) 229-9222

The Graduate back in theaters this month

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the 1967 comedy-drama The Graduate directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross. It is the movie adaptation of the novel of the same name by Charles Webb who wrote it shortly after graduating from college. Dustin Hoffman stars as 21 year-old Benjamin Braddock, an aimless recent college graduate who is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson, then falls in love with her daughter. Through TCM/Fathom Events, on April 23 and 26 the nationwide theatrical premiere of the new 4K digital restoration will be out in theaters. This restoration had its World Premiere earlier this month at the TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood during this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival. It will play in over 700 theaters nationwide as part of TCM and Fathom Events’ monthly “TCM Big Screen Classics” series. The Graduate was the biggest box office surprise of the decade and was nominated for seven Oscars and the Top 40 Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack paved the way for a new youthful trend in soundtrack music. (Rialto Pictures, 2017)

Charles Webb is an American novelist best known for his debut novel ‘The Graduate.’ After Benjamin Braddock graduates from a small Eastern college he moves back home with his parents and suddenly everyone wants to know what his future plans are. Disappointed by his prospects for a career, he has an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the seductive wife of his father’s business partner. When her daughter Elaine comes to visit her parents, Benjamin falls for her and has an epiphany about the direction of his life. Unfortunately, Mrs. Robinson is also a protective mother and so a battle of wits takes place with love and idealism overtaking the forces of corruption and conformity.

Movie adaptation: ‘The Circle’ by Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is an American author, editor and publisher whose work includes “Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?” “Heroes of the Frontier” and “The Circle.” He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company in San Francisco that publishes books, a quarterly journal of new writing and a monthly magazine. The movie adaptation of “The Circle” starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson will be out on theaters on Friday April 28, 2017. It is the bestselling dystopian novel about surveillance, privacy and the growing intrusions of technology in everyday life.

According to Amazon, “The Circle” tells the story of tech worker Mae Holland who after college starts a new job at a powerful internet company called The Circle. The Circle’s work links users’ personal emails, social media, banking and purchasing with their universal operating system resulting in one online identity. Employees enjoy open plan office spaces, impressive glass dining facilities, dorm rooms for those who spend nights at work, parties and other ammenities. Soon her life beyond the job gets smaller and her experiences at work get weirder by the day as she must deal with questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy and the limits of the human knowledge. At first, she sees it as the opportunity of a lifetime but the longer she works there the more things start to fall apart.

‘Urinetown, The Musical’ at The Playhouse San Antonio

urinetownpic — ‘Urinetown, The Musical’ opens at The Playhouse San Antonio on Friday May 5, 2017. Photo courtesy of The Playhouse San Antonio, used with permission.

The Playhouse San Antonio is getting ready for their next production coming up in May. ‘Urinetown, The Musical’ opens on Friday May 5 and will run until Sunday May 28, 2017. It includes a book by Greg Kotis, music by Mark Hollmann and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis. Show times are Friday and Saturday at 8p.m. and Sundays at 3p.m. in the Russell Hill Rogers Theatre. Tickets are available online and prices are $42 for general adult, $23 for military with valid ID, $23 for seniors aged 60 and up, $15 for students with valid ID and $12 for children aged 12 and under. Discounts are available for groups of ten or more. (The Playhouse San Antonio, 2017)

‘Urinetown, The Musical’ is a satirical comedy musical that satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement and municipal politics. It is a hilarious tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. The story unfolds when a twenty-year drought has led to a government enforced ban on private toilets. Due to this water shortage people must use public amenities which are regulated by a single, malevolent company. When a hero decides he has had enough he plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom.

The Playhouse San Antonio
Russell Hill Rogers Theater
800 W Ashby Place
San Antonio, TX 78212
(210) 733-7258

Television adaptation: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood

handmaidstale

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist and environmental activist. Even though she has published several poetry books she is best known for her 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It is a dystopian novel set in a near-future New England in a totalitarian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government. Winner of the 1985 Governor General’s Award, it was also nominated for the Nebula Award, the Booker Prize and the Prometheus Award. Previous adaptations include the cinema, television, radio, opera and stage. Now it has been adapted into a television series on Hulu and will premiere on Wednesday April 29, 2017. It stars Elizabeth Moss as Offred the Handmaid and Samira Wiley as Moira, Offred’s college friend.

According to Amazon, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in the near future and describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead. The government is now a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by going back to the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. Those in charge now make the rules according to the book of Genesis with bizarre consequences for its citizens. Environmental contamination had led to infertility so now young fertile women are assigned to the homes of the rich where they are supposed to have children for those men and their wives. It is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids, who remembers happier times when she was married with a daughter and her own name. Considered a satire, it can also be viewed as a dire warning.

Theater review: ‘Sister Act’ at the Woodlawn Theatre

sisteractpic — ‘Sister Act’ the musical is now playing at the Woodlawn Theatre until Sunday May 7, 2017. Photo courtesy of Woodlawn Theatre, used with permission.

Currently playing at the Woodlawn Theatre is the local production of ‘Sister Act’ starring Rebekah Williams as Deloris Van Cartier and Sherry Gibbs Houston as Mother Superior. It is based on the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and is set in 1978 Philadelphia and has a disco/Motown feel to it. ‘Sister Act’ is the story of singer Deloris Van Cartier who witnesses a murder at her boyfriend’s nightclub and is put in protective custody in a convent.

The show begins with Deloris auditioning for her boyfriend Curtis in the hopes of singing in his nightclub. When he tells her she is not ready she breaks up with him and plans to leave town to pursue her dreams on her own. She stumbles upon Curtis and his crew as they kill someone they believe to be a snitch and she ends up going to the cops. To protect her until she can testify against Curtis in court they hide her in the last place he would look for her. Eventually she bonds with the nuns and helps them turn the troubled choir around which helps the church stay afloat.

This family friendly musical uses humor and the overall themes of dream fulfillment and the power of friendship to entertain audiences. The musical numbers vary from funny, like Mother Superior’s “I Haven’t Got a Prayer” and Joey, TJ and Pablo in “Lady in the Long Black Dress” to Sister Mary Robert’s poignant “The Life I Never Led.” “When I Find My Baby” by Curtis, Joey, TJ and Pablo is funny and disturbing at the same time and manages to elicit some nervous chuckles from the audience.

Rebecca Williams plays Deloris vividly and Walter Sanders III, as Curtis’ funny nephew TJ, steals every scene he is in. It is hard not to root for “Sweaty Eddie” as he tries to woo Deloris especially after he performs “I Could Be That Guy.” Overall it is a highly entertaining show full of humor, heart and show stopping songs.

‘Sister Act’ is now playing at the Woodlawn Theatre until Sunday May 7, 2017. Show times are Friday and Saturday at 7:30p.m. and Sundays at 3p.m. Tickets start at $18 and are available online or by calling the box office at (210) 267-8388.

A Night In Old Jazz Texas

flyerniojt — On April 19 and 26 Jazz, TX is hosting A Night In Old Jazz Texas. Photo courtesy of Jazz, TX, used with permission.

Fiesta time in San Antonio means days of parties and events to celebrate the city’s diverse cultures and this year Jazz, TX is getting in on the action. The Pearl’s upscale music venue announces its Fiesta celebration of A Night in Old Jazz Texas on Wednesday April 19 and Wednesday April 26 from 8:30p.m. to 11:30p.m. This event will feature a special menu by Executive Chef Lorenzo Morales and a special performance by Mariachi Las Coronelas. This high energy all female group has performed for shows such as The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Will Ferrel’s Funny or Die Music and Comedy Show and more. Guests will be able to enjoy a Fiesta inspired menu with items such as Corn in a Cup, Chicken Tinga Quesadillas, Beef Gorditas, Duck on a Stick and Carnival Funnel Cake. Tickets are available online for $20 each. (Jazz, TX, 2017)

Jazz, TX is the Pearl’s newest upscale music venue owned and operated by renowned musician Brent “Doc” Watkins. It is in the cellar of the Bottling House and hosts musical acts ranging from jazz to blues, big band, Texas swing, salsa, conjunto and Americana including Doc Watkins. Business hours are Tuesday through Saturday and aside from music, guests can enjoy a wider variety of food, beverages, wine and spirits.

Jazz, TX
312 Pearl Parkway, Building 6 Suite 6001
San Antonio, TX 78215
(210) 332-9386

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