2010

When looking for inexpensive holiday cheer the Benedict Castle is a real treat. One day out of the year, the building which is home to Teen Challenge, displays castle Christmas lighting.

It’s finally time to put the controller down and get “kinected.”

Get up off the couch, stand in front of the television screen and experience the coolest piece of gaming technology ever constructed.

The twinkling of near 3.5 million Christmas lights, a fire-work lit sky, and friends and family gathered together on a cool and crisp night in downtown Riverside for the 18th Annual Festival of Lights Switch-On Ceremony Nov. 26.

The music scene is a wasteland of the socially acceptable. The same predictable four chords have been trashing our collective unconscious for far too long.

Then there’s a band called My Chemical Romance, whose career hit an all time high with the 2006 release “The Black Parade.”

Sure, to the casual listener they may sound like Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco. The same used to be true for their image.

In all likelihood this merry band of New Jersey rockers could have toned it down. But they turned it up. And so, with much relief, it can be honestly stated that “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” is nothing short of mainstream rock and roll genius.

In 1982 Walt Disney Pictures released “Tron,” a small sci-fi action movie about software programmer Kevin Flynn, who became trapped in his own video game creation. It only made $33 million and wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award for visual effects, because the computer generated effects then were considered cheating.

However, despite its initial moderate success “Tron” became a cult classic that inspired a generation of filmmakers and was ultimately considered ahead of its time.

Now 28 years later, the company is revisiting its vivid creation with “Tron: Legacy,” the long anticipated sequel, scheduled for release Dec. 17.