Random Person: I wish there was a Certified Wine Expert to tell me what wine pairs with my Combos… Me: I got you fam… Product Review Combos, the quintessential stoner snack. Invented in the late 70s this baked not fried snack hit the shelves in 1985. A bite-sized, cheese-filled cracker, pretzel or tortilla, COMBOS was developed by Mars Chocolate North America. Since the first nacho cheese variety was introduced, the line has expanded to seven distinct flavor combinations (cheddar cheese pretzel, pizzeria pretzel, cheddar cheese cracker, pepperoni pizza cracker, zesty salsa... Read More

There’s an old belief that all little boys go dino-mad for a minute. I have no idea if that’s accurate, but I do know I was no exception. Back then, I recall a zoo of molded plastic critters, everything from the T-rex to the Stegosaurus. I remember junior paleontology books and a bemused father* taking me over and over and over to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science so that I could gawk at the fossils. I love dinosaurs. I always have. Even now. I recently finished the very good book The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black.** Odds are I’ll stop loving them right around the time... Read More

I am not a Disney fan. In fact, quite the opposite. I find most Disney fare to be cloying, predictable, archaic, boring, and tiresome, and the only Disney material I’ve ever really loved has been “Aladdin” (in large part due to Robin Williams’ genie) and “The Jungle Book,” because it holds fond memories from my childhood. I say this to begin this review because if someone like me, someone who is not a Disney fan by any means, and who found the “Beauty And The Beast” movie to be fairly ridiculous aside from the music, if someone like me loved Circa... Read More

The first time I saw Top Gun, I hated it. As a wee lad, I remember seeing it in a packed theater in 1986. I remember the whooshing of the jets, the omnipresent soundtrack, and the unnerving intensity of Tom Cruise. I remember the buzz of the audience walking out. People adored it, and I remember looking around and thinking, “What movie did you guys just see because that sucked.” Is it still that bad, though?* Of course not, and it’s yet another example where the movie isn’t the problem; I’m the problem. I should like it. Consider that, despite what you might think of his personal life,... Read More

Within stories, the idea of continuity is powerful. It’s like the lure of history, the pull to understand events or character through the study of a chain of events. That’s why we dive into literary series, why we’ll binge-watch a show on Netflix, and why we’ll carry around decades of plot points regarding comic books. Author Douglas Wolk recently released his book All of the Marvels. He wrote about his experience reading every comic book published by Marvel Comics.*  When I say “every comic book,” I mean that Wolk read over twenty-seven thousand published works, attempted to make... Read More

Writing a new play is murder. Well, it certainly was for busy Q-C actor, director, and theater owner Tristan Tapscott, whose latest original work – “Murder at Mistwell Manor” – is a breezy blast. Known in part — before he opened The Mockingbird on Main theater last summer — for penning a new musical adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” (with composer Danny White), Tapscott now has three original plays under his belt in the new cabaret-style space that welcomes new works. In December, the Mockingbird opened the silly holiday show “Deck the Halls,” and in March, it staged... Read More

The latest production at Moline’s intimate Black Box Theatre isn’t one necessarily to be enjoyed, but is a terrifying thriller – tailor-made for fans of suspense, mystery and horror. The whiplash-inducing, psychological roller-coaster “Veronica’s Room” (1973) truly puts the “black” in Black Box. Director and co-founder Lora Adams warns as much in her brief introduction to the exhilarating, hard-to-watch four-actor play by the demented genius Ira Levin (1929-2007) — author of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Deathtrap,” “The Stepford Wives” and “The Boys From Brazil.” “I... Read More

As a lapsed Catholic and current wine lover, I was fully prepared to be intoxicated by “Drinking Habits,” the latest feel-good farce at Richmond Hill Players in Geneseo. I wasn’t prepared for how drunk with delight I got, I could barely drive home after Sunday’s picture-perfect matinee at the Barn Theater in Richmond Hill Park. In the silly Tom Smith story (intricately deep with secrets and many surprise romantic and family connections), two nuns at the 1965 Sisters of Perpetual Sewing have been secretly making wine to keep the convent’s doors open, but Paul and Sally, reporters and former... Read More

Rick Elice’s Broadway hit “Peter and the Starcatcher is A LOT – a lot of characters (allegedly 100), a lot of story (with intermission, 160 minutes), a lot of action, sound and fury, and in its ADD-fueled, childlike soul, a heck of a lot of fun. Though you couldn’t pay me enough to summarize its crazy, complicated, silly plot, the new production at the Spotlight Theatre, 1800 7th Ave., Moline, is an exuberant, enthusiastic riot. Fitting snugly into its stellar reputation for family-friendly shows, the boisterous (and at times poignant) comedy with lots of music certainly shines with a starry... Read More

I just love what Circa ’21 has done this year in regard to its shows. Its last show, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” was wonderfully absurd and hilarious, a terrific bit of humorous escapism. It’s latest show, “Just Desserts,” isn’t quite as unhinged and wacky, it’s far more conventional in terms of plotline and structure, but it’s just a warm, funny, and comforting show that extends the same escapist mood that we really all need right now. The last two years have been tough, and this year, even slogging out of covid, has been fraught with challenges from an economic and world perspective.... Read More