A+E: All the Arts + Entertainment You Can Eat

Food lovers should consider getting a new tome titled The Cook's Essential Kitchen Dictionary, published by Robert Rose, $14.95. It was written by longtime Vegas food professional Jacques Rolland, and in its more than 400 pages, you'll find thousands of definitions for food-related things you've probably never even heard of—cibero, nigella and pawpaw to name three—described with elan and humor by this storyteller extrordinaire.

Atlanta hit-maker Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz are back with Crunk Juice. Which of these song titles are off their latest CD and which did we make up?

"Real Ni--a Roll Call"

"White Meat"

"Stop F--kin Wit Me"

"Bitches Ain't Shit"

"Stick That Thang Out"

"Some Enchanted Evening"

Answer: All are real except the last

The Vegas Dogs (3 stars)


The Drunk Dogs Demo

Goofy, repetitive and simplistic punk rock that manages to be utterly charming in small doses. There probably isn't an entire song's worth of actual lyrics in all 10 songs, but how can you resist a song ("Spirit of ‘76") that just recites the names of the original members of Kiss over and over again? Available at www.thevegasdogs.com.

The Originals (3 stars)

By Dave Gibbons


$24.95

Co-creator of the acclaimed Watchmen series, Dave Gibbons is back, and going solo, with this sci-fi tale based on his own youth. Despite being set in an alternative reality, the story of one young man's attempts to fit in is handled realistically, with all the violence, drugs and fashion that was found during England's mod period. His art and pacing is top-notch. Despite that, Gibbons' attempts to shock fall flat and his observations are shallow.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (R) (4 stars)


$29.99

Because of a quirk in the often-senseless Oscar-nominating process, Mike Hodges and Clive Owen's flashy 1998 collaboration, Croupier, was ineligible for awards consideration. Their second crime thriller, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, probably will be ignored this year, too, if only because voters can't remember anything more than three weeks old. Nonetheless, it's wonderful.

Tales From a Golden Age (NR) (2 stars)

Bob Dylan 1941-1966


$19.95

Several Dylanologists, under the auspices of ISIS magazine, pooled their knowledge and passion for this often-informative, ultra-reverent and completely unauthorized bio-doc. Neither Dylan nor his music are represented in the This Is Your Life approach, and the DVD doesn't offer anything new to diehard fans. Newcomers, though, will benefit from the bordering-on-clinical dissection of the artist's life and music.

It's All True (G) (3 stars)


$14.99

Hollywood has produced few works of fiction greater than the epic tragedy that was Orson Welles' career. In 1942, Welles was hired to go to Rio to film the carnival and other documentary footage, but the project was soon abandoned. After 50 years of being forgotten, the footage was partly assembled and released into art houses. Central to it is Four Men on a Raft, about the a 1,650-mile journey made by four fishermen to seek help from the government. Other incomplete episodes hint at what might have been.

Wetherby (R) (3 stars)


$19.95

Blessed with a cast of veteran British stage and film actors, David Hare's chilling psychodrama has gone largely unseen since its 1985 release. Like David Lynch in Blue Velvet, Hare spends a lot of time examining the illusion of small-town tranquility, ultimately forcing the viewer to ask more questions than are answered.