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

Spirits of The Season

This Chrismahanukwanzakah, give a treat to your taste buds and liver with these cocktails courtesy of two of Vegas' top casinos.




Bellagio




Java Nuts and Berries


1 1/2 Nocello


1/2 oz. Chambord


1 oz. Bellagio Cappuccino Mix


1/2 oz. cream


Shake ingredients and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with whipped cream and three raspberries.



Apple Cobbler


1 oz. Belvedere Pomarancza


1 oz. Granny's Apple Liqueur


1 1/4 oz. fresh sour


1/4 oz. Falernum syrup


Shake ingredients and strain into a cinnamon-sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. Garnish with an apple chip.




MGM Grand




Infused Toddy


3 oz. brandy infused with blueberries and spiced tea


1 tsp. honey


Lemon wedge


Hot water


Mix ingredients together and fill up glass with hot water.



Warm Spiced Cider


3/4 gallon apple juice


3-4 vanilla beans


3-4 fresh oranges


3-4 cinnamon sticks


1/2 cup brown sugar


1/4 house spiced rum (recipe below)


Mix ingredients and warm over slow flame until sugar is dissolved. Store in gallon container for two-three days and serve warm.



House Spiced Rum


1 bottle rum


2 fresh oranges


4 fresh vanilla beans


2 cinnamon sticks


5 cloves


Touch of cardamon


Let ingredients marinate for five days. Strain and serve in your favorite rum drinks.








PARRY, THRUST!



Even though Benedict got insurance money, he wants the money back plus interest. The team reunites to discuss what each has left and how much interest each owes. The gentleman sitting next to me, Las Vegas Weekly's Arts and Entertainment Editor (remaining shamefully nameless here), was laughing loudly at every single line of dialogue. I couldn't hear a thing! I starting laughing very loudly myself—randomly—and finally shouted at him: "Happy now? Let's ruin the movie for everybody!"




—Victoria Alexander, FilmsInReview.com



Having once been a real reporter, I've got a thick skin, so far it be from me to be hurt when a movie reviewer whose entire online résumé consists of a 20-year-old glamor photo takes a shot at me on a little-known website. But when Victoria Alexander misuses the English language and accuses me of rude behavior—especially on the heels of my own essay about cinema-going etiquette last week—it behooves a response. I had no idea her hyena-like barks at the recent Ocean's 12 screening were a response to my laughter at the "fun-filled, mind-twisting romp" (CNN) filled with "droll wit" (Roger Ebert). This was because I was laughing with the rest of the audience, having already forgotten Alexander's daggers thrown at me for having the effrontery to sit in the center seat, center row—her customary perch, I was later told.


But when Alexander implies that I am filled with shame for enjoying the opening minutes of a "silly and often delightful" (SF Chronicle) film, I must point out to the five readers of FilmsInReview.com that Alexander never contacted me about her review (and why should she, since movie reviews are customarily about movies and not attacks on audience members?), nor my laughter, therefore I was never given the opportunity to be filled with shame, as she implies.


But I bear Alexander no ill will. I'm sure if she had done more than review movies and conduct surveys about flying saucers for pseudo-scientific organizations, she'd never had committed the solecism in the first place.




Martin Stein









LOCAL ART


Alums from UNLV's master of fine arts program might soon be able to add the cachet of "Guggenheim-Hermitage" to their curriculum vitae. The gallery at the Venetian will have a hole in its schedule this March and talks are underway between Managing Director Elizabeth Herridge, the Gugg's New York office and Dave Hickey, art professor at the university, to mount an exhibition of works by UNLV graduates. Herridge said it's mostly a budgetary matter, though she acknowledged the challenge of organizing a show in just a few months. Hickey would not comment on which former students might be contacted, but noted criteria would include available pieces, as well as past portfolios.




Martin Stein









DVDs



Live Aid (NR) (4.5 stars)


$39.99


It's almost impossible to describe 1985's Live Aid in a paragraph. How do you put the day rock 'n' roll tried to conquer famine into context? A made-for-TV event, Live Aid was organized by Bob Geldof to raise money to provide food for starving people in Ethiopia. This four-disc DVD of the day-long concert is like opening a scrapbook you haven't seen in 20 years—there's Bono with a big-hair mullet, there's Madonna in her "Material Girl" prime, there's Phil Collins ... with hair. The show-stopper is Queen, and Freddie Mercury singing of death and glory as though he's creating his own epitaph.




Scott Freeman




M (NR) (5 stars)


$39.95


The Criterion Collection revisits the cinema's first serial killings in its pristine special-edition DVD of M. Even after 71 years, the ability of Fritz Lang's German thriller to shock and disturb remains fully intact, and Peter Lorre's portrayal of the whistling pedophile is every bit as powerful as when first witnessed. It would be great if aspiring screenwriters were required to study this DVD—along with its bounty of extras—before being allowed to submit any script with a sociopath as its primary villain.




Gary Dretzka









LOCAL CD



Patrina (2.5 stars)


Patrina


A Las Vegas native, Patrina McDonald covers a range of musical styles in her debut, self-titled album. The Middle Eastern- and Indian-flavored tracks stand out, giving her sultry, strong voice an exotic cast, while the other, more pedestrian hip-hop and R&B numbers are, well, pedestrian. Most jarring is the single "Dance With Me," in which you're gently lulled along with Patrina's romantic plea—until rapper GodZchild kicks in, exhorting her to "back that thang up."




Martin Stein


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