Jeff Korb, the bowtie wearing, abortion bill passing, former county commissioner may not be gone just yet. Despite the fact that voters soundly said they did not want him back in his seat after the November 4 election, he has now filed a lawsuit claiming that Stephen Melcher’s election is not valid.

Korb, through his attorney, claims that Melcher’s candidacy violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits political activities by federal workers. Since Melcher is employed by the Community Action Program of Evansville who receives federal funding, he may be ineligble to serve.

Should Korb’s petition go through, he will get to maintain his seat until a special election can be held to determine a new seat holder.

Sounds like a sore loser to me. Go away, sir.

If you were driving around MLK in front of the Civic Center yesterday around noon, you probably saw a group of people with rainbow colored signs and flags protesting the passing of Proposition 8) in California.

The protest was part of a nationwide protest that took place in all 50 states. While I’m glad the protesters are standing up for what they believe in, I wonder who thought it was a grand idea to protest something downtown on a Saturday. Other than me and the few other downtown dwellers, no one saw this. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to move to a more populated area on the East or North side of town?

Maslan will be presenting a special seminar to teach the 9 Keys to Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain. The event will take place on Thursday, November 20th at Acros Gymnastics at 333 Plaza East Blvd. The seminar will be available at 4:45pm 5:45pm and 6:45pm.

The cost to attend the seminar is the donation of a non-perishable food item or a monetary donation to the Tri-State Food Bank.

“This is a way for us to give back to the community,” says Maslan. “Not only can we educate tri-state residents on the best ways to take care of themselves, but we can raise money for a worthy local cause. It’s a winner any way you look at it.”

Space is limited for this event, so please register by calling 812-437-2378 or by email to HYPERLINK “mailto:tmaslan@cfpt.us” tmaslan@cfpt.us .

“We challenge our clients to actually LOSE weight and get in shape over the holiday season while most Americans to the opposite. I will be sharing the same strategies we teach our clients at this seminar,” says Maslan.

Before the weekend, let’s cover some stuff.

• Nothing like a park revitalization to make you feel good on a Friday. This time it’s Line Street Park. [C&P]

• Looks like Aztar is going to be sold. If I were to buy it, I’d turn it into a parking lot. That dumb boat is an eyesore to the downtown area. [C&P]

• You’ll have to pry those cheap gas prices from his cold, dead hands. [ABC25]

• The Armadillos are coming. Seek shelter. [WFIE]

• And for fun, here’s a truck on its side.

photo courtesy of danarbaugh

For all our high school and those like me who don’t want to grow up, I thought you would appreciate this detention slip.

Before there was It’s Evansville, there was The Boneyard. The Boneyard is described as Evansville’s Intersection of Art, History, People, Culture and Ideas. This season’s issue includes a story on the Great Evansville Bingo Riot of 1945, a photo spread of past Evansville parades an essay on science books and more.

If you’ve never checked out The Boneyard, be sure to check out their past 12 years worth of issues.

While we can’t celebrate the joys of college football locally in Evansville, basketball season is always fun. The University of Evansville is set to tip off their regular season this Saturday night against Austin Peay. The Aces are coming off a rather lackluster 9-21 season last year, should be improved this year with second year coach Marty Simmons.

In addition to the opening of the season Saturday night, the Aces will be dedicating the floor to former coach Arad McCutchan.

In terms of the big Indiana schools, #10 ranked Purdue hits up Detroit Friday night while Indiana takes on Northwestern State Saturday evening. BOILER UP.

Back locally, the Evansville IceMen, our new local hockey club will also start their regular season this weekend with a pair of home games at Swonder Ice Arena. The IceMen will host the Chi-Town Shooters on Friday night, with the Battle Creek Revolution coming to town on Saturday night.

The IceMen had an impressive exhibition against the USI team, which should bode well for attendance this weekend. The puck drops for both games at 8:05PM. Tickets are just $6 and because hockey isn’t the same without alcohol, beer will be available at the rink, thanks to Jillian’s.

What would you do if you suddenly found yourself completely broke and living in an apartment without water, heat or electricity?  I think that most people would attempt to sell off wordly posessions or perhaps move back in with family until circumstances get better, but not Zack and Miri, the hero and heroine in Kevin Smith’s newest flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. 

Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are lifelong platonic friends in their late 20s who live together in an apartment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Even though they share financial responsibilities, they find themselves in a tremendous amount of debt and in danger of being evicted.  They come up with the idea of making a pornographic film in order to make ends meet. 

Rogen and Banks have good on-screen chemistry and their relationship was totally believeable.  I’ve become a fast fan of Rogen and was really excited when I heard he was going to work on a Smith film.  Other cast members include Craig Robinson (Darrell from The Office) and Kevin Smith regulars, Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson.  The ensemble worked well together, although I must admit that Robinson stole the show for me.

I have been a fan of Kevin Smith for several years now and I was exstatic to hear he was doing another film.  He is best known for what is known as the “Jersey Films”, (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks 2) where all the movies exist in the same universe.  The characters in this particular set of movies have overlapping lifes and all of them are set in or around Red Bank, New Jersey.  Although it is set in New Jersey, Jersey Girl is not considered one of the core Jersey Films because it does not exist in the same film universe.  I could easily go on and on about Smith’s films because they have shaped so many newer filmmakers and actors careers.  Smith paved the way for more independant films to become mainstream. 

Zack and Miri Make a Porno has the feel of a classic Kevin Smith movie, but I felt like something was missing.  I finally put my finger on it after a bit of reflection.  Smith’s movies are all about character development through creative dialogue.  That’s what makes them so relatable.  Clerks is almost completely driven through the lines of characters because the rest of the movie is so minimalistic.  With Zack and Miri, the film felt like it was all about the action and not the relationships.  In that respect, I think that the film could have been better.  It would have been nice to understand Zack and Miri past the fact that they are friends who live together. 

For those of you planning on seeing Zack and Miri, don’t take the kids.  Although it goes without saying, there is some graphic sex and vulagar language.  With ‘porno’ in the title, what else would you expect?  Smith narrowly missed an NC-17 rating for this one.  He was able to appeal the MPAA decision downgrading the film to an R rating without having to cut a single scene.

With the recent success of Judd Apatow movies (Knocked Up, 40-Year Old Virgin), I wonder if Smith was attempting to one-up Apatow in the genre and I wonder what Apatow’s response will be.  I think it would be interesting to see the pair of writer-directors work on a project together.

reflection lake by lwmackey

Fall is here. While I love the beautiful colors, I loathe the colder temperatures.

In Focus spotlights a photograph taken by a reader of It’s Evansville. If you’d like a chance to have your photo featured, upload your photo to Flickr and tag it with “itsevansville”.

Editors note: I’m really low on good photos for In Focus, so grab your cameras and get back to shooting people!