It’s been a few months since I’ve written about my favorite piece of Evansville architecture, but the Courier & Press published a story this morning about the return of the summer movie series that takes place outside of the old theater.

Friday evening at 8PM, the Fourth Friday Film Classics series kicks off for another season with a showing of All About Eve, the 1950’s film starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Marilyn Monroe. The movie won’t be shown inside the theater as renovations are still pending that will bring the building up to modern standards. Alhambra Theater Inc, the nonprofit organization in charge of renovations, is still awaiting the $200,000 in federal grants that will go towards the restoration.

If you want to know a bit more about the history of the theater, there’s also going to be a talk this evening by Andy Jeffries, a recent USI graduate who researched the theater’s history. Jeffries will discuss the original history of the building as well as several of the failed renovation attempts starting at 7PM at the Willard Library. If you’re interested in one of Evansville’s neatest landmarks, check it out.

photo courtesy of SUPERBANANABOMB

you strike me as someone who….. by ZRX1200R

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”.

Having just paid $4 a gallon to put premium in my car last week, I have dreams of being able to get around town on a bicycle for relatively short trips. Living in Newburgh, the luxury of public transportation is nonexistent. Risking my life trying to pedal on Newburgh’s narrow roads is not worth lowering my carbon footprint and padding my wallet.

Face it. The Evansville area seems to be one of the most bike unfriendly cities. Just last night was another story of a cyclist being smashed by a car.

An Evansville bicyclist suffered a possible back injury Sunday night when he collided with an oncoming vehicle at a four-way stop
…
[Jon] Hyneman was traveling south on Main Street through Louisiana Street when he hit an eastbound Dodge Stratus, according to an Evansville Police Department accident report. Hyneman reportedly rolled over the hood of the car, breaking its windshield, and then hit his back on the pavement.

It would be great if many major public thoroughfares offered a bicycle lane rather than forcing cyclists to attempt to share the road with a car. In the eternal struggle of cycle versus vehicle I am pretty sure the vehicle is undefeated.

A year and a half ago we a cyclist was actually killed in the area after being hit by a car during an organized ride. When I was at Purdue, there was a dedicated lane for cyclists and rarely did I hear of an accident involving motorist and cyclist and there were far more bikes on a college campus than in our fair town.

Maybe someday I can park my car for the majority of my day, but until then, I’ll keep bitching about the price of gas like it’s the 70’s all over again.

photo courtesy of Simon Davison

Lic’s Deli & Ice Cream has long been a favorite of Evansville and its surrounding areas. I found out that it stands for Lloyd’s Ice Cream Shoppes, and they actually make their ice cream and sorbet in downtown Evansville. It’s nice for some simple and quick food that is a healthy option as opposed to so many greasy fast food options.

The colors of Lic’s are blue and white and can be seen both in and out of the building. Booths and tables line the walls in the front area of each shop, and you order from a wall menu behind the counter. The ice cream flavors are displayed by photo on the wall next to the menu. It’s comfortable and family friendly, as well as welcoming to any one else.

The menu is very simple and consists mostly of sandwiches and ice cream, but also delves a little into salads and soups. Despite being hounded about not being able to eat this for a food review, I still got the grilled double cheese and spicy hot chili for lunch. Why? Because it’s the best. The grilled cheese is gooey with layers of cheese on buttery grilled bread with poppy seeds on it and is served with potato chips. The chili, I believe is a family recipe filled with meat and beans and has a good spicy kick to it. The combo works great, and you can’t get any better then their thick grilled cheese. Another favorite of mine is the Gourmet Sub: smoked turkey, honey ham, corned beef, swiss, cheddar, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a secret house dressing on a toasted frenchette. The chicken salad is also pretty good, I always get that on a croissant. Other less common things available are the pizza wrap and spicy ranch chicken quesadilla.

The ice cream, of course the ice cream. As I mentioned before, you can find the flavors on the wall in picture form. Anything from chocolate and vanilla to cookie dough, black cherry, lemonade sorbet, and butter pecan is available with many more flavors offered. Scoops come in cones or cups, but you can also get anything made into a sundae, banana split, or milk shake. There is also a variety of smoothies to choose from. But two of my favorite things are their ice cream cookie sandwiches and choco-cremes, which are ice cream balls covered in chocolate.

Overall, I enjoy Lic’s. It may not be anything over the top and special, but that’s what appeals about it-the down to earth and consistently good food. Everyone feels welcomed and you can always find something that sounds good. I only wish there was a little more variety, much of the food is similar to each other. The prices are also reasonable for what you get.

Lic’s is located on Diamond Ave (812-424-4862), Lincoln Ave (812-477-3131), W. Virginia St. (812-423-4173), NW 5th St. (812-422-2618), Washington Ave (812-473-0569), Green River Rd. (812-473-3428) in Evansville, and the Lloyd (812-858-0022) in Newburgh.

The latest edition of my Courier & Press technology column is both in the print and online editions of today’s paper. Each Friday I write about what I’ve encountered in the past week technology wise. It’s really a giant scam to justify the amount of time I spend on the Internet.

This week I write about some of my favorite Mac software that is being built by guys working out of their house or a coffee shop: the indie developer. You can read it by clicking here, or go pick up a copy of the paper so you can see my mug shot up close and personal.

If you want to read my past columns, check out the dotColumn archive.

I haven’t hit on the news in a while since it’s been so boring around here lately, but let’s see if we can’t drum up a few stories.

• It’s from a few days ago, but the Midwest Hockey League is establishing a team in Evansville that will play at Swonder Arena starting in November. Go Evansville Icemen!
• Up in Vincennes, Obama volunteers are dealing with some lovely racism. Way to break that midwest stereotype.
• Our friends down south in Kentucky are now facing the onslaught of political candidates as their primary is coming up. Bill Clinton stumped in Owensboro this morning where he did his best to make people believe his wife is actually still a legitimate candidate.
• Bush to Saudi Arabia: We need more oil! Saudi Arabia to Bush: No oil for you!. In other news, I also just paid over $4 for premium at the BP on Green River Road.

photo courtesy of Kate Sherrill

Saturday May 17th is Armed Forces Day and our friends at Custom Fit are putting on a charity boot camp challenge to commemorate it. There will be 12 stations in the challenge and you will go through each of them at your own pace. One of the stations will be hosted by the United States Marine Corps.

The Challenge will go from 9am-11am Saturday morning at Custom Fit’s Studio (111 S Green River Rd). You can show up and start any time before 10:30 to try and tame the course.

It will be a $10 donation to participate and 100% of your donation will go towards the Wounded Warriors Project. The Wounded Warrior Project provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life.

If you are able to attend this event please send an email to tmaslan@cfpt.us and put boot camp in the subject line.

I will be attempting the course. Pray for me.

I was planning on writing an Iron Man/ Speed Racer double-review, but seeing as it has been almost two weeks since its release, I find it necessary to reveal my thoughts about Iron Man.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am a comic book fan. Not fanatic. Fan. That being said, I am not as familiar with the Iron Man mythology as I am say, Spider-man. Without very little knowledge of Iron Man, I was leery that I would miss some important back story if the film did a lousy job of describing this comic book hero. There are some comic movies that skip important details that reveal a lot about a character just to get to the action. Luckily, that was not the case with Iron Man. Yes, there are decent action scenes, but for the most part, the movie is about the story of Iron Man, not the action of Iron Man.

I was also completely impressed with the quality of acting in this film. Robert Downey, Jr. was meant to play Tony Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts. I never would have pictured her as a super-assistant, but she is. Iron Man is directed by veteran actor, Jon Favreau.

Normally, I would give a synopsis, but I figure that the people who will go to see either already know Iron Man’s story or want to find out about Iron Man on their own. So, in the interest of not spoiling it, there will be no synopsis this time. I will, however, give a warning. Stay through the credits. There is an epilogue, and it’s one of the best one’s I’ve ever seen.

As eluded to in my Summer Movie Preview, I am introducing a rating system with the summer releases. It is a five-point system with one being the lowest. The intention is to give you an idea of whether or not it is worth spending the $8 it costs to see the movie in the theater or if you shouldn’t ever see it, even if it’s free.

5 - Must see in the movie theater.
4 - Good enough to see in the cheap theater.
3 - Wait for rental.
2 - Watch on network/cable television.
1 - Never see this film.

Based on this rating scale, I would suggest that Iron Man rates at a 5. Not because it is a perfect film, but because it is worth seeing in a good movie theater.

I get a fair amount of news tips throughout the week for the site, but this is by far the greatest one I have ever received. Last night a guy named Mark emailed me with his thoughts on the Five Finger Death Punch concert at Woody’s last night.

I went to the Five Finger Death Punch concert in Louisville 2 weeks ago and it was one of the best Metal shows I had ever been to. They have a special, and somewhat renowned talent for inciting a very active mosh pit and participant crowd, and have a drummer from Boonville!

I just returned from 5 finger in Evansville at Woody’s and it was just like I feared; no mosh allowed, and a somewhat stifled show as a result! It was the only concert I’ve seen with no encore; probably because of the weak crowd, which wasn’t weak because of the fans, but because of the security/police presence.

How a mosh-famous band like 5 Finger could be reduced to a jumpity security fest, I don’t know, it wasn’t the bands fault, they tried.

Congrats WGBF, Woody’s, and Evansville for successfully embarrassing the drummer of one of the best up-and-coming rock bands in his home town. From the footage and the experience I’ve seen of the band, Evansville, Woody’s and WGBF had to be one of, if not the, weakest stop on their tour.

I swore after seeing Motley Crew at Roberts and being forced to stay in my seat like an old man, that I would never go to a concert in Evansville again, but honestly thought this would be different, because the nature of the band and the proximity of the crowd to the band, but no; Evansville, Woody’s, and WGBF sucks lame pussy no-moshing dicks.

Go get your radio station and concert bar there Evansville Alice…

Last concert I EVER go to in Evansville PERIOD!

And I am not alone. The three guys I rode home with, and everyone I was next to at the concert agrees! You suck Evansville! Stick to American Idol and country!

I think my favorite line in this entire thins is “Congrats WGBF, Woody’s, and Evansville for successfully embarrassing the drummer of one of the best up-and-coming rock bands in his home town.” I wasn’t aware that Boonville was a hotbed for new metal acts.