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GO columnist Georgette Braun is curious about a lot of things. She’ll answer your questions, pose some of her own, and comment on everything from entertainment to life and death. |
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Add comment November 6th, 2009 09:01am Georgette Braun
The first story I’ve written for our new GO Relax section that will run Saturdays in the newspaper deals with, well, ways to relax. Some laugh about it, others smell the roses (or rose oil, anyway), and the list goes on.
Tell here in comments about your stress-busters.
Add comment November 4th, 2009 08:00am Georgette Braun
Walk through the Screamatorium Haunted House in South Beloit from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday for the Dark Stalkers experience.
Each group is given one glow stick and upon entering the haunted path at 6512 Manchester Road, the group is left alone to find its way out in darkness. If you lose your glow stick, you won’t be given another. There is no time limit. It could take you 20 minutes or more than an hour. The creatures, Screamatorium staff who are known for their intense in-your-face effects, will run customers in endless circles around the detailed horror scenes.
No one under age 13 will be admitted without a parent or guardian. Tickets available only on-site, and there are no advance ticket sales. Cost is $10.
SCOTT MORGAN | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Cassi Canaday, 14, of South Beloit gets ready Oct. 23 for the haunted house in South Beloit.
Add comment November 3rd, 2009 10:44am Georgette Braun
The days of pureed peas and lukewarm meatloaf are gone at today’s retirement communities.
So says the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, which is hosting its own “Iron Chef” competition Monday through Wednesday at McCcormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago. The group has 5,300 member organizations.
Christina Fox of Wesley Willows Retirement Community in Rockford is among competitors from the Chicago area and Maryland and California as well who will race against the clock to create dishes using a secret ingredient. Area chefs will judge their culinary creations.
I’ll follow up to see how Fox fares.
11 comments November 3rd, 2009 10:33am Georgette Braun
Are you scared of self-checkout machines?
I’ve used the one at the Hilander (a Kroger store) on Main Street and Riverside Boulevard in Rockford just once. I tend to avoid it because I don’t want to make a mistake and feel foolish. I’m not alone.
Researchers studied the patterns at a lane of self-checkout machines in a Kroger Co. grocery store in North Carolina, and interviewed the users afterward, according to this Daily Finance story. “They found that shoppers felt more comfortable ringing up their own purchases if they were alone or in a crowd. But if there was just one other person waiting in line behind them, they felt more pressured and less confident and were less likely to use the machine again or recommend it to others.
“Retail Banking Research estimated the number of self-checkout machines in the U.S. will grow to nearly 192,000 in 2011, more than tripling the 59,000 that were in use in 2007.”
Yikes. We best shed our fears of embarrassment and get with the program or we could be waiting in lines longer as retailers increasingly cut checkers to cut costs. We can do it. Remember, some of us didn’t used to pump our own gas, either.
1 comment November 2nd, 2009 06:00pm Georgette Braun
Hard rockers Shinedown, Papa Roach and Halestorm will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the MetroCentre, 300 Elm St., Rockford.
Tickets cost $32.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at metrocentre.com, 815-968-5222 and the MetroCentre box office.
Shinedown is known for hits “Save Me,” “Devour,” “Second Chance” and “Sound of Madness.” Papa Roach’s hits include “Last Resort” and “Lifeline.” Halestorm, led by siblings Elizabeth and Arejay Hale, has had one hit: “I Get Off.” A fourth band may be added.
1 comment November 2nd, 2009 10:36am Georgette Braun
J.R. Sullivan, who founded the now-defunct New American Theater in downtown Rockford that is informally being referred to as The Sullivan Center at 118 N. Main St., won’t make it for a variety show there that he has led for 15 years.
So Hometown Holiday will not be held this December, but is expected to return next year, according to a news release by Charlotte’s Web for the Performing Arts, which presented the show.
Sullivan is the new artistic director of the Pearl Theatre Company in New York City, and the job is keeping him busy in the Big Apple this year. “I can only say that I know this to be a one-year break, and the Hometown Holiday show will be back in 2010,” Sullivan said in the news release.
Add comment October 29th, 2009 04:15pm Georgette Braun
The 2005 documentary, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” featuring John Peterson, owner of Angelic Organics in Caldeonia, will be presented Saturday and Tuesday at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater in Omaha, Neb.
The film is one of eight documentaries in the American Stories film series presented with the Nebraska Humanities Council and Federation of State Humanities Councils. It is part of a series presented with the 2009 National Humanities Conference in Omaha. The Illinois Humanities Council submitted the film for consideration.
From a story I wrote in April 2006: Peterson “embraced the ’60s and ’70s, and his friends flocked to the farm with all their flamboyant artistic expressions. Some neighbors thought he was wacky and wrongly believed worse, like he was a drug king and ritualistic killing was going on down on the farm.
“The farm debt crisis of the ’80s cost him all but 22 acres. He was depressed and went to Mexico to find himself. After his return, he started farming organically on the property and now owns and operates ecologically friendly Angelic Organics. It’s a Community Supported Agriculture farm in which about 1,200 consumers, mostly from the Chicago and Rockford areas, are invested in the expenses of producing food.”
Tell here in Comments what you like about going to Angelic Organics.
| Alan Leon/Rockford Register Star Director Taggart Siegel (left) and Bob Bowen talk about Siegel’s film “The Real Dirt on Farmer John” during the Beloit International Film Festival launch party at ABC World Headquarters. |
1 comment October 29th, 2009 11:43am Georgette Braun
A third Ghost Tour by LOLTOS at the Coronado Performing Arts Center, 314 N. Main St., Rockford, has been added after two tours sold out.
The new tour will be at 9 p.m. Saturday. Arrive by 8:45 p.m. Cost is $10. Reservations are required. 815-968-2722, ext. 12.
Add comment October 29th, 2009 11:36am Georgette Braun
The Oct. 15 Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center 125th anniversay fundraising dinner at Franchesco’s Ristorante in Rockford netted the group $46,000.
Coming up soon is Emily Bear, 8, of Rockford performing at 7 p.m. Nov. 19, at the center at 415 N. Church St. Cost is $15. 815-964-9713. She’ll play piano after a screening of the film, “Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037.”
Add comment October 29th, 2009 11:28am Georgette Braun
The 2009 Murder Mystery Dinner at Cliffbreakers Riverside Resort in Rockford on Oct. 17 netted the Pec Playhouse Theatre more than $5,500, including silent auction items.
It was the fifth annual event for the Pecatonica theater, and money from “Terror in TV Land” will help fund theater programs and pay the theater’s mortgage.
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