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[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 7-10 World Food Championships at Fremont Street Experience (WorldFoodChampionships.com) Nov. 9 UHCs Honor Ride to benefit Project HERO (Ride2Recovery.com)

BASH IN THE BONEYARDSigns from Las Vegas past were brought back to life as

the Neon Museum celebrated its one-year anniversary

with a Halloween-themed party on Oct. 25. About 300

guests gathered for the Boneyard Bash, including Jona-

than Seti, the makeup artist for AMCs The Walking Dead,

who transformed faces for the ghoulish occasion. An

all-local lineup of musicians including the All-Togethers

and The Phat Pack provided spooky tunes while magician

Murray Sawchuck (pictured right) emceed the festivities.

And because there couldnt be tricks without a treat, a

portion of the partys proceeds will be donated back to

the Neon Museum.

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Jim Valvano won an NCAA championship in his third year at North Carolina State.

In Rick Pitinos third year at Kentucky, the Wildcats went from not appearing in the tournament the year before to playing in the Elite 8.

Michigan State went from not qualifying for the tour-ney in Tom Izzos second year to playing in the Sweet 16 in his third season at the helm.

Roy Williams took Kansas to the title game in his third year in Lawrence.

Billy Donovon brought Florida to the Sweet 16 in his third year.

And, more recently, John Calipari won a national title in 2012 in his third year at Kentucky.

Its not a hard-and-fast rule, and some situations have to be taken on a case-by-case basisit took John Wooden 16 years to win his frst national title; Jerry Tarkanian led the Rebels to the Final Four in his fourth seasonbut the third year has become a sort of midterm exam for college basketball coaches. Which brings us to Dave

Rice, who is in his third year

as head coach of the UNLV Runnin Rebels. In two largely successful seasons hes led the Rebels to 51 victories, two trips to the NCAA tournament and some memorable moments along the way (UNLVs win over No. 1 North Carolina at the Orleans Arena in 2011 was one for the ages). But the team has come up short in two cru-cial aspects: NCAA tournament success has eluded Rice (hes 0-for-2 in the Big Dance), and hes also been unable to get the Rebels to play his preferred up-tempo style consistently.But now that Rice is working

with a roster almost entirely of his own constructiononly backup center Carlos Lopez-Sosa and likely redshirt Dantley Walker were recruited by previous coach Lon KrugerRice is dealing from a deck stacked with his guys.We feel like we have a group

that can play up-tempo basket-ball, Rice says. We feel like we have a group that we can press on made baskets and dead balls, and push the tempo.Its the deepest squad Rice

has had at UNLV. Return-ingand expected to lead the teamare center Khem Birch (the reigning Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year) and shoot-ing guard Bryce Dejean-Jones (10.3 points per game last sea-son). And theyre joined by a

slew of long, athletic newcom-ers who should allow Rice to play as fast as he wants to play.Swingman Jelan Kendrick

and point guard Deville Smith, both junior college transfers, should bring length, speed and creativity to the starting lineup. And rangy forward Roscoe Smith, eligible after sitting out last year as a transfer from Connecticut (where he won a national title in 2011) is a two-way grinder who gives Rice ideal lineup fexibility.Picture this sequence:

The Rebels are playing a pressure half-court defense, and Roscoe Smith harasses a shooter into a missed jumper. Birch rebounds and throws a quick outlet to Deville Smith. Smith pushes the ball quickly toward half court, scans the foor and hits Kendrick in the open foor. Kendrick weaves through the lane, draws the

defense, then kicks it out to Dejean-Jones, who is trailing and hits an open 3-pointer.But the Rebels arent done.

As the opposing team tries to inbound the ball, Birch face-guards the man taking it out. His angle cut off, the inbound-ers only option is to throw a pass to a teammate in the corner, where Roscoe Smith and Deville Smith quickly con-verge to trap the ball.The opponent picks up his

dribble, pivots and tries to heave a pass forward over his shoulder. Roscoe Smith uses his long arms to tip the pass, and its picked off near half court by Kendrick. He throws it forward to Dejean-Jones, who tosses up an alley-oop for Birch to fnish.The entire sequence takes

less than 15 seconds.Thats the ideal style Rice

wants the Rebels to play. Its an

exciting, crowd-pleasing sys-tem, and one that can be very effectivePitino employed a similar pressure defense to lead Louisville to the NCAA title last season. More impor-tantly to Las Vegas fans, its also the type of system utilized by Tarkanian during the Reb-els glory years. Rice played under Tarkanian (as did cur-rent assistant Stacey Augmon), and Tarks coaching DNA is evident in Rices approach.The up-tempo system is

also demanding to teach and diffcult to execute. So even as the UNLV public relations team told fans the Rebels were ready to run during Rices frst two years, the truth is those teams werent built to play that game. Now they are.If anyone understands the

intricacies of Rices system and coaching philosophies, its his brother, Grant Rice,

ts conventional wisdom in

college basketball that a coach

really makes his mark in his

third year with a program. You

get two years to assemble your

coaching staff, recruit your own

players and install your system,

and then its time to show

results on the court.

In other words, if youve

got what it takes to build and

maintain an elite program, the

signs are usually clear by the end

of your third year on the job. The third year is

go-time, and the list of guys who have made the

leap from pretender to contender in Year Three

reads like the lineup at Gods coaching clinic:

Rebels practices at UNLVs Mendenhall

Center have been no-nonsense affairs, heavy on toughness andyesrunning.

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NIGHTLIFE

WHEN I WAS asked to be the tour blogger for Markus Schulzs Scream bus tour this past spring, I was skeptical. I had been on a private jet with him once, and I had seen him play about a mil-lion gigs. I grew up with him in the Arizona scene, where he got his start in electronic dance music, but was at a distance when he blew up on the other side of the country and abroad. Nevertheless, our history

was what enabled my posi-tion on his star coach, visit-ing 17 U.S. cities in support of his artist album with two (later, three) busses bringing a full stage production, tour manager, stage manager, stage techs, visuals people, documentarians, merchan-dising and other artists. I envisioned hardships akin to camping and drama akin to The Jerry Springer Show, in addition to a world of spoils in which only mega DJs and rock stars live. (And indeed, I once did throw my shoes in response to a fght sparked

by groupies.) Entrusted with writing about the headliners more intimate moments, while staying within the confnes of a thorough conf-dentiality clause, living the dream also brought along some unanticipated night-mares related to toilets, the use of both hands, sleep, a sense of time and turbulence. By design, DJs are more

spoiled than rock stars, be-cause the most they have to do is pack up their USB drive, hop on a plane, be escorted to their stage, play (mostly) other peoples music, then call it a night in their hotel room before hopping on the next plane. Markus decided to merge the rock-star life with EDM life by bringing a festival-style atmosphere to markets that typically dont see it. Markus slept on the bus

while it was driving from city to citylike we all didbut had a full bedroom, shower and bathroom in the back, while everyone else slept in bunks, most of which came complete with TVs and DVD

players. We rode a fne line between luxury and torture, as this brand-new, light-weight bus felt like the equiv-alent of attempting to sleep in a vibrator, and if I was dealing with insomnia and trying not to tumble several feet down into the hallway every night, Markus, in the bed at the back of the bus, was being thrown around even more so. Upon arrival in each city,

Markus directed the crew dur-ing setup and then typically disappeared to a hotel room until it was time for his meet-and-greet and/or subsequent performance, while the rest of us fgured out where to show-er, eat and poo. On the star coach, we at least had a shower and full kitchen. However, no bus allowed anything other than liquid in its toilets, and the star had defnitely tested his coach on this point and got everyone in trouble with its driver early on. On the road, every day was

different. On occasion, the crew shared a hotel shower room, or the venue itself

had a dressing room with a shower, or, when blessed with a night off, crew were given hotel rooms to share. That was heaven: to sleep in a full-size bed for a whole night, to take a long shower, to have the privacy of a bathroom, and not embarrassingly walk by an entire crew who knew what you were about to do, to brush ones teeth without holding oneself up with the other hand. (Of course, after just a few days, even when we werent on the bus I felt like I was constantly moving and dealing with motion sickness.) Tension inevitably built,

and by the halfway point nerves were tested. Colds were spreading. Families were forming while others came apart. The videogra-phers were missing the best parts of the drama as we fought behind the scenes. I blogged within the lines. And when it came to show time, none of this mattered. At the end of the night,

three or four of us headed back to the star coach once Markus had signed enough autographs. We checked out what hospitality had been loaded into our kitchen

(Champagne, vodka, hum-mus, chips, bottled water) before tying up the fridge for the next bumpy ride, lest we wake up to a picnic on the foor, broken glass and homeless pickles. Sometimes we watched a movie in the living room, sometimes we listened to music, sometimes we bonded and laughed, andsometimes we fought and threw shoes. But always, we kept on a professional and positive face for the sake of the fans. I went home with one

bruise for every city we visited, and one of them was about the size of the bus. I went home with a sigh of relief that I could wake up knowing what time zone I was in, that I could make it through a night without wishing a sleep-belt had been invented, bumping into a TV if I turned over, or having anxiety that the object I was sleeping in might tumble off the side of a mountain. I went home missing the forced closeness with other people, but not their drama. And Markus, well, he went back to fying around the world with a laptop and USB drive.

Get on the BusLife and living on the road with a celebrity DJ

By Sarah Gianetto

Check out the complete gallery of tour photos at VegasSeven.com/MarkusSchulz. Keep an eye out for Schulzs next Las Vegas stop at MarkusSchulz.com.

NIGHTLIFE

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MARQUEEThe Cosmopolitan

[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 1 Cosmic Gate spins

Nov. 2 Chuckie spins

Nov. 4 Vice spins

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1 OAKThe Mirage

[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 1 DJ Jus Ske spins

Nov. 5 PUSH Awards

Nov. 8 DJ E-Rocks birthday celebration

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ARTISAN1501 W. Sahara Ave

[ UPCOMING ]

Oct. 31 Circus Freak Sleepover

Nov. 2 DJ Carlo Rio spins

NIGHTLIFE

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[ UPCOMING ]

Oct. 31 Halloween Party

Nov. 2 The Weeknd performs

Nov. 12 Stache Bash with DJ Well Groomed

HAVE YOU HAD a hamburger on the Strip lately? Theres cer-tainly no shortage of gourmet burger spots offering thick, juicy patties of exotic meats, dozens of gourmet toppings and artisanal rolls. Todays burger is a far cry from the cardboard-tasting fast-food hockey pucks that defned hamburger restaurants just a decade ago.Mario Batali will soon

be offering his spin on the American staple at the up-coming B&B Burger & Beer in the Venetian. You can already hear certain critics bitching and moaning about another celebrity chef cashing in on

the burger craze. What they ignore is the fact that celebrity hamburger joints have be-come a Las Vegas institutiona national trend that was born in our own backyard. In 2003, Bill Richardson was

overseeing the creation of the new Mandalay Place shopping complex when the develop-ers of his planned hamburger restaurant dropped out. Downstairs, famed French chef Hubert Keller was in the process of bringing his San Francisco fagship restaurant Fleur de Lys to Mandalay Bay. Richardson asked Keller if he would have his team take over the space for a few months.

He could do whatever he pleased. The chef decided to stick with burgers, but asked if he could keep the space permanently.Despite gourmet touches

such as a wagyu Rossini burger topped with shaved truffes and foie gras, a great craft beer selection, an in-house butcher shop and Kellers insistence that all burgers be formed by hand, the dining world was skepti-cal. Daniel Boulud had already made headlines with a super-pricey burger at his New York brasserie. But no fne-dining chef had ever dedicated a restaurant exclusively to

burgers. No chefs would ever put their name on a burger, Keller recalls. Because in our industry, if youre a complete loser, the thing [people say] is always, Go fip burgers!While critics snickered,

Burger Bar was a hit. It was constantly packed, and other fne-dining chefs noticed. As Michelin-starred chef Alessandro Stratta told me at the time, everybody wanted a Burger Bar. Famed French chef Laurent Tourondel opened his BLT Burger in The Mirage in 2008. But it would take a few more years for a local celeb to plant his fag on the burger battlefeld.Kerry Simon was a natural

for that role. Hed defeated Cat Cora in Iron Chef Americas Battle Hamburger episode, and soon began reproducing that winning burger in his lo-cal restaurant. He had defed critics before by abandoning fne dining to create gourmet comfort food. So the unveil-ing of K.G.B. (Kerrys Gour-met Burgers) at Harrahs in 2010 just made sense. It had

always been in my head, ever since Iron Chef, Simon says of the burger venture. So it just kind of fell into place. Burger restaurants have continued to explode in Las Vegas over the past few years, including Gordon Ramsays BurGR in Planet Hollywood. So why does Las Vegas need

another celebrity chef burger joint?We dont, Batali says. But

we do need a really good place to get super-top-quality beef in a hamburger in a casual bar setting. He promises that by using trimmings from the house-aged beef at his Palazzo steakhouse Carnevino, hell be able to offer world-class burgers at bargain prices.So ignore the food snobs,

and take pride in our ce-lebrity burger restaurants. They arent simply delicious, affordable and approachable. Theyre also a born-in-Vegas phenomenon, and a far greater contribution to the dining world than the 99-cent shrimp cocktail or the casino buffet. V

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Celebrity Burgers: A Juicy Tale

Las Vegas will soon welcome another celebrity hamburger

restaurantftting, since the concept was born here

By Al Mancini

Las Vegas original burger king, chef Hubert Keller, with his $60 Rossini burger.

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Photo by kin lui

Drinking

Cocktails by the BookCosmopolitan mixologist Mariena Mercer has a voracious reading habit: four books

each month, with two to three going at any given time. And the tomes occupying her

nightstand have a quirky habit of manifesting themselves in Miss Wizards menus.

To wit, the new 10-cocktail list that launched October 25 at the Cosmos Chandelier

1.5 bar features the Cats Cradle ($14), inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut novel of the

same name. But while that book is a satirical commentary all about the madness of

modern man, this feminine, culinary-style fall drink is all about her Professor Plum

plum-rose shrub. Shrubssweetened vinegar-based syrupsare a great vehicle to

impart depth, brightness and complexity, Mercer says. The key is to let much of the

vinegar boil off before cooling the syrup. To this she adds Fords Gin, Hum liqueur,

lemon juice and Dry lavender soda. So, whats next? Perhaps Atlas Shrubbed? Learn

to make shrubs and the Cats Cradle at VegasSeven.com/Cocktail-Culture. Xania Woodman

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him permission to stray in Vegas because it might bring back the old spark. Sam goes through the flm seeking out a willing fing. Does he fnd one? And does this possible fing lead him back to his wifes bed in the sweetest, chastest yet most comical of ways? Hint: Did Kline not build a portion of his career playing lovable, yet comic rogues?There is Archie (Freeman),

who, after suffering a stroke, has become a prisoner of his sons overprotective impulses. He sneaks away from his off-spring with a hilarious ruse, wears an adorable fanny pack and cashes in his retirement for blackjack chips. Does this Vegas trip help him regain his role as a self-determined grown-up? Hint: Is his last name Freeman?There is Paddy (De Niro), who

has degenerated into a grumpy shut-in after his wife died and one of his three best friends skipped out on said wifes funeral. Will Vegas fun help Paddy reconcile with his friends and learn to embrace life anew? Hint: There is a scene at Haze in which De Niro punches Entou-rages Jerry Ferrara.And finally there is Billy

(Douglas), the one in the group who turned out more than OK. He has a Malibu beach house, a personal as-sistant and a fiance half his age. Can this Vegas trip help him ditch his sexy fiance and find a woman his own age? Yes, it can. But should it? Really, should it? This is Vegas after all. Eh, OK, heres your hint: The lovely 60-year-old Mary Steenbur-gen has a starring role as a lounge singer at Binions.The Vegas Fairy Tale offers

a three-part fantasy: gam-bling, babes and partying. As a pretty classic example of the genre, Last Vegas indulges all of them. Together, these three prongs of the Vegas fantasy unite to provide absolute escape from tour-ists pathetic quotidian lives back home. But can we as a city cash the check that these films are writing?The frst and most im-

portant part of the Vegas Fairy Tale is winning big. See Vegas Vacation for precedent in which the underage son Rusty Griswold becomes a high-roller complete with a hot tub full of hot chicks. In Last Vegas, no big spoiler alert, Freemans character turns

a $15,000 retirement into more than $100,000. With the winnings comes a staggering comped suite at Aria and a personal VIP host to attend to the four friends every whim. Tourists, on behalf of the Las Vegas economy, I entreat you to try this little gambling trick yourselves.With big winnings, a sick

suite and a personal servant, De Niro, Freeman, Kline and Douglas (nobody is thinking of them as their characters

names) are ready to live out the rest of the Vegas Fairy Tale in style. The rest being babes and partying, which when done correctly produces a general sense of being supe-rior to everybody else. (How is that feeling expandable to the scale of all Vegas tourists? If everybody is better than everybody else, then who is everybody else better than? Its the paradox that pro-duced bottle service.)The sexy lady aspect naturally

has a strong precedent in other

Vegas flms. Theres Swingers willing cocktail waitresses, The Hangovers marriageable stripper and Leaving Las Vegas empathetic hooker. In Last Vegas, the hot babes fall into two categories: girls that are our fellows age and girls that are way younger. Since its a Vegas fantasy, our fellows get both. Theres a budding relation-

ship with a surprisingly classy, beautiful, intelligent and age-appropriate lounge singer, played by Steenburgen. (Be-

cause all desirable local ladies just cant wait to date tourists. And yes, with Clark Countys population of approximately 2 million there are more than enough local gals to service the 40 million-odd annual visitors.) On the young, foozy side,

these men fnd hot babes ev-erywhere: They single out sexy passersby on the Strip; they judge a bikini contest hosted by Redfoo; and the boys might even fnd a bachelorette who likes mature men. The third portion of the

Vegas fantasy, realized in no small part by the frst two aspects, is the awesome party. (See all movies about Las Ve-gas for precedent.) In Last Ve-gas, our boys party in several ways. They go clubbing, dur-ing which Freeman discovers vodka-Red Bulls and De Niro recovers his fghting prowess. See, old men can have fun, too, the movie cries out. Then theres the climax

of the flm, which happens as a party in the boys hotel

suite. At this bash, every-thing comes together and all problems are solved. The four friends wear tailored suits, symbolically completing their Fairy Tale makeover from fuddy-duddies to cooler-than-thou high-rollers. All variations of the Vegas girls are there for decoration. Freeman dances, as does the cast of Zarkana. Why? Because they were invited via party fi-er. (Reality alert: The only way you can get Cirque du Soleil to perform at your party is

if you pay them.) But reality doesnt matter. This is the Vegas fantasy, and its fun to watch our four actors having fun. Weve seen them serious in so many other movies that watching Last Vegas is almost like going on vacation with old friends.

****At the after-party at Haze, while the stars were walking the red carpet, the tables were already waiting for them with a rose, a candle, delicate snacks and paper nameplates that read: De Niro, Freeman, Kline, Douglas and [Jon] Turtletaub, the flms director. At this mo-ment, Vegas fantasy and Vegas reality dosey-doed. Here was a scene from the flm beingmore or lessre-enacted in real time. And reality disap-pointed. Unlike the party animal portrayed in the movie, Freeman went home after the red carpet, not even passing go in the club. Steenburgen hung out for a little while. As for the rest, their nameplates were soon removed. Ferrara, who played a club kid who becomes the old mens lackey, stayed the longest. That was it. At midnight

the party ended and the reg-ular people were allowed to enter the club. Somewhere among the crowd, were four elderly friends waiting in line, looking for a new lease on retirement? Perhaps not this time, but there will be. At least by the time Last Vegas debuts on Netflix.

In cinema, Vegas embodies bucks, babes and booze: (clockwise from top left) Vegas Vacation, The Hangovers strip tease, Swingers, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Last Vegas pool party and roller coaster ride and The Hangovers table games.

THE VEGAS FAIRY TALE OFFERS A THREE-PART FANTASY: GAMBLING, BABES AND PARTYING. AS A PRETTY CLASSIC

EXAMPLE OF THE GENRE, LAST VEGAS INDULGES ALL OF THEM.

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POP CULTURE

watch a show that episodic now that all our best shows are heavily serialized. The formula was always the same: Kolchak caught wind of a freaky story. He thought it was going to revive his career. He investigated, discovered the paranormal at play, no one believed him and eventually he was proven rightbut with no witnesses. Youd think the Chicago cops would realize the Windy City was the most haunted place in America, but I suppose when confronted with that much evidence of the supernatural, youd turn to denial, too, if you wanted to just grab an Italian beef on the way home without having to worry about mummies all over the damn place.Aside from doing a noveliza-

tion of the Matheson-penned Night Strangler, Rice wouldnt

be involved with any other writing on the series. But Kolchak is a lasting legacy, not just for Las Vegas spot in the Halloween frmament, nor for being a cult-fave that spawned a short-lived 2005 remake and a series of books and comics.The series was also heavily

infuential on Chris Carter when creating The X-Files. That show really leaned on the monster-of-the-week template in the early goings until the series began to tease out its overarching Smoking Man-driven conspiracy narrative. Eventually, X-Files would reveal a large part of that plot involved a shadow government that co-operated with aliens

who were using black oil to take over certain important humans, turning them into mindless slaves as part of a vaster plan to colonize Earth.After The Night Strangler,

there was a third Kolchak movie, The Night Killer, that Matheson wrote, which would have been made if not for the

series order. In it, Kolchak and Vin-cenzo teamed up in Hawaii, where there was a UFO and a string of murders. Kolchak discovered that aliens were replacing murdered government of-fcials with androids in a bid to establish a colony on Earth.Fire up the

theremin, strange forces are afoot.

Night StalkingRemembering Las Vegas role

in a spooky, 70s-era series

By Jason Scavone

LAS VEGAS GREATEST contri-bution to the Halloween landscape (besides being the worlds petri dish for the sexy-whatever costume phenomenon) is a cult-favorite, one-season wonder from the 70sthat grand, bygone era when Hallow-een meant wearing crappy plastic mask/vinyl poncho costumes. Or at least it will stand as Las Vegas greatest contribution to Halloween until Brachs gives in to my demands and builds a candy corn factory in Henderson.In 1970, Las Vegas Sun re-

porter Jeff Rice fnished work on The Kolchak Papers, the unpublished novel that would be adapted in 1972 by ABC into the made-for-TV movie The Night Stalker. Handling the adaptation was veteran Richard Matheson who, among other things, wrote the classic Twilight Zone jam Nightmare at 20,000 feet and the 1954 novel I Am Legend, later adapted into Chuck Heston-vs.-post-apocalyptic mutants 1971 gem The Omega Man (and, to a lesser extent, 2007s I Am Legend).But in that January 1972,

Darren McGavin, before his generational turn in A Christ-mas Story, took on the role of Carl Kolchak, a cantanker-ous, put-upon newspaper reporter in a rumpled seer-sucker suit and straw fedora. Kolchak was a newspaper-man fallen from big-time grace, lumping it in Las Vegas on the cop beat when a series of murders catches his inter-est because all the victims had their blood drained.Theres some skepticism,

theres some police denial, there may have been a shoot-out where the suspected murderer doesnt bleed and escapes the police over a wall. But in the end Kolchak beats the vampire drum long enough to pull out a Wile E. Coyote-size mallet and wooden stake to show cops how they should be armed. Without spoiling a 40-year-

old TV movie (though with

Chekhovs Stake and a bona fde Nosferatu loose in Vegas, you can probably fgure it out), Kolchak is eventually run out of town after trying to publish his vampire story. He was told in no uncertain terms its bad for business. This calculated tendency on the part of Las Ve-gas powers that be of weighing negative against the broader truth is the only fctionalized element of the story. It was a runaway hit, pulling

down a 33.2 ratingmean-ing more than half the TVs in the country were tuned to The Night Stalkerbecause in the early 70s the only other things to watch were Paul Lynde in an ascot, just sitting around his house, or Monday Night Footballs early experi-ments with George Blandas Sideburns Cam.The movie was such a hit

that the following January, ABC aired a sequel, The Night Strangler, that saw Kolchak setting up shop in Seattle (along with, for some reason, his perpetually put-upon editor in Las Vegas, Tony Vincenzo). This time it was an immortal killer commit-ting ritual murders to fuel his elixir of life. This one did a 23.4 in the ratings, enough for ABC to order a series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker.The series premiered in

1974, only going 20 epi-sodes before petering out. Kolchak (and the worlds most employee-loyal editor Vincenzo) was in Chicago this time, where he went through a monster-of-the-week inves-tigationwerewolves, zom-bies, witches, uh, the ghost of a knight who possessed his old armor in what I can only imagine came from an in-creasingly desperate writers room meeting that ended in someone screaming, Screw it, well just do Scooby-Doo plots then. Is that what you want, Stanley? Fine. Fine. I dont even care anymore, I just want to go home and put my damn kid to bed.Its actually refreshing to

THE FORMULA WAS ALWAYS THE SAME: KOLCHAK CAUGHT WIND OF A FREAKY STORY. HE THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO REVIVE HIS CAREER. HE INVESTIGATED, DISCOVERED THE

PARANORMAL AT PLAY, NO ONE BELIEVED HIM AND EVENTUALLY HE WAS PROVEN RIGHTBUT WITH NO WITNESSES.

HOW TO WATCH

The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler

are out of print, but the

series is available streaming on Netfix or for purchase on

Amazon Instant Video and iTunes.

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movies

[ by tribune media services ]short reviews

set along the Texas/Mexico border but photographed largely in Spain, The Counselor is novelist Cormac McCarthys frst original screenplay to make it before the cameras. It concerns a self-deluding and fnancially challenged Texan who takes a chance involving some cocaine cartel money to dig himself out of a fnancial hole. Drugs; greed; malice; ridiculous lifestyle excess, sig-nifed by the chief sociopaths pet cheetahs: The Counselor offers all sorts of pulpy theo-retical interest. As a bonus, the violence showcases not one but two really nasty ways to die via beheading, which is one more exotic method of killing than we got with the cattle stun-gun as deployed in the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, taken from a Mc-Carthy novel.The Counselor is packed

with cartel goons with bad teeth (just like the unsavory Mexicans of Hollywoods

ethnically sensitive past), surrounding a cast directed by Ridley Scott, including Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt. All that and yet, dull. Why?For one thing, McCarthys

story zigs and zags, but in slow motion. The character relationships lack the spark and juice of enjoyable trash. McCarthys dialogue suffers from an excess of capital-W Writing that doesnt sound like speakable human expression, even famboyant, proudly artifcial human expression. When someone accuses the Diaz character of being cold, she fxes her opponent with a glare and replies: Truth has no temperature. There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who will admire that line, quite apart from the leaden way Diaz delivers it, and those who wont.Fassbenders character,

whose twang carries a touch

of the Old Sod, needs dough to fnance, among other com-modities, a monster engage-ment ring for his intended (Cruz). She does not know about her mans deal with the cartel devils. Reiner, Bardems character, dominated by fright-wig hair in a perma-nent state of excitation, is the sometime associate of the counselor and has brought

the lawyer (Fassbender) in on a new nightclub project. Diaz portrays Reiners inhumanly tough mistress, the cheetah wrangler, resident sexual fuh-REAK and apparent string-puller of half the globes nefarious business interests.The narrative twists itself

into pretzels trying to stay ahead of the audience. Fass-benders reactive patsy of a

character exists to express shock at what his newfound colleagues will do in the name of frontier justice. Director Scott lends The Counselor a solid, shiny level of craftsman-ship. But even if weve never personally done these sorts of deals ourselves, at least lately, weve all been here before.

The Counselor (R)

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (R)

The Jackass crew is back. In this one,

Johnny Knoxville dons old-age makeup and

becomes Irving Zisman, a grandpa who goes

on to carry out elaborately staged pranks

played on the unsuspecting. There are

explosive laughs in these stunts: grandpa

sucker-punched by an air bag, hurled

through a store window by a kiddie ride set

up out front, etc. Most of the funny stunts

youve already seen in the trailer. All in all,

this doesnt hold together as a full feature.

12 Years a Slave (R) A film this good and this quietly distinctive is

always welcome. From Brad Pitts production

company and Shame director Steve McQueen,

this film is extraordinary. Based upon the 1853

slave narrative by Solomon Northup (played

by an incredible Chiwetel Ejiofor), it takes the

freeborn man of color from Saratoga, New

York, to the swamps and whip cracks of pre-

Civil War Louisiana. While working as a violin-

ist in Washington D.C., Northup was drugged,

kidnapped, chained and sold into slavery. The

filmmaking is subtle and fantastic. The actors,

incredible. The movie, an absolute triumph.

Carrie (R) This remake of the 1976 Brian De Palma cult

horror classic actually isnt all that bad. Di-

rector Kimberly Peirce tactfully repaints the

repressed and bullied and telekinetic Carrie

(Chlo Grace Moretz), who exacts revenge

upon her fellow prom-nighters. Julianne

Moore seizes the day as Carries fundamen-

talist and demonically cruel mother. Some

things are different, others are the same.

While the film hits all its marks, including

the unforgettable pigs blood prom scene,

theres still just something missing. Prob-

ably just Sissy Spacek.

The Fifth Estate (R) Try as they might, filmmakers just continue

to have a tough time dramatizing the Internet.

This tale about the formation of WikiLeaks

and its mysterious founder Julian Assange

(Benedict Cumberbatch) doesnt quite achieve

the quality of The Social Network. Much of the

picture is a clash between new-school hot

dog Assange and old-school journalistic types,

embodied by The Guardian and The New York

Times. Cumberbatch is good but just doesnt

have a whole lot to work with here.

mccarthy misfireNovelists debut screenplay a fawed

foundation for The Counselor

By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services

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What are the moments that will last in your memory from your dads induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and was that essen-

tially the capper on Jerry Tarkanians career?When he was announced [at

the induction ceremony], the ovation he received and the

smile he had on his face were the most wonderful things you could possibly imagine. But, no, the national champi-onship was a more crowning

achievement. When you win something on the court, that means youve won something. When you get voted in by, whatever, 22 or 24 people, its their opinion. And, quite frankly, for 20 years their opinions were pretty fawed.

On October 30, a statue of your father was unveiled outside of the Thomas & Mack Center. What does that mean to you and your family?Its a great feeling. In 1992,

when the university requested that my dad resign, Joe Foley, who was on the Board of Regents, grabbed me outside of the meeting and said, If your dad will walk away and not fght us, well build a statue for him. Well make a Hall of Fame at the university, and hell be a primary part of it. But if he fghts us, we will eliminate his name from the university. And I thought at the time, What a stupid com-ment, because all thats going to do is hurt the university, not my father. Fortunately, things have changed, starting with Jim Rogers getting the basketball court named after him, and then [former coach] Lon Kruger coming in and reaching out to the former players and my dad. Weve come full circle. So its funny that 21 years after Joe Foleys threat, theres fnally going to be a statue there.

Excluding yourself, whos the one former Rebel you think your dad is most proud of?Larry Johnson, defnitely.

My dad would say unequivo-cally hes the best player he ever coached, and he thinks Larry is as good a person as he was a player, so that says a lot.

You worked as an assistant alongside your dad at Fres-no State. How much do you miss coaching, and do you think youll ever go back?I know I wont go back to it;

Im past that point. You have to be young enough and be will-ing to be away from your fam-ily long enough. The best thing about me not coaching is I get to spend so much time with

my kids, which I love. Do I miss coaching? Every March, dur-ing tournament time; I dont think you could have been in coaching or involved in March Madness and not miss it when that period comes around.

Aside from running the Tarkanian Basketball Academy, what are your immediate plans?Right now, I have a really

good commercial center that I built in 07, so anybody who knows the real estate market knows its been challenging to keep that property. Were very close to getting it stabilized, and it would be wonderful security for my family if that happens. Im concentrating on that, and Im spending a lot of time with my family that I hadnt had a chance to over the past three years because I was running for the Senate and Congress. And Im spend-ing a lot of time with my dad,with his health issues. Those are my priorities at this point. Im also working on a book about my dad, which I hope is going to get published and turned into a movie.

Whats it feel like to lose an election?I havent experienced the

death of a close one, but theres been nothing more painful than losing a political race, and each one has gotten worse. The last one was very, very hard to overcome. I as-sume the death of a close one will be worse, but I hope its not much more.

Whats the best advice you ever got from your dad?Thats a good one. [Long

pause.] I cant recall my dad giving me specifc words of advice as much as just fol-lowing his actions. The thing I learned most from my dad was how he dealt with people, how he treated people with respect, gave them his at-tention and made them feel goodpeople from all walks of life, from very wealthy to very poor and everything in between. My dad was great at that. I havent been nearly as successful with it [laughs], but thats the lesson.

Danny TarkanianThe former UNLV point guard and political candidate on

his dads Hall of Fame induction, the agony of losing an election

and fatherly lessons learned

By Sean DeFrank

What does Danny Tarkanian think of the pros-pects for this years Rebels? And who does he hope will win the White House in 2016? Find out at VegasSeven.com/DannyTarkanian.

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