Roanoke vs. Greensboro (Entry 1 of 6)_ The Shadowbox or The Idiot Box

Today, we begin our first in a once-a-week (or perhaps once-a-month series) pitting my birthplace and hometown of Roanoke, Va., against my adopted city of Greensboro, NC. The cities' have interesting nicknames as Roanoke is called The Star City and Grensboro is called The Gate City.

The two zip codes are about 110 miles from each other, and in addition to the stateline, the cities are separated from Route 220, which is known for its radical church signs, pro-life billboards and even billboards proclaiming the world is going to come to an end on May 21, 2011 (oops!). There are also billboards with guns and strippers (hmmmm...), and the legaendary speedtrap of Boones Mill, Va., 15 miles outh of Roanoke, where I have somehow never been ticketed.

This week, there are two major events in both cities, and if I lived in Martinsville, Va., which is half-way between the two zip codes, I might need to flip a coin on this one.

The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke will be hosting a Donkey Kong tournament before screening the dcoumentary gem "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (2007). The movie features a video game fanatic named Billy Mitchell, who actually made a fortune selling his own brand of b-b-q sauce. Mitchell always sports an American flag tie, much like the one we had in an entry earlier this week, and he seems very patriotic. The problem with Donkey Kong though is that he has no Boris Spassky (evil Soviet counterpart) as the late Bobby Fischer did when he faced Spassky in that famous Cold War chess showdown.

The tournament satarts at 7:00 p.m. and the film begins at 8:00 p.m., tommorow night.

In Greensboro, The Idiot Box, which is known for its improv troupe featuring Jennie Stencel, Steve Lesser and Bob Bob Beshere among others, will actually be foregoing their usual 10:00 p.m. performance on Saturday night to host the Found Footage Festival. The event will feature rare and supposedly hilarious vhs treasures.

After leaving Greensboro, the Found Footage Festival Tour heads to the Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colo., one of our favorite cities--though it is very far from here, on June 16.

We discovered some interesting things about the Idiot Box while researching this piece. As it turns, Stencel, a blonde-haired woman who is a local celebrity from her years as a morning traffic reporter on a local tv station, has her own Wikipedia page. From what we gathered, she is also married to Lesser. We did not know that!

I should add that Jason Garnett, the manager of the Shadowbox Cinema, is a personal friend of mine, so while I enjoy the Idiot Box, I must profess a bias towards the Star City venue. Having said that, I would assuredly get my deriere kicked in any video game tournament! In addition, the Unknown Comic is not coming to the Idiot Box, but since he was popular in the 1970s, he is probably well past his prime, which of course means he should open a show in Las Vegas!

Lastly, we don't want to create false impressions as to our knowledge The Shadowbox is not showing a Bruce Lee film this month, but if Jason chooses to show "Enter the Dragon" I am so there....well, unless it's a school night.

Special Quote of the Week- Upton Sinclair

Today, we start our series of quips from novelists past and present with a quote from the great American liberal muckracking author Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) who is most known for "The Jungle" (1906).

That docu-novel was adapted into an excellent 2004 graphic novel by Peter Kuper and Emily Russell.

Sinclair's other famous novel "Oil!" (1927) was made into the much-acclaimed 2007 film "There Will Be Blood," which won its lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis his second Oscar.

Sinclair is one of several famous people who were born in Baltimore, including Babe Ruth, Eubie Blake, David Byrne and John Waters.

One can probably find several copies of "The Jungle" at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., which is one of my favorite bookstores in America.

On May, the Boulder Bookstore will host guest author Josh Chetwynd who will talk about his new book "The History of Balls," which is about things like softballs, basketballs and dodgeballs. Yeah, we agree that the title might mislead people.

Here is the quote from Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it."

SIDEBAR_ Those who like Upton Sinclair, such as myself, probably like reading "The Nation" magazine as well. Like their conservative counterparts, the web page of "The Nation" (thenation.com) has lots of articles on Osama bin Laden's killing in Pakistan and what might happen next.

But, the current issue also focuses on how the Republican jobs plan has, in the words of "The Nation," become a total failure.

Some interesting things about the notorious terrorist which haven't been reported much in the media, as a youngster he apparently enjoyed watching "Bonanza" and Bruce Lee kung-fu movies. Wow! is what I said too.

We hope everyone is enjoying their lunch hours in Los Angeles, perhaps you are dinning at the Mandolin Grille (I've actually never been to L.A.!)