Tax Vote Talk; Burn Ban Begins

Get a recap of all the major headlines we had April 29-May 6.

On Friday, we brought you video highlights of remarks from Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Williams, who served as the keynote speaker of Thursday’s Paulding County Chamber of Commerce Georgia Power Luncheon. Our video coverage last week also included highlights of another Chamber event—last month’s Cobb EMC Power Breakfast that focused on the upcoming tax vote, the Transportation Investment Act referendum. More government-related coverage came in the form of our stories on the April 26 Paulding Board of Commissioners meeting, at which officials approved a rezoning to allow for a dog care facility; and Tuesday’s gathering of the Hiram City Council, which saw councilmen adopt a monthly pay schedule for elected …

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Dinner and a Movie

'The Avengers': A Movie to Marvel

Humor proves the most potent superpower for this blockbuster.

The summer movie season starts early, and this could be the biggest movie of the year. It is one of the most entertaining comic book blockbusters ever made: Marvel's The Avengers. You’ve met most of these characters before. Iron Man is Robert Downey Jr. Captain America is Chris Evans. Thor is Chris Hemsworth. The Hulk is Mark Ruffalo. Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury assembles the team to stop a diabolical bad guy who, you guessed it, wants to rule the world. But they spend nearly as much time battling one another as they do battling evil. What's great about this film is the sense of humor it shows without disrespecting the characters or the fans who have been waiting forever for this superhero mash-up. All the main characters get plenty of …

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Last Chance: Before ‘Avengers,’ Marvel at These Movies

Hiram’s movie theater will screen four superhero films leading up to what is expected to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.

The summer movie season is set to start with a squad of superheroes. The Avengers opens across the country Friday, and anyone who is a fan of the series knows it is packed with some of Marvel Comics’ best-known superheroes. But hours before those heroes' big summer premiere, some of their earlier adventures will be presented on the big screen locally. Movies 278 in Hiram, like many Carmike Cinemas theaters across the country, will present Marvel Super Hero Movie Festival on Thursday—an afternoon and evening of four Marvel films that will lead up to the midnight premiere of The Avengers. The marathon starts with Iron Man at 1 p.m., followed by Iron Man 2 at 3:45 p.m. Thor begins at 6:30, with Captain America: The First Avenger getting …

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Dinner and a Movie

‘Pirates’ Will Pillage Your Funny Bone

Searching for a treasure-trove of laughs, you’ll fit right in with this animated crew.

A below-average pirate captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) seeks to win the elusive Pirate of the Year award but faces some strong competition in The Pirates! Band of Misfits. From the folks who brought us Wallace and Gromit, the story is feather-light but strong enough to introduce the characters and establish their conflicts, which are pretty predictable. It's more of a comedy than an adventure, appealing to both children and adults. Such a film should be a crowd pleaser at the box office. Audiences love pirate movies. Toss in some quirky characters, like a twisted Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin, and you have an evolutionary success. The film is an enjoyable 90 minutes. The voice casting was mostly on merit and not on stunt casting, making…

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PatchCast

PatchCast: Vacationing Fireman a Hero; Festival's Sights, Sounds

Here's your roundup of regional headlines for Wednesday, April 25.

Follow these links for more on today's stories: Donovan: All Teens Accepted Deal (Dallas-Hiram Patch) Fatal Hit-and-Run, Drugs in Warrant for Truitt's Arrest (Cartersville Patch) On Vacation, Firefighter Saves Boy (Canton-Sixes Patch) Sights and Sounds of 2012 Big Shanty Festival (Kennesaw Patch)

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Vendor Spotlight: Piggy City USA

Jerry "Boss Hog" Johnson of Hiram sold his creations this weekend at the Big Shanty Festival in Kennesaw

Dinner and a Movie

Romance Sparks ‘The Lucky One'

Teen heartthrob Zac Efron grows into a leading man for a role full of war, love and dog kennels.

Zac Efron plays Logan, a soldier on his third tour in Afghanistan who comes across a picture of a woman and is inspired to search for her stateside, in The Lucky One. His search lands him at a kennel in Louisiana owned by Beth (Taylor Schilling) and her grandmother, Ellie (Blythe Danner). He gets a job there and settles in, still not telling anyone his real reason for being there. As you might imagine, sparks start to fly. The Lucky One is a Nicholas Sparks movie. He's good at this kind of thing, writing books that turn into such movies as Message in a Bottle, Nights in Rodanthe and The Notebook. This film is one of his better stories, and with an attractive young cast, it should appeal to audiences. Efron is making a statement as a …

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DA Makes Offer; Sexual Assault Report Released

Get a recap of all the major headlines we had April 8-15.

The March 11 vandalism of East Paulding High School and surrounding areas continued to make headlines last week. The latest development saw 21 of 24 teens facing charges taking the Paulding district attorney’s offer to go into a pre-trial diversion program during a Friday afternoon meeting. Earlier in the week, we learned that one of those 24 teens likely will not get to participate in his school’s graduation ceremony following action taken by the Paulding County School Board. In other school district news, class sizes are set to remain on par with this year’s numbers. Another government entity that met on Tuesday was the county’s Board of Commissioners, which gave its approval to the formation of a radio system board. With talk of …

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Game Review: 'Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City'

Worse than a city full of raccoons.

Pre-rant clarification: I am not a Resident Evil fan. I’ve actually never played one before this because I never owned an original Playstation and even when I had a PS2 I quickly traded it in for an Xbox at the persuasion of a friend.  The first one to become available on the 360 was Resident Evil IV, and I didn’t see the point of playing the fourth installment (or rather something like the fifteenth if you count all the remakes and spinoffs and side stories and crap).  So anyway, yeah, I’m not a fan or even a vet. It probably stands to reason, then, that I have no right to critique the latest installment in the series without knowing anything about the previous titles. But, I’m going to do it anyway.  Like I said, I know nothing about the…

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Adam Alexander

11:18 am on Sunday, April 15, 2012

A reader informed me via email that Resident Evil V was actually the first to be released on the 360, and that IV was re-released on the 360 after that. Sorry about that.   more ›