A 10-year-old James T. Kirk drives a vintage Corvette over a cliff. Spock as a tyke lifts his quizzical eyebrow. A not-so-sleek, not-so-shiny early version of the Enterprise zooms through space. Why, it’s enough to make a Trekkie’s heart thump at warp speed.

The new Star Trek movie — a prequel to the original 1966 series — won’t hit screens until May 2009, but a terrific trailer for this much-anticipated production is online and on TV right now. And it takes us where no one has gone before — to where the youthful crew, in what looks like a hormonal frenzy, all itch to explore new frontiers, final or not.

Media whiz kid J.J. Abrams (OK, he used to be a whiz kid; now he’s more of a whiz mid-lifer) — the brains behind the TV series Alias and Lost, and full-length movies Cloverfield and Mission Impossible III — dreamed up this intriguing concept. Star Trek fans owe him a Tribble or two for resuscitating a once vibrant but now flagging franchise.

Here’s hoping Abrams can beam us — and our original Star Trek heroes — to a new world, a new adventure and a new beginning.

Details: So far, this new Star Trek movie goes by the title of — ready? — Star Trek.  It’ll be released May 8, 2009, and stars Chris Pine as the young Kirk, Zachary Quinto (Sylar on Heroes) as young Spock, and — yipes — Leonard Nimoy as the elderly Spock.  See the trailer below.

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My 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, pretends to cook me at least one meal everyday.  Though she doesn’t require a play kitchen, she certainly makes use of one wherever she can find it.  So I said to my husband, “I think we need to get her a little kitchen for Christmas.”  He pointed out that it’s me who can’t stand to have extra “stuff” around the house, taking up space.  Then of course there’s the part where we pay $100-$250 for it. 

Shortly after this discussion I heard about Will-n-Essie’s Toybrary.  It’s the little blue house across the street from Washington Park.  When I walked through the door the first thing I saw was a play kitchen.  A really cool play kitchen, with about 30 plastic food items that come with it.  Fabulous.  I signed us up for a membership.

The toys all have a point value between 1 and 5.  They’re due back 2 weeks after you take them.  The toys are sanitized before they’re available for check out.  There are toys and games for kids of all ages.  I paid $75 for the ability to check out 5 points of toys at any given time.  This is more than sufficient for my daughter.  When my son is a little older, I might bump it up to the $100/year membership that gives us 10 points of toys. 

We checked out the kitchen.  She played with it every day for 2 weeks.  I was apprehensive about returning it.  Would there be tears?  Would she demand to have “her” kitchen back home in it’s rightful place?  Nope.  She found 3 toys to replace it.  We’re there almost every week.  She rarely brings home the same toy twice.   So for about half the price of a play kitchen, I get a play kitchen and numerous toys all chosen by Elizabeth. 

 The Toybrary is open 4 days a week: 

• Mondays 9 a.m to noon
• Wednesdays 9 a.m. to noon
• Thursdays 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Saturdays 10 a.m. to noon

If you start dropping hints now, you might get someone to buy a membership for your kids for Christmas.  It’s better than a gift card! 

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One sure way to insult a stay-at-home mom is to ask this question:  “So if you don’t work, what do you do all day?”  Um, well, just feed the kids, wash them, make sure their teeth and hair gets brushed, dress them, change a diaper, clean up the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, do a load of laundry, and a load of dishes and before you know it, it’s 8 a.m.  By that time I’ve had all the housework I can take.  I’m looking for something that will entertain my kids (and me) and if I can avoid scrubbing grout, even better! 

So when I discover some local fun for kids and their adult(s), I’ll post it here.  Get out and enjoy it!  This stuff is use it or lose it, people… 

This Thursday evening (11/20) bring the kiddos downtown and gather in the courtyard (near the fountain) at the Performing Arts Center.  At 6:30, the Christmas tree will be lit.  Word on the street is Santa will be in attendance.   It’s free and your kid’s face will look even more adorable all aglow with Christmas lighting.  There will be a reception inside immediately following.  It’s sponsored by Saint Laurent Winery, but good news for the kids and non-drinkers, apple juice will be available.

The lighting will mark the beginning of the Festival of Trees.  Your kids will enjoy the Festival because it’s everything they love - color and lights.  It’ll cost $2 for adults and $1 for kids 2 and older.  This charge will be waived if you hold a ticket for any of the day’s events.  Be warned that after steering your tots through the displays they will have heightened expectations of you.  Your decorations at home will be a big, fat letdown after they see the splendor that hundreds of volunteer hours can create. 

 Among many events at the Festival there are a few standout kid-friendly things offered. 

• A craft station called “Santa’s Workshop” is going to cost you a buck per craft.  But in this case, a dollar spent is a mess you don’t have to clean up at home. 
• Bring your camera because your child can chill with the big man.  Santa’s schedule is as follows:
  • Friday, Nov. 21st, 3:00-7:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, Nov. 22nd, 11:00-3:00 p.m.
  • Sunday, Nov. 23, 11:00-3:00 p.m.
• The event that will require a little more prep is the Teddy Bear Tea.  Kids dress up in their fancy clothes and bring along their favorite stuffed friend.  I’ve never attended but I know in the past this one has sold out.  It’ll happen on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 4 p.m.  Order your tickets right away.  It’s $12 for adults and $10 for kids.  

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Devoted Culture Check-er Lynne Vance, from waaaay down in Louisiana, thought these stylish hurricane shoes might compete — June through November — with Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo.  This is a little bit funnier now that the storm season is over in the Gulf. Hmm … our Northwest flood season is underway. Could we use some High Tide Heels?

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Daniel Craig as James Bond is a cold-hearted, almost indiscriminate killer who knows a thousand ways to make a villain squeal. He slices a bad guy’s jugular, pins him to the floor and waits calmly — eyes distant — for the cad to bleed out and die. It’s one of the few quiet, still moments in the spy’s latest adventure, “Quantum of Solace,” and translates into a grim timeout from the rapid-fire mayhem that surrounds this new 007, a vicious anti-hero.

But you gotta love him for it. This hard-nosed Bond, muscled and quick and brainy, brings out even the viewers’ spit and grit. In fact, it seems that the icier and nastier Bond becomes, the more audiences want to watch — notably through last weekend (Nov. 14-16) to the tune of $70 million, a record opener for the 22-film series.

Admittedly, Quantum’s environmental plot is somewhat muddled and messy — something about cornering the market on the world’s water supply — but we didn’t buy tickets to hear an eco-sermon. What thrills most are the in-your-face action sequences, which steal pacing, framing and close-up brutality from the Bourne series. Car chases, knife brawl, airplane dogfights, roof-to-roof leaps — hand-held cameras have never done their jobs so well.

More thrills come from Olga Kurylenko, no slouch as a slinky but tough Bond Girl, and veteran actress Judi Dench, who brings class and presence to the role of M (Bond’s boss). We even get a taste of what will become — in Bond’s later spy career — iconic trademarks: a fancy martini, shaken not stirred, and a punched-up Aston Martin sports car (no gizmos, just horsepower).

We could argue all night over who makes the best Bond, but Craig would undoubtedly be in the top two. In Quantum, his second outing as 007, he continues to brutishly thwart world-class creeps, but also the bureaucracy and authorities he works for. This Bond claims he’s motivated by “duty,” and he remains intensely interesting because we’re not entirely sure what the heck that means.

Details:  Quantum of Solace is playing at The Mirage Theater in Omak,  The Liberty Cinema in Wenatchee and the Fairchild Cinemas in Moses Lake. 

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Author Jim Harrison reaches into men’s souls to examine feelings and desires that, generally, we prefer to leave wrapped at the bottom of the box. A good example is how aimless wandering would be a preferred lifestyle. Or how making or losing money is often the result of bad choices in women. His earliest novels had at their centers good-hearted but unprincipled rascals who focused on filling their bellies and following their sexual urges — all in all, a sound plan that unfortunately doesn’t mesh with family, job and responsibility.

His latest work, The English Major, mines this theme for wonderful revelations on modern masculinity and pointed commentaries on life at large. Basically a road trip, this short but jam-packed tale gives full voice to Cliff, our spirited 60-year-old hero, as he unravels the puzzles of his long marriage, his questionable farm life, and his connection to the natural world. Along the way he falls in and out of love with waitresses, wrestles high-tech gadgets, and explores unexpected physical and emotional landscapes with humor and wisdom. It’s a terrific novel from the aging Harrison, who’s lost none of his earthy savvy.

Details: This hardback (Grove Press, $24) is also available through the North Central Regional Library. The best of Harrison’s early works includes Farmer, Warlock, and Wolf: A False Memoir.

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Quick Take: Snooty critics weren’t kind to Max Payne, the latest attempt from Hollywood to turn a video game into a real movie. But this noir-ish,  Matrix lookalike has a strong story (rogue cop, designer super-drug) and a likable lead in Mark Wahlberg. It plays well on the big screen — the sound is terrific — but wait to rent it if you have a decent-sized home TV. Skip it entirely if you have phobias from bullet casings or shattered glass.

Details: Surprisingly, this shoot-’em-up is still playing at The Liberty Cinema in Wenatchee and The Fairchild Cinemas in Moses Lake.   

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Those darn holidays are on the way. I figure we’ve got about 10 more days before we’re drowning in bazaars, concerts, toy discounts, and those seemingly endless performances of The Nutcracker. Thankfully, we’ve got some interesting, non-holiday events coming up this week (Nov. 10-16) to help ease us into the season of joy and giving (which can be a shock to the system):

√ Parades (Tuesday, Nov. 11) — Honoring our military on Veterans Day doesn’t have to be solemn and dreary. Several sprightly parades —with accompanying pomp, ceremony and gunfire — are scheduled through North Central Washington. The marching starts at 10:30 a.m. in downtown Wenatchee, 10:30 a.m. in downtown Ephrata, and 11 a.m. in downtown Chelan. Free.

√ Writers & Readers (Thursday, Nov. 13) — Write on the River hosts “Writers Meeting Writers,” an evening of readings by local scribes at 7 p.m. in WVC’s Van Tassell Center. The plan is for this gathering to be a networking event where authors can also chit-chat about their craft and even publicize or distribute their writings. Info at 509-293-9215. Free.

√ Gallery Opening (Friday, Nov. 14) — Wenatchee’s top gallery, the Robert Graves, presents its annual Members’ Invitational Exhibit in their space at WVC’s Sexton Hall. The show, a mix of media and styles, actually opens Wednesday, Nov. 12, but the reception and art bazaar kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday. Free.

√ Bond-ing Experience (Friday, Nov. 14) — Actor Daniel Craig has reshaped James Bond into a no-sass, kick-in-the-chops hero that’s much more true to the killer in Ian Fleming’s books. His latest adventure, Quantum of Solace, opens Friday at Wenatchee theaters  and, possibly, several others in the region. Admission charged. 

√ Ethnic Food? (Saturday, Nov. 15) — The new Multicultural Festival at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center promises ethnic food booths, performances, and crafts to showcase a bunch of different cultures, including Mexican, Russian, Italian and Native American. Festivities start at 11 a.m. Admission is by donation with a small fee charged for food items, including — yum! — tamales.  

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♦ Top photo: Despite overcast skies and wet footing, visitors edge onto a fenced viewpoint at Dry Falls. Bottom photo: Its own island, a bush glows with autumn colors in the basin below the rim.

Here comes a big white poodle with green feet. He has thick, dripping algae socks after wading into Dry Falls Lake and now stinks like rotting fish. The lake’s gummy bottom, the scum’s awful odor — that’s one happy dog.

Me too. Stinky poodle aside, few of this region’s natural spectacles are grander than ancient Dry Falls. The rocky rim, a 3.5-mile curve standing 400 feet high, wraps around a basin gouged by history’s most enormous flood — a ferocious event that has joined with volcanoes and glaciers as the primary sculptors of our surrounding terrain. Heck, many of us drive to work each day through land shaped by fire, ice, and torrential flooding, and never think twice about it. We’re lucky, of course, because nothing slows the commute from, say, Coulee City to Wenatchee like a major geologic cataclysm.

This huge watery event — known as the Missoula Floods — burst from behind a glacial dam about 15,000 years ago and scoured a lot of North Central Washington down to bare rock. All kinds of giant ripples, giant sand bars, and giant pebble deposits still exist around the region because the water itself — a giant surging river — was hundreds of feet deep. At one point, Portland, Ore., was under 400 feet of water and, quite frankly, is still a bit clammy.

Whip into the Dry Falls parking lot (right off SR 17) and you’ll find yourself at the edge of a stunning abyss that scientists claim was a waterfall ten times the size of Niagara. A palette of marvelous colors — greens, blues, yellows, reds — carpets the basin’s lake-filled floor and shifts according to season, cloud cover, and sun position. Don’t skip the visitors center, which has the area’s most detailed explanation of the floods, displays on local native peoples and some good info on ice age plants and wildlife.

I’d never seen the Dry Falls rim from waaaay below, so we tooled through Sun Lakes State Park (two miles south of the visitors center) to find a web of dirt fishing roads beneath dramatic basalt cliffs. While the poodle greened-up in the lake, we hiked — well, it was more like scrambling — up loose debris slopes to shady viewpoints. It was easy to imagine we were at the bottom of an ancient watercourse because the river banks — sheer cliffs 400 feet high — funneled south, stretching as far as we could see.

Magnificent.

Details: Dry Falls and its excellent visitors center are about 58 miles east of Wenatchee, just south of Hwy. 2 on SR 17. The parking lot is open year-round, but call the visitors center (509-632-5214) to make sure a staff member is on hand before you make the trip. Access to the basin floor is through Sun Lakes State Park and the adjoining Sun Lakes Resort. 

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Now that the national press has weighed-in on the size of Angelina Jolie’s lips, I don’t feel so cheap and dirty discussing them here. This lovely woman’s main attributes, pouty as they may be, are often too large, too red, too in-our-face substantial to work convincingly in many on-screen roles.

This has never been more evident than in Clint Eastwood’s new movie Changeling, which opened last week to mixed reviews. Lead actress Jolie wasn’t necessarily miscast — her strong acting pulls us through a wrenching story — but her bee-stung lips definitely aren’t those of your average suburban housewife. I mean, face it … that’s the kisser of an exotic spy (see Wanted), or a sleek monster-goddess (see Beowulf), or a sexpot action hero (see Lara Croft).

Changeling’s plot is simple yet horrible: In 1920s-era Los Angeles, a young boy is kidnapped from his suburban home. A corrupt L.A. police department, hoping to win points with an enraged public, finds and returns the boy to his mother (Jolie), who claims the returned boy is not her son. Evidence mounts that the cops are pulling a fast one, preying on the mother’s emotions and instability to make themselves look good in the press. As the plot thickens — insanity, murder — so does Jolie’s lip goo.

As director, Eastwood is an unparalleled craftsman. His production design is, quite simply, exquisite — perhaps the best of any movie this year. We viewers are wrapped in Los Angeles of the 1920s and ’30s with street scenes so realistic (cars, clothing, trolleys, buildings, weather) that you can almost feel the sun, smell the ocean.

Plus, the acting amazes. Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, and Amy Ryan deliver powerful, convincing performances that fill the screen. Even the kids are terrific. Where’d they find these incredible kids?

That said, two things still hinder this movie: 1) True stories lack the carefully constructed suspense of good fiction — after all, it’s real life — which means this story arc flattens in the end, and 2) Eastwood’s movies (all of ‘em) seem emotionally distant despite the highly dramatic events unfolding in front of us.

Oops … there’s a third thing hindering this film: Jolie’s lush lips — so painted, so glistening, so dominant that our eyes follow them across the screen like they’re a shooting star. But she should be the star, right? Not her pucker.

Details:  Changeling is playing at the Liberty Cinema in Wenatchee. It may not be there long, either, due to the upcoming rush of holiday movies.

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