The James Logan Courier

Rhttp://www.jameslogancourier.org/nucleus/images/button-italic.gifadio station Wild 94-9 generously provided Courier staff writers Fermin Sierra and Nathaniel Lealao with free passes to a special screening of the new movie Pursuit of Happyness.

Smith Triumphs in Pursuit of Happyness
By Fermin Sierra, Courier Staff Writer

From the moment the opening shots of “The Pursuit of Happyness” show up on screen, the audience knows they are not in for more of the usual from Will Smith. Smith plays working man Chris Gardener, who in struggling to make ends in 1980’s San Francisco, takes the biggest risk of his or his young son’s (Jayden Smith, in his first film) lives. “The Pursuit of Happyness” tells the story of a man working to pursue the American Dream of satisfaction.

Radio station Wild 94.9 generously provided Courier staff writers Michelle Morimoto and Priya Jaganathan free tickets to a special preview of the newly released film Eragon.

Eragon Not So Hot, Stick to the Book
By Priya Jagannathan, Courier Staff Writer

Eragon premiered at AMC Mercado Theater in Santa Clara yesterday. The movie itself was quite well done.

It followed the book, even though the movie only presented the gist of what the book is like, lacking the detail of the book. Most scenes were choppy and did not flow into the next scene like most fantasy movies.

By Pat Craig
Contra Costa Times (MCT)

SAN FRANCISCO — You're tempted to go all film noir when you talk about the passion of John Bengtson.

He's got an office on San Francisco's Market Street, right across from the Palace Hotel.

And what he does is kind of like being a detective — working to unlock long-kept secrets.


John Bengtson wrote a book that traces the Bay Area locations used by silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Bengtson lives in Walnut Creek, but keeps a huge poster of Buster Keaton in his San Francisco, California, law offices November 14, 2006. (Karl Mondon/Contra Costa Times/MCT)

By Stephen Becker
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)

MAYA GOODNESS: Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" crashed the birds and Bond party that had held court atop the box-office chart for three weeks. Sure, it opened a scant $68 million less than Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" did in 2004. But a $15 million opening weekend isn't bad for a foreign-language film.

Betty Smith (b. Elisabeth Wehner on December 15, 1896 - d. 1972), was an American author, born in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants. She grew up poor in Williamsburg. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which was published in 1943.

Read more about Betty Smith and her work at the A Tree Grows in Brooklyn online dissertation by Carol Siri Johnson website.


Betty Smith