Entertainment/Ticket

This fall the pressure is on as it has rarely been on before. The year is rapidly winding down, yet film studios are still holding back the prestigious, important, artful, thought-provoking movies that will define the 2008 Oscar race. As we survey the horizon, we see ever-greater hopes pinned on fewer and fewer contenders.

Here’s a partial rundown of the movies concealed behind the curtain.

Film sets are notorious for down time. But actor Kevin Bacon doesn’t waste his days sitting in trailers, waiting for the next shot.

Comics are full of stories about horrible first gigs, which often occur before unruly crowds in small town dives. Bob Zany’s first gig was on national television.

Eugčne Ionesco’s plays are identified as theater of the absurd — and, indeed, they are absurd. The language is almost abstract, communication is a lost art, and logic is extinct.

A new radio station will bring classical music to San Luis Obispo County 24 hours a day beginning early next year.

You can almost feel the anticipation in the air for “Twilight.” Fans have devoured the novels by Stephenie Meyer with a blood lust. They also have burned up the Internet with good and bad comments.

Where can you bump elbows with Kevin Bacon, tap your toes to Ramblin' Jack Elliott and watch some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters?

Try the Central Coast's latest attraction, the Paso Robles Digital Film Festival.

Sometimes a place is so majestic, you just can’t resist picking up a pen, a paintbrush or a guitar.

You don’t have to be a cat person to enjoy “Indoor/Outdoor,” although a description of the play might lead you to believe that you do. The romantic comedy is told from a cat’s point of view, but it’s a warm, entertaining and comic little soap opera about love, communication and temptation.

He was a wild-haired rock star, a world-famous pianist and composer who sold out concerts from Paris to Los Angeles.

If the news is stressing you out, take a break and go retro to enjoy “Guys and Dolls,” an earlier slice of American life and a classic chapter in the history of the Broadway musical.

Crazy thing about genetics. Ben Taylor had considered becoming a gardener, working the earth and being close to nature. But as the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, he was wired to perform. And—go figure — he turned out to be very good at it.

Let’s take a moment to thank the people who gave us “Freddy vs. Jason.”

And while we’re at it, also the makers of “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” “Alien vs. Predator” and “Dracula vs. Frankenstein.”

Because without these movies, we simply wouldn’t have a clue as to which serial killers/giant mutants/monsters could kick each other’s butts.

Arroyo Grande native Zac Efron joins Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which opens Friday.

Sarah Gerhardt’s first real big-wave beat-down came while surfing a 15-foot swell in Morro Bay.

Two years before her friend Jackson Browne was arrested while protesting the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, Bonnie Raitt participated in a huge anti-nuke protest in San Luis Obispo.

Men are from Mars? Women are from Venus?

There’s a reason why people buy red staplers, Dwight Schrute bobbleheads and stuffed Dilberts: It’s because many Americans are disenchanted with their jobs, and those items—pop culture icons that symbolize the worst in office culture—affirm that others view the workplace with the same disregard.

Some of the actors who teach at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts demonstrate their own acting talents in PCPA Theaterfest’s production of “The Weir,” by Irish playwright Conor McPherson.

They call themselves “The Dynamic Trio”— three Central Coast women with musical talent to spare.