City of Kenmore awarded State of Washington Tourism Grant for Creative Wayfinding Signage

Travel

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The City of Kenmore was recently awarded a $46,800 Tourism Regeneration grant from State of Washington Tourism (SWT). The City plans to use the funds to design and install creative wayfinding signage that will connect and highlight Kenmore’s unique businesses and experiences. This project aims to support economic growth, increase tourism and visitation, and foster connections between Kenmore’s businesses and recreational activities. The City applied for the grant and was selected from a competitive pool of candidates from across Washington state.The grant-funded project will include the installation of three artistically designed directional signposts that will guide visitors to key locations in the city, including parks and trails, “Brew Row,” Bastyr University, Kenmore Air Harbor, The Lodge at St. Edward Park, and more. Additionally, the project will feature new artistic and playful banners along the West Sammamish River Bridge to create a cohesive visual identity.Kenmore’s unique geographic layout, with a major highway running through the city, creates challenges in connecting visitors with local businesses, parks, and recreational opportunities. The new wayfinding signage will help increase visibility and address these challenges, ultimately enhancing tourism efforts in the city.”A key goal of this project is to draw people to Kenmore and help them discover our hidden attractions and businesses,” said Deputy City Manager Stephanie Lucash. “The wayfinding signage will support businesses by directing visitors to them in a fun and creative way. The strategic placement of the signs is critical to meeting the ultimate goal of boosting travel and tourism to Kenmore, while ensuring safe access for cars, pedestrians, and cyclists.”Kenmore’s grant is part of the largest grant award to date for SWT, which is providing a total of $780,000 in funding to 24 recipients. This funding aims to foster safer, more inclusive, and sustainable visitor experiences while driving overnight visitation to rural and underserved communities.

Kinda Pregnant OTT Release Date: When and where to watch Amy Schumer and Jillian Bell’s upcoming movie online

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Kinda Pregnant OTT Release Date: Tyler Spindel’s upcoming movie Kinda Pregnant is less than a month away from making its long-awaited digital premiere.
Starring Amy Schumer and Jillian Bell amongst many others in key roles, the R-rated comedy film is scheduled to land on Netflix in February 2025, offering viewers a doze of quality entertainment right from the comfort of their homes. Read till the end to find out exciting information about its cast, plot, production, and more.
When and where to watch Kinda Pregnant online on OTT? 
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Netflix, on February 5th, 2024, will roll out Kinda Pregnant on its platform, allowing the fans to enjoy it right from their comfort zones. However, one must keep in mind that a subscription to the streamer’s services will be required to access the film online.
Plot of the Movie
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Written by Amy Schumer and Julie Paiva, Kinda Pregnant tells the tale of Lainy, an unorthodox lady who is known for her unpredictable behavior. One day, Amy’s close friend announces her pregnancy, leaving her with an overwhelming feeling of envy and dread.
In a desperate attempt to fit in, the woman then takes a bizarre step and starts to put on a fake baby bump, making everyone else believe that she too is pregnant. What happens next and how Amy’s strange decision triggers a series of strange incidents is the remaining story of the movie.
Cast and Production 
Besides Amy Schumer, Kinda Pregnant, in its main cast, also features Will Forte, Jillian Bell, Brianne Howey, Damon Wayans Jr., Chris Geere, Alex Moffat, Joel David Moore, Lizze Broadway, and Urzila Carlson in pivotal roles.
Adam Sandler, in association with Tim Herlihy, Amy Schumer, Molly Sims, Alex Saks, Kevin Grady, Eli Thomas, and Judit Maul has bankrolled the movie under the banners of Happy Madison, Something Happy, It’s So Easy, and Saks Picture Company.

TV and film landmarks, including famous Carrie set, damaged by LA wildfires

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

THE HIGH SCHOOL where Stephen King’s horror story Carrie was filmed, Will Rogers’ ranch house and a museum dedicated to bunnies are among some of the famous structures that have been badly damaged or destroyed by the wildfires that have swept southern California.
Los Angeles, home to more than a century of television and film, is a city full of landmarks.
The destruction to the buildings is not as devastating as the loss of life and homes in recent days but is another blow to the city as it reels from the impacts of the fires, amplifying the sense of loss and despair felt by residents.
There was “significant damage” to Palisades Charter High School, though the main campus building stands. The functioning high school is currently attended by around 3,000 students, though they were not in session this week, but has also served as a TV and film set. 
The 1976 adaptation of horror story Carrie starring Sissy Spacek is the school’s most known credit.
It also featured in the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, the Kirsten Dunst movie Crazy/Beautiful, the Anne Hathaway film Havoc, the television series Teen Wolf and American Vandal and the music video for Olivia Rodrigo’s good 4 u.
A 1915 mansion that featured in the current HBO series Hacks was almost entirely destroyed by the Eaton fire.
The show, which is currently filming its fourth season, won Best Television Series in the comedy category at the Golden Globes only on Monday, with star Jean Smart taking home the Best Actress award.
The Andrew McNally House, a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887, was also lost in the Eaton Fire.
The house featured in the 2001 Whoopi Goldberg and Jada Pinkett Smith movie Kingdom Come.
It had hand-carved woodwork, stained glass windows and an opulent Turkish Room decorated with Moorish influences. The grounds of the House also had an aviary. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The remains of the Andrew McNally House, built in 1887 by the co-founder of the Rand McNally publishing company, after it was destroyed by the Eaton Fire Alamy

Alamy

Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House, a property dating back to the 1920s, was completely destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
It was where actor and radio personality Will Rogers would ride horses and practice roping before his death in 1935. His widow, Betty Rogers, gave the property to the state in 1944 and it became a historic state park.
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The state park was featured in the 1975 Barbra Streisand sequel Funny Lady. 
The Palisades Fire likewise destroyed the Topanga Ranch Motel, which was built in 1929. The property had been uninhabited and deteriorating for nearly 20 years but plans had been developed for it to be restored and reopened.
The motel featured in the 1970s television series Mannix, an episode of Remington Steele, the 1986 Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy movie Blue City and the 1991 Bridget Fonda movie Leather Jackets. 
Reel Inn Malibu, a seafood shack on the Pacific Coast Highway that opened in 1986, has burned to the ground.
Its owners wrote on social media that they are not sure what will remain of the beloved spot. “Hopefully the state parks will let us rebuild when the dust settles,” Teddy and Andy Leonard said on Instagram.
The eatery featured on shows including Man vs Food and The Chew and counted the likes of Cindy Crawford, Paris Hilton and Jerry Seinfeld as fans of its fried seafood fare.
It also featured briefly in the popular drama-thriller series 24.
A quirky local attraction called The Bunny Museum was also destroyed.

Wall art featuring bunnies on a charred wall at the destroyed Bunny Museum Alamy

Alamy

The beloved museum had various bunny-themed items, from Trix boxes and bottles of Nesquik, Bugs Bunny paraphernalia and magazine covers of performer Bad Bunny. There was also a Chamber of Hop Horrors detailing the historical abuse of bunnies.
It made the Guinness Book of World Records and had been featured in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, the Smithsonian Magazine and an episode of Visiting… With Huell Howser.
At least 11 people have died due to the wildfires, which have also destroyed thousands of homes. US President Joe Biden likened the destruction to a “war scene”.
Five distinct fires have so far burned more than 37,000 acres of land in the Los Angeles area.
In Pacific Palisades and Malibu at the biggest blazes, firefighters have said they are starting to get the fire under control, but only eight percent of its perimeter is so far contained.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered a “full independent review” of the city’s utilities, labelling a lack of water supplies during the initial fires as “deeply troubling.”
Additional reporting by Press Association and AFP

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Who are some famous science spies? – Ask Your Science Teacher

Science and Health

ANSWER: Spying goes back to Biblical times. Joshua sent two spies into Jericho before conquering Canaan. Military strategist Sun Tsu wrote about spying in his “The Art of War” treatise way back in 500 BC.We’ll look to the modern times of the Cold War. Spies on both sides used highly technical tools to determine the science, industrial and military capabilities of their enemy. In this column, we’ll discuss six cases that were not good for the United States.Rudolf Abel (1903-1971) was a prolific spymaster for the Soviet Union, and a bad boy for the U.S. Born in England, Abel moved to Russia in 1921 and joined Soviet intelligence in 1948. He illegally entered the U.S. and settled in Brooklyn as a photographer. He used short wave radio equipment and hollowed out Finnish coins. Rudolf Abel conspired to shuttle atomic secrets from Los Alamos to the Russians. Abel was arrested in 1957 and exchanged for U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers, in 1962. His story is partly told in the movie, “Bridge of Spies.”

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Klaus Fuchs (1911-1988) A real baddie for us and a triumph for the Russians. Fuchs fled the Nazis and went to England where he earned a doctorate in physics. He was recruited by the Soviet Union. Fuchs was hired in the technical division at Los Alamos where the U.S. was developing the atomic bomb. A dedicated communist, Fuchs smuggled blueprints of the atomic bomb out of Los Alamos and passed them on to Soviet agents. Fuchs’ treachery enabled the Russians to build their own atomic bomb in four years.Aldrich “Rick” Ames, born 1941, was one of the most damaging moles in CIA history. Ames started working for the CIA in 1962. He led an extravagant lifestyle. By 1985, he needed more cash and began selling info to the KGB. Our CIA spies in the Soviet Union started disappearing. Ten were murdered that we know of. Ames was caught in 1994 and given a life sentence. He sits in a Federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.Robert Hanssen, born in 1944, was a FBI agent who fed information to Russia from 1979 to 2001. The U.S. Department of Justice described Hanssen’s espionage as “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” He identified our agents working in Russia plus specifics of our nuclear capability. The FBI built a tunnel underneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. Hanssen blabbed it to our enemy. Hanssen was arrested in 2001, after an ex-KGB officer revealed Hanssen was a mole. He died in a Colorado Federal prison in June 2023.John Walker (1937-2014) was reputedly the biggest espionage leak and security breach in U.S. Navy history. Walker did massive damage to our country, passing classified documents to the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1985. He was a communications specialist who sold info on weapons, naval tactics, terrorist threats, and how the U.S. trained for surface, submarine and airborne warfare.Walker’s betrayal allowed the Soviets to unscramble Navy communications and pinpoint the location of U.S. submarines. Walker recruited a close friend, a brother, and his own son to feed classified material to the Russians. They nabbed him in 1985. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in a North Carolina Federal prison in 2014.Edward Snowden, born in 1983, leaked a hoard of top-secret documents to the press while working for a defense contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden fled to Hong Kong, then Russia. On June 14, 2013, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Snowden with theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Snowden has been living in Russia for the past decade and received Russian citizenship last year. Snowden seemed to be dissatisfied with the manner in which our government was collecting information on American citizens.The next column will feature spies and intelligence coups for our side.Sources: realcleardefence, historyhit.com, spymuseum.com.
Larry Scheckel taught science at Tomah High School for 38 years and was named Tomah Teacher of the Year three times. Send comments and questions to [email protected].

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Coffee shop, food counters coming this spring to Black Business Hub on South Side

Business News

Nicole Pollack | Wisconsin State Journal

A coffee shop, a wine and cupcake lounge and three food counters are opening over the next few months in the atrium of the Black Business Hub on Madison’s South Side.The vendors will share a commercial kitchen tucked behind their glass storefronts with other local businesses serving food in the Hub or at its pop-up events.Another, larger commercial kitchen on the building’s lower level that has already been completed is intended to support a wider range of businesses, including food trucks and caterers.The Urban League of Greater Madison’s four-story Black Business Hub, which held its grand opening in August, was created at 2352 S. Park St. to support and promote businesses owned by people of color.

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Ed Lee, chief operating officer for the Urban League of Greater Madison, looks over what will become a second commercial kitchen space at the Black Business Hub. The space is to be shared by local businesses, including several food vendors in the atrium.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Its lower-level kitchen cost just under $1.1 million, said Ed Lee, the Urban League’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. The smaller kitchen on the first floor is expected to cost about $780,000, he said.The city is poised to lend up to $300,000 to the Urban League to fund the installation of the first-floor kitchen.The Urban League anticipates that at least 20 food entrepreneurs will use the first-floor kitchen space per year and estimates that four in five will be Black or people of color, earn less than 80% of the county median income or both, Lee said.

The organization predicts that the lower-level kitchen will be able to accommodate 40 to 50 vendors over the same period. The kitchen has enough storage space for about 25 vendors to share it, with two to three vendors able to work there at any given time, said Jeffery Norwood, the Hub’s commercial kitchen manager.With the Division of Motor Vehicles office recently moving to the same block of South Park Street and the city planning to add hundreds of units of new housing a block away at the corner of South Park Street and West Badger Road, “it’s getting busier and busier,” Lee said. The Urban League’s goal, he said, is to bring “more diverse options, healthy options, to this part of town.”

A coffee shop, a wine and cupcake lounge and three food counters are expected to open in the Hub this spring.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Coffee shop Rasta Barista is set to open first, followed later this spring by the Taylor Nicole Wine & Cupcake Lounge and the three food counters.In an unfinished space also connected to the atrium, the Urban League is planning to open a full-service restaurant with a bar and seating for roughly 100 people, potentially serving Afro-Caribbean or soul food, Lee said.Some vendors at the Hub’s food counters will likely cycle in and out over time, Lee said, and an even wider variety of businesses will be represented at pop-up events.

Many of the businesses that have participated in past pop-up markets have approached the Urban League about renting kitchen space, Lee said.“There definitely is a lot of interest and need for shared kitchen spaces in the city,” Lee said.There’s still room available, he said. “If folks need kitchen space, if they have an interest in being part of the Hub, they should definitely reach out.”

Ed Lee, chief operating officer for the Urban League of Greater Madison, stands between an under-construction shop and commercial kitchen space inside the Black Business Hub. The Urban League estimates that four in five of the kitchen’s annual users will be Black or people of color, earn less than 80% of the county median income or both.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

A space beside the Black Business Hub’s atrium has been set aside for a future restaurant. The Urban League of Greater Madison hopes it will have a full bar and seating for around 100 people, including some outdoors.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Jeffery Norwood, commercial kitchen manager, shows some of the businesses currently under construction at the Black Business Hub.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

A potential restaurant is envisioned for this area under construction on the first floor of the Black Business Hub.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

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“There definitely is a lot of interest and need for shared kitchen spaces in the city.”Ed Lee, the Urban League’s executive vice president and chief operating officer

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U.S. critic hails Latvia’s revolutionary animated movie ‘Flow’

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

He is also one of more than 300 journalists who participated in the voting for the Golden Globe awards, which saw Flow walk away with the Best Animated Motion Picture prize and admits that he has already watched Flow six times.

Anda Boša: What did you think about Flow’s win?

Bižans Tehrani: Flow to me was magic. I was totally amazed because this is the true meaning of use of animation. It is not trying to rebuild the life that we have or recreate the world that we have. It creates its own world. And it’s such a magic world that takes you into this journey of kind of knowing yourself, knowing the real meaning of life right now and what we’re going through. And this is so beautifully done.

I think after Fantasia from Disney in 1940, this is the second movie in the history of animation that gets to such a high level. I dare to say that Flow is actually a revolution in making animation. And I believe it really changes everything.

I’m not sure about the box office. I hope that people go and watch this beautiful movie because they would love it if they let themselves go and try to enjoy it. And this is a great moment for me that I am witnessing in my life for one of the greatest movies of our time winning an award.

And I congratulate all the filmmakers in Latvia, especially the guys who made this beautiful movie.

Is it a milestone for an independent film to win a Golden Globe?

Exactly. And I think that is why this part of having so many international voters helps. Because we are not under the influence of major studios when we vote. And what we do is we try to pick the best. And this is I think how this happens.

And I have to raise my hand for the Golden Globe organizers for doing this. But I think this is really important for independent cinema.

I have watched the film six times so far. And I think I will watch it a few more times.

What is the soul of the movie (besides the lack of dialogue) that spoke to so many people in the whole world?

I think it is about the challenges that we deal in our world today. Our loneliness, finding companions in places that we normally don’t find companions. It is about our struggle to survive in this world facing all these challenges, about pollution and about climate change. And about most of the countries not caring about what is going on. I think it is all about that in a very indirect way. And also this is a movie that everyone could interpret in their own imagination.

What did you think of the acceptance speech?

Very nice, very nice. I really loved it. I think it was one of the nicest. Just an honest – this is so important because everybody cries or tries to say hello to 100 different people – but this was a very honest speech and that’s why I loved it.

What is it about independent filmmakers that is different from those working with big studios?

I think it mostly comes from the thinking of the people. Because when you are making a movie in a studio, you become slowly a slave of this studio. A slave of what makes money according to them. This is not always true, but that’s what we’re thinking. So you have to make the movies they like. Otherwise you will be out after making one film.

But an independent filmmaker is putting his or her life into a film. And that’s what makes the big difference. And it’s free from all those limitations, orders, budget issues and all that.

Do you think this will open more industry doors for our filmmakers?

Absolutely, I think. Whenever a film comes to that level of success, it always brings hope to others who are in this field. It brings hope to the young people.

If it brings hope to me, I’m sure it will excite all these young people. And we know we should do more, we should work more to conquer more borders and get where independent cinema belongs.

Very soon the Academy Award (‘Oscar’) nominations are due. Do you think Flow will get one?

I believe “Flow” will be one of the nominated films. I will be surprised if it’s not. Of course I’m telling you the Oscars are different than Golden Globes. Maybe the Golden Globes a few years ago were exactly like the Oscars. But in the Oscars a lot of people who vote are Academy members living in the United States. Working for the major companies that they are forced to vote for. But I hope by having a lot of filmmakers from different countries now voting Flow will have a chance. And I really, really cross my fingers that it wins the actual Oscar for best animated film.

Is it really possible?

I think it’s difficult. Nomination is a possibility. But winning an Oscar is a little bit difficult. Because there are films that are so cute. We have been bombarded by cute animation all our lives. And I’m not saying they are bad movies or anything like that. But they are interesting, they are nice. Some of them have great thoughts in them. But nothing comes even close to Flow.

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Scientists Uncover Dangerous Drug-Resistant Strains of Deadly Superbug in Saudi Arabia

Science and Health

A KAUST-led study reveals that multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Saudi Arabia is evolving to become more virulent, necessitating country-specific health strategies and new antimicrobial solutions. (Artist’s concept.)
The largest epidemiological study to date on multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Saudi hospitals highlights the need for a tailored health strategy specific to Saudi Arabia.
A new multi-institutional study led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) presents the most comprehensive epidemiological analysis to date of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Saudi Arabia.
This multidrug-resistant bacterium is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections globally and is recognized by the World Health Organization as a major public health threat. The study reveals that the bacterial strains in Saudi Arabia are genetically distinct from those in other regions, highlighting the need for tailored health policies to address this unique microbial diversity.
Although Klebsiella pneumoniae infections in healthy individuals typically cause mild symptoms, the bacterium poses a severe risk to sick or immunocompromised patients, potentially leading to life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and meningitis. Antibiotics are the primary treatment for these infections, but the global rise of multidrug-resistant strains—driven by the overuse of antibiotics in healthcare and industries like agriculture—has made treatment increasingly difficult in recent decades.
“Klebsiella pneumoniae has a dynamic genome allowing for the emergence of pathogenic strains from non-pathogenic ones. Understanding the epidemiology for emerging pathogenic strains will strengthen preventive measures,” explained KAUST Assistant Professor Danesh Moradigaravand, one of the lead authors of the study.
Genetic Adaptation and Growing Threats
A single bacteria species evolves by cloning and exchanging genetic information with one another through processes like gene recombination and horizontal gene transfer. A dynamic genome allows for antibiotic resistance genes to rapidly mix between strains. Already, antibiotic resistant bacteria are the sixth leading cause of death in the Kingdom, killing more people than several respiratory illnesses and neurological disorders. However, the number of patients is growing, and any one clone developing strong resistance and virulence could cause catastrophic havoc due to the inability to contain and treat.
Indeed, concern about the emergence of drug-resistant strains has led the Saudi Public Health Authority to propose an action plan for the execution and evaluation of interventions, with Klebsiella pneumoniae being one of the priority bacteria targeted. Last year, KAUST and the MOH began its collaboration to support this initiative by combining the advanced capabilities of genomics and data science at KAUST with the unique biobanks of multidrug-resistant bacteria at the MOH.
For the study, the researchers collected samples from 34 hospitals across 15 cities in Saudi Arabia on which they conducted a comprehensive genomic analysis.
Moradigaravand, KAUST Professor Arnab Pain and their colleagues found the most prevalent strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae genetically resemble strains from the Middle East and South Asia, revealing an exchange and spread in this region. More important from a health perspective, they also found that the molecular factors bestowing the bacteria drug resistance and virulence were converging, thus giving concern that the emergence of drug resistance is being accompanied by a severity of symptoms.
“The unique epidemiology observed in Saudi Arabia underscores the necessity for tailored surveillance programs specific to each country. Furthermore, our work emphasizes the need to develop new antimicrobial agents, as current global treatments may not adequately address the local threat,” said Moradigaravand.
Reference: “The dissemination of multidrug-resistant and hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae clones across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” by Jiayi Huang, Ahmed Yousef Alhejaili, Usamah Hussein Alkherd, Mathew Milner, Ge Zhou, Deema Alzahrani, Manuel Banzhaf, Albandari A. Alzaidi, Ahmad A. Rajeh, Maram Abdulmohsen Al-Otaiby, Sarah S. Alabbad, Doua Bukhari, Abdullah N. Aljurayan, Alanoud T. Aljasham, Zeyad A. Alzeyadi, Sulaiman M. Alajel, Pei-Ying Hong, Majed Alghoribi, Mashal M. Almutairi, Arnab Pain, Waleed Al Salem and Danesh Moradigaravand, 21 November 2024, Emerging Microbes & Infections.DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2427793
The study was supported by the KAUST Center of Excellence for Smart Health.

The Bible is one of the best-selling books in the United States

Arts & Culture, Books

According to data from Circana BookScan, Bible sales in the United States increased by 22% in 2024. The previous year, 13.7 million copies were sold.

This increase is well above average, and everything points to a growing demand among Generation Z and college students. According to Amy Simpson of Tyndale House Publishers, young people, in search of stability, turn to the Bible as a possible source of wisdom and comfort.

This boom may also have been driven by public figures or social media, like, for example, Donald Trump declaring the Bible as his “favorite book”.BAMTR: GS

Open for business: Here’s a look at Longview retail openings in 2024

Business News

Retail development was busy in 2024 in Longview, from local businesses to major chains opening in the city.Here’s highlights from the year in retail openings:January#placement_588479_0_i{width:100%;margin:0 auto;}■ Fun Noodle began serving its menu of sushi, ramen and noodles at 1809 W. Loop 281, Suite 130, in the Pinetree Centre at Gilmer Road and Loop 281.Owner Alex Jiao said that while there are other Fun Noodle locations, they are not part of a chain of restaurants. Sun (pronounced “soon”) Liang is manager.

Fun Noodle opened in January 2024 in Longview. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

The menu is a mix of different Asian influences, including Japanese, Chinese and Thai.■ Amber Khan and her husband, Nasir, opened Pack & Post+ at 2309 Gilmer Road, Suite 101, offering a variety of business and residential mail and office services.Carmela Coates, Amber Khan’s mother, said her daughter opened the business in West Longview because there was nothing like it on that side of town. Khan attended Pine Tree High School, and her family lives in the Spring Hill area.

Pack & Post+ is open on Gilmer Road in Longview. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

The business provides FedEx, DHL and U.S. Postal Service services, with package receiving and drop-offs. Additional package services will be added later.Digital fingerprinting, copy and photo printing services, document shredding and notary public services also are available. Pack & Post+ offers traditional mailboxes and digital mailboxes.February■ Tamalocos, a new authentic Mexican food restaurant in West Longview, is in the Pinetree Centre at Loop 281 and Gilmer Road.Sugey Garcia Hernandez and her husband, Andres, started serving their tamales to the community about a year before they opened their sit-down restaurant in January 2024. It features their hand-rolled tamales they make using his mother’s recipe, but it also serves a variety of other Mexican dishes.

Sugey Garcia, left, and her husband, Andres Hernandez, opened Tamalocos at 1809 W. Loop 281, Suite 110, in the Pinetree Centre at Gilmer Road and Loop 281. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

The restaurant also serves breakfast and serves lunch and dinner the rest of the day.■ Zaxby’s opened its doors in February in the former Five Guys Burgers and Fries at 3405 N. Fourth St. in Longview.East Texas’ first Zaxby’s features a double drive-thru and a dining room that holds up to 36 people.

Zaxby’s on Fourth St. Thursday, February 15, 2024, in Longview. (Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo)

The store is owned and operated by JA’s Coop L.L.C., which is owned by Austin and Chelsea Barber. Austin Barber also is general manager of the restaurant.Zaxby’s Longview store is 2,700 square feet with a “white farmhouse style design.” The restaurant is known for its Chicken Fingerz, Zalads, wings and signature sauces.■ Burlington, a national off-price retailer opened in February at its new location in Longview in the former Bed, Bath & Beyond at 422 W. Loop 281, Suite 200.Burlington acquired 50 Bed, Bath & Beyond locations in 2023 as part of that company’s bankruptcy, including the location where Burlington is now opening in Longview.The Burlington store previously was at 103 W. Loop 281.March■ A new-to-Longview oil change franchise opened in March at 2903 Estes Parkway in Longview.Gene Pickern is owner of Costa Oil-10 minute Oil change-Longview. Manager Jeff Rogers oversees the business.Pickern said he was a missionary for almost 50 years and bought into the franchise as he was preparing to retire.Costa focuses on “fast, friendly” oil changes and other basic maintenance such as air filter and windshield wiper replacements.April■ The Platform Longview offers a place for small businesses to operate storefronts in the historic Junction area in downtown at 813 E. Methvin St.The Junction, at Methvin and Mobberly Avenue, dates back to Longview’s railroad roots.In modern days, the Junction has been a rundown, largely forgotten area of town until in 2023 or so with revitalization efforts that began with the purchase of property in the area by the Goswick family. The family transformed one of the buildings in the area into an Airbnb, and other businesses are moving into the area now.

Owner Mandy Brasher and her daughter Brooklyn, 8, are seen in March at The Platform in Longview. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

“We are hoping to turn the Junction back into the melting pot of culture it once was,” Brasher said. She said she’s known the Goswicks for about 20 years.Brasher, who previously operated a successful T-shirt business that shipped items around the world, said one of her passions also is working with small businesses.“That’s what we’re doing here,” she said, explaining that the 5,100-square-foot Platform currently provides homes for 42 small businesses.The Platform provides a home for everything from women’s boutique fashions, children’ fashion, laser engraving, an olive oil company, an artisan baker, a jewelry boutique, candles, a coffee roaster and handmade soaps.Longview Mall welcomed a new women’s apparel store to its retail lineup in April.Windsor Fashions describes itself as “a leading special occasion and fast fashion retailer.” The store is near Bath & Body Works.Windsor Fashions, which is based in Santa Fe Springs, California, opened its first store in 1937. The company has more than 350 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as what the company described as a “fast-growing e-commerce building.”May■ Nothing Bundt Cakes is open at 303 W. Loop 281, Suite 120, in Papacita’s Village.The national franchise specializes in bundt-style cakes in a variety of sizes and flavors. The business has more than 600 stores nationwide.

Nothing Bundt Cakes is open in the Papacita Village shopping center. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal.)

■ Uptown Cheapskate opened in May near Papacita’s Mexican Restaurant at 305 W. Loop 281, Suite 104B.The store buys and sale used clothing.Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, the business has about 130 stores. Lori Stinson, her husband, Bill, and their daughter Lisa Snow, own three of the stores. The family lives in Northeast Texas and has also stores in Texarkana and Tyler.The store focuses on casual, current, trendy clothing that was new in the past two or three years, Stinson said. Uptown Cheapskate also stocks some new clothing, with a focus on casual clothing.■ A new food truck celebrated its grand opening in May in Longview.Regina Jamerson is owner of It’s a Vibe Kitchen and Catering. Her sister, Freda Wobberton, is handling most of the cooking. Wobberton also has previously operated a food truck and restaurant.

Khylieh Mathis, left , owner Regina Davidson, Tomesha Jamerson and Freda Wobberton Thursday, May 23, 2024, at the It’s a Vibe food trailer. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

The food truck will regularly be stationed in the parking lot of 401 S. Mobberly Ave., but it will be at other locations, too. Jamerson said location updates will be provided on the food truck’s Facebook page, tinyurl.com/4wtst49d .The menu offers chicken, fish, salads, nachos, hamburgers, tacos and more. The business also offers turkey items for people who don’t eat pork, Jamerson said, including turkey chops, turkey burgers and turkey wings.“It’s just a variety of food with different flavors,” Jamerson said.■ Dollar General opened a new DG Market i May at 3016 Estesville Road in Longview.The new store features an expanded selection of fresh meats, fruits and vegetables as well as the same categories, brands and products customers typically find at Dollar General.DG Market stores employ 10-15 people.June■ Master Fry and Grill in Longview represents Dwayne Quinn’s hopes for his family.“I just really wanted to just get a business going for me and my family to live off of, start a legacy for my kids and their kids, something to give back generation to generation, something we can call ours,” he said.

Master Fry and Gril Friday, June 14, 2024. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

He and his wife, Tamika, opened the restaurant in June at 1511 E. Marshall Ave., but they had first operated the Master Fry food truck in Marshall starting in 2018. He took a break after COVID-19 and eventually decided he wanted a brick and mortar location.The Quinns have three children. One is an adult, and their teenage son and daughter work in the restaurant with them.“It’s a family business,” Dwayne said.Dwayne said his family is from New Orleans. He came to Marshall following Hurricane Katrina.“We’ve got a lot of Cajun spicy food,” he said. The menu includes fish and shrimp that has a “a different kind of taste than you’re used to out here because “it’s a New Orleans thing.”■ Frankie’s Filling Station opened in June in Longview at 2301 Judson Road.The store, which is open 24 hours, is operated by East Texas Fuels, a third-generation family business owned by Longview resident Sam Howell.

Frankie’s Filling Station No. 1 is open on Judson Road. (Courtesy Photo)

Frankie’s Filling Station, which sells Valero gasoline, includes a drive-thru window, “beer cave” and wine, hot prepared food and baked goods, health-conscious options and more.July■ Okidoki Hibachi Express opened in July at 1204 Alpine Road in Longview.Brothers Tommy and Holis Hariyanto already have locations of their restaurant in Texarkana, Shreveport and Marshall. The new restaurant is in a building that years ago was a Whataburger.They have updated the building and made improvements.

Brothers Holis, left, and Tommy Hariyanto opened a location of their Okidoki Hibachi Express in Longview. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal Photo)

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The restaurant’s signature dishes include chicken teriyaki, hibachi steak, shrimp and lobster, salmon and shrimp dishes. Yakisoba, or fried noodles, also rae on the menu along with fried rice, eggrolls, crab rangoon and pork dumplings.■ The name of Jody Maples’ boutique in downtown Longview has a special place in her heart.Rose is her adopted daughter’s name. Maples previously owned a boutique in Longview for 10 years, but she sold the store after Rose came into her family’s life, first as a foster child.Rose, 8, is a special needs child.“She is a miracle baby,” Maples said.She stayed home with Rose, but in the summer of COVID-19, she decided to start Gypsy Rose as an online store. She held pop-in sales at her house and had booths in other stores.“I couldn’t get away from having a business and doing clothes,” Maples said. “That’s what I’ve always done. I wanted the name to be associated with Rose.”

Owner Jody Maples at Gypsy Rose Thursday, September 12, 2024, in downtown Longview. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

She opened at 112 W. Methvin St. in July, selling women’s clothing in sizes small to 3X. The store sees customers from ages high school to late 70s, Maples said.August■ Lakishia Fountain and LaJoyce Walters opened The Underground Boutique at 315 N. High St. with a mix of merchandise provided by vendors and items curated by Fountain and Walters.The name, Fountain said, points to the independent business owners that operate booths at the boutique.“A lot of times, entrepreneurs don’t get a highlight,” she said, explaining that they’re underground, but their boutique helps bring them into the open.■ Boba Pub celebrated its grand opening in August at 405 West Loop 281 Ste. L, which is next door to Albertsons in Longview.Boba tea typically is made with tea. Then, milk and flavoring are added in with small, flavored tapioca balls.■ Salt & Light Salon and Suites celebrated its grand opening in August at 2302 Gilmer Road, Suite 200B.Darlene Barron is owner, along with her husband, Daniel Barron. She said the salon also rents out booths and private suites.“We have a lot of different services here,” she said, including hair, highlighting and blonding, braids and eyebrows.Contact the salon by direct message through Facebook at facebook.com/allthingsbeautd .September■ A new clothing boutique opened in September in downtown Longview.Amanda Boyter’s 1826 Boutique opened in downtown Kilgore earlier this year, and she relocated it to 107 E. Tyler St. Boyter said her boutique features women’s and men’s clothing, with the store’s clothing styles mixing “bougie” with “grunge.”

The 1826 Boutique is open on Tyler Street in downtown Longview. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal Photo)

She said she moved to Longview because the downtown area has “better traffic.”“It’s very busy,” she Friday during the store’s grand re-opening.“It seems like every building is full,” Boyter said, describing the business atmosphere in downtown.■ The convenience store A2Z Mart, at 600 N. Eastman Road, has a new neighbor.Mano Thaiba — who goes by Alex — has opened Lux Laundry at 602 N. Eastman Road, next door to the convenience store, which he also owns.“Basically, I wanted to do a combined business,” he said, where people can get snacks and drinks at the convenience store while they wash and dry their laundry on the other side.Thaiba remodeled what was a former barber shop next door to house the laundromat.“We have a very favorable price compared to other laundromats,” he said, saying he was being mindful of how expensive so many things are now.October■ Christopher Wilks, who started Bourbon Alley in downtown Longview with his father, Bryan, has now opened a specialty salon at 112 Methvin St., Suite A.

Blown, a new salon in downtown Longview at 112 Methvin St., Suite A Thursday, October , 2024. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

The salon Blown offers updos, styleouts and blowout services, but not haircuts or hair coloring.Wilks, a Longview native, moved back to his hometown to be close to his family. He’s been working to bring businesses to Longview that are popular in big cities, he said. He worked as a hair stylist for 15 years and created the training manual for all the stylists who will be working at Blown.■ The name of C.D Hollins’ new Longview restaurant pays homage to the woman who helped raise him and who taught him to cook. He and his siblings called his grandmother, Lillie Gates Ramey, “Madea.”Madea’s Famous Kitchen is at 1609 E. Marshall Ave., where Dudley’s Cajun Cafe previously was.“That’s what we always called her,” when he was growing up in Bastrop, Louisiana, but Hollins said he didn’t know why.

C.D. Hollins shows off his collard greens at Madea’s Famous Kitchen. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal.)

“My grandmother taught me how to cook,” he said, along with his father.Eight years ago, Hollins owned five restaurants around East Texas. Then, he became seriously ill in 2022.Hollins also teaches at Wiley College in Marshall and preaches at New Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Marshall.After his illness, he said he was done running restaurants while also teaching.Madea’s Famous Kitchen is his first restaurant since his illness.His restaurant features soul food favorites, including side dishes such as black-eyed peas, green beans, red beans and rice, dirty rice, macaroni and cheese, yams, collard greens and fried cabbage — all made fresh from scratch, he said.The regular menu also includes several kinds of hamburgers, catfish platters, shrimp, meatloaf, hamburger steak and pork chops.■ Nathan Le has opened his own nail salon after working at other salons in Longview for about 24 years.

Oh My Nails! is at 1721 W. Loop 281, in the North West Village shopping center.

Le opened Oh My Nails! with his fiancée, Kim Pham, at 1721 W. Loop 281, in the North West Village shopping center. The full service nail salon also offers waxing, and Le said they are also looking for a lash technician to join the business.Le said his father was a Vietnam War refugee who assisted the U.S. Army. That’s how his family was able to come to the United States. He was 11 when he arrived in the country in 1994, he said.While he moved around some, he graduated from Longview High School.His sister gave him his introduction to the nail business, and he has stuck with it ever since.“I cannot stop doing nails. I have to do them,” he said.November■ Sydney Reed started juicing when saw the way it benefited her mother when she had colon cancer while Reed was in college. Her mom underwent traditional cancer treatment but also was juicing and eating a whole food plant-based diet. Her mother, Tina Reed, beat cancer.

Chris Williams shows how the juicer works at East Texas Juicery, located at 424 E. Cotton St. (Jo Lee Ferguson/Longview News-Journal photo)

That inspired Sydney Reed to begin juicing as well a few years later. That grew into juicing for friends and family, and now, Reed and her partner, Chris Williams, have opened East Texas Juicery at 424 E. Cotton St. near downtown Longview.They recently finished renovating the former Newgate Mission store.“We make organic cold-pressed bottled juice,” with all organic fruits and vegetables, Reed said.They sell their juices in glass bottles, as they try to provide more sustainable options for customers, but plastic bottles are available.“It’s kind of like the old milk bottle system,” and customers can return their glass jars for credit, Reed said. Glass is a healthier option as well, Reed said, keeping juice fresher and colder.“We will potentially process 500 pounds of produce a week,” Williams said.“One juice is anywhere from 1 to 2 pounds of produce,” Reed said.Customers may walk in and buy juice out of the refrigerator or order ahead and stock up.■ Longview’s newest entertainment venue, Film Alley, opened in November.Weatherford-based Schulman Theatres renovated the former Regal Longview theater at 3070 N. Eastman Road to house Film Alley.

Employees wait on guests Nov. 26 in the concession area at Film Alley in Longview. Weatherford-based Schulman Theatres renovated the former Regal Longview theater at 3070 N. Eastman Road to house Film Alley.. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

It features a restaurant with dine-in movie theaters, duck pin bowling and an arcade, among other features.December■ The rebuilt Long John Silver’s at 209 E. Loop 281 in Longview reopened in December.The restaurant, which was originally constructed in 1980, was demolished in June.

Newly rebuilt Longview John Silver’s Thursday, December 19, 2024, on E Loop 281. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

Mylice Noel, who was a shift manager when the eatery closed, is returning as the location’s general manager along with several other previous employees.■ RaceTrac in December opened its first convenience store in Longview at 3120 Estes Parkway near Interstate 20.“ … This new 8,100-square-foot travel center provides everything needed to refuel and recharge for the nearly 40,000 professional drivers, commuters, residents and travelers that pass through the area daily,” RaceTrac said in a statement.The location on Estes Parkway had for years been home to a long-vacant and deteriorating gas station and hotel.

‘It’s the moment when genius comes into the universe’: the film recreating SNL’s chaotic first night

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

There is no show in history more obsessed with its own lore than Saturday Night Live. Almost every week the long-running sketch show is sprinkled with returning alumni and jokes that reference the show’s illustrious and controversial past: its social club status for the great and good of New York; the drug-fuelled deaths of its brightest lights such as John Belushi and Chris Farley; the superstars it created in Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, to name but five of hundreds.SNL is so fabled that it’s already inspired scores of documentaries and numerous scripted TV shows based on it, including 30 Rock and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In February, there will be a three-hour primetime special celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary, an event likely to be more starry than the Oscars (at a similar event for the 40th anniversary, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Prince formed an impromptu band to entertain the afterparty). At the centre of it all, Lorne Michaels, the show’s inscrutable Canadian executive producer, who has become the most powerful man in American comedy, yet famously is incredibly difficult to make laugh.You’ll find few people more enamoured of the legend of SNL and the man in charge of it than Jason Reitman. In 2008, Reitman was one of the buzziest directors working in Hollywood, having just had a surprise hit with the indie film Juno. He could have worked with pretty much anyone (and later did, with George Clooney on Up in the Air and Charlize Theron in Young Adult), but what he really wanted to do was fulfil his boyhood dream of writing sketches for Saturday Night Live. As a child, he had grown up around the original cast. His father, Ivan Reitman, was the director of National Lampoon’s Animal House and the original Ghostbusters films and Jason would follow him around on set. John Belushi gifted him a blanket as an infant, Bill Murray described him as a pain in the ass. SNL runs in his blood.Michaels acquiesced and let him be a guest writer for a week, pitching sketches for a cast that at that time included Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph. He pitched three sketches and managed to get one on the air: Death By Chocolate, in which that week’s host, Ashton Kutcher, plays a murderous bar of Hershey’s, knifing strangers in back alleys. “It was one of the great weeks of my life,” Reitman tells me.View image in fullscreenBeing on set that week gave him the idea for a film about the very beginnings of SNL, before it was a TV institution. “What I have always been interested in is the moment when genius comes into the universe,” he says with no concern for accusations of bombast. “What is it like in the room when Paul McCartney writes Yesterday? Does it feel like something special happened, or is he just fucking around writing a song on a napkin? With SNL, it’s this magic trick, the choreography of the sound people, camera people, wardrobe people, how they operate together like a ballet in this tiny space in an office building in New York City. It’s insane.”Now, 15 years later, Reitman is finally making his obsession a reality with the release of Saturday Night, a movie about trying to get the very first episode of SNL on the air in 1975. The film hits familiar beats: the network suits who are told they don’t understand the avant garde genius they’re witnessing; the pioneering comics who struggle to be contained by the constraints of television or, indeed, real life. But Reitman’s twist is to make it a thriller, more like watching Speed or Taken than a traditional biopic.It begins 90 minutes before they’re due to go to air and everywhere chaos reigns. Belushi’s contract isn’t signed and he’s having punch-ups with Chevy Chase in the makeup room, the writers are bullying Jim Henson because they think his Muppets are stupid and the show’s effervescent comedic actor Gilda Radner is flying through the studio on a camera crane. There’s no script, no set and NBC is threatening to play a rerun of Johnny Carson instead. Will they manage to get the show on the air? The film answers the question in real time with Jon Batiste’s tick-tock score, recorded live on the set while the movie was being filmed, ramping up the tension.Trying to interview Reitman and the film’s cast in a hotel in Toronto, there’s a similar degree of time-sensitive pandemonium. In a maze of hotel corridors I am shepherded, with no explanation, in and out of rooms where a different personality awaits – the calm of Reitman, say, or the wisecracks of comedic actor of the moment Rachel Sennott (Bottoms, Shiva Baby), playing SNL writer and Michaels’s first wife Rosie Shuster, or the serious thespian chops of Cory Michael Smith (who does an eerily accurate turn as Chase). Sometimes I’d be left completely alone in the room with an actor and given an hour – in other instances I get 10 minutes and bizarrely have four cameras trained on me.View image in fullscreenOne thing that’s clear is how much the cast have bonded. When I ask them about meeting Michaels while they were shooting, they can only try to make each other laugh. “What he said to me was: ‘Sir, get off my lap. I don’t know you, and I hope your career drowns,’” says Dylan O’Brien, who plays Dan Aykroyd.There’s an obvious metaness to the whole project, which Reitman embraced – after all, just like Michaels, he too is trying to corral a group of excited, vulnerable young actors with varying degrees of experience into making something slightly unknown. So he let them run riot on the set and improvise at will.“We didn’t have trailers. We had a big living room with tons of 70s furniture, old records, old movie posters on the wall, board games and ping pong tables,” says Gabriel LaBelle, who having just played a thinly veiled Stephen Spielberg in the director’s latest film, The Fabelmans, now takes a turn as the famously inscrutable Michaels. “Jason was so smart in making that happen and building the camaraderie between this cast.”“We were just kind of free to do whatever the fuck we wanted,” says the British actor Ella Hunt, who plays Gilda Radner. “In one scene we’re running like banshees down the hall, and I took a massive pile of scripts and threw them into the air. It just felt like nothing was precious, and all of the mistakes were welcome.”For the cast of Saturday Night, it meant they had the odd feeling of playing characters who were household names in their own homes. “My dad’s doing a watch party with his college friends,” says Sennott, whose background is in more risque indie films. “I’m just excited because he’s been watching me give blowjobs left and right. This is one he can watch with his friends and relax.”Sennott, who is currently experiencing a moment of cultural explosion that the debut SNL cast might be familiar with, has appeared in both A24 cult hits and Charli xcx videos. Her college portrayal of Shuster gives the film a different centre of gravity to previous accounts of its history. Shuster is portrayed as an ego masseuse, sharp writer and general troubleshooter, who flirts with the stars and organises the big dreams of her husband into something that can get on the air.Sennott spent time with Shuster before shooting: “Just hearing her voice, her laugh, and how she was so undaunted in the face of chaos and all these challenges – it was exciting to play, because that’s not what I’m like at all.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn contrast to Sennott, Hunt had never attempted comedy when she auditioned for Gilda Radner, the first person to be cast on the original SNL. “You’d think an English girl doing a brassy Detroit accent sounds like something out of a horror movie,” she tells me. “But she’s like me. Her goofiness feels very familiar to me in the way in which I act with my family.”In real life, Radner had to negotiate endless sexism on set: Belushi would famously howl that “women aren’t funny” backstage. Hunt had to embody the way Radner would disarm men who crossed her, while still appearing like she could take a joke. “When I watch Gilda navigating that space, it just feels so virtuosic to me, she’s playing the room on so many levels. Thinking about Gilda and [fellow SNL female alumni] Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman occupying that space and just how many of the men in the room really didn’t think that they should be there, the odds were so stacked against them.”View image in fullscreenOnce he’d settled on the cast, Reitman sent them all emails telling them not to spend too much time watching old footage of the people they were portraying, to trust that they have the essence of the person in them. It was a huge vote of confidence … and almost every cast member completely ignored it.“For about two months I would exclusively watch Chevy Chase,” says Michael Smith, a charming and self-serious leading man whose personality couldn’t be more at odds with the wisecracking Sennott. “I just watched him over and over and over until I felt like I was beginning to have his instincts – things like the way he blinks emphatically after a line to cue people to laugh.”Chase is one of the most cocksure figures of the 1970s, but Smith wanted to understand what he was like just before that moment: “We all know confident, charismatic Chevy Chase, who has swagger. But this is the night before the world met him. He is closer to me: he’s hopeful and optimistic and a hustler and a little nervous, maybe feeling a little fraudulent. He famously had a humiliating first appearance on Johnny Carson where he was so nervous. Everybody laughed at him. That was helpful, seeing this vulnerable, nervous guy.”The final film is chaotic and includes so many memorable performances that it’s almost impossible to mention them all: Nicholas Braun’s double acting duties as Andy Kaufman and Henson; JK Simmons playing the old school entertainer Milton Berle; Willem Dafoe as the NBC executive willing it all to fail; standup Lamorne Morris, the film’s most obvious comic actor, as Garrett Morris, SNL’s first Black cast member (no relation); and Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) as the overstretched young executive Dick Ebersol.Some reviews have criticised the film’s lack of answers: it presents disaster after disaster and then somehow everything works out. It’s true that Reitman probably believes a little too much in the magic of the show, but the film succeeds in creating a taut chaos, never quite letting you settle into what’s going on, and is filled with new little titbits that superfans like Sennott’s father will love (for example that Billy Crystal was still smarting for years after his sketch got cut from the opening episode).But I wonder how the film will land in the UK, where SNL doesn’t have such mythical status. Will audiences care that much about whether Belushi signs his contract? “SNL is just a location, but the film is about that adrenaline,” says Reitman. “Everybody knows what it’s like to put on a show, even if it’s a talent show or a high school play. At some point every person has tried to do something, where 30 minutes before you’re going: ‘How the hell is this ever going to come together?’ And then here’s a way that we coalesce, where enemies become friends and you make something. And I wanted to make a movie that really captured that concept.”Reitman is clearly still enamoured of the magic of live TV, and giddy at the thought that he might now be the magician – taking a real set, an improvising cast, a live band and 80 microphones and trying to do what Michaels did 50 years ago: get the show on the road.Saturday Night is in cinemas from 31 January.