Fund-raising events honor life, fight SMA Davis Clipper • July 15, 2010
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KENDRA AND MAKENZIE Webster. there were many who did.“I tory Distress, a variant of the felt like it was therapy to help disease). In her experiences me still feel my daughter.” with Makenzie and afterward The motorcycle ride, Webster has met and been which will be held the same touched by several children day, will start with registrashe’s met who are living with tion at 12: 30 p.m. at Rotary the illness. Glen Park in Salt Lake (east “With these little kids, of the Hogle Zoo parking their minds are perfect,” she lot). The cost is $25 per said.“Their bodies just end motorcycle, and more inforup failing them.” mation on both events is Webster said that she available online at www. livplans on doing an event ingformrw.blogspot.com. every year for her daughter’s birthday, though she might The money from both explore other foundations or events will go to the Gwenhelping individual families. dolyn Strong Foundation, “I’m so passionate about which raises money for this,” she said. “No other research into Spinal Muscumother should have to miss lar Atrophy, or SMA (the their child’s first birthday.” RD stands for with Respira-
South American spirit Last weekend, the Peruvian Festival (also known as the “Peruvian Party Celebration”), celebrated two days of the country’s food, music, dance and culture at Centerville’s Founder’s Park. On Friday, festival organizers also welcomed performers from other South American countries, including Chile, Argentina, and Colombia to come share in the festivities. Saturday the focus was squarely on Peru, with folklore, performers, and a concert featuring popular Peruvian rock music.
Photos by Jen Barnett
FARMINGTON — If she’d lived, Kendra Webster believes her daughter Makenzie Rye would have changed the world. Since the little girl lost her battle last December with SMARD, a rare neuromuscular disease, Webster wants to help make that change in her memory. In honor of what would have been Makenzie’s first birthday, she’s holding a MRW Live, Laugh, Breathe fund-raising carnival and motorcycle ride designed to raise money for research to fight the disease. “I feel like my daughter gave me so much,” said Webster.“I owe it to her to carry on her name and make a difference in other people’s lives.” The carnival will be July 17 from 3-8 p.m. at Shepard Park in Farmington. As a celebration of Makenzie’s birthday, it will have everything from Princess Parties to the Scales and Tales to UFO’s unicycle team throughout the day. There will also be food, vendors, and activities for the kids including face painting and a bounce house. “Every day for three months my husband and I went to businesses after work to help find sponsors for this,” she said, adding that
Courtesy Photo
BY JENNIFFER WARDELL Clipper Staff Writer
Movie Beat: ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ charms rust Disney to remind me how charming a little goofiness can be. I’m convinced that’s the key to the sheer, slightly off-kilter likeability of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which has a sweet, dorky, smart-alecky heart beating beneath its standard younghero-saves-the-world plot. It’s a messy, funny, weirdly endearing movie, and that fact somehow makes it better than the more straightforward and serious takes on the genre. The off-kilterness starts near the beginning, where they take the usual “child discovers his heroic destiny” origin scene and explores what happens when it explodes in on itself. The result is Dave, played by Jay Baruchel as a perpetually nervous young man who wisecracks in sheer self-defense and looks so awkward that you just want to hug
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‘THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE’ Stars: Rated: PG (For fantasy violence and occasional language) him. Though I loved him in “How To Train Your Dragon,” Baruchel has clearly been wasting himself in the slackerish films that he’s mostly been in before now. (Anyone remember “She’s Out of My League”? If not, lucky you.) He makes Dave so sweet and completely out of his depth that he has no trouble keeping the audience firmly on his side. He’s a refreshing change from the nobler, more heroic sort that normally heads up this sort of thing (forgive me, Harry).
Nicholas Cage, thankfully, plays the role of sorcerous mentor with much less of his patented craziness than his hairstyle might suggest. Instead, he employs the same kind of heroic seriousness he used in “National Treasure,” with just a touch more looseness that suggests the man might actually be enjoying himself. That lightness makes his standard dry delivery slightly funnier than usual, and in general makes this one of the more likeable characters Cage has ever played (as always, I accept well-reasoned arguments to the contrary). As an evil sorcerer, Alfred Molina clinches my award for the best scenery chewer of 2010 (wisely, this movie hands him more scenery than “Prince of Persia” did). I won’t try to summarize the plot, which is squeezed into all edges of the movie like a slight-
ly-too-large present packed into a really tight box, but you’ll still get the general idea even if a few of the details escape you. There are also several extremely cool magical sequences that will satisfy any action fans in the audience without going over the edge into headache and seizureinducing territory. (I’ll try not to spoil it – though I’ve seen at least one trailer that already does – but it turns out that the movie does have more connection to its namesake than just the name. The “Fantasia” fan next to me was giggling with sheer delight throughout the entire bit.) It’s the movie’s sense of humor, though, that gives it the real edge. The humor is situational and self-referential, which makes the jokes both intelligent and pretty clean, and the biggest laugh of the night comes from a
BY JENNIFFER WARDELL common geek reference tossed out with pinpoint accuracy. The fact that it’s said by a Criss Angel clone (played by Tony Kebbell) that manages to be far more entertaining than the original only makes it funnier, and the fact that you kind of feel bad for the guy makes the entire thing that much more unexpected and charming. Apparently, dorky villains can be just as adorable – and make a movie just as memorable – as dorky heroes.