The heroes around us

I’ve had a busy summer so far.

Jamie Foxx, Channing Tatum and I figured out a way to prevent world nuclear annihilation, although the White House and D.C. in general didn’t fare too well.

Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and I tried to eliminate crime and robber barons from the Old West. We did pretty well, although as I think you know, our efforts to stamp out corporate greed in America really only slowed things down a bit.

Spock, Kirk and I also traveled somewhere light-years away to prevent Earth from being destroyed. That was pretty fun, too.

They weren’t putting their lives on the line because it was their “job” or because their boss told them to get in there and do it or because their shift hadn’t yet ended.

No, a sense of civic duty or corporate responsibility wasn’t the driving force behind their super-human efforts. Instead, they were motivated by something more personal.

Channing Tatum wanted to rescue his daughter from criminals, and he wanted to redeem her view of him as a father.

Armie Hammer wanted to avenge the death of his brother and rescue his brother’s wife and son, while Johnny Depp was motivated by a mistake he made as a child that he needed to rectify.

The Star Trek guys had all messed up in the past, and they were motivated to show everyone they really could do the right thing at the right time.

You could argue they performed their crazy feats of heroism because they believed in the greater good, or they felt as if they owed their neighbor a better life, or they simply were willing to risk their lives so the rest of us could live in peace and freedom.

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Superman and I haven’t gotten together yet, although I feel as if I already know the guy and his story. And I haven’t seen any of those touch-feely foreign language films yet. Maybe next month.

What have I learned from my summer adventures? Well, I know they’re only movies, but I was struck by the fact that the heroes weren’t getting shot and stabbed for the love of country, although there was a lot of flag-waving during the action scenes.

And you wouldn’t be all wrong. But every hero (real and celluloid) has a back story, as they say in the movies, and every back story begins with some driving personal motivation or ambition, the need to impress someone or prove something to someone else.

The good news is that the movies aren’t the only places for back stories or heroism or honor.

We write about neighborhood heroes breaking free of the daily grind here in our magazine and every day in our online daily news update at advocatemag.com. We can see them all around us every day, if we just pay attention.

And if we look really hard, even without 3D glasses, we can even see a little bit of heroism in ourselves every once in awhile.

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Half Price Books makes big plans for the 6 acres next door to its flagship

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A new shopping center is coming to the northeast corner of Northwest Highway and Shady Brook next door to Half Price Books, writes editor Brittany Nunn. Developers are eyeing local and national retailers.

The neighborhood across the street and down the street is not the greatest buy them out first then build. —frack

So in other words more strip mall garbage. —Los_Politico

Please enlighten us on what new retail at such a busy intersection should look like? Some late-Victorian flats with apothecaries, haberdasheries and various other curio shoppes at street level? Strip mall is about as good as it gets for that corner, and it’s way better than dilapidated buildings that have been vacant for over a decade.

—Lord Fauntleroy to Los_Politico

Kids + crushed granite + fountain = new patio at Cane Rosso White Rock

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The patio design at Cane Rosso White Rock may not have been the best idea, writes editor Keri Mitchell. The decomposed granite tempts children to treat it as a sort of sandbox. “It never occurred to me people would want to throw that stuff,” owner Jay Jerrier says.

So instead of teaching your kids how to behave in public, much less a nice restaurant, let’s just make changes to the restaurant’s aesthetic designs because parents don’t know how to discipline anymore. Great idea! And parents, don’t even get me started — I see plenty of well-behaved kids and plenty of badly behaved ones, so don’t make a comment that kids are kids. —xt

How annoying to the other diners! What is wrong with parents today? Geeze. Teach your kids some manners and respect. Glad you sound so light-hearted, lakewood

Jay. I’d have to put a child leash law into effect or start banning parents.

—Bonnie

They are kid-friendly; however, parents should be concerned how their children behave. Stop thinking you and your children are privileged enough that rules and manners don’t apply. There are plenty of places that you can allow the little angels to run amuck. *sigh*

—Lakewood 4Rest

Zöes Kitchen a possibility for Snow Pea location?

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Rumor has it that Zöes Kitchen is eyeing the old Snow Pea location in the Lakewood Shopping Center. The restaurant hasn’t confirmed the information yet, but here’s what our readers had to say about it.

Yea, that location needs some warming up — windows would help. I’m a little bit underwhelmed by the rumors of Zöes Kitchen though. I don’t know the menu looks, for want of a better word, a bit dull ... —Jeff

Meh. I’d prefer another offering other than Mediterranean food already adequately handled by Ali Baba.

—Lakewood Resident

No comparison to Ali Baba other than they both have hummus on the menu. The Mediterranean is a huge area with diverse food. Zöes rocks! —foodie

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