Morrisville, NC – Developer CASTO and partner 1^st Carolina Properties of Cary, N.C., announced on Tuesday that Target has purchased 10-acres of its Phase I development at Park West Village, a 100-acre mixed-use project to be located at Cary Parkway and Chapel Hill Road in Morrisville, North Carolina.

In addition to Target, retailers joining the project will include:

• Buy Buy Baby
• T J Maxx
• The Dress Barn
• Rack Room Shoes
• Mattress Firm
• Sprint
• Omaha Steaks
• New Japan Express
• Qdoba Mexican Grill
• Zoe’s Kitchen
• Platinum Nail Spa
• Fantastic Sam’s
• Massage Envy
• Kilwin’s Chocolates and Ice Cream
• GameStop
• Ruckus Pizza, Pasta and Spirits
• Deluxe Cleaners

Construction is slated to begin immediately for a Fall 2011 opening.

“In an environment where development activity has been tough, together with the support and efforts of the Town of  Morrisville, Target and the partners of 1^st Carolina Properties, we believe this will be one of the few new developments done in 2011,” stated Brett Hutchens CASTO partner.

Connell Radcliff, principal of 1^st Carolina Properties added, “We are excited to break ground on the initial phase of this 100-acre mixed-use development.  With Target and over 100,000 square feet of additional retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses, phase I of Park West will serve the Morrisville community well.  We look forward to starting this project, and thank everyone who has been supportive of our efforts thus far.”

The area continues to be one of the most attractive markets for growth in the nation and boasts an average household income of $90,000, a population base of 123,500 and over 92,000 daytime employees.

Cary, NC – Actors age 8-18 are invited to audition on September 22-23 for Applause! Cary Youth Theatre’s upcoming production of The Little Prince, based on the book by Antoine de Saint Exupery.

In addition, creative young minds age 10-18 are invited to interview for the production Design Team on September 21.

To schedule an appointment, email rachel.green@townofcary.org or call (919) 465-4792.

Interviews and auditions are by appointment only and will be held at Page-Walker Arts & History Center, 119 Ambassador Loop. Registration began on  September 1. No walk-ins will be accepted.

For more information on the upcoming production, including details about auditions and interviews, visit Applause! Cary Youth Theatre.

Photos by Tom Mousseau

Cary, NC- The Panther Creek Lady Catamounts volleyball team is off to a roaring season. And we’ve got the pictures to prove it.

Even though they are new on the block (the school is only 4 years old, after all), they are in third place the Tri-9 conference behind Apex and Green Hope with a  record of 5-1 (the one loss was to Apex). This week vs. Holy Springs at home,  JV won their matches 2-0 and Varsity went 3-1.

Tonight they go up against a tough Green Hope team.

Here’s Tom’s slide show from Flickr.

The busiest time of hurricane season is here. Hurricane Earl’s slash up the East Coast starting at Ocracoke is a reminder that Cary is not too far from the action.

Evacuations at the Beach

At 5 a.m. this Wednesday morning, Ocracoke and Hatteras Island announced evacuation orders for all visitors and residents in preparation for hurricane Earl.  Dare County officials said they expect Earl to create high waves that will flood parts of N.C. Highway 12, making travel unsafe.

At 8 a.m. the National Hurricane Center showed hurricane Earl passing east of the Bahamas today and tonight and could approach the North Carolina coast by early Friday morning.  Earl is on a forecast track to take a gradual turn to the north-northwest but is not likely to make landfall on our coast but will cause dangerous conditions.

A strong category 3 storm, Earl is packing winds reaching 125 mph and is approximately 180 miles wide. Large swells should effect the North Carolina coast beginning Thursday and into Friday.  These swells will cause extremely dangerous surf conditions and rip currents.  A storm surges of 3 to 4 feet are possible.

More Storms Brewing

Tropical Storm Fiona is following close behind Earl and will either be absorbed by Earl or head east out to sea, thereby not becoming a threat to land.

Following a similar path to Earl and Fiona and right behind them is Tropical Depression 9, which formed this morning. TS 9 is very close to becoming a named storm - Tropical Storm Gaston.

Weather for Cary

Earl is predicted to slide up the coast and not affect Cary. Of course, it’s a hurricane, and if it changes course, we’ll let you know.

Right now, the forecast is for 10 days of unabated sunshine over the Triangle. Don’t reseed your lawn quite yet unless you’re prepared to water a lot.

Information provided by the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service and The Weather Channel

SAS was one of the companies named to the "Family-Friendly 50" by Carolina Parent

Story by Matt Young

Cary, N. C. – Carolina Parent has named several Cary companies to their annual Family-Friendly 50 List. Congrats go out to Cary companies SciQuest, SAS, Confero, WakeMed Cary, Arysta LifeScience and RTI International.

The Family-Friendly 50 honor recognizes companies in North Carolina that help working parents by offering  employment programs, policies and opportunities.

Selections were made in partnership with the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Companies were checked against specific criteria that indicate a family-friendly environment… things like flexible hours, job sharing, personal leave policies, daycare on site, health and wellness programs.

Brenda Larson, publisher of Carolina Parent told us: “We were delighted to see the number of nominations coming in this year to recognize the efforts of companies, large and small, to endorse policies and practices that support work/life balance for their employees. At Carolina Parent, we’re proud that 26 of these companies are right here in the Triangle.”

Cary High School wide receiver Darrell Hamilton completes a forty-yard run for Cary's first touchdown in Friday's win over Northern Nash. Photos by Stephen Blackwelderl.

Cary, NC – Cary High football crushed Northern Nash on the gridiron last Friday night by a score of 34-6.

Stephen Blackwell sent us this slide show from the game.

Story by Juan Santiago.

Cary, NC – Diehard Panthers fan that I am, I must confess I was worried with the departure of Julius Peppers at the end of last season.  Now after watching the Panthers this pre-season, I find myself asking, “Julius Who?” 

Don‘t get me wrong, Peppers was a big part of the Panthers defense for many years but the new defensive squad is quickly making me forget about him. And quick is the perfect way to describe this bunch.

Young Under the Gun All Night

During last night’s game against the Tennessee Titans, the defense was all over Titans QB Vince Young. I was wishing the Panthers could get points for sacks and big defensive plays.   Both CB Chris Gamble and DE Charles Johnson looked very strong and Carolina held the Titans scoreless in the first half.

Offense Struggling

The bad news…the Panthers offense did not look much better than their opponents which led to a first half with no points on the board.  It was like watching soccer!  Matt Moore looked out of synch during the first half and I found myself wondering why Jimmy Clausen was not starting the second half.  I know this is pre-season and Moore needs to get his groove going before it starts counting, but a win would really help the morale of the team and the fans alike.  Moore is working with a short-handed offense, as injured WRs Steve Smith and Jonathan Stewart are not yet playing, but Carolina will need the other WRs to step up if we can expect to have a decent offense.

Overall the Panthers looked much better in the second half with special teams starting to get the hang of it.  The rookies also looked comfortable with a notable performance by DE Greg Hardy.  Back-up QB Jimmy Clausen finally came into the game late in the fourth quarter and got the team down the field quickly.

In the end, the Panthers were able to squeeze a win out of a “not so pretty” game, which in my opinion is very important.  I have a feeling that this team will play many low scoring games this season and needs to get used to winning ugly.

All in all I like what I see. I believe that Julius Peppers’ absence may actually help the Panthers in the long run forcing the defense to “step up”.

What Do You Think?

What’s your take on the 2010 Panthers?

Cary, NC - On Monday, August 23, the Cary Council met jointly with the Morrisville Council. The Morrisville staff and Cary staff presented items of common interest between both municipalities. Many significant items were discussed.

The Mayor’s Notes

Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht published some thoughts about the two-town meeting in his blog.

On areas of common interest with Morrisville:

• Both municipalities share construction equipment that saves over $100,000 annually.
• Morrisville uses Cary’s fueling stations which reduces cost.
• We jointly share fire districts and even house a Morrisville engine in station 7.
• Cary’s traffic management system includes one Morrisville signal and may include others in the near future.

On the huge Park West development:

• There are three phases. They closed on financing Friday.
• The latest plan has 575,000 square feet of retail including a 3000 seat cinema, 100,000 square  foot office, and 300 dwelling units.
• Target is set to be one of the anchors.
• Road improvements will start in September.
• Cary and Morrisville are sharing information and planning on highway 54.

The Mayor also noted that the county’s hotel/motel tax continues to be a problem for both municipalities. Cary contributes over 20% of all county funding and receives less than 5%. Morrisville contributes over 16% and receives nothing.

Togetherness

Mayor Weinbrecht is recommending that he and Morrisville Mayor Jackie Holcombe set up a subcommittee to address joint issues and to meet on a regular basis. He is working on the committee of three from Cary. It will include the Mayor, the District A Representative Jennifer Robinson and one other council member.

]]> http://www.carycitizen.com/2010/08/30/joint-morrisville-cary-town-council-meeting/feed/ 1 http://www.carycitizen.com/2010/08/30/shakespeare-takes-the-stage-at-booth-ampitheatre/ http://www.carycitizen.com/2010/08/30/shakespeare-takes-the-stage-at-booth-ampitheatre/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:04:38 +0000 Leslie Huffman http://www.carycitizen.com/?p=13495

Story by Leslie Huffman. Photos by Karl Fisher.

Cary, NC – With a picnic and the company of my 11-year-old daughter (who is quite a thespian in her own right) I attended a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It was presented this past weekend at Koka Booth Amphitheatre amidst glorious weather on a stage that has mainly been the home for musicians and symphonies.

I was not sure what to expect, never having seen a play performed at this venue.  I wondered what the acoustics of the spoken word would be like from our lawn seats. I was also unsure how my daughter might perceive a production delivered in “middle English” a dialect I myself struggle with.

Lyman Collins, Town of Cary Cultural Arts Manager, came out to welcome the crowd. In celebration of 10th season, Booth Amphitheatre, welcomed Twelfth Night as its first full theatrical production.

A Comedy of Identity

Set in Illyria, the play is filled with gender politics, hidden identity, love and comedy.  Shakespeare’s comedies seem especially transportable to later time periods.  Director David Henderson’s production traveled to the post war era of 1945 using period costumes and music of the time.  Freshening up Shakespeare is nothing new, as in the 1996 film version of Romeo & Juliet featuring Leonardo DiCaprio.

But whatever the area, we still have all of the Bard’s words. Twelfth Night principle storyline is about Viola (Beth Popelka), who believes her twin brother Sabastian (Ryan Brock) is lost at sea. She dresses as a man to protect herself and becomes a go-between for the lovesick Duke Orsino (Zach Thomas), who is madly in love with the contemptuous Countess Olivia (Betsy Henderson).  As Viola poses as the boy Cesario, Orsino’s confidante, she falls for Duke Orsino.

Countess Olivia then becomes filled with desire for Cesario, a.k.a. Viola.

The comedy swirls around trickster Sir Toby Belch (Stewart Byham) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Jesse Gephart) and Olivia’s attendant Maria (Susannah Hough).  The group plots against the pompous steward Malvolio (Steven Roten) and makes him believe that his lady Olivia wishes to marry him, making him appear crazy to Lady Olivia.  In and out of the action appears Olivia’s favorite jester, Feste (Rasool Jahan), who is the very wise fool.

All the confusion climaxes when Sabastian returns making everyone see double of Cesario. Finally, Viola reveals she is really a female and that Sebastian is her lost twin brother.  The play ends with Olivia and Sabastian married and Orsino united with Viola.

The Venue

The view of the stage was great and the sound all around the lawn and crescent was perfect.  The performance was extremely entertaining and well done.  After some consultation with my daughter, we were both confused about some things, but I am in no position to critique Shakespeare.

Overall, a wonderful night of teatro al fresco!

See all the Shakespeare photos by Karl Fisher on Flickr.

Review by Andrew Johnson

Handicam mockumentary-style media is so in right now.

Ever since The Blair Witch Project made a few gazillion dollars at the box-office, there’s been a growing tendency in Hollywood to try and capitalize on the illusion of “reality.”  Acknowledge that cameras are present, and you’ve essentially broken down the fourth wall between viewer and the screen.  In the past decade alone we’ve seen this spread into so many television shows (The Office, Modern Family) and feature films (Borat, Cloverfield, Quarantine) that it almost doesn’t work anymore.  After all, why keep trying to pretend you’re not pretending when so many other properties have already worn out the gimmick?  The Last Exorcism is the latest horror film that attempts to use the faux-documentary approach to increase the tension.  The good news is that it succeeds more often than it fails.

The plot follows a disillusioned evangelical pastor, Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), who after reading about an exorcism gone wrong that resulted in the death of a young boy decides to reveal the truth behind such medieval practices.  As someone who’s performed dozens of exorcisms himself, he receives numerous pleas for help in the mail from people all over the country who are convinced one of their loved ones might be possessed by a demon.  He picks a letter at random and brings a film crew with him to Louisiana in order to document the real (read: fake) methods behind his exorcisms – tape recordings, smoking crosses, and other devices he will use to convince a client that he’s actually expelled a demon.  Of course, once when he arrives at the home of Louis Sweetzer and his daughter Nell, it isn’t long before things start to get really, really weird.  Cue extreme body contortions and creepy silhouette shots.

It’s important when dealing with such mockumentary setups that everything come across as plausible, and this depends largely on the performances.  The Last Exorcism has this down pat.  Patrick Fabian comes across as so naturally smarmy and manipulative that at times I found myself forgetting I was watching an actor.  Even more noteworthy is the relatively unknown Ashley Bell as Nell, who strikes the perfect chord of sheltered naivety with undercurrents of the demonic.  This may very well be her breakout role.

It’s a good thing the actors are so convincing, because they carry the first half of the film on their shoulders.  The surprising thing about The Last Exorcism is that despite what the marketing might have you believe, it’s a slow burn that doesn’t really start to ratchet up the tension for a solid half hour. Instead of leaping straight into jump scares and the usual handicam horror tropes, director Daniel Stamm chooses to engage the audience by fleshing out his protagonist and the different themes related to religion and the lower-class.  Cotton may be arrogant and a bit manipulative, but his heart seems to be in the right place considering his upbringing.  As he sees things, while his preaching and exorcisms might be rooted in doubt and fraud, the people who believe it are better for it.  And while the film begins with a seemingly staunch anti-religion stance by examining his hypocrisy, the audience is encouraged to identify with the Sweetzers, a family that has latched on to fundamentalist Christianity as a means of coping with loss.  Yes, Nell is an extremely sheltered girl, but this has only made her all the more innocent and compassionate.  Her father has a drinking problem and her brother is distrustful of outsiders, but their love for her and their desire to see her cured from whatever is afflicting her is readily apparent.  What could have easily turned into a parade of familiar stereotypes – a Southern family of religious bigots who ironically turns out to be hiding something monstrous – is set aside in favor of a more complex and balanced look at cultural attitudes and movements.

The film gradually unveils new information about the Sweetzers and their situation, but until the last scene it never commits to a specific answer about what’s really happening.  All of the characters (and the audience) assume certain things about each other based on their preconceived notions of religion, skepticism, and cultural stereotypes, but the vast majority of these pseudo-explanations are revealed to be just that – empty assumptions without concrete evidence to support them.  Stamm takes his low budget of $2 million and puts it to good use, favoring practical effects over CGI, and the result is an unsettling atmosphere of uncertainty.  Nell may frequently go into trances and engage in some pretty strange behavior, but don’t expect anything remotely on par with the head-spinning scene of The Exorcist.  All of the events portrayed can easily be achieved by a normal human being without the aid of something supernatural. This makes the conflict between faith and skepticism even more confounding – is Nell really possessed by the devil, or is she just mentally unstable due to natural causes?

Unfortunately, while the script is very well-written and performed, a mishandling of the mockumentary approach keeps The Last Exorcist from reaching its full potential.  One of the main obstacles handicam horror films always have to deal with is how to account for the presence of a camera. Whether it’s the “party-film-turned-crisis-documentary” approach of Cloverfield or the “news story” angle of Quarantine, there must always be an explanation for why somebody decided to film traumatic events instead of doing the sane thing and running away.  Furthermore, the audience also needs to be clued in as to whether or not they’re watching raw “found footage” or if the film they’re seeing is in fact an edited cut using such footage.  If we are to truly suspend our disbelief enough to accept the world of the film and the conceit that oh my god this might actually have happened, we have to be aware of the rules going in.

This is where The Last Exorcism ultimately falls apart.  Though it succeeds at presenting some rather suspenseful moments, it never quite establishes its own rules well enough for it to be believable.  We’re led to think that there is a single-camera documentary crew following around Cotton, consisting of solely fictional director Irish Riesen and a cameraman.  No mention is made of editing any sort of finished product, either by Iris or by those that implicitly found the footage and decided to release it into theaters.  As a result, certain scenes, particularly in the second half, feel extremely staged.  If there’s only a single camera running, why are so there many cuts during the most dramatic moments?  Who was doing the editing, and using what other footage?  And what’s up with the added musical score?  By the time we get to the film’s final moments, things have gotten so ridiculous and obviously modified by a third-party that it’s impossible to feel genuinely scared by anything.  The ruse is broken.  We can’t buy into the illusion of realism if the illusion isn’t coherently maintained.

For most of its 87-minute runtime, The Last Exorcism is a surprisingly good film, managing to combine a decent amount of scares with complex characters and themes.  Unfortunately, the last five minutes nearly sour everything that came before them.  Future handicam horror films take note: it’s not enough to master the suspense if you can’t also master the gimmick.  And please, have a finale that’s actually scary.

Andrew Johnson is the host of MovieChatter, a weekly film discussion podcast.  He also occasionally blogs about film at The Kuleshov Effect.  Of all the opinions out there about the current state of cinema, he swears that his are the right ones.