"Gone with the Wind" returns to Riverside's Fox theater on Aug. 6.

The 1939 Civil War epic, considered by many to be the crowning achievement of old Hollywood, was first shown to audiences at the Fox, then a 10-year-old movie palace.

Now it is a newly refurbished venue renamed the Fox Performing Arts Center.

Have you seen "Gone with the Wind" at the Fox, either at that fateful sneak preview or on one of its many return trips?

Tell us about it.

Or tell us about other memorable evenings at the Fox.

E-mail Fielding Buck at fbuck@pe.com or leave your comments below. Give a phone number in case we want to contact you.

The Venetian and Palazzo are joining Barona Resort & Casino in Southern San Diego County in their player rewards program. Points can be earned and redeemed in any of the three resorts. At one time, it was thought that the Indian casinos of California were archenemies of Las Vegas casinos. Times, they do change.

-- BRUCE CAMENGA
features@PE.com

The unemployment rate in the Las Vegas area in June rose to a new record. It was 14.5percent.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released the figures for May and they aren't good. Revenues declined nearly 5 percent in May, to $847.1 million.

During the first five months of the year, Nevada casinos have won $4.399
billion, slightly less than the figures for the first five months of last year.

Revenues for casinos on The Strip were up 4.3 percent for the first five months of the year, to $2.417 billion. Revenues were also up for North Las Vegas and the Boulder Strip casinos but down for downtown Las Vegas, Laughlin and Mesquite.

There is a stock index for gambling equipment manufacturers, and it's a pretty good index for the gaming economy. It is AGEM, The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Index. It is composed of 17 global gaming suppliers, with 12 of the suppliers based in the U.S.

In June the index dropped 14.69 points to close at 88.89. It was established in January 2005, at a 100-point value. The move was the largest monthly decline in 20 months.

The drop is attributed to slower replacement of gaming supplies than normal.

Some good news is that Lake Las Vegas may soon emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Creditor Credit Suisse has accepted equity in lieu of the community's outstanding debt.
Hope so, as the place is too nice to fail.

-- BRUCE CAMENGA
features@PE.com

-- From Nation's Restaurant News --

Cravings and fun atmospheres drive consumers to restaurants rather than the local supermarket when time-starved families need a solution to the age-old question, "What's for dinner?" according to a new report from The NPD Group.

The market research firm found that nearly two-thirds of prepared foods sold at retail come from traditional supermarkets, but there are advantages that restaurants can leverage to prevent further erosion in their takeout-meal market share from what NPD calls food stores.

First, consumers surveyed cited convenient locations most often as a reason for visiting a quick-service restaurant at 40 percent, compared with 43 percent for supermarkets. Other reasons that drove customers to quick-service restaurants included simply liking it there, good prices or a special craving, NPD found.

Restaurants lagged behind supermarkets slightly when consumers cited reasons like good prices or always going to one favorite place. The gap widened further in favor of supermarkets when guests gave reasons like "I'm in a hurry" or that they were seeking more variety or more healthful food choices.

For the full article, click here to visit Nation's Restaurant News.

To sweeten the already possibly too-sweet deal, The Cheesecake Factory is introducing a new flavor on Friday, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake.

It has Reese's Peanut Butter Cup pieces mixed in the cheesecake and layers of fudge cake and caramel. Twenty-five cents from each sale will go toward the charity Feeding America.

For more information on the promotion, click here.

The Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake, last year's addition to the restaurant chain's menu, will still be available.

Chili's Bar & Grill has jumped on the Foursquare bandwagon and is offering free chips and house salsa appetizers to customers who "check-in" while at the restaurant.

Users can check-in through Foursquare when they are within 200 yards of a participating restaurant, and will be greeted with a flag that announces the special offer.

If you're not a salsa fan, get a free chips and queso appetizer by clicking here and joining the Chili's e-mail club.

Bill Maher, the man who made "politically incorrect" hip, will bring his stand-up act to Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa on Aug. 28.

For two decades, Maher has won fans and rankled foes for his sharp, opinionated, humor-laced commentary. His hit show, "Real Time," on HBO has racked up 22 Emmy nominations. His first show, "Politically Incorrect," ran on Comedy Central and ABC from 1993-2002. His 2008 documentary, "Religulous," is the seventh highest grossing documentary. He has also written four bestselling books.

Tickets for the Aug. 28 performance are $69. Tickets are available at the casino box office, the Morongo website, or at Ticketmaster.

- Jennifer Dean
jdean@pe.com

Local Panera Bread restaurants - love the coffee and bagels - is giving back to the Riverside and San Bernardino communities by donating left over bread, muffins, cookies, bages, etc. to local charities and organizations through its "Day-End Dough-Nation program.

Organizations such as Second Harvest Food Bank receive the goods and distribute them to shelters, after-school programs, and other agencies feeding those in need.

No numbers for 2009, but in 2008 Panera bakery-cafes collectively donated about 50 million dollars worth of bread and baked goods to charitable organizations. Good job Panera!

The world of entertainment might be still recovering from Comic-Con, but there's still money to be made so there's plenty of movies to check out this week.

One had the great opportunity to use Comic-Con as a giant promotional tool.

"Clash of the Titans" was seen throughout the convention with Medusa hats and giant shields, all saying the DVD comes out this week.

The movie is a remake of the 1981 "Clash of the Titans" starring Harry Hamlin and Laurence Olivier (yes, he was Zeus).

This update features an equally talented cast of Sam Worthington ("Avatar"), Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes.

Plot-wise it's the same exact movie with little differences. The gods are angry, monsters are let loose, Perseus stands up to fight and gets the girl (spoiler alert).

At the time the original had state of the art effects from Roy Harryhausen. They really don't hold up well though. Kids today would laugh and call them stupid probably.

The new one relies on state of the art special effects, especially with the giant Kraken monster (which in the trailers looks amazing.)

One downside was the 3D in the movie. Instead of filming with 3D in mind, the studio decided to convert the film into 3D at the last minute. This resulted in less than stellar effects.

It's even turned into a pop culture reference. When a filmmaker says "Oh, we are converting it into 3D!" Everyone then says "Ew, like 'Clash of the Titans'?"

Extras on the standard DVD include only a few additional scenes, that's it. Blu-ray owners get a bit more with an alternate ending, a few featurettes and a DVD and digital copy of the film.

The average price for the standard DVD is around $16.99 with the Blu-ray version going for $25.

Best Buy is offering a deal for people to get a $5 CinemaNow card with the purchase of the film.

Another film to get some attention at Comic-Con was "Batman: Under the Red Hood."

The animated film was screened at the convention and lucky fans were able to pick up an actual red hood mask to wear around. A lot of people mistook it for Deadpool's mask for some reason...

The plot has a secret new vigilante cleaning up Gotham City by any means possible and it's up to Batman to figure it out.

Longtime Batman fans know exactly who Red Hood is, but I won't spoil it for those who don't. The Joker also figures into the plot.

The voice cast is pretty impressive. Bruce Greenwood plays Batman, Jenses Ackles plays Red Hood, Neil Patrick Harris plays Nightwing and John Di Maggio (Bender from "Futurama") plays The Joker.

There are three versions of this movie out there so be on the lookout.

The one-disc DVD has no extras, but an awesome price of $12.99.

The two-disc DVD has a sneak peek of an upcoming film, a Jonah Hex short, a Dick Grayson featurette and two "Batman" cartoons.

This one also has a good price averaging at $16.

Finally the Blu-ray has all of those features along with a Jason Todd featurette and a digital copy of the film. Like with the others, also a great price, with the average being $19.99.

And lastly, with no Comic-Con connection, is "Repo Men."

The film follows two men, Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, who reposses state-of-the-art body parts from people who can't afford them anymore.

One of the men suffers an accident, finds himself with a new heart and then can't pay for it.

So, of course the repo men come after him. But, he knows their tricks so it's game on.

Liev Schrieber also stars as the boss.

The movie takes place in the future, obviously, so there are a bunch of cool technological weapons and futuristic fight scenes.

Extras on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the movie happen to be exactly the same, so if you don't care about the picture and sounds quality then save some money.

They include both the rated and unrated versions of the film, deleted scenes, special Union commercials, a featurette and an audio commentary with the director and screenwriters.

The average price for the standard DVD version is around $18. The best advertised price for the Blu-ray can be found at Target for $25.

Next week looks to have something for everyone with "Kick Ass," "The Breakfast Club 25th Anniversary Edition," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "The Ghost Writer."

This year's theme for A Taste of Sierra Madre is Children's Smiles Around the World, which relates to the new smiles children receive through this life changing, cleft palate surgery. They are celebrating student art and essay contributions. Applicants range from kindergarteners to seniors in high school. Net proceeds will be shared evenly between the Rotaplast Foundation for cleft palate surgeries and the Sierra Madre Youth Activity Center.

Aside from the charity aspect, the event is expected to be a fun-filled day for the whole family. The farmer's market and 12 restaurants will offer food samples and the Sierra Madre Police and Fire department cook-off is at noon. Live music starts at 1 p.m.

Date: Saturday, September 11. 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Place: Downtown Sierra Madre
Baldwin Ave and Sierra Madre Blvd.

Tickets: $20 - $35

For more information call 626-355-3471

If you have any interest in remodeling and construction, go to the Orange County roaming Design Workshop. They teach basic skills necessary to gain insight about the remodeling process, including tips on design, finishing trends, green products, aging in place and more.

Food and refreshments will be served.

Saturday, Aug. 7.
9 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

San Clemente Community Center
100 N. Calle Seville, San Clemente

$20 per household (pre-registered), $25 at the door

For more information call 949-861-3400

The Santa Monica Pier, which calls itself the western end of Route 66, will get its kicks when the Radio City Rockettes make an appearance on Aug. 12.

It's a charity event, "Kicking Across America," in which the high-stepping dancers invite members of the public to join the line. It will benefit after-school programs in the LA area.

The Rockettes' "Christmas Spectacular" will be at Honda Center in Orange County Dec. 6-7 and at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE Dec. 9-12.

To find out more, visit http://www.kickingacrossamerica.com/