Monthly Archives: March 2018

Top Eats at Knott’s Boysenberry Festival!

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Top Eats at Knott’s Boysenberry Festival!

By Erin

*We were invited as media to come check out this year’s Boysenberry Festival, all thoughts and opinions remain my own!*

It’s that time again! The tastiest time of the year at Knott’s! The Boysenberry Festival is an annual food-inspired event that celebrates the park’s historic roots by highlighting the little berry that started it all, the boysenberry. This year’s festival will feature over 75 new and returning boysenberry-inspired creations crafted by the Knott’s culinary team. Guests can indulge in a tantalizing lineup of dishes ranging from savory foods with a boysenberry twist to refreshingly sweet and tangy drinks and one-of-a-kind specialty desserts that can only be found at Knott’s Berry Farm during this time of year. In addition to the tasty treats, the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival offers a wide-selection of daily entertainment, live music and fun activities for everyone to enjoy. This year’s festival runs daily through April 8th. You will have a berry good time enjoying all the berry delights!

 

The historic boysenberry is a cross between a loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry and is named after its originator Rudolf Boysen. The Knott family was the first to successfully harvest and sell the boysenberry on the land that is now known as Knott’s Berry Farm. Some of the tastiest and most unique food items are rolled out exclusively during the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival.

One of the BEST ways to enjoy the festival is to purchase one of these delicious tasting cards. This will allow you to  indulge in a variety of new and returning food items during the festival by purchasing a tasting card priced at $30 which offers 8 of the new food options per card. Guests can select any 8 items of their choice. Returning and other signature boysenberry items will be available for purchase a la carte. Tasting cards are available at Knotts.com or in the theme park.

Slow Cooked Boysenberry Short Rib

The slow cooked boysenberry short ribs are first on the tasting card. Juicy meat is smothered in boysenberry hoisin sauce served over butter basmati rice and complete with chopped green onions will leave you wanting more!

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A Wrinkle in Time

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A Wrinkle in Time

By Erin

 A Wrinkle in Time has now tessered into theaters! Get ready for an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic which takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light and, ultimately, the triumph of love. Through one girl’s transformative journey led by three celestial guides, we discover that strength comes from embracing one’s individuality and that the best way to triumph over fear is to travel by one’s own light. This is a movie for kids and anyone who was a kid and is a kid at heart!

Reese Witherspoon is Mrs. Whatsit and Storm Reid is Meg Murry in Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME.

Meg Murry is a typical middle school student struggling with issues of self-worth who just wants to fit in. The daughter of two world-renowned physicists, she is intelligent and uniquely gifted, as is Meg’s younger brother, Charles Wallace, but she has yet to realize it for herself. Complicating matters is the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Murry, which has left Meg devastated and her mother broken-hearted. Charles Wallace introduces Meg and her fellow classmate Calvin to three celestial beings (Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who) who have journeyed to Earth to help search for their father, and together they embark on their formidable quest. Traveling via a wrinkling of time and space known as tessering, they are transported to worlds beyond their imagination where they must confront a powerful evil force. To make it back home to Earth, Meg must face the darkness within herself in order to harness the strength necessary to defeat the darkness rapidly enveloping the Universe.

Storm Reid is Meg Murry and Levi Miller is Calvin O’Keefe in Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME, an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timless classic directed by Ava DuVernay.

A Wrinkle in Time, at its core, is about family, love and emotion. One thing you will notice right away is the gorgeous scenery and breathtaking detail in the costumes and everything else that comes across the screen. The complex journey is captured through musical themes that bridge the gap between fantasy and drama. Ramin Djawadi’s score for the film was recorded in Los Angeles with a 71-piece orchestra, 29-person choir and 24-member children’s choir. The score has a variety of instrumentation from various cultures around the world such as the Indian tabla and hammered dulcimer.

Madeleine L’Engle’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time has been inspiring readers of all ages since 1962. Now, Ava DuVernay’s imaginative new adaptation is sure to create legions of new fans and something epic and meaningful to last for years to come. Meg Murry is an imperfect girl who takes us on a fantastic journey, not to become perfect, but to learn to embrace her flaws, which is a great lesson for us all. Through this journey we reflect on the big themes in life that we all share, regardless of where we’re from, what we look like and what we believe. We all know that love and hate, light and darkness, the themes of our very humanity, are something that we each struggle with. It is something we all share, the human struggle…and the human triumph.

Oprah Winfrey is Mrs. Which, Reese Witherspoon is Mrs. Whatsit and Mindy Kaling is Mrs. Who in Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME.

Oprah Winfrey stars as Mrs. Which, the oldest and most knowledgeable of the three Mrs.’s. Along with Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), they are self-proclaimed warriors who strive to protect all that is good and bright in the universe and have dedicated themselves to helping Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin in their search for Mr. Murry.

Oprah Winfrey is Mrs. Which in Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME.

A Wrinkle in Time is a movie where bravery, love and believing in yourself can save the universe. Read more about the film and what the cast had to share about being a light and ray of hope in a world filled with darkness here. Then start tessering and head to the theater to see this beloved classic!

Like A WRINKLE IN TIME on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrinkleInTimeMovie/

Follow A WRINKLE IN TIME on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WrinkleinTime

Follow A WRINKLE IN TIME on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wrinkleintime/

Visit the official A WRINKLE IN TIME website here: http://movies.disney.com/a-wrinkle-in-time

A WRINKLE IN TIME is tessering into theatres now! 😉

A Wrinkle in Time: Meet the Cast!

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A Wrinkle in Time: Meet the Cast!

By Erin

*We attended a screening/press conference as a guest of Disney*

I am beyond thrilled to see one of my all time favorite books turned into a magical adventure on the big screen. What makes it even more special is the cast! Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon? Both amazing women I’ve looked up to since I was a little girl. Then you add in an incredible visionary director, Ava DuVernay who is from my home town of Long Beach, California. You can bet I am more than excited to see this film come to life. Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” is an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic that takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light, good versus evil and, ultimately, the triumph of love. Through one girl’s transformative journey led by three celestial guides, we discover that strength comes from embracing one’s individuality and that the best way to triumph over fear is to travel by one’s own light. A Wrinkle in Time comes out in theaters on Friday, March 9th.

I had the pleasure to meet the cast a couple weeks ago at the press conference in Holllywood, California. Here is what they had to share with us about the film, it was full of magic.

The talent in attendance was:
  •  Oprah Winfrey (“Mrs. Which”)
  •  Reese Witherspoon (“Mrs. Whatsit”)
  •  Mindy Kaling (“Mrs. Who”)
  •  Storm Reid (“Meg Murry”)
  • Chris Pine (“Dr. Alex Murry”)
  • Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Dr. Kate Murry”)
  •  Zach Galifianakis (“The Happy Medium”)
  •  Rowan Blanchard (“Veronica”)
  •  Levi Miller (“Calvin”)
  •  Deric McCabe (“Charles Wallace Murry”)
  •  Director Ava DuVernay
  • Jennifer Lee (Screenplay by)

For all of the Wrinkle in Time loyalists from the 1960s, what is the greatest shift that you made to adapt it to 2018?

JENNIFER LEE: I think we talked a lot about what makes Wrinkle so amazing and has resonated for decades and decades is because there is a timeless quality to the themes she’s dealing with. But we did look a lot at what are those themes today, what do they mean today? And how do you stay true to that, but re-interpret them in a way that we all say this is our world? This is what we understand. So we just had a lot of conversations about what we were inspired by and then what that meant to us growing up and to children now and to the world now.

Love is a huge through-line in this movie. They are a modern family, an interracial couple, a beautiful 2018 family. Chris, what was it like for you playing a scientist in this very complex story about wanting to move the narrative forward as a culture but the culture’s not ready for it?

CHRIS PINE: Well, I had so much fun with this guy, Dr. Alexander. He is so cool. This book, Jazz of Physics, I love jazz and I love John Coltrane. He opens the book talking about the music of the universe and how music and John Coltrane and physics and stars are one of the same thing and I just fell in love with this guy. I could talk to him for hours. The poor guy was having emails all the time asking him the dumbest things of all time. Something he said that I thought was really interesting and this may be part of the movie or not, but he was talking about how in what he’s doing now, it’s like we are all part of the same thing and in his studies, in his academic studies, he not only studies physics but he studies music, and then he studies painting, it’s like this incredible hive of a bursting mind. So I think that’s what I really enjoyed about this character is that his brain is hungry and searching and explorative. Obviously that ambition to do great things propels him forward to do some wonderful things scientifically, but unfortunately that kind of shadow side of him, ambition, it disconnects from what is most important in his life and what requires his daughter to reintroduce him to, which is the spirit and the beauty and regenerative quality of being next to human beings, touching and feeling and holding and kissing. All those things that make us human.

Ava Duvernay was asked how she felt about how the film turned out.

AVA DUVERNAY:  I feel like I tried and gave everything I had to a film again. So if that’s the it, then yes. There’s love in every frame of this movie and there’s love in every frame of everything that I do. I don’t have children. I won’t have children by choice. These films are my children, are what I leave behind. They have my name on them, have my blood in them. And so I feel I did that. And from there, you offer it up to the world and you hope that they can see our intention. But this was an extraordinary experience for me. It’s emotional to sit here with all of them because we really held hands on this and became a family, trying to just give a little bit of sweetness to the world in these dark times. It’s a tough time right now. This film really saved me in a lot of ways from kind of going down dark holes and kept me in a really light-filled place so I’m grateful for the past few years working on A Wrinkle in Time.

Oprah was told that her role was absolutely perfectly tailored to her, Mrs. Which. It’s like art imitating life. Did you feel that when you were playing the character?

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, I actually did. No, you all have heard me say this before and it’s so true. Ava and I are talking on the phone and when she went to New Zealand and posted pictures of scouting for New Zealand, I had been in New Zealand the year before, in Auckland and did not get to the South Island. I had wanted to do that. And so wanted to do that. Everybody says, you didn’t get to the South Island, you haven’t really seen New Zealand. So when I heard that she was going to be filming in New Zealand, I said, I’m going. I’m going. I’m just gonna go. She goes, what do you mean, go? I go, I’m just gonna go hang out with you for however long it takes, I’m gonna block it on my schedule, I’m gonna be there, I’m gonna watch you shoot and say action. Do that, and you know, because I can.  Ava said, well if you’re serious about that, you’d actually come to New Zealand? I go, for sure I’m gonna be there. And she said well, why not take a look at the script? I’ve been wanting to ask you to do this, but I didn’t want to pressure you because of our friendship. I go, okay, I’ll do it. I didn’t even know what it was. I’ll do it.

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