Start the school year off right, and impress your friends by learning how to draw anime and manga, (the Japanese word for comics). Try your hand at these two, awesome Japanese illustration styles with a free class—the Worlds of Imagination Manga Drawing Workshop—presented by Briget Wilde on Sunday, August 21, from 2-3 p.m., at the Murphy-Wilmot Library (530 N. Wilmot Road). While the class is free, space is limited, so call 594-5420 to register.

The idea of the T-800 trying to reach out to the mother of the savior of our future post-apocalyptic world via Twitter is a funny one, but if you're going to go the trouble of setting up a novelty feed, it might help to spell Sarah Connor's last name correctly.

Related:

For all you bird enthusiasts out there who complained, "There aren't enough bird events in Tucson," fret no more. Join The Wild Bird Store for the grand opening of their new location on August 20 and 21 from 9-6 p.m. And celebrate the store's 30 year anniversary of birding business. Event highlights include a book signing with Rick Taylor, author of Birds of Southeastern Arizona and Trogans of the Arizona Borderlands, a meet and greet with educational birds like Elf owls (cuties!) and hummingbirds, and an art exhibit with some of Tucson's best bird artists. Door prizes include a hummingbird feeder and a backyard bird camera (score!) The new store's located at 3160 E. Fort Lowell Road. For more information, call The Wild Bird Store at 322-9466, or visit their website. Admission is free.

One woman's attempt to steal some bacon to buy more lager gets her in The Sun and an unfortunate title:

A SHOPLIFTING mum downs up to 28 pints of lager in a single day, a court heard.

Dawn Marsden, 31, drinks so much she should be dead, experts said.

She was wrecked as she appeared on a theft charge and had to ask reporters later what her sentence was.

Jobless Marsden spends all day drinking cheap lager at home in Hartlepool, Teesside, and steals to fund her habit. The charge related to ten packs of bacon stolen from a Co-op and sold for £1 each.

Her solicitor John Relton told the town's magistrates: "You may have noticed my client has a drink problem. She will drink up to 16 litres a day. She has a long-standing appetite for alcohol."

Her two-year-old daughter was taken into foster care because of her boozing, the court heard. Marsden, who has a string of previous convictions for theft, admitted the new charge and was handed a six-month conditional discharge.

She then turned to a reporter to check the sentence, before branding it a "sham" and walking out.

Watch out, this could end up being a reality competition shortly. A sad one, with a lot of vomiting, but that hasn't stopped TV networks before.

I fall into the camp of really admiring artist/provocateur Banksy, especially after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop, so I'm obviously in the target audience for The Antics Roadshow, a documentary about pranksters varying from the political motivated to the simply bored which aired on England's Channel 4 this weekend, but I would imagine someone else would be amused by watching at least the first segment when someone attempts to re-create Mario Kart in the real world.

In typical Banksy form, he's somewhat dismissive of his own creation:

Explaining his reasoning behind the show, Banksy said: ‘Basically I just thought it was a good name for a TV programme and I’ve been working back from there’.

The first segment of four is above, the following three are below the cut (as long as they last on YouTube, at least).

If you're dying for a little 1940s Andrews-Sisters-style crooning, see the Manhattan Dolls at the Gaslight Theatre today at 3 p.m. or 7 p.m.

More from the Gaslight's website:

The Manhattan Dolls are a New York City based 1940s swing-style female vocal trio with the sound of The Andrews Sisters. Started by former USO Girl and Gaslight favorite, Heather Stricker-Dispensa, The Dolls travel the world performing for military events, air shows, award ceremonies, parades, jazz clubs, concert series, you name it! They have been featured on BBC Radio London as well as several television appearances, most recently on The Tucson Morning Blend and LX 4 New York. They have the pleasure of performing with famous bands including The Jive Aces, The Royal Air Force Academy Band and The Stan Rubin Orchestra. The Manhattan Dolls are available for private bookings and are constantly touring the US and abroad. Keep up with them on their website at www.themanhattandolls.com and on their Facebook fan page!

For tickets, call (520) 886-9428.

• Somebody littered in my driveway!

A note to the publishers of the Yellowbook phone directory. Chucking things in people's yards without their permission is called littering. Throwing this phone directory in my driveway is littering. Got it? Thank you.

It's Monday and I was subjected to listening to the Eagles while buying a soda this morning. The only remedy? George Clinton (with a mohawk and a purple leotard of some sort) and the Parliaments on a Chicago TV show circa 1969.

[Dangerous Minds]

I can’t think of a better way to start a Monday than meat and mini-bars, so let’s get to it.

Mr. K’s Barbeque on the corner of River Road and Stone Avenue opens today, and reports from the soft opening — which raised more than $2,200 for the Tucson Fire Foundation and the UA School of Pharmacy — indicate good things.

The main gist of it is that the barbeque is killer. I believe it. Steve Sargent, a partner in the business and a native of Texas, brings plenty of barbeque experience to the restaurant, and he's using family recipes from Charles “Mr. K” Kendrick. Add to that the massive restaurant knowledge of John Foster — of Mays Counter and other local eateries - and you have a recipe for barbeque success.

Foster told us a while back he would debut a new mini-bar concept at the restaurant that sounded interesting. He said there will be an enormous selection of those little airplane liquor bottles to choose from, and customers add their own mixer. It was such a novel idea that it even had members of the state liquor board scratching their heads, but it got the o.k. anyway.

You can check out some pictures from the soft opening here.

Are you sick of traditional amusement parks with their tolerance for diverse ideas and attempts to entertain you? You'll have to wait until 2014, but soon you'll be able to take your family to Kentucky to see a "full-size replica of Noah's Ark", a petting zoo and some other stuff. Even better? A lot of it will be financed through government tax breaks!:

The city of Williamstown in Grant County has agreed to give a biblically themed amusement park a property tax discount of 75 percent over the next 30 years.

Mayor Rick Skinner said the offer is laid out in a memorandum of agreement that will be followed by a formal tax-increment financing deal with Petersburg-based Ark Encounters LLC in coming months.

The tax deal is in addition to almost $200,000 given to the company by Grant County's economic development arm as an enticement to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.

And that's not counting the state's promise of $40 million worth of sales tax rebates and a possible $11 million in improvements to the interstate near the project that would be financed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

Officials say the theme park, which will feature a full-size replica of Noah's Ark, is generally supported in Grant County, but the array of state and local incentives worry some people, who aren't sure they will pay off in the end.