I suppose there have been flimsier inspirations for movies than Rampage, the 1980s arcade game that has players assume the forms of giant monsters who try to demolish entire cities before the military demolishes them. Inspirations such as, say, the Strawberry Shortcake doll, or My Little Pony. But I'll be damned if I could think of any examples while being pummeled by the thunderous stupidity and terrible jokes of the new action blockbuster Rampage, a work that somehow makes its director Brad Peyton's previous Dwayne Johnson adventure San Andreas look like the magazine-cover subject for Cahiers du Cinéma.

I’ve read, watched, and heard a whole lot of commentary about the upcoming state-budget negotiations during the past few weeks and it pretty much all ignores recent history and focuses instead on one-sided claims of pending controversy.

On April 20 and 21, Ballet Quad Cities leaps, taps, spins, and pliés into spring with the dance vignettes of Defining Dance: Distrinctly Ballet Quad Cities, two evenings of mixed repertoire at Moline's new Spotlight Theatre (located in the Scottish Rite Cathedral) featuring brand-new pieces and audience favorites by choreographers Margaret King, Emily Kate Long, and the company's Artistic Director Courtney Lyon.

Winner of five Grammy Awards and three citations as Bass Player magazine's “Bass Player of the Year,” jazz-fusion and funk-rock artist Victor Wooten headlines a special Redstone Room concert co-presented by the River Music Experience and Polyrhythms, his April 25 engagement demonstrating why Wooten made the lineup in Rolling Stone's 2011 survey of the “Top 10 Bassists of All Time.”

Cited by Rolling Stone as among the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know,” the Farewell Angelina quartet performs an April 21 concert at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center, its sound described by Roughstock.com as “stunning,” and its musicians, according to TasteOfCountry.com, a “super-group of über-talented female musicians, songwriters, and vocalists.”

With AllMusic.com calling him “a singer/songwriter with a robust, full-throated wail and knack for pairing Stones-ian hooks and Dylan-esque wordplay,” pop, Americana, and alt-country musician Kyle Craft appears as the Moeller Nights headliner on April 24, his signature sound described by Rolling Stone as a “poetic gumbo of Southern roots, electric folk, and preening glam rock.”

Appearing in an April 22 stop on the band's international “Good News Tour,” Rend Collective will fill Rock Island's Heritage Church with contemporary-Christian celebration via Northern Ireland, its gifted Celtic musicians praised by TheChristianBeat.org for their “shouts of energetic praise and moments of bittersweet thought,” as well as a repertoire in which “captivating sounds meet comforting lyrics.”

To download a PDF of the puzzle, click here.

Friday, April 6, 10:05 a.m.-ish: Call me an optimist, or maybe just a nitwit, but I was really looking forward to starting my day with Blockers, director Kay Cannon's tale of three middle-aged parents who attempt to foil their daughters' prom-night plan to lose their collective virginity. Sure, its central conceit, as several characters here point out, was sexist, retrograde, and more than a little icky, and there was bound to be an awkward blend of slapstick and sentiment, and the previews' comedic highlight was the sight of John Cena chugging beer through his anus. Still, though: Potential belly laughs! Likable leads! John Cena chugging beer through his anus!