entering natick sign

entering natick sign

Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

  • Subscribe to daily email
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Summer Camp
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Redhawks sports schedule & results
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Events
  • Kids
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Top 10 things to do
  • The Swellesley Report
  • Beyond Natick
  • History
  • Government
  • Seniors
  • Support independent journalism
  • Natick Nest articles
  • Fire & police scanner
  • Town Election 2023


Natick Drama Workshop’s ‘Twinderella the Musical’: Nov 5-6

November 1, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

natick drama workshop

The plot: Did you know that Cinderella has a long lost twin brother named Bob living in the same kingdom with his own wicked stepfamily? The separated siblings have enlisted the services of the Fairy Godmother, the Godfather and two enchanted gerbils to help wile their way into the exclusive royal festivities of Wychwood-under-Ooze. Bob has his sights set on Prince Percy’s all-kingdom baseball game, while Cinderella eyes the birthday gala for Princess Petunia. When the two strangers disappear at midnight after Cinderella hits a game-winning home run, the search is on to find the feet that fit the glass slipper and the muddy cleat.


  • Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email
  • Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com
  • Support our independent journalism venture

Filed Under: Entertainment, Kids, Theater

Advertisements





Bon appétit! Julia Child to meet the South Natick Dam at HBO filming

October 31, 2022 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

The town is being asked by an HBO Warner film crew to shoot at the South Natick Dam. It’s like the setting’s iconic or something.

They’re shooting the series Julia, which was filmed partially in Wellesley last year, including at the E.A. Davis store. The show, in season 2, is about the famous chef Julia Child.

The request is to set up on Nov. 15 and film on Wednesday, Nov. 16 between 9am-3pm. They’d be looking to close off Mill Street between Eliot and Pleasant Streets for parts of each day.

The Select Board is slated to take up the matter at its Nov. 2 meeting.

More: Bursting with anticipation over Natick’s dam decision? Binge on these dam disaster flicks

How to list your Natick property for movie shoots


How to advertise on Natick Report

Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Entertainment



Retik’s Cube: Natick teen organizes local speedcubing event

October 27, 2022 by Bob Brown 3 Comments

Natick this Saturday, Oct. 29 will play host to Naticube 2022, a possibly first-of-its kind local gathering of quick-handed and quick-minded devotees of the Rubik’s Cube and other such combination puzzles. Speedcubers from the region will flock to Natick Elks Lodge #1425 for this event, the brainchild of a Natick High School sophomore and his puzzle-loving friends.

Due to capacity limitations, players can have one guest each, but other spectators aren’t allowed.

Event organizer Caleb Retik has come a long way in a short time on the speedcubing circuit, which rewards those who can solve these puzzles the fastest—and we’re talking in seconds, not days… or weeks…or…

retik cube

The 15-year-old Retik has been cubing on and off for a year-plus, and competitively over the last six months. He specializes in the classic 3×3 cube, and solving it left handed (even though he is right-hand dominant). Note that not all such puzzles are cubes—Retik cites the pyraminx, which is a tetrahedron.

“I was introduced to the cube in camp. At first I thought it was too hard, but I was interested in learning the algorithms from a very patient counselor.  Since then I’ve become much better than him and practice daily.  Watching my own improvement has been a lot of fun.  Speed comes with a lot of practice,” says Retik, now the owner of more than 20 cubes (his favorite: the Tornado V3M).

The student now ranks #16,000 out of about 160,000 players on the World Cube Association site. The best speedcubers solve the 3×3 cube in under 6 seconds; Retik has his time down to about 13 seconds.

Watching YouTube videos, getting high quality cubes, and practicing daily have been his secrets to success.

Retik’s mom, Ava Kleinmann, acknowledges she doesn’t know how to solve a Rubik’s Cube “or any other kind of cube,” but has enjoyed watching her son’s progress, and is proud of his work with others to arrange this weekend’s event.

“Caleb has learned all sorts of algorithms and if I look away for a moment I miss the entire solve,” she says. “I’d like to think that years of compulsory piano lessons played a role in his dexterity, but he’ll never admit to it.”

Kleinmann explains that the cubes used in competitions are generally stickerless (that was always a bummer when your Rubik’s stickers would disappear) and have varying degrees of technology, including special magnets and springs.  Oil is used to make the turns smoother and faster “since every fraction of a second counts,” she says.

“Up until a couple of years ago I thought cubing meant multiplying the same number three times (eg, 3x3x3 = 27), but I’ve learned that cubing, and speedcubing in particular, has evolved a ton since I first saw (and strictly avoided!) a Rubik’s Cube in the 1980s,” she says.

A local speedcubing event is born

Retik attended his first World Cube Association competition this past spring.

“I volunteered with scrambling [cubes] and timing various events at other competitions and enjoyed these roles in addition to competing,” he says. “I was traveling up to two hours for competitions and thought it would be fun and more convenient to have an event closer to home. So I arranged for a competition right here in Natick with some other MA speedcubers (Levi Gibson, Elijah Rain Phelps, Nico Bezzerides).”

The Natick event will feature 100 speedcubers. The roster filled within 5 minutes of registration opening, and there’s a waitlist of dozens more. “So I guess there was a desire for this kind of event in Natick,” Retik says.

Naticube will include 7 events,  including 3×3, 3×3 one handed, 4×4, 2×2, square one, clock, and 3×3 blindfolded. Yeah, there’s lingo.

Retik competes about once a month as his schedule allows, and he says the events are fun and relaxed. Players are supportive of each other. “I often see the same people at the competitions and have made some good friends that way. All ages participate both as competitors and as part of the timing/judging process. I enjoy being around people who share this very niche interest,” he says.

Will a home court advantage result in a personal record for Retik come Saturday? We’ll see.

“It’s fun to impress adults who were (and continue to be) intimidated by the Rubik’s Cube,” he says.

Consider me intimidated—and impressed.

retik cube


  • Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email
  • Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com
  • Support our independent journalism venture

Filed Under: Education, Entertainment

Natick Center scarecrows are doing their job

October 20, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Morse Institute Library supplied the scarecrow starter kits. Families and kids put together their own creations at home and brought their completed projects to a family scarecrow stroll last week. The stylish sentries currently grace the front lawn of the W. Central St. library as more than just spirited autumnal decorations. We haven’t seen a single crow in Natick Center ever since the new guards have been put to work.

Here are some pics:

Natick Halloween

Natick Halloween

Natick Halloween

Natick Halloween

Natick Halloween

________________________________________________________________________________________

Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email.

Filed Under: Art, Community, Entertainment, Kids, Morse Institute Library

Bursting with anticipation over Natick’s dam decision? Binge on these dam disaster flicks

October 18, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick’s decision on whether to repair or remove the Charles River dam/spillway is nearing, with liability, environmental, liability, cultural, and liability issues all being weighed by the town. The Select Board meets on Wednesday, Oct. 19, with Charles River Dam Deliberation on the agenda sometime after 7pm.

If you’re not already in the mood for this closely followed decision, and our Dam Decision Song Playlist didn’t do it for you, perhaps a smattering of Hollywood and beyond’s most dramatic dam destruction scenes will get your juices flowing. Some of these videos hit way too close to home for those of us who are river neighbors.

We start with The Rock, battling one calamity after another to save and reunite his family in 2015’s San Andreas, where an earthquake has serious repercussions. When The Rock’s involved, it’s always go big or go home, so in this case we’re looking at the Hoover Dam’s demise, with Paul Giamatti’s Dr. Hayes shouting “Everybody get off the dam!”

Like the Golden Gate Bridge and Statue of Liberty, the Hoover Dam takes a beating in movies. with a near miss at the end of this clip from 1957’s The Amazing Colossal Man. And to think, we’re quaking over that grove of pine trees atop the earthen dam in South Natick!

As 1997’s Dante’s Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton, erupting volcanoes and nearby dams are not a good combination.

 

The word “dam” doesn’t show up in a ton of movie titles (nor “spillway”), but it does in 2011’s Dam 999, a sci-fi disaster movie based on a documentary about the Banquia dam disaster of 1975 that immediately killed tens of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands in the aftermath.

Not sure if anyone locally has been secretly building an ark, but as the 2007 film Evan Almighty shows, it’s just the thing to have if the dam blows. “Holy…get everyone on the ark now!” Steve Carell goes all Noah on us, as Morgan Freeman plays who else, but God.

In Nazi chase film Force 10 from Navarone, an elite American unit blows holes in a dam, and the flooding begins. Carl Weathers and others star. Let’s hope Natick takes a more nuanced approach if it decides to breach the dam.

You know the 1976 disaster flick Flood! isn’t going to end well, with that exclamation point in the title. Watch out Brownsville, as “a million tons of unleashed fury” are heading your way.

Speaking of disaster movies, yeah, the Mulholland Dam gets it in 1974’s Earthquake.

The rebels use more than arrows to take out the dam in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1. Everyone gets soaked.

 

If Natick does decided to take remove the dam and spillway, we hope the town administrator has Knight Rider’s or Superman’s number on speed dial. Superman didn’t save the Hoover Dam from imploding in 1978’s Superman, but he did save the day.

South Natick, South Park, whatever. Yeah, Cartman wrecks a dam.


  • Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email
  • Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Entertainment, Environment

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 21
  • Next Page »

Tip us off!

Please send news tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

If you’d like to contribute $ to support our independent journalism venture, please do….

Advertisements

Categories

  • Animals
  • Art
  • Bacon Free Library
  • Beyond Natick
  • Books
  • Boston Marathon
  • Business
  • Camps
  • Charity/Fundraising
  • Charles River dam
  • Community
  • Construction
  • COVID-19
  • Education
  • Election
  • Embracing diversity
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Fashion
  • Firefighters
  • Food
  • Gardens
  • Government
  • Health
  • History
  • Holidays
  • Kids
  • Letters to the editor
  • Media
  • Military
  • Morse Institute Library
  • Music
  • Natick Election 2022
  • Natick Historical Society
  • Natick History Museum
  • Natick Nest
  • Natick track
  • Neighbors
  • Obituaries & remembrances
  • Opinion
  • Outdoors
  • Parents
  • Police & crime
  • Real estate
  • Recycling Center
  • Religion
  • Restaurants
  • Schools
  • Seniors
  • Shopping
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Theater
  • Town election 2021
  • Town Election 2023
  • Transportation
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Vacation
  • Veterans
  • Volunteering
  • Voting
  • Weather
lion publishers
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Get our email newsletter

* indicates required
Our newsletter is free, though we gladly accept contributions to support our work.

Most Read Posts

  • One high school student’s push to save Natick ballroom hidden in plain sight
  • Natick business buzz: Mr. Nice Dog coming to Rte. 9; Dairy Queen is back; The Hive readies to reveal
  • Natick Select Board gives affordable housing plan nod at 5 Auburn
  • Sign up now for summer camp in Natick (and beyond)
  • 5 Auburn St. is back on Natick Select Board agenda

Click image to read The Swellesley Report

The Swellesley Report

Upcoming Events

  • There are no upcoming events.

Pages

  • Letters to the editor on Natick Report
  • Guidelines for Natick Report letters to the editor
  • Natick election 2023—guidelines for promoting candidates and ballot questions
  • Natick’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners
  • Natick, Massachusetts libraries
  • Comment Policy
  • Bacon Free Library in Natick, hours for winter 2023
  • Morse Institute Library in Natick—hours for winter 2023
  • Resources for seniors in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick Report corrections policy
  • Scenic Roads in Natick
  • Where to stay in Natick, Mass. (hotels, inns)
  • Private Schools in Natick (and beyond)
  • Natick Summer Camps (and beyond)
  • Where to eat in Natick, Mass: more that 70 dining options
  • Natick, Mass., history
  • Natick government
  • Natick No-Nos
  • Embracing diversity in Natick
  • Where to worship in Natick
  • Kid stuff (sports, clubs, activities in Natick, Mass.)
  • Contribute to Natick Report
  • Natick Little Free Libraries
  • Natick public schools
  • Where to sled in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick COVID-19 & vaccine news
  • Natick’s zip code & post offices
  • Natick charitable and community action groups
  • Top 10 things to do in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick Arts/Entertainment
  • About Natick Report
  • Advertise on Natick Report
  • Natick rules: Chickens yes, roosters no
  • Natick Election 2023, political candidates advertising
  • Natick election 2022—candidate interviews

© 2023 Natick Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login