Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 44

FRIDAY Jan. 14, GREAT STUFF FOR FAMILIES Starting today, Roberta Jasina, left, of WWJ-AM (950) begins a weekly offering of family fun hints in the Free Press Weekend section. To read all about a monster hot rod show this weekend, go to pace ioe. i ICELLEY L. CARTER Hipsters buzzing about Oslo 0 Movie scoreboard 2 mm Music 7 Events 9 Attractions 10 Restaurants 11 ON THE WEB www.freep.com So if you're like most of us you want to party for a good cause tonight in light of the arrival of the i mjmjjii phone 313-222-5977 Section tfe 1 1 I 1 1 1 -fj i i ill.

North American International Auto Show Charity Preview, but you're not quite sure if forking over a rent payment makes sense there's a $10 option that goes toward one heck of a cause. Clear, a local but internationally distributed fashion and design magazine, is throwing an after-preview party at one of my new favorite spots in downtown Detroit: Oslo. The sushi bar and nightspot's slim exterior might lead you to blink and miss it it's on Woodward not far south of Comerica Park but it's one of the best things to hit downtown since that first Starbucks. The sushi is good, and in the dimly lit and moody establishment, you'll find the staples of the Detroit hip-hop, rock, techno and scenes sipping creative martini concoctions the secret is the fresh juice and snapping edamame until the wee hours. (On weekends, Oslo stays open until 4 a.m.) Even SAMUEL JACKSON ctabc ac Rinifrraaii wwrwii lUpii vftii imm I i FRANK OKENFELS Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell star in "Battlestar Galactica." 4 4 A darker 'II I til til I 'itjkl dut f.

1 though it's been open only nine months, the chatter about it has reached the right people. Because of Oslo's low-key profile, it's anyone's guess about how many folks will come out for tonight's event. But because Clear is hosting a first-ever MORE AUTO SHOW COVERAGE: All the info you need to go, including a map, pace 3C Why is silver all over the auto show and your life? PACE 1C Model Veronica Webb's new fashion TV show films at The Free Press' massive guide to the auto show, www.i-reep. comindex 2005avtoshow Live coverage of the charity preview, IN SATURDAY'S FREE PRESS 'Battlestai' Galactica' Cheesy sci-fi series from the 70s gets an edgy makeover By MIKE DUFFY FREE PRESS TV CRITIC runway fashion -17 1 Space its a very scary place in "Battlestar Galactica." Especially if you're part of that increasingly endangered species known as humanity. In fact, the last surviving band of humans is desperately fleeing annihilation by an evil race of robots when a dark, stylish revival of the bloated 1970s science fiction series blasts off with a gripping two-hour series premiere at 9 tonight on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The new, improved "Battlestar Galactica" began its 1 24 I I II I I IX 1 i By TERRY LAVVSON FREE PRESS MOVIE CRITIC 'Battlestar Galactica' out of four stars 9 tonight Sci-Fi Channel entertaining life as a successful 2003 min-iseries and will air regularly at 10 p.m. Fridays starting next week. It's a more in i ike sinking a free throw, making an effective teen drama especially one involving sports is a lot tougher than it looks. 1 The filmmaker has to craft a story, create characters and conceive dialogue the tar- get audience will accept as authentic, and he or she also has to depict the action using 1 actors who are not necessarily athletes. Most daunting is the challenge of being inspira- tional or honest without resorting to the cliches endemic to the genre.

1 "Coach Carter" gets the job done better than most. Although it can be criticized for show at the charity preview at Cobo, some of the moneymak-ing (and money-having) folks may come afterward to rub shoulders at Oslo. The fashion show, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the auto show's Chrysler Stage, will feature about 70 outfits from the spring collections of Betsey Johnson, Iceberg, Cesare Pa-ciotti and Dolce Moda. ON ANY GIVEN WEEKEND, there could be 400 people packed into Oslo's slim main-level restaurant and trickling into the downstairs area, where DJs will be spinning electro, disco, funk or techno.

The next weekend, there might be 50 people. The beauty of Oslo's underground appeal is that it works fine either way. But tonight's event, which starts at 10, is special because the proceeds will be donated to tsunami relief efforts. "We wanted to be as inclusive as possible," says Brook Campbell, one of the owners of Oslo. "So we're splitting our donation between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and UNICEF.

We wanted to go with an umbrella organization." Oh, and don't worry about getting dressed up go black-tie or no tie. Just go and have a good time. Details: 10 tonight, 1456 Woodward, Detroit. 313-963-0300. Contact KELLEY L.

CARTER at 313-222-8854 or carterfreepress.com. I sticking a little too close to the "Hoosiers" playbook (to which nearly all teen sports 1 i movies owe a debt), it has the advantage of being based on fact like "Hoosiers" and the 1 i( recent "Friday Night Lights." uoacn barter is Dased on tne story oi a nortnern Laniornia nign school basketball team, the Richmond Oilers, whose undefeated season was unexpectedly interrupted when its coach, Ken Carter, shut down the program because some players failed to maintain the grades they had promised him. Carter's story made national news and saw him declared a hero by Rush Limbaugh because many of the students affected had met the 2.0 grade point average required by the state. Carter's higher standard (he demanded a 2.3 GPA) was meant to make it easier for his players to get into college with lower SAT scores, though the movie wisely doesn't spend a lot of time on the distinction. telligent and moodily intense space truckin' odyssey than the overwrought original.

That flashy special-effects cheese fest starred the onetime patriarch of the Ponderosa, Lome Greene of "Bonanza" fame, and also featured a silly robot dog. Sorry, no room for barking metallic canines in the lean, mean new "BSG" fighting machine. Now Edward James Olmos is in charge as fierce Commander Adama. He's boss of the last remaining battlestar, the only one not destroyed by the Cylons after they unleashed an apocalyptic sucker punch on humanity in the seventh millennium. Yep, way, way in the future.

And guess what? We finally have a female head of state, President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell, "Donnie the former secretary of education. Thrust into her new leadership gig after most of the civilian government was killed, President Roslin is the thoughtful liberal humanist to Please see 'BATTLESTAR', Page 4E and the screenwriters emphasize the old-fashioned idea v. that achievement, discipline and sell-respect are their own re- Pease see 'COACH', Page 4E bj4 Now that's a piaiio lesson In town for a DSO gig, superstar Lang Lang plays for the neighborhood kids Lang Lang, with a group of metro Detroit students, says, "Kids need to be inspired by musicians just like scientists or athletes. They need to see the possibilities of life." By MARK STRYKFR FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER in a Bloomfield Township living room was just as much fun (maybe more) and every bit as challenging. You try playing finger-busting Liszt and Chopin with dozens of elementary school kids swarming about the piano like bees at a hive, some even squished tightly underneath the instrument and others standing so close that their breath tickles the back of your neck.

Lang whose full name is pronounced Long Long performs this weekend with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, but he took a Please see LANG, Page 3E Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Neeme Jarvt, with pianist Lang Lang 8pm today and 8 30 m. Sat Orchestra Hall, Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward, Detroit $32 $112 Lang Lang will also perform at 3 p.m. Sun. as part of the DSO's Classical Conversations series.

For review of lan j'i pwfor-manct with the DSO, com back to Soturday'i Free Prm. I wasn't as prestigious or lucrative as playing a solo recital at Carnegie Hall. But for the 22-yoar-old Chinese pianist Lang Lang, th? hottest new star in classical mu sic, his unusual Wednesday night appearance SYLWIA KAPUSCINSKIOstrolt fm Praw.