The first time we see Jackie Robinson in the biopic "42," he's in silhouette, crouched like a tiger, leading off about 10 feet from first base at a Negro League night game. The pitcher winds up, throws one over the plate, and Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) breaks into a loping sprint.

Maru Sushi & Grill opened in its new East Lansing location this week. This is the third restaurant for owner/operator Robert Song's 4-year-old enterprise, following Maru's expansion in Grand Rapids last summer and the original restaurant in Okemos. At 2,800 square feet and with a seating capacity of 86, it's also the largest.

In 1993, Canadian pop rockers Barenaked Ladies released their signature song, "If I Had $1000000 Dollars," which included the cute (but bizarre) segment: "If I had a million dollars/we wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinners/But we WOULD eat Kraft dinners, we'd just eat more …" In concert, this prompts audience members to hurl packages of macaroni and cheese at the stage, but crowd antics this sentimental contain a truism for a generation raised on boxed meals.

The two best things about Steven Spielberg's 2002 film, "Catch Me If You Can," featuring a slippery counterfeiter and his relentless pursuer, were the Saul Bass-inspired opening credits and Tom Hanks' R-rated knock-knock joke. Guess what — neither of them made it into the musical adaptation, playing this week at the Wharton Center.

A post-ironic pop-punk opera about the futility of rebellion, "American Idiot" is challenging. It's exciting. It's inciting. It's triumphant.

After last year's particularly nasty presidential campaign, Lansing voters got about a two-month reprieve before being thrust back into the heart of another election season. Sorry about that, but also, you're welcome.

It's not always about who won or lost, but who got the most votes. Not so fast — winning and getting the most votes are not necessarily the same thing, smart guy. At least not in the new Top of the Town two-round voting system.

Old Town's going old school in a few weeks when the Old Town General Store gets up and running. Owner/operator Maria Van Atta will soon launch her debut solo enterprise next to Preuss Pets, near the corner of Grand River Avenue and Cedar Street.

Nazis are easy narrative villains — the systematic slaughter of 11 million people really puts them in their own class of evil. Consequently, in literature and film, it's a bold move to depict them as anything less than cold-blooded monsters.

The "gateway to East Lansing" is getting a little more welcoming this week with the opening of Jonna's 2 Go, the western-most location for a series of southeast Michigan-based convenience stores.