Gutberlet believes in luck, sure. But she's also a believer in consistency.

"My husband and my son say I'm crazy," said Gutberlet, a Greenville resident. "Some people spend their money on drugs or alcohol. I come here."

Jeffrey Allen Edwards called bringing home the country music honor to Myrtle Beach from the awards in Raleigh, N.C., an honor.

"I can't say enough about the whole awards show itself," he said Tuesday. "The support that they showed for regional and local talent is just unmatched. It's really something that's needed."

Period - that is all.

Palmetto Pig made my day for various reasons, but I'll just mention three.

She and two fellow "mermaids" from Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Florida will perform synchronized ballet shows at noon, 2, 4 and 6 p.m. daily through Sunday in Ripley's Aquarium's Ray Bay, in Myrtle Beach. They will take turns diving two at a time, as one interacts with the audience, in a theatrical sample of their home shows.

"What I tell people when they ask me how long I can hold my breath is well over 2 minutes," Tooker said by phone last week from Weeki Wachee.

"We just got the masters back from our CD today," Death of Paris vocalist Jayna Doyle said during a phone interview last week from Columbia.

Doyle, along with guitarist Blake Arambula and bassist Jamie Beavers, formed Death of Paris after their previous band, This Machine Is Me, broke up last August. Death of Paris is now rounded out by drummer Hunter Thurston from Charlotte, N.C.

But even with its many action-packed attractions, there's only one place in Myrtle Beach where you can race cars, blow up tanks, kill zombies, win the Super Bowl and regularly participate in game tournaments.

"I just wanted to do something different," said Joe Lorenzo, owner of Forest's Game Bunker, a home theater and video game store located just off U.S. 501 and Forestbrook Road.

Bye Bye, Basement

Hey Myrtle Beach music lovers, it's time to head downtown and show some support for the local scene as The Basement at Crazy J's, 819 Main St., hosts its last show. That's right, the intimate little spot right in the heart of the Superblock is closing up shop and will be going out in style with a rockin' show featuring some of the venue's favorite bands including Sharklegs, The Wet Teens, Baboon Brigade, Wicked Gift, and Expose The Ghost. The upstairs portion of the bar will also be hosting a display of flyer art from the past 25 years. Cover is $6 at door and the show will begin at 8 p.m. Call 448-2467 or visit thebasementatcrazyjs.com.

2001 Entertainment Complex

920 Lake Arrowhead Road, Myrtle Beach, "Comedy Plus With Jeff Bradley" every Wednesday and Friday in The Starlight Room, 6:30 p.m. $18 for adults, $8 for kids. 449-9434.

APPLEWOOD PANCAKE HOUSE, 14361 Ocean Highway, Litchfield Beach. Seacoast Artist Guild Gallery open 6 a.m.-2 p.m. daily with work by area artists. All art for sale. 357-2626 or www.seacoastartistguild.com.

ART WORKS! local artists showcase, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday at Myrtle Beach's Valor Memorial Garden, off Farrow Parkway, by The Market Common. Presented by Studio B. Art Gallery and EastCoastPoet.com and including glass blowers, jewelers, painters and sculptors. Free. 385-2422 or e-mail studiob.bill@gmail.com.

"My Boys: The Complete Second & Third Season": One of the most under-appreciated actors on TV is Jordana Spiro, who plays PJ Franklin in this always funny cable series. Grade: B-plus

PJ and her "boys" (Michael Bunin, Jim Gaffigan, Reid Scott and Kyle Howard) are the best group of friends on TV since "Friends." Most of the plots revolve around PJ, who wants to be one of the guys but also find a man.

In a way, Phillip Noyce's film is the anti-"Inception": It's never dazzling, but it's never confusing, either. It's a Bourne movie minus the exotic locations and sickening handheld camera, and its head spy has way better lips than Matt Damon.

Give or take a double-cross or two, Noyce ("Catch a Fire," "The Quiet American") offers up a straightforward thriller, and anybody who prefers to watch movies without resorting to extensive cerebral gymnastics should enjoy the familiar ride, which comes with a swift pace and a solid cast.

Folding up a wad of tickets earned from playing Deal or No Deal near the front of the Garden City Pavilion Arcade in Garden City Beach, she had her grandmother, Denise Anderson of Florence, hopping to another game.

"I want to go to Skee-Ball," Sara said, referring to Anderson's favorite game.

The native of Hannah - about 35 miles west of Conway - said by phone from home last week in Tennessee that he's building a log cabin as a getaway for added creativity.

Returning to his home turf tonight for a concert at the Alabama Theatre in North Myrtle Beach, Turner laughed when making an unintentional pun with the name of his fourth album, released earlier this year by MCA Nashville.

2001 Entertainment Complex

920 Lake Arrowhead Road, Myrtle Beach, "Comedy Plus With Jeff Bradley" every Wednesday and Friday in The Starlight Room, 6:30 p.m. $18 for adults, $8 for kids. 449-9434.

Mud racin'

When many folks are packing U.S. 501 on their way into the beach for the weekend, you and your family can head out to Carolina Entertainment and Motorsports Complex, 1548 S. U.S. 501, Marion (two miles west of Sparky's) Saturday for Hill 'n' Hole Mud Racing. The action gets under way with gates opening at noon and racing beginning at 1 p.m. Call 431-9008 or visit entertaincarolina.com for more details.

"Narnia" opens Monday for a five-week run as part of the theater's Summer Series in the King's Suite Showroom, the smaller, more intimate room in the venue.

The director, Greg London, said another production hecoordinated and adapted, "Alice in Wonderland," closing today after five weeks, had more allure to a young-girl audience. So in search of a play with wider appeal, he was excited to have found a musical version of "Narnia," based on a C.S. Lewis book series about four children whose travels through a wardrobe lead them to help a lion reclaim his former kingdom.

CHLOE (Sony Pictures Classics, '10) 96 mins. A wife's ploy to test her husband's faithfulness by hiring an escort jeopardizes her family. With Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson. R

OUR FAMILY WEDDING (20th Century Fox, '10) 103 mins. Feuding fathers of a young couple try to squash their differences in time for the lovers' upcoming wedding. With America Ferrera, Lance Gross, Forest Whitaker, Carlos Mencia. PG-13

Sorcerer's Apprentice | Two and half stars. A master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trains a reluctant protege to help him defend the city from his arch-nemesis. Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, and Teresa Palmer. PG. Theaters: RT CC G14 C12 CM BR16

Despicable Me | Three Stars. A man in the middle of making plans to steal the moon is put in charge of three orphans and his plans are sidetracked. Starrring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Russell Brand. PG. Theaters: RT CC G14 C12 CM BR16

The film is thick with exposition and explanation: Every line spoken by Ellen Page, for example, sounds as if it came from a technical manual. Long stretches are difficult to comprehend in a single viewing. Most of the characters are thinly sketched, defined only by their professions. The picture bears the same emotionally cool -- some would say detached -- tone of Christopher Nolan's previous work ("Insomnia," "Following," "Memento," "The Prestige").

I absolutely loved every minute.