DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704100156

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

PREVIEW

IT'S UP, UP AND AWAY at this weekend's Suffolk Spring Spectacular and Balloon Fest at Suffolk Airport. There'll be hot-air balloons, a car show (Saturday and Sunday), air show (12:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday), entertainment and more from 3 to 9 today, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday, with headliner country singer Tracy Lawrence at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Go head and take a tethered hot-air balloon ride Saturday. It'll only cost ya $3 to $5. Carnival rides will be running from 3 to 11 today, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Parking: $5 per car. 539-7709.

- Roy Bahls Lumberjack Competition

WHAT WOULD WE DO without them? Plastic houses, shadeless picnics and no newspapers. Can't have that. Trees will be honored at this weekend's Arbor Day Festival at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Lumberjacks will be competing in the STIHL Timbersports Series at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday and noon and 2 p.m. Sunday. And don't miss the plant sale featuring everything from spring annuals and shrubs to herbs and trees from noon to 4 today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. What else? ``Ask the Tree Doctor'' sessions and children's activities. Admission: $3, $1 ages 6-18, free for ages 5 and under. 441-5830.

There'll also be an Arbor Day Family Festival featuring games, displays, crafts and more from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Virginia Zoological Park, 3500 Granby St., Norfolk. Admission: $2, $1 ages 2-11 and seniors. 441-2374.

- Roy Bahls

ANACONDA - Ssssssssssssh! In case you didn't recognize it, that's the sound of a star. A documentary film crew goes into the jungles of the Amazon. They're led by Jennifer Lopez, who seems to be starring in a new movie every week (the recent ``Selena'' and the overdue ``Blood and Wine'' with Jack Nicholson). Along the way they meet a weird snake-hunter, played by Jon Voight (a long way from being a midnight cowboy). Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz are along for the ride and, you betcha, there's a snake in their future. It may gulp you down, but it gives you a big hug first. Nice fella! Don't miss our story on snakes in the movies, featuring a personal meeting with Annie Anaconda, who was the model for the star turn. PG-13 MOVIES

GROSSE POINT BLANK - They're calling it a comedy, but it's dark. John Cusack, he of the baby face, plays an assassin who returns home to attend his 10-year high school reunion. His teen sweetheart (Minnie Driver) is still there. They rekindle the sparks, but there's a small problem. He's been hired to kill her father. Now what relationship doesn't have problems? She, maybe, could forgive him for standing her up at the high school prom, but this is another thing. Dan Aykroyd and sister Joan Cusack are in the supporting cast. Mal Vincent ODU ART EXHIBIT

ANNE BOUSQUET takes events from her life, traumatic or comic, and reinterprets them in her recent paintings on view at Old Dominion University's University Gallery.

The Norfolk artist has produced canvases with crisp, dreamlike imagery inspired by such diverse happenings as a break-in at her home, a trip to Puerto Rico and the death of a close friend's child.

She shares the gallery through April 20 with collage artist Gael Bennett, whose shadow box photo constructions express frustration and other feelings.

The gallery is open weekends noon to 4 p.m., and Thursday 7 to 9 p.m. Free, at 765 Granby St., Norfolk. 683-2843.

Teresa Annas ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

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