Sacramentan Joel Thompson wasn't expecting his acting career to launch as quickly as it has. After recently refocusing on a passion discovered as a kid, the 32-year-old will start work in five weeks as the lead in his first feature-length film. Thompson will play a young cop in the psychological thriller, "The Genetic Code." He's already done featured extra work in "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt, which is set to open this fall, and in the Tuskegee Airmen movie "Red Tails" produced by George Lucas, which is still in production. He also has a bit part in a big movie he said he can't talk about yet. Thompson co-owned The Corner Restaurant and Bar with his father, Jerry Thompson, until two

An East Sacramento native is taking over the corner building that was home to the original Shakey's Pizza Parlor and later Sweetwater – turning what was most recently The Corner Restaurant & Bar into Clark's Corner. New owner Clark Branscum grew up playing Little League baseball in East Sacramento and chowing down on Shakey's Pizza at 57th and J streets after games. Branscum spent five years in San Francisco, where he was a partner in two Marina District establishments: a restaurant and bar called U Street Lounge on Union Street and Kelley's Tavern on Fillmore Street. Now 30, Branscum recently bought The Corner Restaurant & Bar business and building after the previous owner decided to f

East Sacramento has a new hangout: The Corner Restaurant & Bar, which opened its doors for business last Friday.     "I want this to be a place people want to come and hang out at," said owner Joel Thompson. "As cliche as it sounds, I hope The Corner will be a place like the 'Cheers' bar 'where everyone knows your name.'"     The Corner is located down the street from Sacramento State University at the corner of 57th and J streets in the historic building that was home to the original Shakey's Pizza until the mid-1990s. The Thompson family opened the restaurant with the goal of creating a family-friendly place where students, parents and kids alike could enjoy reasonably priced food