MATT DRISCOLL: LOVES BOOB JUICE >>>

Within Reach, a family health care advocate group based out of Seattle, has named the City of Tacoma the “2008 Outstanding Employer.”

For what, you ask?

Promoting, supporting, and showing leadership when it comes to breastfeeding and the workplace, that’s what. Apparently a job with Tacoma is now one of the friendliest gigs in Washington for the lactating.

Plenty of studies have shown the benefits of breast feeding. As a relatively new parent with a wife that’s possessed with baby research and doing what’s healthiest for the wee-one, I’ve heard all about it. In fact, I’m sold on it. Couple the research with the fact that boob juice is free, and it’s enough to turn me into a regular breast feeding PR guy, doing my job to get the word out whenever possible.

But this is about Tacoma, not me and my love of lactation. Within Reach named Tacoma the 2008 Outstanding Employer, and applauded the city for creating a lactation room in the Municipal Building for employees to use. Tacoma also promotes breastfeeding when discussing maternity leave with employees and has a progressive lactation policy shared with all employees when they’re hired.

Well done, City of Tacoma, for making breastfeeding an option for your employees. Perhaps now all the businesses that call you home will follow suit. Perhaps now you should ask them to. 

STEPH DEROSA: BOOP-BOOP-E-POOP >>>

A serving of homemade mac&cheese at The Corner Bar (previously Hank's) beckoned very aggressively for me to come in and taste. The voices in my head were almost impossible to ignore, so I listened to them and opened the door. Paired with one of their many fine brews on tap, this experience equaled something very close to a severe state of ecstasy. Creamy, flavorful, and extremely sinful, the mac&cheese went down as smoothly as the IPA sitting next to me.

As with all things Toilet Tales, the beer eventually led me to the bathroom.

Maybe one inch bigger than my 1991 dorm room closet, The Corner Bar women's restroom gave me a cramped but comfortable place to rest my bum. The best part was not only the chain lock on the door, but also the huge painted mural of Betty Boop. That is: The huge painted Betty Boop mural that reminded me of my grandmother.

No, not a boring memory of my grandmother playing dominoes on a Sunday after church, but a cool, smart memory. It was intelligence and wisdom only life can teach you. Wisdom of not taking things for granted, and being thankful for what you have.

It used to make me roll my eyes and build gas in my stomach when she would say the inevitable,Why do you need a Barbie? We never had Barbies when I was growing up. We played with homemade paper dolls that we made ourselves. You don't need a Barbie, Stephanie, trust me.I hated it when she said that kind of stuff. What the hell did she know? She admitted she never had Barbies, so how would she know how much fun they were? And I'm sure most of you can attest that I definitely needed a Barbie to survive in 1977 suburbia.

As a mom to a 5-year-old girl in 2008, I frequently recall those statements my grandmother used to make to me. I recall them every time I say almost the same damn thing to my daughter,Another My Little Pony? Why would you need a My Little Pony? You have a million! I never had that many ponies. Hell, I could hardly get a Barbie in my day.

Oh, good gravy. I sound like my grandmother. And you know what? I buy the stinkin ponies for her. What the hell have I turned into?

A sucker for marketing, that's what I've turned into.

I blame the big-time corporate retail entities. Take for example Target. Effin Target. I swear, that red painted bulls-eye is a subliminal message to all: BUY MORE SHIT that you really don't need. It's the Costco syndrome on a smaller scale. You could probably do without it, but it's such a great deal! How could you resist?

Life is so much harder now than it was in Betty Boop's era. There are so many more things tempting your pocketbook. So many things that we decipher as a need when they are really a want.

I remember when we got our first microwave. I remember when cable was first put into our house back in the 1980s. I remember the day exactly, and I remember how thrilled I was at this new luxury. Nowadays it's become a necessity. Or so people think. If you lost everything tomorrow, including all of your money, what would you feel you HAD to have? All of the sudden we would not need that microwave so much, would we?

If I lost everything tomorrow, I would be grateful to simply have my family and my health. Hell I wouldn't even need my health. But I would definitely need a Barbie.

LINK: Bar Exam, er, examines The Corner Bar.

LINK: If you lost everything tomorrow, including all of your money, what would you feel you HAD to have?

JAKE DE PAUL: CONVEYOR BELT SUSHI TURNS 50 >>>

Fifty years ago today Jan Brady was born. The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opened for its first night in London on this date 50 years ago. OK, not exciting.  Here’s the money shot: Conveyor belt sushi was invented 50 years ago today in Osaka, Japan. The first revolving sushi restaurant in the world, called Mawaru Genroku Sushi, opened its doors in April 1958 in what is now Higashi-Osaka. Today, there are thousands of conveyor belt sushi (kaiten sushi) restaurants in Japan.

I’ve been going ’round and ’round on conveyor belt sushi vs. a sushi bar. On the one hand, there’s the entertainment value of watching sushi being made right in front of you, not to mention a reasonable assurance of freshness. On the other hand, when you see something you want on the conveyor belt, you just pick it off the line and eat it. At the end of a meal, a server simply tallies up the colored coded plates you’ve accumulated, along with any extras like beer, soup, sake and you’re out of there quick.

Better take in some more 'round research tonight. After all, it’s a celebration.

LINK: Sushi Revolution, 5225 Tacoma Mall Blvd., Tacoma, 253.475.5559. What happened to their Web site?

LINK: Blue Island Sushi & Roll, 35002 Pacific Highway S., Federal Way, 253.838.5500

STEPH DEROSA: A HAPPY PLACE >>>

All the times I've seen Handful of Luvin', they've never jammed as hard as they did Sunday night at the Swiss Pub's 15th birthday bash.  These guys are my Northwest live band heroes. The mix of Irish, jam band, and pure funk styles makes Handful of Luvin's sound something exceeding original and captivating.

Lead vocalist and guitar player David John was going at it so hard he broke a string.  As did fiddler Andrew Joslyn.

KAke and I were happy to buy beers for the guys, and what they requested just confirmed their down-to-earth ways: Bud Light.  David John took it upon himself to play a song using his beer bottle for technique.

As usual, bassist Pat Files and drummer Mike Knight stole the night with their uncompromising passion for the music they play.

The crowd piled in to observe discounted food and drink prices, and I always stare at the eight Chihuly Venetians located above the bar â€" a monetary donation value that goes down in the history books.

We had a great time helping the Swiss move past the 15-year-old mark, and stayed out much later than we should've.  I definitely paid for it yesterday.  But man oh man, it was so worth it.

Congratulations to Bob, Gayl and Jack and their awesome crew. Here’s to many more years!

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: BEER MAKERS SET TO BE ONE >>>

Seattle-based Pyramid Breweries Inc. and Vermont-based Magic Hat Brewing Company have announced that they plan to merge and become a major player in the micro beer world. Magic Hat, technically, is set to buy Pyramid, through an all-cash tender offer.

"The combination of these two well established, high profile craft breweries will be very complementary given our respective brand portfolios and the geographies in which we predominantly operate. This consolidation makes both good strategic and financial sense and is well timed, particularly as the beer industry's competitive dynamics continue to intensify," says
Pyramid CEO Scott Barnum. "The company will continue to have offices in Seattle, its historical home, and will seek opportunities to capitalize on the enhanced assets and capabilities of the new combined entity."

That translates into joint distribution agreements and maybe more beer variety, some experts say. Since Pyramid is so popular in South Sound bars, this is likely the talk of the town for bartenders in the know.

THE GAME
Knowledge Night
If somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of your noggin there lurks the knowledge that actor Abe Vigoda is six-foot-four and grew up on New York’s Lower East Side, then this listing is for you. Every Wednesday Doyle’s Public House in Tacoma hosts Knowledge Night where individuals or teams answer two pages of brain teasers, trivia and current events for shirts, tickets and gift certificates. It’s a challenging, fun night. â€" Brad Allen
[Doyle’s Public House, 7 p.m. every Wednesday, no cover, 208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.7468]

SINGER/SONGWRITER
Jim Page
Singer/songwriter Jim Page is a Northwest treasure who has been gratifying socially conscious audiences for more than 35 years and has been praised by many critics and contemporaries as being prophetic, compelling and compassionate.  Whether playing solo acoustic or in an ensemble, Page’s music speaks to the common man living in these desperate and uncertain times.

Page has released 17 albums since 1976. Each disc takes the listener on a journey, sometimes satirical, sometimes serious but always thought provoking.  One of Page’s most celebrated recordings came post 9/11 with 2002’s Collateral Damage, on which he performed alone, trying desperately to make sense of that tragic day. â€" Tony Engelhart
[Rhapsody in Bloom Florist and Café Latte, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover, 3709 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.761.7673]

SINGER/SONGWRITER
Evan Purcell
Evan Purcell has been a major force in the South Sound music scene for the better part of 22 years. As a member of the progressive folk band the Prairie Dogs, Purcell constructs songs about everyday life in a crisp acoustic setting with pining, lush harmonies. The Prairie Dogs are currently on a hiatus from playing live, but Purcell has a bag full of new solo songs as he prepares to enter the studio, many he’ll perform tonight at the Tempest Lounge. â€" Brad Allen
[Tempest Lounge, 8-10 p.m., no cover, 913 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.272.4904]

LINK: CTL Team and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Young@Heart and others on local screens.
LINK: Let’s eat Japanese today.

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD
Hypnagogic \hip-nuh-GOJ-ik; -GOH-jik\, adjective:

Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the state of drowsiness preceding sleep.

USAGE EXAMPLE: Typically, Bobble Tiki’s hypnagogic adventures are filled with top heavy women, bottom heavy drinks, ‘80s heavy mixes, and unrealistically heavy bags of money. Sometimes, however, in his moments just before sleep, Bobble Tiki’s hypnagogic hallucinations are of kitty cats doing the electric slide, while giant mice play poker and sip Jim Beam.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Tough times

OLYMPIA: The story that won't end

SEATTLE: Hendrix sex tape

UNITED STATES: Chinese underwear

THINGS TO DO TODAY
FILM LISTINGS: Look here
MUSIC LISTINGS: Here’s what’s happening

CHRISTOPHER WOOD: NEW GUS VAN SANT OPENS FRIDAY AT THE GRAND CINEMA >>>

Gus Van Sant has a thing for troubled youth. In Elephant he weaves together the perspectives of several students whose lives culminate in a tragic shooting at their high school. And his Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting has a young(er) Matt Damon tormented by the demands of his genius and a proclivity for violence. The director once again aims his camera on teens in trouble in his newest feature Paranoid Park, but this time he misfires. With nothing new or substantial to add to its subgenre, the movie lazily resorts to tired adolescent angst clichés.

Written by Van Sant and based on Blake Nelson’s novel, the story’s anti-hero is Alex, a high school skater living the typical alienated existence in dreary Portland, Ore. His self-absorbed parents, naturally on the verge of divorce, hover around the periphery of their son’s consciousness. The camera visualizes this psychological condition â€" Van Sant none-too-subtly constructs his shots so that mom and dad appear distant, indistinct, their faces hidden out of frame or obscured by a shallow focus. When not at home, Alex floats in and out of shallow relationships with peers while staving off his persistent girlfriend Jennifer (Taylor Momsen). Viewers will have seen these uninspiring images of disillusioned suburbia so many times before.

The story improves slightly when it is suddenly revealed that a murder took place nearby a skate park that Alex recently visited. The first half of Paranoid Park becomes a sort of engrossing whodunit that has Alex possibly implicated in the brutal crime. Editing his own film, Van Sant teases out the suspense by liberally reordering the narrative chain of events. This technique, however, might also add to a viewer’s confusion. Several times I found myself wondering, “Haven’t I already seen this part?”

The truth is revealed halfway through, and from then on Paranoid Park meanders in circles. The Kubrickian death scene, played out in slow-motion while Beethoven swells, blends the balletic with the horrific. Despite this and other small flourishes, Van Sant’s production comes across as very amateurish. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle (who also shot the excellent Asian import Chungking Express) here fails to match the vibrancy and freshness in his earlier work. The soundtrack consists of an odd grab bag running the gamut from heavy metal to bluegrass. An almost conscious effort to dumb down its talent pervades all of Paranoid Park. Ultimately the film’s anesthetized style succeeds only in mimicking the blandness of its soft-spoken protagonist. Neither Alex nor Van Sant find beauty among tragedy’s ruins.

[The Grand Cinema, Paranoid Park, Rated R, Friday, May 2-Thursday, May 8, 4:50 and 9 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

MATT DRISCOLL: TOMORROW NIGHT AT THE HUB >>>

While environmental groups often get stereotyped as elitist, Prius driving, granola munching, tree hugging, sandal wearing wackos, it’s a misconception that could use debunking. Especially these days, environmentalists are everywhere and are everyone â€" and thank goodness for it. Somebody has to look out for Mother Earth.

If you need proof that environmentalists are just like you and me, consider this: Environmentalists like to drink. It’s true. Not only do they like to drink, but in Tacoma they get together and do it regularly.

It’s called Tacoma Green Drinks, and on the first Tuesday of every month the group meets at a local watering hole and talks sustainability, conservation and the environment.

Tomorrow night Tacoma Green Drinks will get together at the Hub from 5:30 â€" 8 p.m. You’re totally invited â€" unless you insist on driving that 1974 Plymouth Duster. Tacoma Green Drinks suggest you take the bus or ride a bike.